So, Strep Throat is Worse Than I Remembered…

I just finished up my 3^rd semester of nursing school, not getting too sick at all throughout a semester which threw me in with sick kids, many different hospitals, schools, etc. No, my body (gladly) waited until after finals to throw strep throat at me. How thoughtful, huh? Actually, all kidding aside, I am very glad I didn’t get it during the actual semester because it is horrible!

Okay, so most of us remember that we had strep throat as a kid, right? I had it once or twice. I didn’t really remember what it felt like though, and didn’t think much about it as an adult. I bet you are probably thinking the same.

At first, it mildly hurt to swallow. More of an annoyance really. Cough drops seemed to work. I didn’t cough much, but it sort of numbed it. I was getting tired a bit easy, but I figured that was just because it was the end of the semester.

Then, the next day, I woke up with a big white spot in the back of my throat. It really, really, hurt to swallow anything now. Hot stuff, cold stuff, room temperature, food, cough drops, etc. It all freaking hurt… and it hurt bad! I was also extremely exhausted, felt weak, had a fever, felt nauseous, my ear hurt, pretty much, I just felt terrible.

Strep throat is awful. If you have any of these signs of having it, get to a doctor to see if you need antibiotics, because you do not want this to linger any longer than it has to. As a future nurse, I’ll also be much more empathetic to people who have strep throat because I can actually remember just how much it hurts now. 

Have you had strep throat? Do you remember what it felt like?