A black hairy WHAT???

[mariamousie1]

Okay, this isn't really a suck, it's more like an employee mistake. I want to share it though because I LOL'd.

To begin with, I just found out I have strep throat. Bleh. I feel fine though, except for a nasty sore throat. I got a prescription for penicillin and after picking it up I was sitting in the car with my mom and started reading the directions. I read this in the side effects.

"Although this effect is uncommon, you may develop a black,
hairy
harmless and usually goes away after treatment."

That's exactly what it looks like, it just stops off after hairy and goes to the next line. O_o My mom was like "I guess you'll have to wait and see what becomes black and hairy."
I went inside to the pharmacy and asked them and they had a good laugh too.

Turns out it was an oral thrush. Yuck.

[Becks]

:backing away slowly:

[rerant]

Eeew I just Googled oral thrushes and my word,
Though it couldn't be as bad as what would happen to me if I were to take penicillin, which is die.
So there is a bright side.

[mariamousie1]

My dad says I should send it in to Jay Leno. What do you think?

Also, I just want to clarify that I do not have an oral thrush. That was the uncommon side effect in the instructions. Just in case any of you were running away going "TMI!"

[mariamousie1]

Ugh, I had strep throat a couple of times. I hope you feel better soon.

I googled 'strep throat black hairy' because.. well, someone had to!

The answer is: tongue. Apparently a possible side effect of your meds can be a black, hairy looking tongue. An image search confirms that the tongue will not actually BE hairy. lol

Thank you! and thank goodness! The last thing I need is a carpet in my mouth on top of everything else! Um...ick. bad image!

[Amethyst Hunter]

Do you get to drink the bubbleygum pink medicine? (Why yes, yes I do, know all about strep throat. Kinda hard not to when one is getting it every other week as a kid!)

[Pagan]

TMI ALERT

Turns out it was an oral thrush. Yuck.

If you eat a carton of yogurt everyday, you shouldn't have a problem. I found this out the hard way. Every time I've had a throat infection and get penicillin (or ampicillin or amoxicillin), I better make damn sure I get yogurt or I will get a yeast infection (which is what thrush is, just in a different location). Whoopie!

It's because although the antibiotic is killing your streptococcal bacteria, it's also killing the critters that are supposed to be in your system.

[BookstoreEscapee]

It's because although the antibiotic is killing your streptococcal bacteria, it's also killing the critters that are supposed to be in your system.

The 'cillin family can also mess with your tummy. Yogurt can help that, too.

[Kaylyn]

My husband had a staph infection last December and wound up in the hospital with a nasty infection and necrotizing fasciitis from it. They pumped him full of vancomycin and various other -mycins and -cillins and force fed him buttermilk in the hospital (which he discovered he HATES). He had five huge incisions where they drained the infection and they sent him home with instructions to repack the incisions 2 or 3 times a day, and he ate practically nothing but yogurt for a few weeks. Still got thrush mouth...

He had a 10-day round of sulfa drugs when he got home, and it turns out he's mildly allergic to them. He had a rash that spread over his entire body, turning him bright red. He made it through, though, and now he's got five nice deep scars on his arm from the incisions. Apparently the ladies dig them... :P

[Pagan]

The 'cillin family can also mess with your tummy. Yogurt can help that, too.

I didn't even think of that since I've got the constitution of a goat!

They pumped him full of vancomycin and various other -mycins and -cillins and force fed him buttermilk in the hospital (which he discovered he HATES). He had five huge incisions where they drained the infection and they sent him home with instructions to repack the incisions 2 or 3 times a day, and he ate practically nothing but yogurt for a few weeks. Still got thrush mouth...

Well, when you get to the point where they're having to pull out the vancomycin....oy! Glad to hear he made it though!

[fma_fanatic]

I got thrush earlier this year when I made the mistake of eating some candy while taking Biaxin. While I didn't have any "hairy" side effects, it was annoying because you feel the bumps in your mouth. I managed to get rid of it by rinsing my mouth out with a salt wash solution 3-4 times a day.

So yeah, stay away from candy when you're antibiotics.

[mariamousie1]

Do you get to drink the bubbleygum pink medicine? (Why yes, yes I do, know all about strep throat. Kinda hard not to when one is getting it every other week as a kid!)

Sorry guys, I didn't know people were still posting to this! My bad, I should have checked. No, I don't get drink medicine, it's pills every six hours. I think I've been doing pretty well although sometimes I forget and sometimes I accidentally take it early. Still, my throat feels much better now. Also, I have been eating a lot of yogourt. Not for any reason, I just like yogourt. Candy hasn't been bothering me though- I suck on a lot of hard candy because it helps my throat.

[Munkie]

I've had various infections myself... mainly, strep throat three times, and a supposed staph infection (which actually turned out to be a different bacterial infection that i don't remember the name of)

The last one (the one I can't remember) was located in my right armpit... the -cillin's I took made it go away, but it kept coming back, until I finally got pissed and I saw a doctor who pegged it as something else. I got a set of halloween pills (they were orange and black-cased) and a topical cream. One of the side effects of the pills was a black hairy tongue and yeast infections. Didn't get the black hairy, but got the yeasty. Blech.

And the last time I had strep throat, I didn't realize that was what I had, I thought it was just a sore throat that wouldn't go away. What made me seriously mad was that I completely lost my voice, and my complete douchebag of an now-ex-bf would call me every night to talk to me, despite my being unable to talk, and then bitch at me, saying I didn't want to talk to him and I couldn't tell him otherwise because I COULDN'T TALK.

/rant

Sorry. ANYway. That strep throat was the worst I'd ever had, I lost 10 pounds because I'd had it so long I couldn't eat much of anything. I remember when I got home I slept really hard, then the next day went to the doctors, went home, made a smoothie, then went out with said now-ex-bf to get food and nearly passed out on the way to the store. Had to stop for several minutes to get reoriented and the blackness to go away before I could keep going. I ate only McDicks cheeseburgers (the small ones) for like, a week. They were the only things I could actually eat and keep down, weird as it seems.

So yeah. Strep throat and staph infections no fun. The strep throat meds were also pill-form, and one of the side effects was black hairy tongue too LOL