When a sore throat - find reasons

When a sore throat - find reasons
Why

sore throat The causes of sore throat may be the common cold, tonsillitis, and streptococcal pharyngitis. How are these diseases, how to treat them and what to do when a sore throat?

Sore throat for colds

Often a sore throat is the first symptom of a cold. Usually it takes a couple of days, but other symptoms such as runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing, coughing, mild headache and body aches, fever, last longer - up to about one week. The agents of the common cold are viruses that cause infection when the immune system is temporarily weakened by frost.

The primary goal of treatment is to relieve the common cold symptoms. It is recommended to drink plenty of warm liquids (it can be as herbal teas, as well, such as broth or warm milk), gargle with salt water, eat honey The benefits of honey: tasty recovery and lemons (you can mix lemon juice with warm water). If the patient feels very sick, you should take a few days sick leave and rest as much as possible.

To relieve the pain in the throat and other cold symptoms can also take non-prescription drugs, such as:

Analgesics such as acetaminophen, ibuprofen and naproxen, are temporarily relieve pain and fever. You can also take aspirin, but it should not be given to children under the age of sixteen years - they have this medication can cause a rare but dangerous side effect - Reye's syndrome, which sometimes lead to brain damage or death of the patient.
Various aerosol and candy cold also help temporarily relieve a sore throat;
Aerosols with decongestants effectively eliminate nasal congestion, but they should not be taken on an extent of more than three days, because the more long-term use may cause dependence.

It should be borne in mind that the benefits of these drugs for colds minimal. In most cases, a cold passes in a few days, using conventional domestic equipment.

Sore throat when streptococcal pharyngitis

The agents of this disorder are bacteria streptococcus. Infection occurs through contact with saliva or nasal secretions of a sick person. Although streptococcal pharyngitis is most common in children between the ages of five to fifteen years, they may be ill adults. To diagnose the disease, the doctor needs to make an analysis on the streptococci.

Streptococcal pharyngitis can cause more serious disorders, such as acute rheumatic fever - a disease that causes damage to the heart valves. It is therefore very important that the patient in time to see a doctor; with proper treatment of streptococcal pharyngitis cure, on average, for ten days.

The symptoms of streptococcal pharyngitis is usually much more severe than the symptoms of the common cold. Symptoms of this disease may be:

Sudden and severe pain in the throat;
Lack of appetite;
Pain when swallowing;
Reddened tonsils with white spots;
Increased body temperature.

If you suspect strep throat it is necessary to consult a doctor. In most cases, the diagnosis is used in the rapid analysis of streptococci: with a cotton swab doctor will take samples of fluid from the walls of the throat, and immediately makes the analysis. If the result is positive is diagnosed streptococcal pharyngitis, if negative, but the patient has the characteristic symptoms of this disease can be carried out additional analysis, the results of which will be known in a few days.

For the treatment of this disorder used antibiotics, most often - penicillin or amoxicillin. Other antibiotics may be prescribed to people who are allergic to these drugs. It is important to take the prescribed medications exactly as the doctor said; As a rule, the improvement occurs within one to two days after starting treatment, but it does not mean that streptococci completely destroyed. During the days after you start taking antibiotics to patients sick streptococcal pharyngitis, it is recommended to stay at home.

If after two or three days after the start of treatment the symptoms are less severe, tell your doctor, but do not stop taking antibiotics.

Contact your doctor immediately if you have the following symptoms:

Nausea or vomiting;
Increased body temperature after the improvement, which lasted one or two days;
Headache;
Skin rash;
Cough;
Enlarged tonsils;
Joint pain;
Shortness of breath;
Unusually dark urine, rash Rash: Classification - primary and secondary elements or chest pain Chest pain (these symptoms may appear within three to four weeks after initiation of treatment).

Sore throat when tonsillitis

Sometimes the cause of a sore throat is tonsillitis - inflammation of the tonsils. Activators of this disease can be as viruses and bacteria. Symptoms of tonsillitis are sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, enlarged tonsils with a characteristic white or yellow spots, bad breath, fever, change in voice and pain on swallowing. To determine the cause of tonsillitis, the doctor carries out analyzes. If the infectious agent is bacteria, the doctor prescribe antibiotics for viral infections and are used only for symptom management. In any case, to relieve symptoms of tonsillitis recommended:

More rest, if possible - to comply with bed rest;
Eat plenty of fluids;
Do inhalations;
Eat soft foods that are easy to swallow;
Take nonprescription pain relievers, such as acetaminophen, aspirin and naproxen.

Other causes of pain in the throat

Sore throat can also be caused by smoking, dry air and allergies. Living in areas with high levels of air pollution are also sometimes causes frequent pain in the throat.