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

@Jazsimone any luck finding an antibiotic given orally five times a day?

Why did you go to the GP @FakePlanet ? What a collosal waste of everyone's time and use of resources.

Guidelines change all the time (which we all know too well with regards to the recent pandemic!) So the GP was probably just following the latest guidance.

Even if she did "Google it". It wouldn't be the same as you googling it. You and I could both google search minutiae of a certain genomics - you wouldnt know what to do with that info whereas the GP could sift through and get to the relevant bit in seconds. Its more a jog of their memory.

If for example, you forgot what the capital of France is and you googled it, you could pick up the correct answer out of Rome, London, Paris, Cardiff, Lisbon quite quickly whereas someone that doesnt speak the language etc probably couldnt.

Nobody is forcing you to take the antibiotics. Dont take them if they dont suit you but wish youd said it at the time - what a waste of GP, Pharmacy and tax payers resources.

No they dont "test" every single person with a sore throat.

Also the GP would have had 10 mins tops with you and likely more like <5mins given her next patient may have terminal cancer or something else more complicated than your sore throat who she'd also only get 10 minutes for.
You and I have each easily spent more than 10 mins talking about this.

Lol. CaN No LoNgEr TaKe yOu SeRiOuSlY. Because I know a thing or two about antibiotics. I call BS.

Absolutely not.

You know if the GP was in your shoes - which given she sees a lot of people with sore throats etc is very likely to catch one herself - and given shes a woman so likely gets a period every month - and lack of sleep given she works in the NHS.......... she would very likely have to still go to work and deal with the likes of you.

I'm sorry. I shouldn't have doubted the GP knew what she was doing.

I keep saying I was being a dick and shouldn't have posted.

Amoxicillin (many variants of penicillin)
Aciclovir
Metronidazole

And many many more that treat bacterial and viral infections

I suffered for years with tonsillitis. Always got antibiotics.
it can lead to other problems.
only once was i not prescribed them, it got worse so i gp ended up having to give them anyway.

@Freefall212

Where is the suggestion that the GP has prescribed the antibiotics needlessly?

The GP prescribed a treatment, based on assessment of the patient and the information they have been provided with.

I used to get bacterial tonsilitis constantly, it was never swabbed and I needed antibiotics every single time. I eventually had my tonsils removed but believe me I needed those antibiotics - I was so unwell. More recently my daughter had severe tonsilitis that landed her in hospital, again no swab but they only had to look in her mouth for a second to know exactly what was making her so unwell and give antibiotics. Bacterial tonsilitis tends to result in white patches on the tonsils and enlarged lymph nodes, as well as high fever. I always used to get nausea and vomiting as a child too, and my daughter was so lethargic when she had it that she couldn't even watch watch TV.

I think the pressure on OP here that you should never question or doubt a doctor and that should always do exactly what they say even if you are unsure is dangerous. A tthe end of the day, it is your body and your health and you have a right to speak up and ask questions. Dcotors have expertise but they make mistakes - including overprescribing antibiotics.

I had a GP years ago that did google some things - she was a fantastic GP and open about the fact that she didn't know everything and when I had a condition that wasn't responding well to the regular treatment, she did google to try and see what else might be out there. You can find a lot of scientific information via google.

I worked in health care so I do not in any way have these rose coloured glasses that doctors are perfect and should never be doubted or questioned and you should always just do exactly what they say even if it doesn't seem right.

Posters could have given OP information about what systems use and what the GP was likely doing without all the name calling and hero worship of doctors leading her to post multiple times about what an awful person she is and how she was wrong to ever doubt a doctor. And she is still being criticized.

If you didn’t want the antibiotics then you should have refused them/not picked up the prescription.

No one is forcing you to take them.

@Jazsimone aciclovir is an anti-viral medication not an antibiotic. Metronidazole is twice a day or three times a day depending on what is it being used to treat, amoxicillin is 3 times a day, penicillin V is 4 times a day.

I would stop apologising and forget the thread if I were you, as it seems to have attracted an unusually high number of raging arseholes, for some reason. Of course doctors aren't infallible.

You've had some really bizarrely nasty replies here.

Except there is no point if it is not bacterial tonsilitis

Doctors most definitely DO make mistakes! My child was prescribed the adult dose of antibiotics yesterday (not for tonsilitis) thank goodness the pharmacy queried it because that could have made her extremely unwell if I'd followed the initial dosage. But for the most part, there are subtle differences that make bacterial infections vs viral infections more likely.

@Jazsimone

Amoxicillin - No indication for five times a day - bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/amoxicillin/

Metronidazole - No indication for five times a day -
bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/metronidazole/

And nice try, but aciclovir is not an anti-biotic, it’s an anti-viral used to treat herpes infections and may be prescribed five times a day.

When you make such sweeping statements you need to provide actual evidence.

Quite. Why are people continuing to kick OP when she’s already agreed she’s wrong? There are some real dicks on this thread.

Hope you feel better soon, op.

DD gets repeat bacterial tonsillitis, usually with severely inflamed tonsils and white spots covering them. She doesn’t get tested for bacterial because the GP can see it with her own eyes. GP also always reviews the current guidelines for antibiotics with bacterial tonsillitis because guidelines change all the time and her workload is high enough she doesn’t have the time to keep up with constantly changing guidelines so it’s always better for her to double check.

@FakePlanet Get well soon.

I think the title was a bit inflammatory and I came on to tell you to be quiet but can see you’ve realised the GP does understand antibiotics.

Tonsillitis is awful so take those tablets and go back if no improvement

^ and that’s me not having read the thread OP, no offence meant with my post. Was just relaying our experiences with tonsillitis and antibiotics. DD always looks like she’s in as much pain as you’ve prescribed, the antibiotics usually take more than a week for her to start feeling better but sucking on ice chips helps with fluid intake (she gets it bad enough it’s painful to swallow even water)

Gp will have prescribed based on your ‘fever pain score’. 10 days of abx for query strep/bacterial tonsillitis is reasonable. Hope you feel better soon.

Here is the fever pain score tool they use. https://ctu1.phc.ox.ac.uk/feverpain/index.php

Fair play, @FakePlanet.

Get well (and get some sleep!) soon

I'm in the U.K. and can. Usually a quick phone appointment where they go "yeah come down to the surgery in about 2hrs" and seen and prescribed
Immunocompromised and always get bacterial tonsillitis
Doctor once asked me why I thought I needed antibiotics so I just opened my mouth and watched him

Similar experience to Kyse ^^ - I'm also immunocompromised so there's a different protocol.

I'm currently on a ten day course of Phenoxymethylpenicillin (catchy name) as a prophylactic antibiotic, i.e. to prevent an infection taking hold as that could easily land me up in hospital.

The GP surgery were ruthlessly efficient about it - all happened on the same day I contacted them. (NHS, UK).