Strep or Allergies

My daughter had strep 6 or 7 times last year. SHe never once had a fever. She would be totally normal until at night she would say her throat felt weird. I would take a look with a flash light and then see the red spotty rash on the roof of her mouth. We ended up getting her tonsils taken out last summer. She has not even had a runny nose since! She made it the entire school year with out getting sick at all. Nothing, no colds, strep, stomach bugs. She has been super healthy. Her ENT did say though that they do not take tonsils out until they have had it at least 6 times with in a 12 month period. So 4 times might not be enough.

Strep has no cough. Whatever she has it isn't strep. They should be swabbing to diagnose, not to show she is better.

If you google strep and cough you will see that the two things that rule out strep without a visit is high fever? No, not strep. Cough? Yes, not strep.

Removing tonsils makes even less sense than allergies.

I have had my allergies turn into sinus infections but that is only after a major allergic reaction. You would see the allergies long before the infection.

So allergies can cause a sinus infection but nothing causes strep except the strep bacteria.

Guys I have never had strep nor has anyone in my family but I read and there have been tons of articles out in the past year about people being diagnosed with strep when they don't have it. I know me and my kids do not get a fever with infections so if we did get strep I doubt we would get a fever so I do believe others are right that the fever isn't necessary. Still all reports say if you have a cough you do not have strep.

To Gidget, I didn't know allergies can cause a sinus infection until it happened. Just as a bad cold can give you a sinus infection so can bad allergies since it also swells the nasal passages. Apparently I am highly allergic to NYC. Not a fun vacation!

Well, I've only had strep 2 times, and I didn't have a fever with either one. Not sure if Julie is right about the cough meaning it's not strep, but I do know that strep does not necessarily cause a fever.

I always thought allergies and an infection were not at all related (in other words, I was under the impression that allergies could not lead to an infection), but I could definitely be wrong. This is a great question to ask your doctor!!!

My 5 year old has this really annoying cough (always clearing his throat in a way that makes people cringe). I felt like the (ped approved) cough medicine did absolutely nothing for him. His ped said he most likely has seasonal allergies that are causing post-nasal drip. She suggested giving him Zertec or Claritin. Last year I gave him Claritin and felt like it did nothing! Then I learned that it can take a week or so for it to build up in your system and actually be helpful (I thought it was more like Sudafed where it helps relieve your symptoms for 12 hours). Anyway, we tried it again this year, and it has definitely made a difference.

I think I would talk to the doctor about an OTC allergy med and see if he/she thinks that might help with the cough. It is important to note the symptoms your daughter shows when she gets strep. Not everyone shows the same symptoms, and it's good for you to be able to tell the doctor that which symptoms seem to show up for her.

It really can be tough for doctors to check for things like allergies at this age. Keep asking lots of questions. Be persistent, but try to be patient, as it really can take time and more information in order for doctors to give you the definitive answers you seek.

ETA - Julie S, learn something new everyday, right? I guess anytime our sinuses aren't behaving it can lead to an infections.

I don't believe you'd ever have a positive strep culture because of allergies. You said the last time you took her back it was negative so why did they put her on another antibiotic?

I think the next stop should be an allergist. It sounds like she has a lot of congestion and post nasal drip. Before my oldest daughter started getting allergy shots her congestion would be so bad that she would cough and throw up. Cough medicines and large amounts of antihistamines were useless as well. The allergist did the scratch tests and recommended allergy shots. They have done wonders for her.

Strep is strep, but it sounds to me like she also has environmental allergies. If you get her allergies under control she probably will be healthier overall.

We went through that for years! My child had atypical strep symptoms as well. She never had a fever. She often had a drippy nose. Her brother had strep with no symptoms at all. We only had him tested because we all kept getting it whenever she got it. I got to the point when I would insist on a test any time she complained. It was always positive, even when the doc was skeptical because the symptoms weren't typical. We removed tonsils two years ago. Not so much as a cold since.

Eta - Doris day's experiences were similar to ours - often an upset stomach was more of a marker than a fever or sore throat and we would often have a negative test, only to come back with a positive one a couple of weeks later.

One thing to think about is that she might be re-infecting herself with her toothbrush, or if she has anything she frequently chews on or mouths......

I had heard to replace your toothbrush when you have strep, but I didn't know WHEN to replace it.... at the end of the antibiotics, during the antibiotics, or what? I had been having repeated strep infections myself for a while.

I asked my doctor, and he said to just frequently disinfect the toothbrush with listerine... that does a GREAT job of killing the bacteria that cause the repeated infections.

So.... after that, I started dunking my toothbrush in the original type of listerine, and I think that really helped. It can't hurt, anyway.

sounds like allergies to me-give her a teaspoon of honey at bedtime,have her sleep propped up thatll help with the coughing.sounds like your doc is being pretty lazy-find a new one...did you try some benadryl? try that also..good luck..

Do you have cats? They can carry strep and pass it on. I don't know about dogs but maybe they can too.

What a pain in the butt this is for you. I'd be livid if I wasn't getting answers. Strep is NOTHING to play with. My sister was misdiagnosed at 5 years old, and ended up getting scarlet fever because of the misdiagnosis. Her skin peeled off of her in sheets - she looked like a zombie, S., and I'm not kidding. It also affected her joints and she couldn't walk for a few weeks.

Rheumatic fever is what can follow strep too. THAT affects the heart. We are eternally grateful that my sister didn't get that. Scarlet fever was bad enough.

Neither of my kids got high fevers with strep. One of our docs did a strep test to "placate" me, and walked into the waiting room and apologized to me in front of all the parents in there telling me that she was amazed that he had strep - his throat didn't look like it. She thanked me for asking for the strep test.

Sometimes my kids would have stomach upsets along with a little sore throat. Sometimes the strep test was negative, and then weeks later, when I'd take them back because they still weren't feeling well, the strep test would be positive. It seems like when the stomach is involved, it takes a while for strep to show as positive.

I got to the point that with EVERY sore throat, I got a strep test. Most of the time, I was right. Sometimes, especially with a high fever, it was a virus of some sort.

I do NOT know the answer to your question about allergies. I WOULD recommend that you get your child to an allergist and have a full panel of tests done. The tests are better now than they used to be.

You do have to wait a while to see positive effects of antibiotics.

I want to offer you the following advice. Type up a list of dates that you took your daughter to the doctor for this, write down the diagnosis and the treatment. Make it very easy to read. Find a ped ENT that is well thought of and take this list with you. If you have any papers from your current doc that back up your list, that's good to have. You do need to make a decision about the tonsils and adenoids. I would really want to consider this, but not until after you've had allergy testing.

You also need to discuss this issue about allergies/strep with the allergist. They know a lot of things. If he/she uncovers anything in the allergy testing, he/she can talk to the ENT and between the 3 of you, come up with a course of action to help your child.

I did a lot of this for my younger son because of his sinus infections. He also has structural abnormalities in the sinuses and a submucus cleft palate, but we didn't know at the time. Part of the work I did finding help and demanding diagnostic testing is WHY I found out about his structural problems. Thank goodness we found out. He had severe speech problems too and learning about his structure made a huge difference in our ability to get him more specialized help.

Just stand up for your child, and find other help if these doctors don't know what they are doing. You know your child. You don't have to keep running in circles with these same doctors. If you are really in St Paul, MN, I'd try the Mayo Clinic. I think you'd have some success with them.

Best of luck, S..

Strep is a germ, either you have it or you don't, either you've been exposed to someone who has it by drinking after them, touching their nasal spray after they sneeze, or even a toy they've touched after touching their mouth or nose.

I'd make sure to take her only to the ENT for anything to do with her sinuses, ears, and throat from this point forward. They are specialist in this area.

Since she's getting strep over and over I'd make sure to research some ways she might be getting re-exposed to it. That's so sad she's going through this.

Some strep is viral and antibiotics do nothing for it. She should not be taking antibiotics if it's viral. She may get a secondary bacterial infection though and need them for something else.

First, yes, a dairy allergy to (cow) casein or whey can cause the issues your daughter has. I was diagnosed with a casein allergy when I was 40 years old. Once I cut cow dairy out of my diet, my stuffy nose, clogged throat, bronchitis/chest issues, stuffed ears, wheezing, terrible/hacking up a lung coughing in the winter time--all that went away. If I stay away from dairy, I have no issues or problems.

Second, my daughter had strep when she was little to the point where she would get a systemic strep infection where green liquid would come out down below/private parts. Yes, very, very disgusting. We opted to have her tonsils taken out. When the Ped ENT doctor came out of surgery, he was white as a ghost. First, her tonsils had been way bigger than they thought and went further back into her throat. Second, pathology discovered that her tonsils were completely and totally full of strep. Which floored everyone, because when she went in for surgery, she wasn't sick and no signs of strep had been detected in her pre-surgery visit.