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More parents seem to be making an effort in recent years to limit antibiotic exposure for their children. This is due to concerns about how this may impact long term health or contribute to increased susceptibility to deadly superbugs such as C-Diff. Treating strep throat without meds remains a glaring exception to this trend.
It seems that whenever a doctor diagnoses a child or even an adult with strep throat, there is no question that they require an immediate round of antibiotics. Even those who typically avoid meds and follow a more holistic lifestyle seem to fall into this trap.Â
Strep Throat Symptoms
There is no doubt that strep throat is a serious infection. It is a bacterial infection and involves severe inflammation of the throat and tonsils. Typical signs of strep throat include:
- Sudden, severe sore throat
- Fever higher than 101°F/ 38 °C
- Pain when swallowing
- Pale colored spots on the back of a bright red throat
Some people suffering from strep throat will also get swollen lymph glands in their neck. Others experience vomiting or a red skin rash.
How Long Does Strep Throat Last?
Strep throat will only last 3 to 7 days with or without treatment. Doctors usually treat strep throat with antibiotics even though they will not make you well any faster. Strep throat contagiousness will continue for 24 hours once antibiotics are started. With no treatment, strep throat continues to be contagious until symptoms resolve.
In response to the persistent overuse of antibiotics for strep throat, the journal Canadian Family Physician states:
… symptoms caused by a bacterial sore throat [strep] fail to clear much faster when treated with antibiotics than they would if left alone.
It is certainly easier and quicker to hand out prescriptions every time than to explain and reassure. Each time we do this, however, we reinforce patients’ fears.
Do family physicians have to declare a conflict of interest in answering these questions? If we were to lower ourselves to examining the vulgar subject of money, it is certainly in our financial interest to keep many patients scared enough to rush to our offices whenever they get sore throats.
In view of the large number of antibiotics prescribed for sore throats, perhaps it is time to review whether we should be using such treatment for strep throat infections at all.
Is Strep Throat Overmedicated?
Mmmm.
Sounds like the idea of not administering antibiotics for strep throat may not be as crazy as it first sounds. Are doctors overmedicating strep throat just like they overmedicate ear infections, colds and sinus/respiratory infections?
A round of antibiotics has the potential to cause permanent damage to the gut flora. This, in turn, has a lifelong impact on overall immunity to both chronic and acute illness. Skipping those antibiotic pills altogether may prove in the long run to be the smartest approach of all.
Do You Have to Get Antibiotics for Strep Throat?
In light of the fact that every round of antibiotics potentially damages the gut in a manner than can never be 100% repaired, I think questioning the automatic use of antibiotics for every single case of strep is worth consideration. While some people clearly need meds, they are not necessary for everyone even if the suggestion may seem ludicrous at first.
The complications of strep throat are, after all, extremely serious. However, they are also rare especially for a healthy person with no autoimmune issues. Scarlet fever, inflammation of the kidney, or rheumatic fever which could permanently damage the heart are all remote possibilities.
I dated a guy in high school who was deaf in one ear from Scarlet fever (who is ironically now a MD). I am in no way kidding myself about how serious complications from strep throat can be by questioning whether antibiotics are truly needed for this type of infection.
My Experience with Untreated Strep Throat
My serious doubts about the wisdom of using antibiotics for strep throat go back to my one and only experience with this infection the summer I turned 15.  Strep was by far the worst sore throat I’ve ever had and the pain when I swallowed was almost unbearable to endure.
My Father, a Family Physician, made the decision not to put me on any antibiotics and let me ride it out under my own power. My Dad wasn’t into herbs or anything so I didn’t have any alternative treatments administered either.
The infection lasted over a week … my memory remembers a full two weeks but it might have been a few days shy of that.
I lost several pounds during that illness as I could only endure swallowing liquids the entire time. I pretty much subsisted on vanilla milkshakes from the ice cream shop down the road for the duration of that awful infection and I still got well under my own power with no complications.
The interesting thing is that I seem to have developed an immunity to strep ever since. I’ve never had strep throat ever again in 35+ years. This is despite repeated exposures at close range. During college, I even had a roommate with strep and didn’t get sick. This despite eating pretty rotten cafeteria food and lots of sugary foods. This no doubt suppressed my immune function considerably.
Is it possible that allowing the body to fight off strep throat naturally on its own confers partial or total immunity?
I’ve often considered this possibility over the years. My personal belief is that yes, it is very much possible to develop an immunity to strep throat. Certainly, though, my anecdotal story does not in any way provide sufficient evidence.
I can say with certainty that if and when any of my children (or myself) ever came down with strep throat, hands down I would without question skip the antibiotics.
Why?
Developing Strep Throat Immunity (yes, it’s possible!)
The reason is that folks who take antibiotics for strep throat seem to get it over and over and over again. Sometimes they get strep throat again within mere days or weeks from the previous infection. Have you noticed this vicious cycle too?
Wouldn’t it be a far better and healthier approach to fight it off one time and be done with it possibly for the rest of your life?
My retired MD Dad is of the philosophy that if you give the body a crutch every time it gets ill, it will always expect and demand that crutch. This results in immunity getting weaker over time. I have witnessed the truth of this philosophy through observation. Those who have the tendency to over-medicate their illnesses whether it be with antibiotics or (gasp) even natural remedies can unwittingly experience a downside.
Attempting to squelch illness at the first sign of a sniffle, for example, is not a wise approach in my opinion even if nontoxic.
The immune system stays strong when it is allowed to fight and defeat an illness with no interference. Ideally, rest and nourishment only (including frequent mugs of homemade bone broth or soups made with it) should be provided.
Now, I do think that much consideration needs to be given to the health of the individual before forgoing the meds. A child with autoimmune issues who is not eating well in the first place probably should just take the antibiotics.
On the other hand, a robust healthy child with no autoimmune illness who is consuming an excellent diet has a superb chance of handling the infection well with no intervention.
My Daughter’s Experience with Untreated Strep Throat
Recently, my preteen daughter came down with strep. She is my youngest child, and this was the first time any of my three children had ever had strep throat.
Given that she is healthy with no underlying health issues, my husband and I decided to ride it out. We treated her with natural antibiotics only.
The result?
She recovered completely within 48 hours. In fact, the white spots on her throat disappeared in less than 12 hours once we started treatments. We used garlic, raw manuka honey, and turmeric several times a day.
It will be interesting to see if she ever gets strep throat again. My bet is that she won’t. She will likely develop partial or total lifelong immunity just like I did when I recovered at age 15 from untreated strep.
UPDATE
It’s been nearly four years including a very bad flu season with no recurrence of strep for my daughter. It’s looking good for her having developed natural immunity.
Have you recovered from strep throat with no antibiotics needed? Did you develop a strep throat immunity afterward? Please let us know your experience in the comments section.
References
Canadian Family Physician, Should we treat strep throat with antibiotics?
More Information
How to Repair Your Gut After Antibiotics
Why Antibiotics Today Could Threaten Your Life Tomorrow
HOW is it ironic that a guy you dated had Scarlet Fever and is now an MD? It’s not. If you don’t know how to use simple words, why should anyone trust you with anything medical?
I agree with most of you, I am all for natural remedies and letting the body heal itself. However strep scares me. I had a friend lose her son to strep throat about 6 years ago. He was a strong healthy kid with no other health problems. He dies in his sleep and it was from untreated strep throat. Maybe rare but still I think of that every time one of my kids gets a sore throat and fever. I also knew of this happening to another child in my town a few years after that case. My sister also had strep as a child and it was not treated and she now has many heart problems as a result. Be careful of your advice on here, It may end up with someone making a tragic choice to not treat and God forbid something horrible happen.
First of all I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post, as well as a lot of the feedback. I’m not sure if people are still following the thread or not, but I wanted to add a thought that occurred to me.
I currently am one of those people who keeps a healthy active lifestyle – I work out 2x a day 5x per week. (almost an addiction to crossfit – though I do know my limit and stop/rest with the slightest tweak in any muscle to avoid any injury. If I know I’m not getting enough rest or time to eat that week – I skip a few because I know it would most likely just hurt my immune system.) Because of my generally healthy being – I am sitting here with a 103.6 choosing to just battle it out, hoping for a speedy recovery based on my fit state to get back to what I love.. yet again taking proper precautions to avoid going back while still just coming back to health or contaminating others. I am just waiting for med insurance to be available after a recent promotion and got hit at the entirely wrong time.
As I sit here battling it, my first instinct is where on earth did I contract it from. I pinpointed a night where I without thinking about it shared drinks with someone battling it at the time. Then started like, gosh that was a dumb decision – and now am leaving with the thought to fix the cause of my infection with the bacteria by being much more careful with keeping to my own germs.
Then the thought occurs, perhaps the problem with the high rate of it re-occurring in children has to do with the root problem never being addressed – the habit that contracted it in the first place. Though some are saying no matter what it came back – I’m wondering if these are kids who have little habits of not washing their hands, making lots of hand to face contact. Perhaps one of the reasons it so often stays away when you go the natural route is because you completely examine the lifestyle starting with diet and and working past that. When you become aware of the habits causing contraction then you are more likely to pass those on to your kids – hence the supposed immunity.
I’m not bashing the natural remedy by any means – after all I am trying it out for myself – and I’m not saying that the natural cure doesn’t help teach the body to fish for strength to battle rather than give it a crutch by providing meds… But perhaps in some way its the fully examined life that also assists in keeping the bacteria at bay so for those that do want to medicate for fear of future diseases by not treating – it might weigh more to use meds and then try to really address the problems immediately following first dose.
Just food for thought – also I tended to get sick often as a kid but I know I didn’t have the best health habits and now early 20s am fixing my body up starting from the core and have noticed a significant drop in the amount I get sick. By sick often – I have battled pneumonia, swine flu, mono, chicken pox twice, and of course a few strep throat incidents.
Immunity can be genetic. In which case you are born with it. This is a result of genetics that your parents may have given you. This is inborn. An example is a very small portion of the population is immune to HIV. This is due to a mutation in their DNA that prevents the virus from destroying tgeir immune cells because of a protein .arker on the cell.
It is possible to acquire immunity,but this due toexposure personally to a bacteria or virus. An example being immune to measles after having it.
I cannot pass my measles immunity to you. It is acquired individually from exposure.
Right, if you acquire an immunity (by having the measles, or strep, if that’s possible), it can’t be passed on to your kids.
But her kids could randomly have a mutation that makes them immune. The chances of the same random mutation happening to all her kids is astronomically tiny.
I would love it if we could do it though! No more vaccines, it would be great!
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it’s impossible to pass on immunity to something to your kids… by the natural laws of evolution. In the same way that giraffes didn’t and couldn’t have passed on longer and longer necks. And you can’t pass on developed muscles to your kids if you work out a lot. Right?
I’m 23 and my entire life, if i got seriously sick, I’d go see the doctor and take antibiotics. I’ve gotten strep throat several times in my life. Well I just got it 7 days ago again. I don’t have health insurance so didn’t want to pay to see a doctor and then buy the antibiotics.
So I looked for a natural approach to curing it. I searched and found multiple remedies, but less than a handful seemed widely popular.
What I used: oil of oregano, silvercillin, acv, cayenne pepper, garlic and some herbal teas.
However, what I believed really did the trick and took the strep out was the oil of oregano with the silvercillin in 2nd place.
Last Sunday morning I felt a sore throat coming on, but it was nothing big then. The next day I wokeup and had a nasty sore throat and felt like crap, very sluggish. So I drank hot herbal teas as well as crushed up garlic and acv. It helped, but not by much. The next day (tuesday) I wokeup with an even nastier sore throat. Now I had a fever and really felt like crap. I looked at the back of my throat and saw a couple white/ yellow spots in the back. I knew I had strep. I went out to a natural health store and was recommended to try Silvercillin. I bought it and sprayed in 6-8 times about 4-6 times/ day.
I wakeup the next day (Wednesday) and my throat is terrible. The night before I could hardly sleep because the pain of swallowing. I was getting tempted to just say F it and see a doctor because of the pain. My tonsils were HUGE, had a fever and everything ached. I researched oil of oregano and bought some. I use 2 doses at 5 drops before going to sleep.
Thursday, still the same pain, same terrible throat, huge tonsils, fever and felt like the walking dead. Half of me wants to go to the doctor really bad, the other half tells me to wait it out a day or 2 more. So I take about 4 does of oregano at 6 drops each time throughout the day. I use the silvercillin about 4-5 doses also. The oregano does help soothe your throat a bit instantly.
Friday, feeling much better, but still minor sore throat, still huge tonsils…but no fever and less body aches. I continue thursdays regimen and keep drinking herbal teas.
Saturday and I’m feeling pretty dang good. About 80% of my sore throat is gone, no more body aches and I’m feeling a bit more energized, a bit more like my normal self. I continue the same regimen of oregano/ silvercillin.
Today, no sore throat at all, no body aches at all, and I’m feeling about 95% back to normal. My tonsils are at about 90% and almost back to normal. I only take 2 doses of oregano and 2 of silvercillin.
So I can finally say… I beat strep throat naturally! All of the haters out there against natural remedies and have the “take the antibiotics or your dead” belief, you are wrong! Yes you will have to take some pain. I was in excruciating pain Monday night through Thursday..everytime I swallowed I would have to pinch myself or something to distract me from the pain. But just take the oil of oregano and silvercillin, drink your herbal teas and eat your chicken noodle soup. It works!
Sorry for the longgggg post, but when i was in serious pain this is all i wanted to read. Exact remedies to take and to know exactly what to do and to see someone who had great results.
Good luck to you!
How do you know its strep if you don’t get a culture. Everyone saying “I cure strep naturally” It could be viral tonsillitis. Just saying as I lie here with a throat on fire.
I am not a big fan of antibiotics for every illness, but they do have their place. Personally, I have had 2-3 episodes of Strep Throat a year since I was 14. I don’t use antibiotics. I ride it out like you describe above, but…after much testing, I have found out that by allowing Strep to run it’s course, over and over, that the Strep itself can cause kidney damage. And it has. I am definitely on the side of not taking antibiotics for every ill, and allowing your body to heal itself, if it can. But there are times that antibiotics are useful, exactly why I believed God allowed their discovery. I also read your post on Tetanus vaccinations. I do not routinely vaccinate, but living on a farm, we do give the Tetanus. Even keeping the wound clean, doesn’t prevent Tetanus. Unless you have seen someone suffer from Tetanus, it isn’t beneficial to demonize the vaccine. I believe that more common sense in developing and administering vaccines is needed. I do acknowledge that vaccines have been very useful in the past in dealing with outbreaks, but I will continue to make an educated decision on when, and what to vaccinate against. Thank you for the information you post, they provide good info.
hi..amy i’d like to hear more about the kidney damage and your approximate age if possible…i am in my late 40’s and have taken antibiotics countless times since i was a child…now it seems my body has grown immune to them and they hardly work for me…case in point…i had strep about 3 years ago…took two different bouts of antibiotics and was still coming out with a positive throat swab and yes i am a carrier..whatever that means…I was not about to take a third bout of antibiotics..so i went to a naturopath that looked in my eyes and prescribed a regimen of carrot juice and supplements and a concoction of herbs (tincture)..i did get better naturally and that’s what i do now…i don’t take anti-biotics anymore…i have strep now and i do hope i am not damaging my body by not taking antibiotics…but i do feel better not taking them….
i think there is a difference in children with strep and adults as far as the danger and perhaps family history.i think a person has to also know themselves…
i have had several streps throughout my life and many sinusitis as well…too much antibiotics…up until lately i have found more natural ways to treat it all and really try and stay away from antibiotics..but i am an adult
so i would be interested in hearing about your kidney problems.
by the way…many natural treatments have been listed here and i think everyone has to find what works for them…for example when i was going through my 6 week strep a friend recommended oregano oil..it didn’t help at the time…but now i find it may help ward off a potential infection…so i wish good luck to all of us to find what works for them and to stay healthy!
When my daughter was 4 she had strep throat and yeast infection at the same time. I think she got cold first. Doctor gave me two different drugs to take twice a day that’s 4tbs. I absolutely hated to do that my husband who has been getting strep pretty often insisted that i will give full doze to my daughter, i only did for 5 days and i think you need to take it for 10 and i just gave up. I could not even give a full doze of this stuff and i just went and did natural way. The strep and yeast infection was gone, if she will ever have strep again i will not try antibiotics!