How Long Does Tonsillitis Last?

I have tongsulitus every month and I'm bed bound for over a week. I have got to the point where I generally can't cope with life as I am in so much pain and the antibiotics don't seem to be working currently on day 5/6. Can anyone help me?

Had tonsilitis first time since a teen. forgot how bad it was throat stopped hurting day 3 of antibiotics but day  6 im still feelig unwell, worn out, sleeping alot, light headed etc, generally feeling away with the fairies. wondered how long it took others to feel fully better not just throat feeling better/??

I used to always get tonsillitis as a child and most of the medication the gp gave me never worked. I think I was in so much pain I blocked it from my memory. Well I'm 15 now and as soon there is something wrong with me I Google my symptoms. Probably the worst thing to do as I think I'm going to die 😂

Well anyway first week of the summer holidays for me and Monday night I was relaxing and I stayed up super late. Before I was about to sleep I noticed my throat was starting to hurt on the left side and I immediately started to get annoyed. The past 3 years I have constantly been getting sore throats, bad coughs, chest infections. I just told myself to just sleep and it will be fine in the morning. HAHAHAHAHA was I wrong. I awoke to a lot of pain and I went straight to the bathroom to shine the torch of my phone down my throat and noticed a big ulcer forming on my left tonsil. I started to look for bonjela and in my luck I couldn't find it.

My mum was taking my older brother to the dentist to get his tooth removed and then she had to take my grandad to the hospital. So I was sending her text to get me bonjela and being the lovely mum she is she got me it. But I noticed throughout the day I was either super cold or super warm. I also noticed my left ear was sore.

I was making dinner and I had lost my apatite to eat. I ate any way and just felt sick. At night I shined the torch down my throat and saw that my left tonsil had gotten a lot bigger. I just applied bonjela and it helped but hurt. (I used a cotton bud)

I awoke Wednesday in more pain than I was the Tuesday morning. I made myself and ice cold drink and drank loads throughout the day. I was able to swallow, it hurt but was bearable. The thought of food was still making me feel sick but I ate anyway.

Like the usual I went to bed and I awoke at 3:30am and I started crying. I was in a lot of agony. The thought only just hit me then that I could have tonsillitis. I checked my tonsils by shining the torch and noticed that my right tonsil had 3 white spots/ulcer and I had one on my throat. I saw the ulcer on my left side was a lot more bigger and one had developed at the top of my left tonsil. I Google tonsillitis and noticed I had most of the symptoms and the I went on Google images and saw my tonsils looked similar.

I woke my mum and dad up and was crying my heart out. I am super dramatic God knows why. My mum had to leave for work and she made me go back to bed to sleep. My dad called the Gp for me and I had to go myself during the morning.

I never got a doctor I got a nurse and she looked at my throat and said "nasty dose of tonsillitis" I told her I couldn't have this certain kind of medication (forgot the name) as it made me worse so she gave me clarithromycin and told me I have to take them twice a day until my tonsillitis clears up.

So today is Friday and I am super tired, hungry and thirsty. All I want to do I sleep but I awake worse than I was before.

When I was younger and had tonsillitis I always drank really cold drinks with loads of ice added. I ate frozen yoghart and ice lolly or ice poles. My gran froze grapes for me and let me tell you it helps loads. It's a pain to swallow but it helps soothe the throat. I'm sure any frozen fruit will help. I gargle warm salt which helps. I also use corsodyl mouth wash. As for food my mum always made me tomato soup and I told her it made me worse as having hot liquids bothered me a lot when I was younger. (still bothers me) Being older I feel like the pain is a lot more worse. I've done most of the things I have listed to help and it makes more bearable.

I hope this clears up sooner because it's preventing me from going to the gym and being with my friends. Reading these comments has made me feel better, known that other people know my pain.

Im on the third day of tonsillitis.

The first day i had just minor sore throat and was a bit cold with just a bit of trouble sleeping. The next day i started having fever as high as 38,8 C (which is very high for me,i rarely have fever over 38,5)

The soreness of the throat started to be worse,but still, after some paracetamol i was better and could eat soup/drink water. That night (yesterday) was really hard for me, because every two hours i had fever even if i took paracetamol and the fever fell. I didnt sleep more than 3 hours and around 5 a.m. the pain on my throat started to be unbearable and reached my ears, being more intense on the left side. I really thought it couldnt get any worse,but from 1 p.m. (today) i have terrible pain, I cant drink or eat anything, my tonsils are swollen, a bit white and are covering a big part of my throat, making it impossible to swallow any kind of food.

Nothing makes me better, i tried gargles with salty water, some pills with lysozyme, milk with honey, tea with honey, water with honey and even honey by itself. Also i bought some anaesthetic pills ,that my farmacist advised me to take,who doesent work at all and just make me feel worse because i produce more saliva to dissolve.

I started antibiotics today, but im really suffering. Anybody knows in how many days the symptoms are going to start fading out? Any other good tips are welcome.

Good luck to anyone who's going through the same hell as me.

I am currently going through exactly what you have written. I'm on day 5 of this b*****d infection with no end in sight. I have been lucky health wise in my 31 years but I think this is the worst. Both tonsils are covered in puss and look very bruised, bloody and angry. The only way I can describe swallowing is like swallowing razor blades, a truely miserably, painful experience. On day 2

of antibiotics but no let up, I'm hungry but simply don't have the courage to attempt food as  passing

water is agony.

Sleeping is very difficult, I'm either extremely hot or shivering cold and sweating profusely. 

It really has knocked me for 6 and I'm feeling very sorry for myself. The Codeine doesn't seem to have any effect, either does the spray. 

I can take some comfort reading all the below knowing other have/are going through the same thing. A truely underrated illness, completely debilitating. I look like something from

a concentration camp. 

looks like I'm about 2 and a half years too late here but oh well. Reading through this discussion has certainly helped me to clam down a little as I'm a massive worrier and think that nothing will ever get better if I'm ill. 

I suffer from tonsillitis on a regular basis, but often it's barely noticeable and with pain killers I can get rid of it easy, however this times tonsillitis is absolutely horrific. I originally started off with a bit of a sore throat and feeling a little grotty but apart from that I was fine, 2 days later I wakeup feeling like death, I can't swallow a thing, I'm exhausted and alls I did was cry about how poorly I felt & that I couldn't even swallow my own saliva. By this point I had rang my dad & asked him to provide me with any form of over the counter medication he could think of (he's a nurse).. so I ended up with paracetamol, ibuprofen, lozenges, throat numbing spray and even TCP to water down and gargle. The TCP gargle helped all of once, then as soon as I did it again I felt no form of relief what so ever. I had legitimatey spent the whole night tossing and turning because of the pain I was in, I ended up calling the doctors to get an emergency appointment, to which I was prescribed 5 days worth of antibiotics and told to continue what I was doing. I have never experienced tonsillitis like this before and I hope I never do again, the first day of taking antibiotics I was sick at 5am, the pain of being sick was unbearable and I just sat there and cried. I'm not on day 3 of my antibiotics and to be honest i don't feel any better.. being bed bound is one of the worse situations for me to be in and I hate it, however I can't do anything because i can barely talk, can't swallow, definitely can't eat & it's hurts to even open my mouth. I'm really starting to worry that this could be something more serious  

This feed is giving me hope! I get tonsillitis like 4 times a year not enough to get the darn things removed. Even though i hear that after removing them those people start getting chest infections. Its my second day on penicillin i dont know how its working because my tonsils hurt so bad when i swallow and advil and tylenols dont do anything. Ive been taking my penicillin every 10hrs instead of 12hrs in hopes of getting results because i cant do this anymore. My right tonsil was black and red filled with puss when i went to the doctor it then spread to my left one and now im scared to look because i dont want to get discouraged ive also been spitting mucus. Usually pain killers help with pain and im able to drink a lot of liquids to help this time they dont! Im scared tired and exhausted. Plus im expecting my period and i need to break up with my bf someone help

I know this is a very old thread but I was wondering if anyone had found anything to help with your tonsillitis? This junk all started about 3 weeks ago... I had a terrible ear ache and was having some sinus/ allergy issues so I went to a walk in clinc and was given antibiotics for a sinus infection and ear infection. I felt some better after a few days but then ive slowly been feeling crappy again... Yesterday I felt like my glands were tender and my throat was scratchy but I suffer from SEVERE health anxiety so I thought maybe it was in my head. NO... it wasn't... I woke up today with a sore throat (not severe) BUT it hurt to swallow... look at my throat and I have white ulcers on my tonsils!  Go to urgent care today and my strep swab was negative but he is treating me for it and or tonsillitis...   I'm not ever this sick and I want to feel better ASAP

I don’t know if this will be any comfort to you, but I’m also going through this at the moment. Started with aches&pains&a bit lethargic. Then my throat was a bit red&sore&I actually thought my head was going to explode at one point, the glands in my neck are also swollen. Lots of pus over both tonsils too. I got Clarithromycin from Doctors on Tuesday and it’s actually getting worse if anything. I’ve never experienced pain like this& it’s worrying it’s getting worse with antibiotics. I just feel totally washed out. Hope your better soon. I feel your pain 😩

Hello Mvh81. I've had it for a few days, unfortunately less than a week before my birthday. I know you don't have it now but this will help others. I recommend getting penicillin tablets (on the first day take 2 every 4 hours, 4 times a day) and on the rest of the days take 1 every 4 hours, 4 times a day. Try Dr pepper after taking some of your penicillin. It helps, also if you can hardly swallow / eat / drink I'd recommend drinking it through a straw. As Dr pepper has sugar, it will help put some energy in your body.

Also, try water with sugar in! Just put a few teaspoons in and then drink away. Also, try neurofen, Difflam spray (Although it doesn't work for me) to get rid of some of the swelling and paracetamol to bring some of your heat down. If this doesn't work put your feet in a bowl of cool water. Also, if you need food, try yoghurt, or jelly. If you cannot swallow that try sucking on a blackcurrant lollipop. It really helps

Hi everyone. I was recently diagnosed with Tonsillitis on Monday night. However my fever and lumps on the neck has been there since a week ago. I have been on 2 days antibiotics and my Tonsillitis has gotta worse. I am sad to see that so many people are facing this horrible disease. I am praying for my recovery and for anyone who are facing this issue right now. We will conquer this Tonsillitis and boost up our immune system afterwards so that we do not fall for Tonsillitis anymore. Keep the hope up everyone!