I'm in pain.

Basically, I've had a really sore throat since Sunday night. At first I thought it was a cold or something because I had a sore head, felt ill etc. But I also had great difficulty swallowing. My flatmate is a medic at uni and he reckons its tonsillitis. I was just wondering if, short of going to the doctors, there was anything I could do. Is it possible to buy antibiotics that will help the problem? The thing is I am not registered at a GP practice at uni yet and I really need relief ASAP. Cheers everyone.

Reply 1

LAMP

Yeah, my sister had the same thing, she passed away last week :frown:

Reply 2

hotfuzz

Thanks for that. But seriously.

Reply 3

Dionysus

Go to your Uni GP and register when you're there - it doesn't take very long... just make sure you have all of the relevant details with you. Failing that, do you have an NHS drop-in place or something?

Reply 4

JC.

I have had this for the same time period accompanied with occasionally coughing up blood. Stock up on strepsils and all will be well soon.
(thats what i'm counting on anyway!)

Reply 5

punktopia

Any other symptoms? Really tired, swollen glands? If not, it's probably just tonsilitis. It can get better if you just leave it, but you're probably best off visiting a doctor and getting some penicillin. You really should register anyway; it's rather useful from time to time.

Reply 6

superman Zog

Sounds to me like you got early syptoms of flu, occurs in temperate change like when it suddenly turn super cold. Students are always passing this **** around.

If its just a sore throat:
Buy stepsils that have anti-baterial stuff and drink lots of fluid first. If it doesn't go away and you still have a sore throat that feels like your swallowed a razor blade and hurt like **** go and see you doctor to get some pencillin as you may have a sore throat infection. Make sure the room is well ventillated so that fresh air can get around, if not open a window.

As for any headaches, lemsip flu works wonders. This alwayed worked for me.

Reply 7

hotfuzz

From what I can see, it's an abscess on one of my tonsils. Apparently quite an uncommon complication. Just my luck. Well, I'm off to the university health centre first thing in the morning then.

Reply 8

PhantomBoggler

out of curiosity, whats a tonsil?

Reply 9

JC.

say "aah" and look in the mirror.... see the bit hanging down from the roof of your mouth at the back? (are you loving the technical terminology? :p:

)
Tonsils are either side.

*edit*... the question was what not where... doh!
I believe they are the first line of defense aginst infection... Lymph node?
pass... any med students?

Reply 10

sweetnfresh2

hotfuzz

My flatmate is a medic at uni and he reckons its tonsillitis.

Is it possible to buy antibiotics that will help the problem? The thing is I am not registered at a GP practice at uni yet and I really need relief ASAP. Cheers everyone.

The best solution with tosillitis is having the tonsils removed! Is it really expensive to have a surgery without a student health insurance there? I had mine removed when I was about 8 years old, and it's been really great since then. I used to have the pains, which you're complaining about.
Here where I live, there was a visiting student from California to our city (univ.) for a summer program this summer. She didn't have a student health insurance, but had to have an emergency surgery. Her doc told her that the cost would be $18,000 (c.13,500 GBP). Yeah, it was pretty tragic.

Reply 11

EsStupido

Less said about America the better I suspect.

My tonsils have never hurt me. Then again I'm ridiculously cool so that could be the reason.

Reply 12

WokSz

DrunknMonkey

out of curiosity, whats a tonsil?

I think it's safe to say that tonsils are a gland to the side of your throat. Here's a picture to make it clearer for you:

http://www.sinuscarecenter.com/aao/images/snore.gif

I hope that answers your question :smile:

Reply 13

HereFishyFishy

A simple solution, which does help a little, is to gargle some aspirin. A sore throat is a bugger. When i went to the docs I got nothing. Except for the asprin suggestion. Which did work a little, to be fair.

Reply 14

BruceyBonus

Be careful with tonsillitis - if it has been caused by streptococcal bacteria, then you can develop more serious illnesses, e.g. kidney infections. This happened to me when I was younger.

I would call up a local GP surgery - any one will do - with your NHS number and ask for an appointment. Although they won't have your records, most surgeries will see you and prescribe some antibiotics. I would also see them for a follow-up appointment just to make sure it's gone!

Reply 15

hotfuzz

Well, I went to the doctors today and registered with them. Well, it was the uni health centre. They said I couldn't be seen till tomorrow because I'd only just registered, but while the receptionist was telling me this, I almost passed out and had to sit down. So I got to see a doctor :smile:

. Got some antibiotics and am feeling much better. So much so that I'm off to the pub! Either I'll be sensible and not drink, or do the student thing and have a really cheap night! Lol. No drinking for me then for the next week. Thanks for all the advice guys!