Ok Dr TWW, go to work.

On Thursday, I was diagnosed with strep throat. My doctor put me on amoxicillin. Well, Saturday, my hands and feet broke out in a painful rash and my mouth started developing sores. By last night, my mouth was very sore. I called the doctor line and was told it was a side effect of the strep and that it should subside in 3-5 days. Today, I woke up and my mouth and throat are covered in little ulcers. There's probably 100 of them. I called the doctor back because I am in so much pain that I can't eat or drink anything. Even water burns like hell. The doctor on call basically told me there was nothing I could do. So, I'm wondering is there anything OTC I could gargle with or anything that could relieve the pain long enough for me to eat/drink something? If it's still bad tomorrow, I'm gonna call my regular doctor, but anything I can do for the night?

7/20/2008 9:57:00 PM

You could try saltwater, or gargle with a little bit of chloraseptic - I think there's a mouthwash type made for gargling. You won't be able to taste your food, but at least you should be able to get it down.

7/20/2008 10:06:47 PM

not to be an ass and post a google link, but:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=amoxicillin+allergy

i looked at a couple results and it seems like the rashes may be a common result of allergy to amoxicillin.

EDIT:
http://www.drugs.com/amoxicillin.html

Quote :

"Amoxicillin side effects Get emergency medical help if you have any of these signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficulty breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat."

[Edited on July 20, 2008 at 10:12 PM. Reason : more]

7/20/2008 10:07:34 PM

Man I've never heard of strep throat doing that...but I'm not a doctor. You'd think it was an allergic reaction to amoxicillin.

7/20/2008 10:10:24 PM

If you are allergic to penicillin then more than likely you are allergic to all of the "cillins"

7/20/2008 10:16:30 PM

I was gonna run this by my wife, but it appears that she has gone to sleep.

7/20/2008 10:33:45 PM

I did question the doctor on call about the possibility of it being and allergy to the amoxicillin (that was my first thought), but she said that it was definitely not that and was the strep. She seemed to be absolutely positive about it, but I will ask my regular doctor tomorrow. I forgot to mention in my original post that I've tried chloraseptic, but that actually made the pain worse (once the numbing wore off) and the sores larger.

[Edited on July 20, 2008 at 10:40 PM. Reason : .]

7/20/2008 10:40:15 PM

Quote :

"Ok Dr TWW, go to work. "

lol...if only this were chit chat

7/20/2008 11:23:07 PM

is prolly the strep


saltwater gargle

7/20/2008 11:59:42 PM

jus a fyi...I happen to be allergic to amoxicillin and I break out on my hands and feet if I have it...well its only happened once, but thats all it took and they wont give me amoxicillin anymore...ya know jus incase your allergic to it too, you might wanna check that out

7/21/2008 12:13:16 AM

Let's see... Did you go to a doc in the box to get the antibiotics the first time?

Cause if so... Go to a regular doctor. Also, if it gets much worse, you might need to go to the hospital. When shit like that gets worse day after day after day after day and the medicine your doctors can prescribe makes it worse, you should consider hopping over to the ER. At the very least, they have the experience and the connections to do any testing and diagnosing (and they have more experience picking meds) to see if the infection is spreading, if the medicine is working, if you're allergic to the medicine, etc.

Not trying to be an alarmist, it just sounds rather bad the way you described it. Antibiotics are supposed to make an immediate improvement on what they're fighting (as in by day two you should go "hey I feel a bit better"), unless they're insufficient to do the task or you're allergic to them or react badly to them in other ways.

I had this problem with an antibiotic called levaquin. Kept me awake (3 hours sleep each day or less, with being a zombie inbetween), kept me nervous (super-aware of what was going on around me, every little noise makes you twitch), and kicked off an extended bout of depression (or made existing depression worse, either way). Ignore what that one doctor says and look at the side effects for what you took. If you find that you're matching quite a few of the "dear god stop taking this unless you want to die" side effects listed, you need to stop taking the medicine and go to the doctor ASAP and get a different antibiotic.

Good luck with this, it sounds like a real shitty problem.

[Edited on July 21, 2008 at 2:27 AM. Reason : Don't let the doctor control your treatment if you feel they're wrong. It's YOUR infected mouth.]

7/21/2008 2:25:49 AM

you should stop taking your antibiotic and see a doctor ASAP. this sounds like erythema multiforme, a type of allergic reaction.

7/21/2008 6:10:25 AM

this sounds really painful

7/21/2008 6:31:34 AM

I would def get a second opinion on the whole allergy thing before you try anything OTC. I just don't want you to get worse bc amox and your OTC might have an even bigger neg reaction.

How in the hell does strep cause sores on your hands and feet to break out? I def have had strep multiple times before and I didnt break out on my hands and feet.

[Edited on July 21, 2008 at 9:15 AM. Reason : YAY!!! Skip to the rescue!]

7/21/2008 9:14:26 AM

Sounds completely like an allergic reaction the antibiotic to me.

I'd be going to another doctor..

7/21/2008 9:16:59 AM

i'd definitely get a consult from another doctor.

7/21/2008 9:35:28 AM

Quote :

"Let's see... Did you go to a doc in the box to get the antibiotics the first time?"

no, I went to my regular doctor that I've seen for 15 years at a doctor's office. The doctor who was on call, however, was from a different office (the doctor's office operates out of two seperate offices). I called my regular doctor's office this morning and they quickly made an appointment for me this afternoon and said it sounded like an allergic reaction. So, I guess we will see.

7/21/2008 10:54:00 AM

my old roommate had something similar to this. he went to the health center (stupid) and was diagnosed with strep, so they gave him ammoxicillin and his entire body broke out in a rash. he went to another doctor and then found out he also had mono. apparently ammoxicillin causes that kind of reaction if you take it when you have mono. i don't think he had the mouth sores though. he just itched like hell all over.

7/21/2008 11:07:38 AM

i would try hydrogen peroxide. it will disinfect and also should kills some skin cells in your mouth closing the sores some. this has worked for me in the past

7/21/2008 12:29:14 PM

you've got aids

7/21/2008 1:18:31 PM

Update: Went to the doctor this afternoon and she diagnosed me with hand foot and mouth disease on top of the strep that I had. So no allergic reaction, but it wasn't caused by the strep either. She prescribed me some stuff called Magic Mouthwash which numbs my mouth very well and it's helped a lot. She also said my spleen was swollen and it was tender, but that it could be due to simply having two really bad infections (strep and HFMD) simultaneously. So, I'm not allowed to do any contact sports or anything like that until swelling goes down. She thought about the possibility of me having mono, but I have already had mono and she said getting it again is very unlikely. So, we're just gonna see if the swelling goes down after I get better with the current treatment.

7/21/2008 8:47:13 PM

I had something similar at the end of the semester this year. My throat hurt a little bit (never broke out with ulcers) but I ended getting really bad hives all over my body. At first they thought I had mono, but the two mono tests showed that I didn't have it. They ended up saying it was just some type of strep and that the hives were caused from the strep. Put me on some antibiotics that didn't help much. I just had to wait it out. It ended up lasting about a week and half... then I was back to being good as new. Glad to hear you are feeling better.

7/23/2008 1:51:46 PM