Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
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
Strep can cause heart damage, kidney disease, and brain inflammation if left untreated or lingering. All three can cause long term disability and sometimes death. Also, you can have an active strep infection and not manifest the usual fever and throat symptoms if you have a deficient immune system. Be careful with strep.
Please don’t leave your child’s strep untreated. My son had Strep and we did not know it so it went untreated. He had an autoimmune reaction to the strep called PANDAS. He woke up one day a different child-multiple tics, OCD, chorea, horrible fears and separation anxiety. That was 18 months ago when he was 5. We are still fighting it. It’s not rare and it CAN happen to your child.
Are you kidding me? May you never have a serious side effect of strep that threatens to destroy your child life. And really, antibiotics cause PANDAS? Of all the idiotic notions. What you are promoting has the potential to seriously harm children. I hope you are keeping your untreated children with strep at home so they are not a harm to other people with immune disorders and children with PANDAS. You are your ideas are a threat to the well being and indeed life, of my son. Get yourself educated.
I can tell you first hand what can happen to children who are not treated with antibiotics for Strep. My children did not have many bouts with it and were overall very healthy. When my son suddenly was rushed to an ER for severe convulsive like tics we learned he had Strep. He had asymptomatic strep and we think he had it for at least a week. The result is a syndrome called PANDAS. The last six months have been riddled with long term neurological damage as the step attacked the basal ganglion of the brain.We have no end in sight and pray daily for him to heal. I say respectfully…. you know not of what you speak. My sons condition is rare and perhaps many others will heal. However, this leads to many questions. Many SCIENTISTS are now asking if many childhood neurological issues can actually trace back to Strep. I don’t believe in scare tactics however I will tell you every member of my family would gladly trade our pain for your ignorance. I am actually someone who does believe in a holistic approach to many of lifes illnesses, but let us not throw out Science and the whole medical industry because you were able to “stick it out”.. Every time my child is in contact with someone with Strep his body builds antibodies and they attack his brain. Your child “sticking it out” not only puts them at risk it also hurts mine. You should research PANDAS and then write a new article on your findings. I dare you to follow up with the other side of the coin……the one that is based on research.
Not treating your kids with abx and leaving strep to be exposed to other kids with underlying conditions ie autoimmune is irresponsible and harmful .You have no proof just a thought??
PANDAS,PANS, AUTOIMMUNE ENCEPHALITIS…
Keep kids at home. Simple.
Please don’t mess with strep. An untreated strep infection (she didn’t have classic sore throat, so we didn’t know it was strep) landed my 7-year-old in the hospital with PANDAS anorexia, severe OCD, and bipolar-like symptoms. Please don’t risk mental illness (or rheumatic fever for that matter) by leaving known strep infections untreated.
For more information on PANDAS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDuxlDWMgso
http://www.ocfoundation.org/PANDAS/
http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2012/10/27/the-pandas-puzzle-can-common-infection-cause-ocd-kids/z87df6Vympu7bvPtapETLJ/story.html
If you don’t take antibiotics, you may be contagious for 2 to 3 weeks, even if your symptoms go away. Thanks for making dozens of not hundreds sick.
Interesting comment, Selfish. I could not find any studies showing that people who recover from strep without antibiotics are contagious for longer that those who do take antibiotics. Do you have a source for your 2-3 week statistic?
Hi Leslie,
Here’s a link to the contagious period of untreated strep from The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) a divsion of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They say: Once infected, you can pass the infection to others for up to 2 to 3 weeks even if you don’t have symptoms. Hope this helps! 🙂
“Selfish” is correct. It is well accepted in the medical community that antibiotic treatment limits the contagious period of strep. Normally a child is considered non-contagious 24-48 hours after beginning antibiotics. However, please note that 10 days of amoxicillin is not an absolute guarantee that a child will clear strep and become non-contagious: http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/index.cfm?id=981
According the the Univ. of Nebraska:
“When left untreated, strep throat can be contagious for up to 3 weeks, even though the symptoms are gone.” http://healthservices.unomaha.edu/selfcare.php?item=26
So, I certainly would hope that anybody that chooses to NOT treat a known strep infection, would make an effort to not endanger others. This would mean, keeping the child (or adult) compltely quarantined at home (no school, no work, no playdates) and repeating a throat culture once they are apparently well to make sure the strep infection has truly cleared.
My own child had an untreated/undiagnosed strep infection at the age of 7 (3 day fever, brief period of sore throat, weeks later I found out other children had strep in her class at that time). She continued to be contagious to others at least 6 weeks after the onset of infection as one of her young friends was diagnosed with strep throat 3 days after sleeping over at our house. She very well could have infected others that we didn’t know about. Two weeks the sleepover that we demanded a throat culture on our daughter (she had developed neuropscyh. changes since the fever and we had just learned of PANDAS). She was culture positive for strep and her symptoms improved with antibiotic treatment. Unfortunately, at that point the wheels of autoimmunity were already firmly set in motion and her treatment also required hospitalization, long term antibiotics, and IVIG. While mostly in remission now, she has the potential for a costly and irreversible relapse and possible lifelong mental illness if she ever contracts strep again.
It is not true that strep will leave in 3-7 days on its own. Where did you get that information? I had strep throat for a month several years ago. I self treated and self treated – finally just bit the bullet and got the antibiotics which knocked it out. Haven’t had it since.,
Also, strep is a bacterial infection -you don’t develop immunity to it in the way that you do viruses and some other bacterial pathogens. It can also go “stealth” (intercellular) if it lingers for too long, where it hides in the body, which may count for recurring infections.
I am NOT opposed to treating it naturally if you’re an adult and this is the route you choose -right now I am using natural remedies to prevent it as two in my family now have it – Oil of Oregano, Nano Silver and green juicing. However, I think it’s foolish to mess around with this if you have a child with it.
I have an almost identical experience to yours with strep throat when I was 15, except… I was treated with antibiotics, the infection only lasted about 3-5 days and the horrific sore throat only about two of those days. I’ve never had it again, despite being exposed countless times. My children rarely had it either, but I suspect it’s my super awesome immune system I passed onto them rather than a resistance to strep throat.
That said, I googled on “treating strep without antibiotics” because our 3rd child (adopted) has had strep half a dozen times in his 7 years. Most of the time it only makes him mildly ill and he’s NEVER had the horrible sore throat I remember – usually just fever and a tummy ache or nausea, sometimes a rash. Still, we’re afraid not to treat it, and there’s nothing here that changes my mind.
My 3-year-old daughter has had several strep infections over the last several months. She’s sick right now (symptoms emerged last night) and I’m really wanting to avoid more antibiotics; she’s been on quite a few over the last several months. Please share with me some treatments options that are age appropriate. So many that I’ve read today (my first attempt to research alternative treatments) are geared towards adults and seem difficult to administer to a child. Thank you.