I am a 27 yr old female and have been diagnosed with tonsillitis. I have started a weeks supply of penicillin and my symptoms are a sore throat, enlarged and pus covered tonsils, swollen neck glands, fever and headaches. I am sweating a lot during the night. I had visited my doctor earlier last week complaining of fatigue but at that stage i did not have a sore throat. She sounded my chest and told me she could hear a heart murmur- this is the first time any doctor ever picked up on this. I am wondering could the 2 be correlated? Thanks
Hi! Thanks for sharing your concern with us. I read carefully what you said, and my answer is: Yes, the heart murmur your doctor heard could be due to the tonsillitis infection that you had. From your description that the tonsils were enlarged and covered by pus and with swollen neck lymph nodes, it is very likely that you had an infection from group A Streptococcus. This infection damages con also damage the valves of the heart, and this is the reason of the heart murmur heard. I would recommend you, that you finish all your treatment with penicillin until the end. Even though you might feel better and have no tonsillitis symptoms anymore, it is very important to complete the full treatment for preventing further complications (such might be the post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis). I wish you get better soon! Please do not hesitate to write me if you have further questions. Kind regards,