Tonsillitis or Glandular Fever or both - at the end of my tether

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I hope someone has some sage advice, as I have been to the GP several times already and we are not sure what is going on yet.
DD2 is 16 and 3 weeks ago came down with horrible tonsillitis & fever, she could barely swallow or move, she felt awful. We were on holiday (typical) and I took her to the pharmacy, who gave me amoxicillin clauvate to take for 5 days. Improvement was very slow but by the end of the 5 days she was able to board a plane although she was still ill and the sore throat was still there although a bit better.

Following week wasn't well enough to go into school, felt shattered, still had a cold/cough and terrible sore throat. Went to the GP who gave a new antibiotic (penicillin) and 5 days in still same symptoms. Tonsills look very big and nothing has changed. A little better in herself in that this week she made it into school for most of the day but throat still hurts, has a headache etc... been back to the GP mid week who did tests for full blood count, strep A swab and testing for Glandular fever.

The first two tests have come back clear but the glandular fever one still isn't back but she is saying her throat feels worse and had to go and get Ibuprofen and it is looking worse (she sent me a photo). I phoned the GP who gave me more (different) antibiotics but at this stage was wondering whether anyone has any advice. She will be starting her GCSEs in just over a month and in this state.... if anyone had glandular fever, is this consistent with it? I know we'll get results but not sure what to do in the meantime and if it isn't also not sure what else to try :(

About 90% of people with glandular fever who take amoxicillin get a rash, so if she didn’t then that must drop the odds.

That's really useful to know, @nocoolnamesleft
The GP did mention it but they thought given how angry her throat looked, her age and the tiredness, that it was worth checking. But I am still unsure obviously as are they....

ps forgot to say, the new antibiotic is claithromycin

Did she get a sprinkle rash with the amoxicillin? That’s a giveaway for glandular fever. And sometimes they get the rash even without antibiotics.

it does sound like it could be glandular fever if she’s still exhausted and her throat is so sore. Is she puffy around her neck or face? My son came down with it at the end of March last year just in time for his GCSEs so I feel your pain there. We had to lower grade expectations a lot and just deal with getting him into school between sleeping so he could sit them.

No rash that I can see... and no puffiness. Although she did say that in the first week her glands in her neck were hurting. How long did your son suffer for and was his throat bad for long?

Could it be viral, which is why it's persisting despite antibiotics?

I had the most evil agonising tonsillitis and laryngitis which lasted a month and left me with such severe post viral fatigue I needed several weeks off work.
Encourage her to rest, really rest. Just lie in bed or on sofa or in sunshine as much as possible. Very short walks or yoga for CFS, nothing more. No brain strain either. She'll recover more quickly if she properly rests.

@Tonissister I think this is a real possibility, as she had a bad cold and cough with it too. So it could have been a virus other than EBV. I also had flu and the cough lasted 6 weeks - it was horrific. (Not at the same time but I wonder whether it could be a similar strain).

PS Resting seems to be the only thing that perks her up, so good advice. She has just tried to go to school this week as she worried about GCSEs but it seemed to have got worse by the end of the week - probably overdone it.

My son came down with a horrendous bout of tonsillitis at the beginning of his last year of A levels, he’d been burning the candle at both ends during the summer. Then his glands under his jaw and side of his neck came up like golf balls, I’ve never seen anything like it before (I’ve had tonsillitis myself and never had this). The doctors suspected glandular fever but my son refused the blood test. He spent that whole year being ill on and off, exhausted, catching every cold going and with another case of tonsillitis during his A level exams (luckily over the half term break in May), it was pretty awful. His grades were definitely affected by the time he missed from college and we think the stress of the exams also didn’t help. We made sure he rested as much as possible but he’s been a lot better since finishing last June and hasn’t gone to Uni which has probably helped. We definitely think it was glandular fever and suspect he will still be more prone to catching stuff but he’s currently out in Thailand living the dream - we did send him off with warnings not to overdo it, but what 18 year old listens to their parents!

No advice, but just to say that I got glandular fever at same age. It felt like I was swallowing razors! Does she have any numbing, throat gargles/lozengers? I too was tired, but mine started during school holidays, so I was able to just rest. Thank fully, no long terms issues with me. I hope she is on the mend very soon.

@Neversaygoodbye sounds familiar with the burning the candle at both ends. DD1 had an awful bout of sinusitis last Christmas and was very ill the whole 3 or 4 weeks they were off. She has a habit of overdoing it as she is that sort of character - in fairness to her she has been better this year in terms of calibrating herself a bit more but I think she still overdoes it in general. Going to have to slow down and rest as much as possible to recover from this by the sounds of it... it's horrible to see them so ill isn't it... very worrying.. and it's always around exam time too :(

thank you - yes she has but if anyone has any advice for "good ones" then very welcome. The throat spray didn't seem very effective. Lozenges are a bit ineffective as well... best thing so far seems ice/icepops/frozen or cold drinks...she is also taking Vitamin C and probiotics (mainly to help with all the antibiotics she's been taking!)

I hope you can get her to rest as much as possible, it really is all you can do. Also, in my experience any future sign of tonsillitis get antibiotics straight away and nip it in the bud. The stress of school/college and exams really doesn’t help.

@Neversaygoodbye yes I will and the future advice is great too. They used to sell tyrozettes which were medicated lozenges for this purpose but they've been discontinued in Europe - annoyingly

I found painkillers and sprays did nothing to ease the pain. Only ice cubes and weirdly, those chewy ginger things that come individually wrapped in a green box. Three of those took the pain away better than anything else. Lots of chemists sell them by the till.

but if anyone has any advice for "good ones" then very welcome

This was in regards to a good, numbing throat spray/lozenge. I'd speak to a pharmacist to see what is the strongest you can ger here. When I had glandular fever as a teen I lived abroad. I was given a pink, thick, gel like stuff which contained lidocaine. I'd gargle with it and it 'somewhat' helped numb the throat. I recall I wasn't allowed to eat or drink whilst it was numb though due to the risk of choking!

We had similar last year, exhaustion and recurrent tonsillitis. It was only on a trip to the hospital after a referral that someone finally suggested glandular fever. I didn’t know about the sprinkle rash even though I had it myself at the same age.
Possibly old fashioned but gargling with soluble aspirin seemed to work.
I also miss Tyrozets OP. Even the smell and taste. Surely they could replicate them with updated safer ingredients.
I hope she is on the mend soon 💐

My daughter was diagnosed with glandular fever via a trip to A& E. GP thought she had a quinsy and sent her there but they said glandular fever.

A few weeks later she got into such a state, she thought she couldn't breathe, her friends called an ambulance, they took her to hospital where she was kept in for over 24 hours. After that incident she somehow started to get better.

But she kept having bouts of tonsillitis and eventually had her tonsils out.

It is worth reporting tonsillitis to the GP because you need to demonstrate a certain number of incidents in a certain period if you want them out.

I had a quinsy 25 years ago - I ended up in A&E with that and had my tonsils removed. It was life threatening - imo it is always a good idea to get tonsils looked at if you are worried.

I had glandular fever at 19. They initially thought it was tonsillitis. The gp looked at my throat and prescribed steroids. The glands were so swollen when I had a drink some would come down my nose. He said he was worried about my breathing. I was probably in bed for 6 weeks but then recovered quickly.

I had really bad bacterial tonsillitis last year and needed 3 doses of antibiotics over 3 weeks to get rid of it, but my tonsils were completely white. I have also had glandular fever before but never had tonsil pain on the same scale as tonsilitis

The sore throat/ill in bed phase lasted about a month. Since then he’s just been extremely fatigued. I had GF straight after my a-levels back in the day and I was ill in bed and had the agonising throat for about 5 weeks I think.

Thanks everyone
She is a bit better today, not sure if thr new antibiotics are working or ita just glandular fever getting better by itself. Still think its 50/50 which one it is, until we get the results back... I will update here, it mught be usefulnfoe someone else once we know!!
I have bought a few more sprays/lozenges etc now to persuade her to try them....not easy with teenagers!

DD had GF 3 years ago - she had a really awful sore throat and felt rancid. Went to GP who thought it was quinsy so sent her straight to A&E who gave her a blood test and diagnosed GF. They had to give her amocyliin for the throat and she had an awful rash, which we then worked out was prob due to having GP. DD recovered quite well but liver enzymes were off for a bit which is another GF ‘thing’.
Hope your DD feels a bit better now - clarithromycin gave me awful diarrhoea - watch out for that. I had to stop taking it. Never again!

Yes she already said she has a tummy ache... and ir's onky day 2 out of 7... she looked perkier todsy and said her throat felt better alrhiugh the daily photo of her throat she now takes looled the same or worse! Sigh... persuaded her to spray her throat with a natural throat soray from hollands and barrett which was recommended on a different throat thread...

Hopefully a more positive week next week!

Hi everyone
Just an update... the clarythromycin has had quite a dramarically positive effect on hrr throat. In 4 days it's gone from huge tonsils and a lot of pain to just a scratchy throat. In turn she seems a lot better in herself, although still tired, especially at the end of the day. We are on day 10 since taking thr EBV/ glandular fever test bit the results still haven't come back. But at this stage I am thunming she definitely had bacterial tonsillitis as well... will update when we get the results...