Strep Throat - treat it fast (learn how)

How do you know if you have it? What do you do? Where do you turn? What treatments are there? Find out what happened to this little one when she got sick in the middle of the Sahara Desert. How did I know it was strep throat and how did I take care of her? Strep throat is a really common bacterial infection that starts off in your throat. It causes a fever, swollen lymph nodes and it's really uncomfortable but luckily there are really effective treatments out there that you can use to get some relief. So let's go over some home remedies and then medical treatments and then at the end I'll tell you what I did with Jodie and how she got better in the middle of the desert. It was ridiculous. First you can try gargling with salt water. This can reduce the swelling and the inflammation in your throat. You can mix a quarter to a half a teaspoon of salt in warm water and gargle for about 30 seconds. Obviously kids can't do this and definitely don't drink the water, just gargle with it. It really soothes the throat. The next home remedy you can try is drinking warm liquids. Tea, soup, chicken broth, hot water. Hot water with honey unless you're really young. Really young babies can't have honey. Nice warm liquids can soothe the throat and also keep you hydrated which is really important. Next you can try using a humidifier. Humidifiers keep moisture in the air and help ease the symptoms too but also make sure you clean your humidifier regularly to stop the growth of mould in it. The next thing is resting your voice. Avoiding talking or whispering too much. This strains your vocal cords and makes your throat feel even worse. There are some herbal remedies you can try like sage, echinacea and licorice root. They have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties that can help relieve your symptoms. Just make sure you check that they don't interact with any medications you might be taking. Next going on to medical treatments for strep throat. So this is if your home remedies haven't worked, you have a fever, your sore throat is getting worse. Unfortunately antibiotics are the main line of treatment for strep throat. So a confirmed case of strep throat, your doctor will prescribe you antibiotics to help clear the infection. Make sure you take the full course of the antibiotics as directed even if you start feeling better. They're not effective if you don't finish the full course. I'm sure you've heard this and you've read it on the instructions but it's actually true. Also pain relievers, over-the-counter pain relievers like ibuprofen, can help reduce the pain and fever associated with strep throat. Throat lozenges are also helpful. They can soothe the throat and some of them have a little bit of lidocaine which really help numb the throat and provide temporary relief. In some cases your doctor might prescribe you corticosteroids to reduce the inflammation and swelling. But in some cases that will be up to your doctor to prescribe. Strep throat is really uncomfortable. So if you do think you have it, try your home remedies. If not, go to your doctor or your local pharmacy and let them know that you think you have strep throat. You've tried some home remedies, you have a fever and they can give you a proper diagnosis and treatment. However, if you're in the Sahara Desert like we were, hopefully you never have to come across this situation. But what we did, I looked at Jodie's symptoms. Thankfully I have a little bit of, not a little bit, I have quite a lot of many years experience in seeing strep throat and I noticed that Jodie had a fever. She was really lethargic. She had such a sore throat. She couldn't hardly swallow anything. It was so sad to see her like that. So I thought straight away, this doesn't seem right. Looked in her throat. You can see here that she has a really swollen throat and she even has some pustules forming at the back of her throat, which is really common. So what we did, we contacted somebody who was a medical liaison. I told them, look, I have experience in this. I'm an ER nurse. I know what she needs. Can somebody go to the pharmacy and get her some amoxicillin? Which in Morocco, thankfully we didn't need a prescription and they went, got their antibiotics. We started those within two days. She was feeling good as new, thankfully. So I hope we never have to deal with this situation. But if you do think you have strep throat, hopefully you find this video helpful. Let me know if I missed anything. And as always, thank you for watching. Don't forget to subscribe for more videos like this. If you want to know how sleep is related to your immunity, click here where I tell you how.