Sore Sore Sore Throat

My first symptom when I had mono was a horrible sore throat. Just about the worst sore throat of my life. And like you I couldn't swallow - it was just too excruciatingly painful. To be honest (this will sound gross) I kept a little cup beside me that i'd spit into just so that I wouldn't have to swallow my own spit. It was that bad. I don't remember if I was on medication or what medication it might have been. I was sick for a month and a half before I was finally diagnosed with mono so I was instead treated for strep throat, bronchitis, etc until a doctor finally ordered a blood test and discovered I had mono.

I don't think i'm much help but at least you know you aren't the only out there who has felt like this. I really hope you begin to feel better soon. Mono sucks.

I have been dealing with a throat like that for a month and a half.

My diet has consisted of milkshakes, jello, and medicine.

I cant even drink water, I take about 5 sips and by the 5th sip I am in excrutiating pain.

The best thing that I have found is to drink a mixture of 1 part honey, 1 part apple cider vinegar, and 3 parts hot water. I gargle this mixture for as long as I can, and then swallow it. It burns but it eventually makes the throat feel at least a little better.

I use ibuprofen for the pain, and have been through 5 bottles of chloloseptic spray, bags and bags of throat drops (ive tried every brand) and gargle with this prescription of lidocain that I got, but it tastes awful, feels awful, and even tho it completely numbs everything, it is still hard to swallow anything.

Another tip I got was to eat almonds covered in honey. I was suprised that I was actually able to swallow this, as the honey is pretty soothing and you just have to really really chew the almonds. Its a good snack.

I have also found that my homemade milkshakes (just ice cream, milk, and vanilla flavoring) are best for my throat.

Hope this helps.

I was diagnosed yesterday, yes...Valentine's day...And he put me on prednisone, and so far it's been working pretty well for the throat. I can't sleep either. I'm also on biaxin which is causing me to hallucinate in the middle of the nite (don't go on that stuff, it's not worth it). Just keep drinking water, yes, I know it hurts like hell, but youve gotta keep drinking. And see if your physician will put you on a low dose of prednisone for 5 days.

Yep I have that but I also have body aches on and off. I cant sleep so my eyes are all puffy. Dang dang dang.

I was diagnosed with mono 3 weeks ago, but it didn't really hit me until a couple of days ago. In fact, 3 weeks ago, my left tonsil was swollen a bit, so I took prednisone, tylenol-3 and some antibiotic in the penicillin family. That worked pretty well, but now, i'm getting round 2. I have the most intense sore throat pain i've ever experienced in my life. Truthfully, this may be the most intense pain i've ever felt in general.

My tonsils are so swollen that my ears and head hurt, and I have so much mucus and crap in my throat that I sound absolutely horrendous.

I'm on prednisone, tylenol-3, and a different antibiotic, this time. The tylenol-3 is the main player for pain relief, but when I wake up in the mornings, the pain is simply unbearable. When I swallow, my entire body tenses up.

When will the hurting stop?????

As it turns out, I ended up having to go to the hospital. My 2nd infection was no small deal; I think I had an anaerobic bacterial infection (i don't know for sure because I wasn't able to test). But yeah, since my immune system was (is) weakened by mono, I got another infection, presumably from one of my friends, who was coughing and sniffling last weekend (also unconfirmed...Just a hypothesis). Anyway, drugs that I got from the student health center at school couldn't bring the inflammation down in my tonsils, so I went to the er, where I saw an ent. I was given an iv drip of solumedrol, which is a more powerful steroid than the prednisone I was taking before. It apparently shrank my tonsils so quickly that the mucus and phlegm simply started to run off (i'm sure there were other factors involved). The discharge was incredibly thick, and it tasted and smelled horrible (which I why I think it was anaerobic); I wanted to gag and throw up, but I didn't have anything in my stomact anyway. I stayed hospitalized for a day, and now i'm back at school, ready to get my @$$ whipped, trying to catch up on work that I missed over the last week.

Worst sore throat ever
may 19th, 2006. Samuel j. Harkous

so I read this thread on tuesday, may 15th, the first day of the worst sore throat of my life. Ever. I was looking for help. I google searched "worst sore throat ever"

it was terrible! I dont even want to talk about it. But I will because I vowed that if I ever got better I would just want to go around helping people who were suffering incurabely like me, especially sore throat victims.

This is no laughing matter, even though most people cant really understand how bad having a sore throat like this really is, and they cant really do anything for you anyways.

Everyone seems to have some advice that they want to give you. You know, some herb or secret that I wished they would just shut up.
Ginger, garlic, licorice root, cayenne pepper gargling salt water gargling.

Yeah those are all great for minor sore throats, but will not solve the problem! They are just annoying! I speak from my experience.

You see, there are some sore throats that just cannot be cleared up that easily, and I think their pain and duration are the only visible signals of their viscious nature.

My story:

may 15th: late evening minor sore throat. Night one of excruiating sore throat
may 16th: woke up in the morning suffering heavily. Tried tea, cayyenne pepper gargling, ibuprofen, not much help. My right tonsil was swelled, filled with yellow stuff
( I could see it bulging and wanting to come out of a little slit in my tonsil, they usually call these things crypts) another night of terrible pain (body shaking every time I had to swallow)
may 17th: the pain gets worse in the morning. Woke up in the night every hour with a dry mouth urging for swallows that would reply with unbearable pain. Hell. I just wanted to die. Spent the whole day being miserable and trying not to swallow (see below for tips on how not to swallow). Visited health center at 2pm.
Good idea
doctor checked for strep. 30 min test showed negative strep. Sent home on prescription of 2 ibuprofin and half a vicodin 4 times a day. This is a good idea because it will help you get through the days until the throat heals. Felt better after a smoothie. A night of pain much worse than the previous nights. Un doing it believable. My god. Again, I just wanted to die and end my life, especially with no cure in sight. Very depressed. It was my birthday.
May 18th: woke up, determined to walk around because that was the only thing that seemed to save me during the days. Went to the bank, dmv, wildberries for a smoothie, and chp to correct a ticket. I got a lot done that had to be done because I expected to pass out/ die / become completely invalid within the day. It was that bad. But im proud of myself for pushing through the misery to get those things done.
4 o clock: went to the er
good idea
the nurse practitioner suspected an abscess in my right tonsil, which had swollen so large that it filled half of the back of my throat. They decided to numb up my throat and stick a needle in the tonsil to drain it of puss and put me on anti biotics.
I am scared of needles. I hate them. They gave me a relaxer pill and an antibiotic, and 30 minutes later they did it. Sigh, I still feel traumatized, but I was willing to do anything at that point, even killling myself seemed like a great option. Anything to stop the ceaseless suffering. I went back to my friends house and took a nap in the car while she was getting ready to drive me home. I woke up in terror, not knowing who I was, where I was or knowing what was inside of my mouth. It felt like wings of an airplane sideways in my throat, choking me. I panicked and ran upstairs, and was scared shitless for a half hour, trying to figure out what was in my throat. I broke down and cried an hour later. It felt no better and I couldnt swallow or even tell the muscles to swallow. It was really scary especially because I hadnt eaten in 5 days, since sunday night. But I buckled up after a half hour of desperate crying and forced swallows of "recharge" lemonade and the liquid vicodin that they gave me at the er, 2 ibuprofin and started to chill out. It still hurt but at least I chilled the medical question out. By the time I went to bed at 12pm I put two sets of pain dose (1 pain dose= 2 ibuprofin, 1/2 vicodin every 4 hours) for the night and was feeling better already. The doc had made holes in the tonsil when he poked in there for draining. I was in good spirits as I went to sleep.
This was the first night of no pain. No waking up with a dry mouth. No screaming or freaking out. Thank god. Thank you doctors everywhere. Praise jesus himself. I am so doing it thankful I cannot begin to relate it in words. Maybe ill write a song about it. I will definately help people suffering in the world to show my thanks.
May 19th: today. Woke up feelin allright. Been feeling happy and chipper all day. I can finally eat and swallow without pain! Praise the lord! Hallelujah! Im so happy to be alive.

Went to the student health center to fill the meds. A followup showed an overnight culture of strep was also negative, 98% accurate. It probably was not strep.

I am going to take the half vicodins 4 times a day for the little pain thats left until its gone, and take a 10day set of antibiotics to make sure its done right and doesnt come back. Antibiotics are amazing, and I am so thankful that we have them today, they really are a miracle. Make sure you dont be foolish with them, finish the prescription all the way to the 10th day. You have to, read about it if you dont want to, ok?

So my advice:

1) if you can tell that its not a normal sore throat, go to a doctor right away.

2) if you go to the doctor, they can help you.

I didnt want to because I dont usually trust in modern medicine. Also, I am broke and knew I couldnt afford anything expensive. (i wouldnt even go to the open door clinic on tuesday may 16th because it cost 20$) the thing is though, when you are in serious pain and its getting worse, you need help and it is out there. They can at least try to find out what it is. Bacteria, abscess, bad tonsils, strep throat. Just going to see some one who is a professional will help your outlook on things.

3) get a second opinion

the health center could have stopped my suffering by tuesday may 16th if they had given me the antibiotics that I asked for. The nurse practitioner would not prescribe anti biotics because no strep bacteria was found in the test. Antibiotics were the correct solution, even though it was not strep.

4) just know that the nights are going to be the worst. You lie down and things get all clogged up.

5) be strong. If all else fails and nothing works and the pain is so bad that you just want to kill yourself and you dont want to go seek help, go to the hospital before you kill yourself.

6) tip for not swallowing. Gently press your tongue up to the roof of your mouth, creating a sliding angle for saliva to go down your throat.

I learned this tip from my dojo in san diego. When meditating for hours on end, swallowing can be a serious distraction. So the monks figured out that if you point the tip of your toungue to the roof of your mouth and roll the tongue a bit, the saliva will just slide down your throat and you wont feel the urge to swallow so often. Youll only need to swallow about once every 15 minutes, or hour if your sleeping. This is so crucial in avoiding those heartbreaking moments before and during each swallow.

7) be as healthy as you can be with whatever supplements and food and fluids you can get down past your throat

i really hope that this helps people suffering from the sore throat out there. I feel your pain, so much.

Love and respect,

samuel j. Harkous

My throat was just hat bad last week. I went to the emrgency room and they gave me some perscription percosats. It really helps. For the time being i would also completely recomend gargurling salt water. It helps break up the mucus. Try to do it like 5-7 times a day. But try to get to the docs asap. The meds didnt really help me swallow it just knocked me out forlong hours at a time so that when i woke up i felt good enough to drink. Go go go mark. Go and get meds.

i was just diagnosed yesterday after two useless visits to the ER (both misdiagnosis, both by the same doctor, both the SAME WRONG DIAGNOSIS) by my regular doc.
my throat hurt horribly too until yesterday. the best thing that worked for me:
i'm on a heavy dose of prednisone (steroids) : 6 yesterday, 6 today, and then 5-4-3-2-1- until they're gone.
then for the pain, believe it or not, my doc put me on Xanax and it worked WONDERFULLY. Valium works well too. it'll relax your whole body, and help your muscles relax if they're contracting involuntarily

heres the hard part though. despite how much it hurts, drink as much water, juice, clear fluids as you possibly can! it hurts something fierce but trust me if you can slam a glass of water ( i found a straw helps) every glass after that will go down all the easier. the sore throat is largely due to not being hydrated and lubricated, and having fluids in your body will help that pain tremendously. tough out the pain, drink some water, and talk to your doctor about the drugs. ive been sick about a week, and since yesterday alone i'm already able to eat 'sick food' (i'm still mad about this though, i'm 18 years old, a male, and the steroids are making me want to eat like a horse. i love food, and i'm a cook, so it's killing me to not be able to eat good, hearty food!)
as soon as i'm better, i'm firing up the grill and fixin a feast!

best of luck to you!
Erick

also, when you sleep, do so propped up- like you would be in a hospital bed. it will help prevent mucus (and in my case, not so much mucus, but majorly thick saliva) from building up in your throat which contributes to the irritation as well
again, best of luck!

I can tolerate pain really well and I consider myself to be a tough person... but that sore throat that I had for 2 days was pure hell. The mucusy stuff would build up and when I'd go to try and loosen it up, it would touch my enlarged gag reflex and I'd go to yak but nothing would come up. It sucked. The pain felt while swallowing is unlike any other feeling in the world.

The glands in my mouth also swelled up and started to hurt. After the sore throat was gone, my mouth was very sore and I had a gross aftertaste when I would swallow. Has this happened to anyone else?

Ive been a little under the weather for nearing 4 weeks now with mild flu-like sypmtoms. Around the 3rd week I started to feel a lot better, but then suddenly over night my throat became unbearably sore on the left side and is nearly sweollen shut. I have no other symptoms at all. My doctor put me on a 14 day medication period on an anitbiotic called Clindamycin. I have been taking it for almost a week and it has yielded absolutely no results at all. The swelling is worse than ever and the pain has remained virtually unchanged.

Im probably going to go back to the doctor to get him to do a throat culture, but Im still curious as to what this could possibly be.

Help me!

i just found out yesterday that i have mono, but i've been dealing with the excruciating sore throat since friday...so for like,5 or 6 days and it is just getting worse. the doc didnt give me any meds, just said take advil or tylenol, but that is not helping at all. i literally have not slept in 5 days because the pain is so bad and everytime i lay down, propped up or not, i have to get all the nasty mucus and phlegm out of my throat. i keep an empty ice cream carton with me and hock stuff up in it when i need to or just spit my saliva in it so i dont have to swallow. swallowing is the most pain ive ever had ever, and i'm a 17 year old athlete and ive had many many injuries over the years.i'm excited to get to the phase where i'm just so tired and sleeping all the time because i just want to sleep.i wanted to know how long everyones sore throat lasted??? ive been living off of noodle soup broth & jello & pudding which is terrible for me as a soccer player,because normally i monitor just about everything i eat and drink and gear it towards my soccer performance.i really need to get over this sore throat and obnoxiously swollen tonsils so i can breathe and sleep and stop hocking up my brains.should i go to the doctor and tell him i need pain killers?dont really know what to do.also i force as much water down my throat that i can, but it just kills me to swallow.normally i drink a few gallons of water a day, and now i can barely drink two glasses.any suggestions?ive been using straws but it hasnt really helped.this sucks, i just want to go back to school and finish all my college essays and have a good christmas and new years, although that most likely will not happen

It's Christmas. It's 2am. Up in the middle of the night for the fourth time this week. I've had my sore throat for nine days and it gets more and more painful.

Was diagnosed with mono about six days ago and all they said was rest and drink fluids, lots and lots of fluids. It all started about three weeks ago with fever, body aches, extreme fatigue, night sweats... then the fever went away after three days, and the nausea set in for four or five.. loss of appetite, headaches every night. THe nausea left and then the swollen sore throat started, and it has been the bane of my existence for over a week now... All this time, for the last three weeks I've had this huge swollen lymph node on my left side, like an egg stuck in my throat. so huge you can see it bulging out when you look at me. My right side joined it about three days ago, but then they've both gone down as of yesterday.

My sore throat worsens. For a while my tonsils were so swollen, if I pressed on my huge lymph nodes my airway was blocked. I can feel my tonsils constantly when I breathe or talk. Talking hasn't been too painful for most of the time, except in the last few days. But swallowing is so excruciatingly painful I cringe every time I have to. It always seems to feel better after I eat (all soft foods.. applesauce and scrambled eggs) but maybe that's all the ibuprofin I've been taking. I'll take 600, sometimes 800 mg and it will only lessen the pain slightly... When it's really bad, which is off and on about ten or fifteen times a day, lasting anywhere from 20 min to two hours, my whole throat throbs with pain, and I can feel my eardrums aching with my pulse. It feels like someone stuck a zester in the back of my throat and has been dragging it back and forth over my tonsils for the last nine days.

This sucks.

I think I'm going to have to go to the doctor again, but they'll probably tell me what everything else that I read about tells me...with mono there's no antibiodics or anything to get rid of it, just rest and drink fluids.

I've been drinking gallons of water every day, even though it hurts like #*$&. I've also been taking all sorts of supplements from herbal remedies and things... ginger and horsetail tea with honey, vitamin A with bioflavinoids, grapfruit seed extract, some other stuff I can't remember... I only notice the tea gives some relief for a few minutes... gargling with salt water is also only mildly successful at relieving this aching.

I've been waking up at 2, 5, and 7 nearly every night.. I'm tired and my eyes ache and I want to go to sleep but my legs are restless and my throat has this constant burning aching scratching throbbing that I want to take more ibuprofin but I just had 600 mg two hours ago.

Dangit dangit dangit.

I find that when I wake up at 2, it helps to do something for ten or fifteen minutes, then sleep on the couch til I wake up again, then transfer back to bed. It's like tricking yourself that something's different and you can rest now. It's pretty pathetic.

I think if this lasts much longer I may become delusional during my nighttime wakings.

I forget what it's like to not be in pain.

Consolation: Childbirth may be more painful than this.

I'm on my 6th day now with mono.

First I thought it was a sore throat and maybe I was comming down with a cold then by the third day I couldn't take it, the pain was so unbearable I started to cry. So I went to the doctors and he gave me a strep test and that came back negative. After that came back negative he basically told me to go home and walk it off. But how could I!? I couldn't sleep, swallow or eat without being is a tremedous amount of pain. So I decided to go back two days later and had a new doctor, he did a strep test and it came back negative again then he did a mono test and within 10 min he came back with my resulsts saying I had mono. He prescribed me prednizone and some numbing gel to gargle and said to still take ibeprofin. Before I went to the doctors it seemed like nothing worked. I was taking 800mg of ibeprofin and sucking on cough drops all day. What helped me a little bit is drinking squirt. I don't know why but it made my throat feel a little bit better just for a second, haha. But after getting prescribed stuff I can handle the pain. This has to be one of the worst pains I have ever felt in my entire 18 years of life. I can only sleep for maybe a good 3 hours a night and when I wake up I just cry and I usually have a very high pain tolerance but the pain of this sore throat is just unbearable. My tonsels are swollen that they are almost touching and my throat just looks nasty!

Does anyone know how long the sore throat will last? I live in Michigan and i'm supposed to be flying to Virginia in a week and now i'm not sure if i'm going to be able to go cause from what I hear mono lasts a while.