On March 6 I woke up with a bad sore throat and a fever. I had never had strep before, but I knew it must really hurt. My throat was on fire and I couldn't swallow. I went to the local walk-in medical clinic rather than calling my own doctor, because it was a sunday. I saw a Physician's Assistant who looked in my throat and immediately told me I had strep. I had at least half a dozen pus pockets all over my tonsils. I am allergic to anti-biotics in the Amoxicillin and Penicillin family, so he gave me Levaquin for 10 days. They did do an overnight culture and called me the next morning to say it was definitely positive. This I already knew, because aside from feeling like there were golf balls in the back of my throat, I had a fever of 103-104. I took the Levaquin diligently for 10 days. Not wanting to have a relapse, I stayed home from work for the entire week. I am a teacher and I catch everything from my kids! I had an appointment with the nurse practicioner at my primary care doctor's office already for that week, March 9th. I kept it, and she looked in my throat and said it was clearing up nicely. No more pus pockets or redness. I was feeling a lot better. Then on saturday, March 19th I saw my ophthalmologist, because whenever I get sick I get pink eye without fail. Since he's my friend, I asked him to do me the favor of looking in my throat because it was starting to hurt again. He said it looked fine, but he couldn't see all the way down. On sunday I woke up with a low-grade
fever and my throat was killing me again. I spoke with the nurse practicioner, who told me to come in for a "real" strep test, where they would send it to the lab and take 5 days to grow it out. The nurse who took the culture said that my throat is red again and my tonsils are huge, but no pus.

They are not sure if the Levaquin was the right anti-biotic to give me. They think that maybe my infection wasn't susceptible to it, or I should have been on it for a much longer period of time. I really think that Levaquin is one of the best anti-biotics out there, and all of the doctors agree with me. But if it didn't work, and it looks like it didn't, then what the heck do I take? I need to take a Cephalosporin, because I am also allergic to Sulfa. I can take Levaquin, Ceftin, Avelox, Zithromax (love the Z-Pak), Tequin, Lorabid, and sometimes if I really can't avoid it, Biaxin. I get very very bad "female problems" as an allergic reaction. Not yeast infections. Just inflammation, burning, etc....

I'm going back to the doctor on friday to get the results of the culture and see what to do next. I need to get rid of this! I am a teacher and I can't talk because my tonsils are so swollen! The only thing that makes me feel better is drinking lots of frozen slurpees, and using Sucrets Lozenges and Chloraseptic spray.

So after that long story, my question is: What is the best, best, best anti-biotic for strep? (that I can take!) I need to get rid of this ASAP!

Thanks,

Elyse