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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
I would never be willing to ‘ride out’ strep throat. It’s too dangerous. I’m not saying people don’t do it successfully.
I also had a year in which I repeatedly had strep. As ALWAYS happens for me with antibiotics, they did not work. I finished 3 runs of them, only to have the strep get worse.
As I was lying there in bed, feverish, immobilized, waiting for a call back from the clinic that they would give me another scrip*, a miracle happened and an herbalist phoned me. Apparently I had signed a clipboard once upon a time saying I’d be interested in classes. Needless to say, I quickly made an appointment with her. Five or so days later, the strep was gone, and never reappeared. (This was about 8 or 9 years ago.) (Of course, I kept taking the herbal concoction as directed, even though symptoms had disappeared. Always important.)
The * is: the clinic secretary called soon after and told me, “I asked Dr. So-and-So about your case, and she said you don’t need anymore antibiotics.” Not that she had any other suggestions or advice; I guess I was just supposed to lie there unto death. But this is the typical nature of my interactions with mainstream medicine.
And yes, I have gut problems and regret every course of antibiotics I’ve ever taken.
I realize the dangers of the overuse of antibiotics. However, to tell people try to ride out strep throat can be quite dangerous. I went to the emergency room with a very high fever and sore throat and I was feeling very sluggish. The doctor announced he wasn’t giving me antibiotics, if that was what I was looking for.He told me to go home. I was so sick and he’s the one with the medical degree, I didn’t say anything and went home. By the following morning, I was still feverish, but nowI could barely move, and my uvula was so swollen it almost completely blocked my airway and I could feel it when I swallowed. I had to be driven back to the emergency room where they put me on an IV and treated me right away. They said they’d never seen a case of strep advance so fast. And I have allergies &asthma, making it more dangerous. Each case is unique.
How interesting.
I recently took my 7yo in with headache, fever, sore throat, and swollen tonsils. Rapid test came back negative. Next day her symptoms were gone but the culture came back positive. However, the doctor informed me that the strain of strep she had (has?) Does not require abx or treatment! I have never heard of this, since she has had strep often and abx have always been prescribed.
I have a friend with a baby in ICU with MSRA. I have always avoided abx when possible but had always been told strep always needs abx. It seems more physicians are being conservative for certain strains now.
Interestingly, cultures that eat a variety of fermented foods (like Korea) have very low incidence of strep infections.
Rapid tests are only about 70% effective so I am not surprised by the false positive. The fact that your child got well so fast kind of confirms your doctor’s feeling that your child had a strain that didn’t need antibiotics.
Hmmm…. Well, I had strep throat 2 years ago, a nasty version. By the time we officially and positively diagnosed it, I was so far into it that we opted to bypass the antibiotics altogether and heal naturally. I did get over it just fine, eventually, within the expected time frame. However, it did not give me a lifelong immunity. I got it just last month again, really terrible. Went straight for the antibiotics this time and felt better so much faster. I have a son who seems to have never had it, even though it’s creeped into our house a few times. I think some people have natural immunities, not sure why. But he never gets sick with anything at all, no matter what the rest of us are battling. We use herbal ear drops for ear infections and are averse to overuse of antibiotics. But we will always always take them for strep throat in the future. As a side note, I already have an immunity-compromised child in my home. If taking antibiotics makes me contagious for only another 24 hours instead of another 2-4 weeks, it’s worth it to me to protect my medically fragile son as well as any others that I may come into contact with in our community. While riding out strep throat may not harm you, just getting strep throat at all may harm others, depending on their medical situation.
I have strep for 4 days now. My symptoms were terrible sore throat, tonsils red and swollen, headaches, low fever, dizzy spells, fatigued! Stomach ache, really bad body aches and pains, and white patches on my tonsils. It started with a sore throat next day i saw white spots on my very swollen red tonsils. That day i mixed together tumeric powder and honey just toe a spoonful after i took it it was a slight relief. But amazingly my dizziness, fever headaches, and body aches were gone! But because of my throat, It was still hard for me to sleep that night. I woke up the next morning, still very much in pain i ate sherbet took some advil ate an icy, sprayed with antiseptic, gargled withsalt water, had some cinnamin in sherbet.at the end of UHF day i had bliss relief except for the little swelling that bothered when i swallowed i felt
Interesting reading, especially the comments…
I’ve been getting sick a lot lately with something that feels strep-ish — a mild sore throat accompanied by fatigue (the part that really sucks). Whatever I have is curable with antibiotics — but when I stop using antibiotics it comes back, most recently in a couple of days. Now I’ve got a tough decision whether to try to stay the course or take antibiotics. Trouble is I also need to work, and can’t do that fatigued. Toward the end of my last course of antibiotics I’ve been loading up on probiotics (yogurt, miso soup with tofu, kefir, kimchi, and probiotic pills), and I’ve always eaten very healthy (mixed berry and banana smoothies with spinach, almonds, walnuts, and brazil nuts). However, none of this stuff has worked for me. Over the past 6 months I’ve also tried being freakish about germs (carrying hand sanitizer with me wherever I go, and using it constantly), I go to bed early every night, and I eat loads of fresh fruit and vegetables every day. Let me tell you that stuff, with the exception of sleep, does absolutely dick.
I think there are serious issues with antibiotics usage, but colloidal silver is a total scam, and gargling whatever might make a sore throat feel better but will not heal anything. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables may make you feel like you’re eating healthy, but preventing illness is not that easy. At least, not for me.
In any case, I do think I’ll take a middling rout. I’ll give my body a week to fight my current illness. If I’m not getting better in a week, I’ll cry uncle and consult with my doctor about what to do… dissertation is not going to write itself.
I got step throat when I was 26. I really try to avoid antibiotics so I decided not to take them and instead just rested and focused on increasing my consumption of vitamin c. The strep throat went away after about one week. About a month or so later I developed a rash on my chest which spread all over my torso. Every day it seemed to spread more and more until it started covering my arms and legs as well. I was refered to a dermatologist, and the first thing he asked me was, “Have you recently had strep throat?” I said that I had and he told me, “Well I am very sorry to tell you this but in people who have the gene that enables them to potentially develop psoriasis; strep throat, when it is not treated immediatly can trigger this immune-system disorder psoriasis.” He then went on to tell me that psoriasis is a chronic disease to which there are (toxic) prescription creams that can help but that there is no cure. It has been ten years since then and if I could go back in time I would do anything to have taken the antibiotics immediatly as soon as I came down with strep throat. Psoriasis is an itchy, scaley rash that has since covered 20% to 80% of my entire body. This disease is a nightmare and makes daily life very embarressing for me. I am currently pregnant and the psoriasis has disapeared (pregnancy suppresses the immune system so the body will not “attack” the baby and psoriasis is caused by an over-active immune system so this is why it goes away during gestation) I would do anything to get rid of the psoriasis permanently. PLEASE do not tell people to avoid antibiotics if they get strep throat…they could end up with life-long psoriasis. Believe me, this is not a risk anyone should take.
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When I was a child (under 10) I had Strep and Tonsillitis at least twice a year. Treated with Antibiotics. Had strep twice as an adult and I’m 50. The realistic thing is and I don’t see it mentioned is if you have strep and don’t treat you are contagious to all around you for the entire time of your illness, also mentioned in the web MD article. I don’t know about you but I cannot be out of commission and not earning a paycheck for a week or more. with anitbiotics you feel better and can go back to work much quicker. If you are not sensitive , taking anitbiotics a couple of times throughout your adult life not the work of the devil. 🙂