To think a GP doesn't understand antibiotics

[FakePlanet]

I mean of course she would right?

Two days ago woke up and had such pain in back of my throat. My baby has had a bad cold recently. But my throat was swollen and eating and drinking hard

Went to GP. Confirmed tonsillitis and lots of inflammation

She then went onto a website and put in my symptoms and prescribed 10 days of antibiotics

I said but I thought most tonsillitis was caused by virus so antibiotics wouldn't work. she said she'd looked online and antibiotics were right way to go.

I have started taking them but the more I read online the more it's clear that antibiotics really aren't effective for majority of tonsillitis

Am I being an Internet idiot? Surely GP is right? But I'm sure I've just caught a cold virus off the baby and it's developed into tonsillitis but GP didn't listen and just kept saying the website said antibiotics

How do you know it isn't bacterial tonsillitis.

So why visit a gp and ignore advice
Bacterial tonsilitis will respond to antibiotics

She's prescribed me antibiotics that I need to take 5 times a day on an empty stomach for 10 days. I'd really rather not do that if I can help it.

Same GP who prescribed me antidepressants when I went in with a rash she said was caused by stress.

If you didn't want any drugs and thought it best to try and sit it out (which I'd probably agree with fwiw), why did you go to the GP in the first place?

Maybe she's given you a 10 day placebo and it's backfiring.

ABs can be prescribed for tonsillitis if it’s believed to be bacterial rather than viral. Perhaps the GP has reason to think it’s bacterial, even though they didn’t do a test by the sounds of it. I’d probably just go with it, but you can choose not to take them if you don’t think it’s the right treatment for you. The thing is, I’m not sure what else you would want the GP to do as there is no treatment for viral tonsillitis- just wait it out.

Viral tonsillitis doesn't need ABs but bacterial does, they have slightly different presenting symptoms. I have had ABs for tonsillitis and was very grateful as I was so unwell.

We're there white spots on your tonsils?

If not, not abx, if yes, then penicillin required.

Take them or don’t take them - up to you really?

I had a bad case of septic tonsillitis thanks to impacted wisdom teeth - antibiotics was the only thing that shifted it.

And I mean this nicely, but a cold virus is not a tonsillitis virus so the fact the baby has a cold could be coincidental. I’m sure (at least) five years of medical training trumps your Internet diagnosis.

I thought firstly I wanted to confirm it was tonsillitis and not something else as I've never had it before

And secondly to test if it was bacterial to see if antibiotics would help.

When I asked "so you think it's bacterial"

She replied "as I said, I can see they're inflamed badly"

Which wasn't an answer to my question really but I just doubted myself and shut up

GPs can’t win. I’m sure there’s just as many posts on here complaining that their GP didn’t give them antibiotics.

Either way you can’t stop a course of antibiotics halfway through if you were unsure you wanted to take them you should have not started them or waited to see how your symptoms developed.

From the GPs perspective they were dealing with the mum of a baby who was having difficulty eating and drinking who felt it necessary to visit the GP. How many people in that scenario would be happily turned away with ‘you’ll probably get better on our own’?

5 times a day is unusual. Usually 4 if penicillin v. Was it a separate website? On our GP notes system there is a tab that you select for prescribing then select the condition and it gives you the correct prescription and amount as it's centrally generated and it take less time and is really good for children as doses change at certain ages and guidelines change. And tonsillitis can be bacterial usually strep A.

As someone who gets bacterial tonsillitis at least once a year ...its awful. Would also have muscle pain, high temperature and feeling just horrendous. I usually have to argue with the GP that my tonsillitis isn't viral (as the appointment is over the phone now they can't see the white spots!). Antibiotics are very effective quite quickly and this is what the GP prescribed when you went.... just take them. Not sure what else you thought they would do when you made the appointment ?

Was it just a random website? Surely more likely to be some kind of database or website showing the clinical guidelines?

How can we possibly advise if we haven't seen your tonsils? If you don't want the antibiotics then don't take them.

She might have been looking up the FeverPain score ( it’s good practice to fill this in and add it to your notes) it’s a decision tool on prescribing in tonsillitis.

What tonsillitis ab are they? Five times a day is not common.

Is there a mumsnet prize for not taking medicine like there is for not eating any real food and no screens ever? Meanwhile in the rest of the world, we get ill we see a doctor and get medication, eat carbs and watch TV on our phones. How ridiculous. I would be dead without antibiotics for what started as a UTI. The British consultant ( ran away from NHS) said if I was still in the south east I would definitely have died as there would have been no GP treatment, no ambulance, no beds, no CT scan, no surgeon etc etc etc. Just take the bloody medicine if you want to and don't if you don't. But piss off with the endless trophy deprivation.

FFS. She was probably looking up something called CENTOR criteria or similar which give you a score for how likely, based on your symptoms, it is for it to be bacterial tonsillitis. GPs can't remember every scoring system off the top of their heads, wouldn't you rather she got it right?

Also, if you're convinced you don't need antibiotics why did you go to the GP after two days?

There’s a NICE decision tree for this. A GP can’t possibly hold everything about everything in her head so I can’t see it’s a problem for her to have looked it up. That said, I can’t think of an antibiotic with 5x daily dosing. Perhaps it’s a typo from OP.

Am I being an Internet idiot

And I can't believe these people are allowed to have children either ffs 🙄

The bouts of tonsillitis I’ve had have all been bacterial and I’ve been prescribed antibiotics, which cleared them up rapidly.
Long before the Internet, GPs used a book (the British National Formulary, or BNF) to look up medications and doses. Why wouldn’t they? They can’t hold all the detailed information in their heads, and there are new medications available all the time. It’s now available online, of course.

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/

It’s both standard and expected practice to review guidelines on the best antibiotic for particular infections- the advice changes depending on the nature of the infection, the severity, the co-morbidities of the patient, the expected source of the infection, and your location. These guidelines are evidence-based and change as new evidence becomes available.

Where I live we prescribe antibiotics in this instance for particular groups of vulnerable people, or where there is evidence pointing to bacterial infection.

I have prescribed antibiotics multiple times a day for 15 years (not in general practice). I still use guidelines and also seek advice from infectious disease physicians regularly. The most common antibiotics for the most common infections have changed tremendously over that time, in line with emerging evidence:

Your concern is misplaced and foolish.

I always have antibiotics when I get it because it can progress to rheumatic fever and leave permanent damage your heart valves.

Yes, your being an Internet twat 🙄