Should I go to a&e or is this not urgent?

I’ve had a sore throat for 9 days now which has gradually got worse. I also have pressure in my ears / blocked ears. I also have almost lost my voice / hoarseness. My nose is quite runny / blocked but I can still breathe. My eyes are sticky so after sleeping they’re full of gunk and my throat hurts so bad (the worst throat pain I have ever experienced!!!). The throat pain is so much worse at nighttime hence why I’m awake now. I’m so worried about the throat pain because of how bad it is but during the day it does settle with pain relief. But,starts to worsen around 8pm/9pm. Right now the pain is around a 9/10 only when I swallow.

I went to see a gp last Friday who says it was viral, they gave me throat spray (didn’t work at all) and the pain got worse since then. I went to another gp on Christmas Eve who couldn’t see anything in my throat just slight redness and a swollen gland , she said again could be viral. She gave me antibiotics just due to them being closed over Christmas and advised me to take them. I’ve been taking them since Tuesday and I don’t see a difference, when will these start to work? And should I go to a&e soon if this doesn’t settle?

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Reply 1

username2816962

Call 111 first. But honestly it just sounds like you have a really bad cold in my expert (in economics) opinion.

Reply 2

Bio 7

Just go and try again, it's been going on long enough that you should be getting it sorted.
Probably a bad cold though.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 3

Anonymous #1

I’m worried about the sore throat though because it’s not actually from my tonsils the pain comes from a bit further down I’m worried in case it’s something bad. Only hurts when I swallow or yawn. And sometimes hurts alone which is mostly at night/first thing in the morning when I wake up. I’ve missed so much sleep from it. Although my other symptoms are cold/flu symptoms so it probably is just that but I’m a worrier lol.

Reply 4

username47781

Best to call 111 first

Reply 5

UlsterDefence

Go A&E. 111 are useless and often get it wrong.

Reply 6

JoeTSR

No. If you have problems, go to your pharmacy first, then if that fails, GP again, but throat infections are almost always viral, meaning antibiotics won't do a thing - you just have to ride it out. If it's been going on for 9 days, it's clearly not an emergency.

Even if it is bacterial - your body can still fight bacterial infections, and antibiotics will take several days to work.

(Original post by UlsterDefence)
Go A&E. 111 are useless and often get it wrong.

A&E. For a sore throat. That he's had for 9 days. At 3AM on boxing day. Are you serious?

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 7

Anonymous #1

Original post by JoeTSR

Yes but the pain is that bad I’m struggling to eat or drink and it’s keeping me awake nearly every night. Hardly slept for 9 days.

Reply 8

JoeTSR

Original post by Anonymous

Yes but the pain is that bad I’m struggling to eat or drink and it’s keeping me awake nearly every night. Hardly slept for 9 days.

Yep, sore throats/tonsillitis suck. It's painful, and it makes it hard to sleep. But please, if you have concerns, phone 111 rather than going into A&E on one of the busiest times of the year.

E2A: Is there any change today specifically that makes you feel it's an emergency? Breathing okay without a wheeze, uvula is in the middle of your throat?

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 9

Etomidate

Original post by Anonymous

Yes but the pain is that bad I’m struggling to eat or drink and it’s keeping me awake nearly every night. Hardly slept for 9 days.

You’ve been told by two different doctors that you have a viral infection. You’ve even been given antibiotics. What do you think A&E can offer you?

A 9 day sore throat is not a life threatening emergency.

Are you taking paracetamol and ibuprofen? Have you got some lozenges?

Reply 10

tcameron

I wouldn't go A&E.
Take paracetamol regularly for the pain and continue your whole course of antibiotics.
Only go A&E if you start to struggle to breath, because really they'll say it is a non-urgent request and you may be waiting there for around 6-7 hours....

Reply 11

username5093898

Don’t go to A&E. Atm they’ll be busy, understaffed and overworked due to it being over Christmas. It’s not an emergency, it’s a sore throat. Yes it sucks and it hurts, but probably just bad laryngitis or something. If 2 GPs have told you it’s viral A&E won’t say anything different. Take some painkillers, if it’s viral antibiotics won’t do anything anyway, and cold food is good for a sore throat.

Reply 12

harrysbar

Original post by Anonymous

Yes but the pain is that bad I’m struggling to eat or drink and it’s keeping me awake nearly every night. Hardly slept for 9 days.

I would go to A & E today f you can't get seen by an emergency doctor any other way (have you tried calling your local surgery because they may have an arrangement with an emergency medical centre) It sounds to me like you may have developed severe tonsillitis which if it gets bad enough can make you end up in hospital. This happened to someone I know and they ended up in hospital on a drip combining antibiotics with fluids as they had got dehydrated from not being able to drink enough.

This person had previously be told by a doctor that they only had a mild form of tonsillitis. The point is that the first doctor was correct (at the time) but things can change quickly and as your pain has got worse over the days not better, I think you need to see a doctor again and better safe than sorry.

may be able to comment later, he is a doctor

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 13

Anonymous #1

I was mainly going to just go to a&e during the night lastnight because there would be no doctors open at that time. Also my doctors surgery is closed for 5 days. I feel a little better this morning but it always subsides a little on a morning and then worsens during the day and even worse at night. I always get a sore throat at this time of the year (also had it the beginning of January) but it’s never been this bad. My ears and eyes are also very sore.

Reply 14

StriderHort

Doesn't England have Out of hours/Walk in's for this sort of stuff?

Reply 15

Anonymous #1

Original post by StriderHort

Doesn't England have Out of hours/Walk in's for this sort of stuff?

Yeah we do but the waiting times are similar to a&e and the a&e is literally opposite my home. 2 min walk.

Reply 16

JoeTSR

Original post by StriderHort

Doesn't England have Out of hours/Walk in's for this sort of stuff?

Yes. We also have pharmacies, which are the most suitable first port of call for a sore throat. They have plenty of training and can provide advice.

Reply 17

StriderHort

Original post by Anonymous

Yeah we do but the waiting times are similar to a&e and the a&e is literally opposite my home. 2 min walk.

You won't be making the A&E's waiting times any better by taking the wrong problem to them. It's not an accident and it's not an emergency. And as a few others have said, what are you wanting them to do that the GPs didn't?

Unless your nearest Out of Hours is like 10-20 miles away you should be going there, it's the exact place for 'Yo this isn't healing like expected' If you've also been put on a course of antibiotics that generally takes a week-ish to be effective, you won't feel magically better in a day or two.

Reply 18

ANM775

Original post by Anonymous

considering how long it's going on for i would go to a and e

I would also tell them something like you feel really faint in case they shout at you for coming or put you right to the very back of the que.

tbh though, with flu like symptoms, i'd prepare to be waiting there quite a while as theyre not gonna prioritise you. but the doctors you visiting clearly are not getting to the route of it, so personally i think it's worth you going......

Reply 19

StriderHort

Original post by JoeTSR

Yes. We also have pharmacies, which are the most suitable first port of call for a sore throat. They have plenty of training and can provide advice.

I'm leery of that tbh, the one and only time I did tried this the pharmacy got it dead wrong, gave me the wrong thing and essentially made things worse, esp as it meant it took longer for me to get real medical help. Obv this is 1 bad experience, but i'm still not about to recommend it to people.