Hi,i'm 19 years old,male,light smoker for about a year. Recently i've been waking up with a stinging throat and my throat was/is red and a tad sore. But other than that i felt fine. But i went to the doctor to see what he could do about this annoyance. He told me i have Pharyngitis , an iflamation of the airways from my sinuses down my throat and i needed penicillin.
It's Penicillin VK 300mg. About an hour after i took the first one i started feeling MUCH worse. My nose is running non stop,my throat hurts,i'm sneezing and coughing. My eyes ache to no end. And i've got a fever(about 101.5).The pharmacist said it would take 48 or more hours to kick in and i'm only on like hour 30. Anways,my question is just,is it normal for Penicillin to make you feel much worse than you did before you started taking it? I rememeber being on this same medication a few months ago for another sore throat problem,and it did make me cough and when i've had it for strep throat it made it feel worse but then MUCH better after awhile. It's just never been this bad.
Also... how much damage will the occasional cigarette (like 1-2 a day) do to me while i've got pharyngitis?

PS. if this posted blank first sorry,my stupid enter button is stuck
Thank you for your time.
It's nice to know there's a place like this that i can come to when i'm worried.
PSS. It's 5am here and i can't sleep,thats how terrible i feel!!

Yes, i have been on penicillin several times before. Also for the past couple of months its felt like something is caught up in my throat around where my tonsil used to be on the left side of my throat. Which is getting annoying. Any idea what that could be? And as for quitting the cigarettes before i got sick i had set an official quit date for this comming monday.

I personally don't think you're allergic to penicillin. My daughter and my father are. My dad swells and puffs up all around his neck and body, and my daughter gets swollen, blotchy, rashy areas around her body when she takes it.

Unfortunately, sometimes the antibiotic makes us feel worse before it makes us feel better - I'd call the pharmacy just in case. You should have gotten a little print out on the different possible side effects of the penicillin. If any of the side effects that are mentioned on the print out you are having, definately talk to the pharmacist...

I've had pharyngitis before, and have never been given anything for it...my doctor told me it was a virus that doesn't react to antibiotics....could be you were in the developing stages of something else too, and the penicillin just gave it a jump start with you getting the fever and all.

Make sure you drink LOTS of liquids, as hard as that may be with a sore throat and all....

I was a smoker for over 13 years (2 packs a day) and believe me, it doesn't get any better!! Try to hide the cigs while you're recouping from this - you'll get better quicker. The cigarettes will keep irritating your throat. (funny, when I would get sick, I hated to drink fluids because it hurt, but yet I would light up no matter what!!)

Good luck to you~

~northernlights~