I'm not swimming with the carp, but I am swimming in my own personal misery.

I haven't been 'sick' with a flu or cold in a few years. Well, March 22nd I began to feel tell tale signs that something was not 'right'. By March 24th, I was at the clinic and told I had strep, and put on an antibiotic.

Now we're going on March 29th, throat's still sore (least the ugliness of it is gone) and I'm filled with junk in my chest and sinuses. Sneezing all day. Even gunk coming out of my eye. Laying down to sleep is a fit of coughing until I take the chance of asphyxiation and put a cough drop in my mouth and fall asleep with it in there.

Am I getting 'over it'? Seriously... my thought was that an antibiotic is supposed to clear up the infection in a couple days after you start it. I'm still expelling thick mucus. What gives? Is the antibiotic not working/strong enough, or is this normal? I know I'm always hearing that illness can hit MS'ers harder than others... I am beginning to believe it.

I feel like head butting my immune system and saying "Over here dummy!".

I'd go back to the doctor and tell them you're not feeling better. Altho, you've only been on the antibiotics for (doing math in my head) 5 or 6 days, right? It's probably a 10-day prescription, you might just need a few more days to see any improvement.

Hopefully you'll start to feel better tomorrow (or sooner) but if you're still not feeling better soon, go back and tell the doctor that you still feel sick.

Get well soon Laura! They say the flu hit late this year.

I'm sorry you're not feeling any better, even with the medicine. Give your doctor a call and see if you need something else or if this is the usual course of this miserable sickness. Sending (((hugs))).

I dunno what I managed to get

My boyfriend came to visit from Florida (for a little more than 2 weeks). He's never been to Canada, let alone Canada in the winter. You see where this one's going? Oh, and he's type 1 diabetic.

So he gets here, 2 wonderful days together, then bam, he's ill. Fever, shivers, etc. Coughing (dry cough) and feeling miserable.

So I baby him through the week, and I'm feeling just dandy. He improves (thankfully his fever broke quickly) and then I get what I have.

We both went to the doctor together. He was told his sinuses were to blame, put on the same antibiotic as I was, but I was told I have strep. He's still got his tonsils, so I don't get why he didn't get strep, I did... and our illnesses differed that much (I didn't have a fever at all).

Yeah, I'm going to see how I feel tomorrow. Supposed to go back to work (some vacation huh?) tomorrow but if I'm still in this condition I may have to haul butt back to the clinic again.

Erin, yup 10 day prescription amoxicillin. To be honest, I think I've been on this antibiotic so much in my 32 years that it literally doesn't do anything for me if I get whacked with something like this. This'll be yet another time I return to the clinic due to this drug not working if that turns out to be the case.

Sometimes Amoxicillin isn't strong enough, especially if you've taken it alot over the long term. You probably need a stronger one to take care of whatever you have. For strep, I'm surprised they didn't start you out on something else.

Hope you feel better.

Get better soon, ((((((((((((Laura)))))))))))

You might need something stronger, or maybe just something that's more broad spectrum. (I've taken a lot of antibiotics) Penicillins are usually what they give for strep. Since I'm allergic, I usually get something like Biaxin, which, if I remember right, is more of a broad spectrum.

Hopefully you just need to wait another day or two to see if the amox is working...but if you feel like you're worse or no better than you were the day you started to take it, go back to the doctor and explain things.

I hate hate hate taking antibiotics, always get that extra special secondary infection that no females ever want to get.

If you have all that thick mucous maybe adding something like Mucinex would help. I think it's expensive but I do think they have a generic. It's an over the counter.

Laura, my DH had it and gave it to me. Whatever it was. His throat was not sore or red, mine was. Both our eyes were gooey, he had the cough, I had the sinus back-drip.

So I thought a bit of allergy got mixed in, after the infection. He got a bit better and it returned for a day or two more, so did I. It is a real wild bug going around...or two.

I hope you feel better soon. Sorry your vacation got side-whacked. If the mucus still has color in it, you may need another one. It should turn white and then clear when you are better. Many times I get 7-10 days with a refill of Biaxin or a Z-pack.

Never fool with the sinuses, my doctor said. They are too close to the brain. He said if I see color get a script.

Erin, when you take an Anti-Biotic, buy a bottle of Pro-biotic capsules. Refrigerate them. Better than yogurt or a plan acidophilus. It has 3 billion good bacteria in it and you will not get that female-cursed after infection. One every 12 hours. It really works. I can't take Penicillin either.