Please note -Although this article presents common issues for children, the concepts will apply to any adult with a throat infection.

As a parent, you are the first person consulted by your child when they get sick. When you hear “Mommy my throat hurts” or “Mommy I’m sick” you become “Dr Mom or Dad”. It can now be very difficult to know what to do to help your child. You are bombarded with cures and remedies through advertisers. Many of the claims are not backed by accepted medical concepts and in some cases the use of over the counter treatments may delay the starting of appropriate medications and may even expose others to getting sick. Even experienced doctors have been shown to have difficulty judging the correct diagnosis in cases of throat pain. We all need to rely on a trusted laboratory test to help us decide what is best for our children.

MIMS was created to make the job of Dr. Mom/Dad easier. MIMS was created to help your Doctor and to help your child. MIMS will improve the ability of you to get a correct diagnosis for your child and MIMS may help reduce the spread of infections.

As an Ear Nose and Throat specialist I see many cases of sore throats (officially Pharyngitis). These infections are caused by a variety of organisms. While more common in children, they may occur in anyone. The public refers to the organisms as Germs. Physicians classify germs into categories based on the differences we observe in them. Some germs are viruses some germs are bacteria and some germs are fungi (molds and yeasts).

In many cases, the throat pain your child suffers from is viral. In all cases when a virus is the cause of throat pain, antibiotics should not be used. Antibiotics have no effect on the virus and so do not make your child feel better. Worse, your child may develop a side effect to the antibiotic that is even more uncomfortable than the sore throat. Using unneeded antibiotics also can increase the cases of antibiotic resistance and has made the use of antibiotics less effective when we do need them. A very common viral infection is Mononucleosis (Mono). A specific test can confirm if your child has Mono. Many other viral infections exist in addition to “Mono”. However, even in cases of viral infections, bacteria may be also present and they can be the main cause of throat pain. Bacteria are best diagnosed by a throat culture.

When the germ causing your child’s throat pain is bacterial, your Physician may recommend the use of an antibiotic. Under this circumstance, the treatment can reduce your child’s symptoms. It may also reduce the chance that a more serious condition may develop from the bacterial infection. Cases of heart disease and kidney disease are linked to untreated cases of a certain kind of streptococcal throat infection (Group A beta-hemolytic strep.) Although a rapid test for this infection exists, it fails to identify about 20% of the cases. In addition, other bacteria may be causing your child’s sore throat. The only test that can identify nearly all cases of bacterial throat pain is a throat culture. Not only does it identify the bacteria, but will also provide your physician with important information about which antibiotics to use. Cultures can also quickly determine if your child is suffering from thrush, a yeast infection that can cause sore throats, often in infants. Thrush can also be seen in older children and adults.

Many children are now treated without a culture, often without any testing and sometimes over the phone. There are many reasons for this. No uniform consensus exists about the use of cultures and although cultures are reliable and inexpensive, our government as a routine test has not pushed them. Why?

Before the creation of MommyImSick.com it was time intensive to do cultures for medical offices already crowded with other issues. Without help and a mandate to do throat cultures, many offices avoid them. Labels, paper requisitions, insurance information, checking results, notifying patients, calling pharmacies all usually at the end of a busy day severely tax the physician and his staff. Writing for an antibiotic, avoided much of this effort and would treat many causes of the throat pain, but for the reasons you now understand, may not have been the ideal way to deal with the problem. I recognized this problem everyday in my office. MIMS helps reduce the office work required to do throat cultures, allowing your physician more time to take better care of your child. Results are automatically sent to you and the pharmacy as soon as your physician reviews them.

Also, through our ground breaking Culture at Home, (coming soon) qualified individuals will be able to obtain cultures even before they see the doctor and online training will allow those desiring to learn the easy technique to do a throat culture at home. By the time they are seen, the doctor may already have the information they need to treat the infection appropriately! Accurate diagnosis will allow for better treatments. We even make it easier to schedule an appointment to see your doctor. Now you can make the appointment over the internet! Your doctor’s office will confirm your appointment right on our site. No more waiting on hold!

I am delighted you have decided to join MommyImSick.com! Thank you and someday your child will thank you too!
 
 
 

 
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