How do you know if you have strep throat?

elcamino · April 21, 2006, 4:42pm

My throat has been very painful, difficult to swallow for almost 3 days now. I had a fever with tender lymph nodes yesterday, but both appear to be gone today. I'm debating on whether I should take a trip to the primary, only because I'm taking the enbrel and I'm paranoid about infections. I'm willing to bet it was just a virus, but can't a simple virus turn into a bacterial infection in predisposed individuals?

dbab · April 21, 2006, 5:35pm

When I had strep throat a couple of times the same thing happened for me for both... fever and white "spots" in the back of my throat. Throat was very sore however the fever did come first for me. Hope this helps you out a little.

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Ducky · April 21, 2006, 5:42pm

Hey elcamino, the only true way to know if you have strep is for the doc to do a throat culture... 24 Hours after you get put on antibiotics, you won't be contagious anymore... so becareful! Hope you feel better soon! Duck

Diagnosed January 2005 - Psoriatic Arthritis/Spondylitis

CaMama · April 24, 2006, 4:25am

Strep can be tricky and not always obvious, if you are concerned, I would go get a culture. As Ducky said, that is the only way to really know for sure. Obvious symptoms (white spots, sore throat, etc.) are not always present when you have strep, believe it or not.

Another symptom of strep can be a headache.

Since you are on enbrel, I say go get it checked out before it gets worse.

Good luck.

**