Strep Throat - Waxahachie,TX

You all need to get tested... people can be carriers, too.
Tonsils or not, you can still get Strep.
Or maybe they need another type of antibiotic. Sometimes, a certain antibiotic will not work, and then a different family of antibiotics needs to be used. Also, some strep strains will get/or are resistant to certain antibiotics.

You just can't keep their hands out of their mouths 24/7. Don't worry. Hopefully they wont get sick when they are older.

Wow-I am surprised that your docs are doing a tonsillectomy. I would wait if I were you. They can be VERY dangerous (my friend'd daughter almost died from it bleeding out). My son gets strep about 6 times a year and his docs STILL say no operation. GIve it another year.

Also-have they ever tested negative?? If not they could be carriers of it and have it all the time.

Do you think O. of you could be a "carrier"?

That was my thought....could someone be a carrier and it is being constantly passed on?

You should have your whole family checked to see if one of you is a strep carrier. Your regular pediatrician (if they are good!) can do the test. It can be someone in your family (who may not be showing symptoms) that can be passing it around.

I would not go for a tonsillectomy unless this had been going on for at least 6 months. They may have just not had a strong enough antibiotic or you didn't do the entire 10 days or whatever the instructions were. It is a major surgery with possible complications and not a fun recovery at all. Don't jump into it before you know you are in a chronic type situation and not an acute illness that has not yet been treated properly.

My daughter was diagnosed 3 times with strep within a 2 month period. The doc believed she never really got completely rid of it the first 2 times. They gave her a stronger antibiotic and she has not had it since. This was many years ago. Did your pediatrician refer you to the ENT or did you go on your own? If I were you I would ask the ENT what guidelines they use to determine when the tonsils need to be removed. If this is a problem your child has every year then perhaps it is needed but if this is the first season I might wait. I am not a doctor though so please don't go by my medical advice. I just think it is always a good idea to ask lots of questions of the docs. Good luck.

Two months seems like a brief amount of time to be dealing with this to resort to a tonsillectomy. Someone in the house can be a carrier and not have symptoms themselves. Has everyone in the house been tested? That said, when my son was 6-7 he had repeated bouts of strep (approx. 5x) over the course of a year. He was developing allergies to mutiple antibiotics, including penicillin and amoxicillin, which are usually used to treat strep. So, he had the tonsillectomy. It worked. He didn't get strep again until last winter when he was 13. However, a tonsillectomy is not a pleasant procedure. It was a very difficult recovery period. In our case it was necessary and successful, but I wouldn't recommend it until you had explored other options. Good luck.

ASO and DNASE titers can show if a person has chronic strep. But the issue is how to deal with it. In the autism world some docs put the kids with high titers on antibiotics fo 30 days, others put them on zithro once a week for several months.

As others have mentioned, someone in the house might be a carrier, but not have symptoms. I'm not sure how you get that checked out. But, you should probably look into it.

I have a friend that had twin boys that had strep all the time and she ended up getting them the tonsilectomy's and it solved all of their problems.

Good luck!
L.

I agree with Denise. One or both could be carriers, or toothbrushes have not been replaced since the last strep, or major cleaning hasn't taken place. About 3 years ago, we had strep, and I mean 3 times each. It was the first time we had ever had strep (i even had to look it up after the diagnosis). So, of course I had no idea what to do. The third time (within 2 months) our pediatrician said: i assume you've replaced the toothbrushes 48 hrs after starting to take antibiotics? uhm no. i didn't know that. so then i learned that with strep everything has to be cleaned top to bottom, toys, everything that could have come in contact with us and strep. that's how we got rid of them.
so two possible scenarios: carriers, or strep never left the house. either way, i wish you luck. strep is my number two virus i loathe.

my daughter had strep and sinus infections all the time. She was on antibiotics for almost 6 months straight. When she was 2 we had her tonsils and adnoids removed. She has been so much healthier since. She rarely gets sick now.
The surgery was not a problem for her at all. The day after surgery she was wanting to run around and eat like nothing had happened. So please don't let others scare you about the surgery. No matter the age or surgery there are risks, you just have to decide for your self what is best. I had an amazing pediatric ENT who did her surgery.

A.,
I've had strep close to 30 times. My tonsils ended up rotting out, but I still get it.

I have heard that sometimes a friendly dog in the house will pass the strep around.

If I am sick for several months straight, the doctor will give me gamma globulin, a blood product that immediately has me feeling better. Doctors don't like to give it - you are "borrowing" someone else's immune system for a while. It was the only thing that would get me better though. Each time you can an infection it wears you down, talking weeks to fully recover. At this time, you are more vulnerable to infection. Of course, strep can lead to heart problems land arthritis. The gamma globulin gave my body time to get stronger. (15 years after I was first given gg, they found out that I have an autoimmune glitch that interferes with my ability to fight infection.)

Good luck!
Jen

Both of my kids got strep repeatably like yours. My oldest had strep 9 times in less than a year. My youngest got it 10 times in 10 months. The first time my oldest got it she got it she was 18 mos old. I sanitized everything, boiled all the sippy cup valves, replaced toothbrushes and cleaned all toys - and she still got again & again. She stayed at home so she wasn't getting it from other kids. Everyone in the family got tested to see if we were carriers - no one was. Long story short- last year she got strep 9 times in about 10 months. Every two weeks after finishing her antibiotics she was sick with strep again. Her little sister started getting it too - right after older sister got it. Between both of my kids they both had had it about 10 times in less than a year, 5 yr old and 2 yr old. I went to two pediatric ENT to get a second opinion for the 2 yr old - both ENT's suggested the the 2 yr old needed both her tonsils & adenoids out. The last straw was the last time the 2 yr got sick with strep. She had the typical symptoms - not wanting to eat, fever and over all cranky. Took her to the doctor & she tested for strep again - 5 days later she still had fever it spiked to 103 after being on antibiotics for 5 days. She had spell where she was acting "out of it." Took back to doctor and she got a high powered antibiotic shot to get her fever down. The pediatrician suspected that she has infected adenoids as well because we could not get the recurrent infections to stop.

Last March, both my 5 yr old and 2 yr old got their tonsils & adenoids removed. It was the best thing to have done for them. They have not had strep since then. The 2 yr old had strep so many times the last year that the ENT told me that when her adenoids were removed that the adenoids were in terrible condition & never had a chance to develop or function properly due to the recurrent strep infections. They have been doing well ever since getting their tonsils & adenoids removed - no strep throat since. They still get the typical cold from time to time or allergies but no strep throat. I love not having to go to the doctor every 2 weeks.

Not me personally but one of my cousin's kids and my nephew have both had repetitive bouts of strep and had their tonsils removed. Please know that once the tonsils have been removed, they CAN still get strep throat (it lessens the possibility but it does not eliminate it). They will not be able to get tonsilitis anymore though (without tonsils they will call it pharyngitis).

I have gotten strep repetively at times but it was most likely a case of it not resolving and it lingered rather than actually reoccuring.

Do you have a dog? I understand they carry strep and if the dog licks on them or their things it would be easy for the kids to get it.

Yes, it's possible. My daughter was constantly getting strep until she had her tonsils out two years ago. Please be aware that your children can still get strep even without tonsils (my daughter got it only a few weeks after she got her tonsils out!). But the tonsils are likely the problem because they are malfuntioning and holding onto the bacteria vs. helping to filter (which is their primary function). Even though my daughter has gotten strep a couple of times since her tonsils were removed, it hasn't been nearly as bad and cleared up easily.