My daughter came home sick on Friday with one bout of vomiting and a fever. She had complained to me of a sore throat. I looked at her throat and I swear I saw some foggy/milky white patches and I immediately thought of strep throat. I took her in to the doctor's office and our regular doctor was out...so we had to see a PA. They took a strep test which came back negative. She said it was just some kind of throat virus and just to treat the symptoms.
Friday night, all day Saturday, all day Sunday and all day today she has had a high high fever topping off at 104.1. Yes, I've been alternating Motrin & Tylenol which does help with the fever, but, it always comes back. She still complains of a sore throat and sometimes an upset stomach. I checked her tonsils again tonight and there are prominant white patches on them and the entire throat is quite red.
My question is, could it be possible that is is in fact strep throat, but, we tested too early and it wasn't showing up positive yet?
I will be taking her back to the doctor tomorrow and hopefully our regular ped will be in the office.
Thanks in advance for your reply!
Did another strep test -- Negative
Did a mono test -- Negative
CBC -- Normal
Looks like just a really bad fever virus.
Thanks moms for all your advice!
Yes could definitely be wrong. My lil guy will test negative w/the rapid but will come back from the lab positive. Did they not send it out?
Possible, but it's also possible that it's not strep. My son had "strep symptoms" last fall... when we went to the doctor the "quick test" was negative and so was the long test. Ended-up being Coxsackie Disease... same symptoms, different "bug".
Did they send the culture to the lab to grow? One of my sons always tests negative on the rapid, but then the other comes back positive. So yes, it is very possible (and I think likely) that she does have strep.
Go back! Strep is miserable and the same thing happened to us. Monday went in and my daughter was acting crazy and that girl barley got her throat. Of course that comes back negative. I knew it wasn't right so by Thursday still with the fever and no eating we go back. What do you know! Strep! It can and has happened. Go back for your peice of mind. It could be viral but better safe than sorry! Hope your baby feels better!
It could have been too early. They may have used the wrong culture or test strip. But since you saw those white spots, I would have pushed it with the doctor. You KNOW what strept throat looks like.
I wouldn't fire your doctor over this, but I WOULD take her back to the doctor and have them retest her. Good luck and I hope she feels better soon. Once she's on antibiotics she'll start to feel better within 48 hours.
But listen: don't let them do ONLY the in-office culture. Insist that they send out a culture to the lab today. Don't let them hem and haw. They work for you and if you want it done they have to do it.
Of course it's possible that they were wrong. I'd get her re-checked. (It's not like our time is worth anything, right?)
Sounds like strep to me! I used to get strep all the time. Mine was like Kristina B.'s son...my rapid one always came back negative while the one they send to the lab was positive. I am not too sure how old your daughter is. Give her some warm stuff to drink, tea always helped to soothe my throat or gargle with warm saltwater. Good luck!
I hope she feels better soon!
Does her breath stink? Strep breath has it's very own smell - you won't forget it once you smell it! And from the rest of your post, I'd say, yep she does! (I've taken little one here to an immediate care center after work before - she never ran a high fever or such, but the breath was a total give-away - ugh!! by taking her on it, we got ahead of it getting worse! and they stayed open for us!)
Our pedi usually does a quick 5 minute strep test but also sends the test out for lab testing to be sure.
She has said sometimes the quick test shows negative but the lab one will show positive.
In our case she usually prescribes an antibiotic until the lab results come in so that IF it is in deed strep, we are on it already, IF the s=test shows up negative, we stop the antibiotics.
It sucks you have to have another visit to clear this up. $$$
They need to culture a swab. It's one thing to have a quick strep test done. It's another thing to do a culture. You need both. Ask for it.
I hope you get a definitive answer, and that she feels better real soon!
Dawn
Our ped or PA usually wait for the lab results to say definitively if it's strep or not, and if it is then go with a stronger antibiotic. Yes, it could be strep.
Thrush turns the entire mouth whiteish and hurts, it could be that strep or tonsilitis, most def take her back have a strep done and find out about thrush also
My daughter just went through the same thing.....I was FOR SURE it was strep. Both the rapid and other test came back negative. It was the cocksakie (sp?) virus (hand foot mouth, but just affects the throat). I guess that is what is was....so the dr may be right. Google it....its those exact symptoms your daughter has.
The doctor can always be wrong, and rapid strep tests are known to give false negatives. But it does sound just like coxsackie virus, which the only treatment is what you've been doing. Fluids, rest, control the fevers when it gets too high. It can last a bit, we had it earlier this month and it was about a weeks worth of feeling pretty darn bad. Hope she feels better soon! Here's some info:
http://www.parents.com/baby/health/other-issues/coxsackie...
Does her tongue have white patches as well? Have them check for scarlet fever....I recently have heard of quite a few people with that. Just a thought. And of course doctors can be wrong!
I'm a strep pro, and one of the things I always had to be cautious of was going in too early. I would KNOW it was strep, but if I went a day too early, they would send me home only to have to go back the next day for meds. It was probably just that for your daughter- hopefully she'll get the medicine she needs!
Yes, it's possible she has strep. You should take her back in to the doctor's office. What was the "treatment"? If she's taking antibotics and it's not getting better, than it's not strep.
sounds like they didnt test for step throat. time to find another doctor
K. h
Yes. Our doctors always take two. One is the rapid strep test and the other gets sent to a lab and takes 2 days to come back. Sometimes the rapid one will show a false negative.
She may not have had it long enough to come back positive the first time around. But it sounds like strep to me.
I have that kind of stuff in my throat all the time and it's not always strep. It can just be tonsillitis. I have never had strep even once. I have been tested numerous times too.
I think it won't hurt to be tested again anyway. Good luck, sore throats are a pain in the hiney.....
Is her throat so sore she can't swallow without pain? With strep it's more likely that her throat would be very red and without white patches covering the whole throat. It could be strep. However, it's likely its a virus. I've had those symptoms numerous times without having strep. And I've known several people with those same symptoms and it wasn't strep.
Here are pictures of strep throat. http://www.google.com/search?q=strep+throat&hl=en&...
My 13YO was diagnosed with pneumonia a couple weeks ago with almost the same symptoms: high fever, cough, sore throat but no vomitting or white spots on throat. Definitely go to doc again.
Yes, if you go in too soon, you can get a false negative on strep. I'd definitely call back tomorrow and let them know you'd like to run another test just to be sure. Hope she's feeling better soon!
