You wake up and you have a sore throat and you try to make it through but swallowing is becoming difficult. You are hoping that if you just wait it out that it will start feeling better soon and it just doesn’t so you head over to the doctor for some tests. Chances are that you have one of three things, you will either have strep throat, Mononucleosis, or tonsillitis. Determining which can be done by symptoms, however, most doctors will want to do the tests to eliminate each of these issues.
Most will begin with a strep throat culture, very simply because this is one of the most basic and simple tests. Using just a few long cotton swabs the doctor rubs them on your tonsils and most doctors will do this culture within their office and in a matter of minutes can tell you if you are positive for strep. If you are positive for strep then you will wind up on antibiotics which will usually take care of the strep within a few days.
If the strep test comes back negative then the doctor will send you to have a blood test. Some offices do them in-house but it is more common to have them done at a lab. They may require a CBC as well as a spot test for mono. If the mono test comes back with a negative result, you may have to take an Epstein Barr test which is a more accurate test for mono.
Mono cannot be cured with antibiotics and for many the road to health can be long. Mono causes people to be tired all the time. School children have often missed months of school because of mono and parents often say the children just sleep all day. People who have contracted this illness will have to depend on their immune system to get them healthy. Taking vitamins, getting plenty of rest and keeping one hydrated is recommended.
Since tonsillitis is truly just an inflammation of the tonsils this would be considered to be the diagnosis once the other two illnesses were ruled out. This is the diagnosis that you want to get from your Doctor out of all of the options. Although uncomfortable for the most part none of these illnesses is life threatening and taking better care of yourself is truly the best way to overcome any illness more quickly.