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Tonsils still have white streaks/pus on them after antibiotics. No pain any more, are they still infected?

14 replies

RumHam · 11/09/2022 13:45

I'll call up the doctor tomorrow just to double check but just wondering if anyone else has had experience with adult bacterial tonsillitis. I recently had it for the first time since I was a kid, I'm 30 now. The pain was absolutely horrendous. I got a chest infection at the same time too. I was given 5 days worth of Amoxicillin and I am due to take my last tablet tonight.

My throat pain is 100% gone, thank god and my cough has went from chesty and productive to tickly and annoying. I definitely feel better and if it wasn't for the cough still keeping me up most of the night, I would feel back to normal.

I still have white dots and streaks on my tonsils. They definitely aren't tonsil stones and I've only had them since the infection started last week. Tonsils are smaller and not red any more so I'm just wondering if the white stuff will go away on its own or it means they are still infected?

Been so long since I had tonsillitis and now I remember the hell of it, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Been living off of ice cream for the last week so I've probably gained a lot of weight from that too. I've been an insufferable moody cow the last week with it all 😂

OP posts:
Rummikub · 11/09/2022 19:04

I was wondering seeing similar.
my tonsils don’t have white stuff on but one side is red, swollen and still painful!
Luke you it was the worst tonsillitis I’ve had. Finished the antibiotics now and Hopi g my body can handle the rest.

PinkButtercups · 11/09/2022 19:20

You usually need a 7 day course not 5 days. I don't know why they're so reluctant to give people a 7 day course!

Phone the doctors tomorrow and ask them.

loveisanopensore · 11/09/2022 19:22

My husband needed two courses to clear it. It was horrible.

Rummikub · 11/09/2022 19:51

I had 7 days 4x day and it might not be enough so 5 days can’t be enough.

RumHam · 11/09/2022 19:57

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies. No idea why I got only 5 days worth. I've taken 3 a day, 500mg each time. I thought that was maybe the normal dose. It's been that long since I needed antibiotics. Maybe it's because I'm on methotrexate? So much has changed in my prescriptions since I started that.

OP posts:
Rummikub · 11/09/2022 20:04

For comparison I got 7 days 4x day 500mg. And yours sounds as bad as mine.

Rummikub · 11/09/2022 20:05

Oh was it penicillin V?

RumHam · 11/09/2022 20:07

It was amoxicillin 500mg

OP posts:
Rummikub · 11/09/2022 20:10

i think its worth speaking to the doctor again then.
Mine said pen V best for bacterial tonsillitis.
It’s awful isn’t it. I was so ill with it!

RumHam · 11/09/2022 20:34

I don't think I can take penicillin on methotrexate, that's why I was given amoxicillin. From everything I've read online, it does say 7-10 days for tonsillitis. I don't know why I was only given 5. All my symptoms are gone now apart from the white stuff on my tonsils and I don't want that to be able to start up an infection again coz my god, it was absolute murder. I don't think I could go through that again so soon 😭

OP posts:
Rummikub · 11/09/2022 20:54

ok that makes sense.

im the same. I have had tonsillitis many times before but never thrown up with it before. Vile!

Hope you recover soon.

RumHam · 22/09/2022 20:53

I've been given 10 days worth of phenoxymethylpenicillin this time since I've been off methotrexate for 2 weeks and it's out of my system so there will be no interactions. I've not really had any throat pain since I started that 5 day course of amoxicillin almost a fortnight ago but I still had white streaks on my tonsils and tongue so I was given penicillin to try. I'm on day 3 now and my white streaks are still as bad as ever. I have them on both tonsils as well as some white dots on my lingual tonsils on my tongue. Nothing hurts any more. I've also been given oral thrush medicine in case it's fungal but so far, everything is still the same - no pain at all any more and I feel normal again but I'm still covered in pus or whatever the white stuff is. I'm going to the doc on Monday again if it's not started to clear. I will be on day 7 or 8 then so it should have started to show results by then.

I've not had any bacterial swabs done, just viral swabs which ruled out covid, flu, cold and similar bugs. Hoping for a bacterial swabs so I can finally get to the bottom of which bug caused this because I need to start my methotrexate ASAP as my arthritis is really flaring without it. By the time I'm off the penicillin, I'll have been off my methotrexate for a month. Never been off it longer than a week before :(

OP posts:
Rummikub · 22/09/2022 20:59

Hopefully it will start to clear by day then.

For me I think one side started clearing by day 2/3 but the other took another longer.

justasking111 · 19/12/2022 22:32

I'd get onto the GP tomorrow ring or email

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