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
I am 27 year old healthy male (almost no alcohol, no smoking, and I exercise very regularly and eat a decent diet). Now, I am pretty sure I have strep ( didn’t go to a doctor to test for it), but I’ve read quite a bit about it and the symptoms match exactly: extremely sore throat, trouble swallowing (even saliva was hard to swallow, which made sleeping almost impossible), enlarged neck lymph node and slight fever (38.1C was the highest I got to). After nearly 4 days my symptoms started improving dramatically, I know that I can still take the antibiotics to prevent a possible ARF, but I will stick to not taking them and increse vitamin C intake for the next few weeks and hopefully avoid the worst.
I think I may have strep now, but not sure. Reallyvhurt to swallow yesterday, although today not quite as bad. A white thing on each side of throat, and sore throats. Very tired and somewhat nauseous for last few days, and not much of an appetite….
I had strep when I was twelve. We were on a family vacation at the time so I went untreated. I lost a great deal of weight in just a few weeks but had no other symptoms past the first week of high fever and sore throat.
After I returned to school I developed neurological symptoms called chorea. I was overly emotional, couldn’t control the reflexes in my right arm. My parents chalked the change in behavior up to pre-teen attention getting. When another boy in my class was diagnosed with Syndingham’s Chorea my parents took me to the doctor to be checked. I was hospitalized at Albany Medical Center in upstate New York after being diagnosed with the same thing and remained until the neurological symptoms subsided-about two weeks. After being released I had to take it easy at home and get daily rest. The doctors told my parents that my chorea was related to rheumatic fever. It was interesting to them that a second child in my school class had it. Since the other student and I had no contact over the summer the doctors thought both cases were related to untreated strep throat.
For decades, every time I needed dental work, I was prescribed antibiotics which was the norm in the 60s after having rheumatic fever. This went on into my late 40s as every dentist would see rheumatic fever on my chart and do the same. I finally stopped listing it and decided not to take antibiotics for dental treatment.
The dentists said the antibiotics would protect my heart from further damage related to the initial rheumatic fever//Syndingham’s Chorea experienced in the 60s. Since I’m not a doctor and didn’t want heart trouble I took their word for it.
I do have a heart murmur but don’t know if it was caused by rheumatic fever or if I was born with it.
Thank you for posting this. Around age 20 during Christmas break from college I was visiting my girlfriend and her family in a different town and got a very sore throat. It was the worst sore throat I had ever had in my life. So sore I could barely swallow liquid. My flight was several days away and I had no insurance of my own and no doctor there, and I wasn’t that informed on medical conditions. I only later realized it was probably strep throat based on the symptoms and severity. Just last week at age 52 was the first time I ever had such a sore throat since that first time 30 something years ago. I went to the doctor and he saw red spots in the back of my throat and did a five minute strep test as well as they standard strep test that had to be sent off for several days. The five minute test said I didn’t have strep. So I went home. After 3 days of intense sore throat only in the mornings it went away. That was the weekend. On Monday or Tuesday I got a call from the doctor’s office that the official strep test had come back positive and they wanted me to take antibiotics. Since I was already feeling fine I started doing research to see if I needed to take them in case I was contagious to anyone else or if I could be a carrier and needed to get rid of it. That was when I discovered several sites discussing whether antibiotics needed to be taken for strep throat at all and a couple of sites suggesting you might be able to become immune to it if you didn’t take them. So just for statistical purposes, I am adding my story here. In summary, very bad case of strep around age 20, which lasted maybe 5 days or so, then no strep for 32 more years. And this current case was very mild with a sore throat only in the mornings, and lasted only 3 days. By the way, neither of my dayghters ever had strep, or even a bad sore throat.
I’m a healthy 18 year old and had strep for 5 days last week. It was terrible and disgusting but I powered through it to see how my body would handle it. I was fine for 6 days after that, and on the 7th day, I got the infection again. Today is day 2 of my 2nd infection, but it is already nowhere near as bad as the first. My immune system is definitely getting stronger 🙂
At age 22, around September last year I got strep for the first time ever. It was the worst thing I ever had. My whole throat wa almost completely white. With not having insurance at that time and not wanting to spend a lot of money I rode it out. Till my friend made me take antibiotics she brought over. I took them after about a week and a half of having this crap. I got better in two days. As of now I have had it for a while as I just thought it was a sore throat because it was nothing very bad at all. I got curious a couple days ago and looked. Sure enough I got it again. But! I feel fine. It’s not very painful at all to swallow. I can eat food with no problems. No fever, I can still get up and do what I need to do with absolutely no problems. So you can bet this time I’m not taking any kind of antibiotics. I do think your body needs to fight it off itself. In my experience it will help you out in the long run.
Hi,I was last year diagnosed with strep and got penicillin for this. It left my immune system wrecked and I suffered from some serious complications. I also picked every infection there was throughout the whole summer. I am just recovering from a strep throat again that I got just over a month ago. No antibiotic this time. I fight with support of vitaminum C-daily dose 1000, but 2000 in the begging of the infection, also Manuka honey, flaxseed oil. From throats the infection spread on to my ear, tooth, eventually sinus, and chest infection. It took month, but I took no antibiotic and feel that I have a much stronger immune system. A bit of a draft would normally send me back to bed with fever. I hope it took long, but I will never pick this up again.
I’m curious about treating young kids 1 and 4 with strep. Same suggestion turmeric, honey & garlic.
I’m not an advocate for anything that compromises the immune system. I’ve naturally treated and loved my girls at 10weeks and 3 through whooping cough with the support of an amazing MD suzanne Humphries and they now have life long immunity and cause pass it to there girls. True immunity. Not one that last 2-6 years.
I don’t think strep can be harder to heal than whopping cough.
I had a strep first time in my life last year at the age of 35, so Ajeannie, it does not just affect kids. I might got it from my toddler daughter. I got antibiotic- penicillin.
I not only picked up strep again within 2 weeks of finishing the course of medicine, but it also triggered psoriasis in me, of which mild version I had as 18 year old. Because the antybiotic wrecked my immune system completely psoriasis took over completely my body. All my body was covered with patches appear of my face. I was lucky my body responded to the treatment. This year I was very caferul, but still managed to get strep. Not taking antibiotic this time, hoping to develop the immunity, what I believe is possible. It’s been 8days, but last 5 been bareable, with just minor scratchy sensation when swallowing.
Antibiotic last year did not cure any quicker.
I appreciate your insight from personal experience, but you have to factor in that most cases of strep are in children age 5-15 so it sounds more likely that even if your father had allowed you to be treated with antibiotics you probably still wouldn’t have gotten strep throat as a healthy adult. There is also another reason to treat… so you aren’t contagious, which you can be for 2-3 weeks after symptoms disappear. I agree that we should not be taking antibiotics with out a positive step culture, but if you are in a position where you will be around children, like daycare or school and know you have strep throat it would be nice if you weren’t spreading the germs to everyone else. Especially because they might be immunocompromised and you may not know that.