Bacterial tonsillitis - how long to improve?

[RahRahRasputin]

Hi,

I have bacterial tonsillitis and was prescribed penicillin on Tuesday, 500mg four times a day. I took my first dose at 5pm that day, so I've just taken my tenth dose. My throat pain continues to get worse and I get a very sharp pain in my left tonsil when I swallow, and the white patches are still spreading/increasing in size, especially on my left tonsil.

The full course is ten days but I don't suppose it will magically get better on day 10 if it hasn't improved before then, so how long should I wait before assuming the antibiotics aren't working?

Thank you

I used to feel better by about day 6-7. Are you gargling to ease the pain?

You should be starting to feel better after two days, not still getting worse. You probably need a bigger dose of penicillin, go back to GP tomorrow.

At the moment my tonsils are too swollen to gargle, so I've been sort of swishing saltwater to the back of my mouth as best I can. I tried Difflam too but the pain is too far inside for it to make any difference.

Thank you both, I will phone the GP tomorrow if it hasn't shown signs of improvement overnight - they will probably be able to increase my dose over the phone even if they don't have any appointments left.

You can gargle soluble paracetamol or just swallow it instead of taking tablet version. You have my sympathy, I finally had mine removed last year.

Ooh I didn't know that was a thing! I'd been considering about getting some Calpol and wondering why they didn't make it for adults. The soluble stuff probably doesn't taste half as good, but I probably wouldn't need to down half a bottle to get an adult's dose!

I have to take various other medications so the paracetamol isn't as troublesome as those, but when I regain my gargling ability I might try the soluble stuff anyway, as at the moment nothing is helping with the pain, and it might make taking the other tablets easier.

Thank you all :) I'm going to go to bed now and then if I haven't noticed any improvement by morning I will try and get an appointment for tomorrow. I think some of my other symptoms may have improved but it's hard to tell as they've all been fluctuating really, and I can't be absolutely sure what is the tonsillitis and what is just my rather run-down body!