[hobbes9324]

Not to interrupt with any actual medical information, but...

1)There's no way to tell by your symptoms whether or not this is bacterial (which antibiotics are useful for) or viral (which antibiotics are useless for.) And no, it doesn't matter whether or not you have a fever, gunk on your tonsils, or any other associated symptoms. Repeated peer reviewed studies have shown that even the most experienced MD doesn't have a clue just by looking, or taking a history.

2) There's a difference between "don't want to" and "can't".
If you really CAN'T swallow liquids, you might (very unlikely) have epiglottitis - very bad, and needs to be seen immediatly. But it's VERY rare - I've seen two cases in about 20 years.

3) Strep throat itself is a benign, self-limited condition. But it's treated with antibiotics for the following reasons -

a)small but real possibility of developing a peritonsillar or para or retropharyngeal abscess. Treatment for these involves me getting lousy anesthesia in the area and carving around with an 11 blade scalpel, until several cc's of nasty pus squirts into you mouth, after which you vomit. Good times......

b) a theoretical benefit of decreasing your chance of getting rhumathic fever, which leads to heart valve problems and maybe you getting your chest cracked by one of my golfing buddies.

So, if you rolled into my department, I'd do a monospot to rule out mono, and if that was negative, I'd give you an antibiotic, some pain meds, and a short course of steroids.
Some of my partners would do a strep screen, but I usually don't - for a bunch of complicated reasons that I'm too tired to type in - I just treat and street the majority of sore throats. Tell you to rest, push fluids, sleep - if it's strep, the antibiotics will fix you in 72 hrs or so, and you'll think I'm a helluva doc. If it's viral, the antibiotics won't do dick, but you're young and healthy, and you'll feel better in 72 hrs or so, and you'll think
I'm a helluva doc. Which I am.

PM me if you have any more questions - and hope you feel better soon....

MM MD