How To Stop Recurring Strep Throat In Children

Children tend to get strep throat a lot. It's an easy illness to catch and children are not exactly known for their hygiene skills, making preschools and playgrounds breeding grounds for infections. However, there are some children that will catch strep throat more than usual, to the point where they are catching it six to seven times a year, making it recurrent.  This is a problem, especially for children who need to go to school regularly in order to ensure that they do not fall behind. If you find that your child has recurring strep throat, here are some options that you have in order to ease his or her suffering and get better quickly.

1. Change Antibiotics

Your doctor will likely try to change the medication that he or she prescribes your child in order to start the treatment of recurrent strep throat. Sometimes, the particular strain of strep throat that your child continues to catch will be immune to certain antibiotics or the antibiotics might not react well with your child's body. This can lead to that medication not working and a new medication being needed. A doctor will likely try several different antibiotics over the course of a few different strep infections to find the one that is most effective in treating your child's recurrent strep throat.

2. Tonsillectomy

Another option is to get a tonsillectomy. This helps children whose doctors suspect that their tonsils are essentially attracting the disease. Because you don't actually need your tonsils, having them taken out in a tonsillectomy is a relatively easy procedure that your child will be able to recovery from quickly and get back to school in a very short period of time.

3. Give the Immune System Time to Fight and Learn the Strain of Strep Throat

Finally, a third option is to let your child suffer with the strep throat for a set amount of time. Your doctor might recommend this if you are against surgery. By allowing your child's body to fight the strep throat on its own for a few days, your child's immune system will learn what strep throat looks like and how it is a harm to the body. It will then target the strep throat more quickly and be able to eradicate it before it reaches the rest of the body. After a set number of days, the doctor will prescribe antibiotics.

For more information, talk to your child's ear, nose, and throat doctor or do an online search.


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