ShanaMama
02-06-2008, 12:55 PM
The ped in my hometown never trusted their accuracy & I give his opinion a lot of weight. He always used the overnight ones that actually test the culture.
DD has strep (diagnosed with an overnight test by her ped). We found out Monday morning, so I kept her home Monday. Monday afternoon my throat felt scratchy, but I couldn't get an appt at my internist that day. So I went to another internist in my neighborhood & I didn't even see a doctor. The receptionist did the throat culture!! It was a rapid & was negative.
Tuesday everyone was fine, DD is on antibiotics & back to school. Tuesday night I started feeling sick & went to bed about 9:30. I was up half the night & this morning had a terrible headache & sore throat. So I went to my internist this morning & he did another rapid strep test (2 days after the first). Again, negative. I shared with him my wariness of the rapid tests & we both agreed that untreated strep is more of a risk than antibiotics are for me. He said that my symptoms don't suggest strep- if they did he'd be more likely to treat me despite the negative test. He gave me a prescription to fill in a few days if I get worse.
So I am happy with the way he handled the situation but am left with a question: Are those rapid test reliable? I know many doctors use them exclusively, but based on a few very experienced doctors, I feel that the rapid just can't be as accurate as the overnight. What do you think?
DD has strep (diagnosed with an overnight test by her ped). We found out Monday morning, so I kept her home Monday. Monday afternoon my throat felt scratchy, but I couldn't get an appt at my internist that day. So I went to another internist in my neighborhood & I didn't even see a doctor. The receptionist did the throat culture!! It was a rapid & was negative.
Tuesday everyone was fine, DD is on antibiotics & back to school. Tuesday night I started feeling sick & went to bed about 9:30. I was up half the night & this morning had a terrible headache & sore throat. So I went to my internist this morning & he did another rapid strep test (2 days after the first). Again, negative. I shared with him my wariness of the rapid tests & we both agreed that untreated strep is more of a risk than antibiotics are for me. He said that my symptoms don't suggest strep- if they did he'd be more likely to treat me despite the negative test. He gave me a prescription to fill in a few days if I get worse.
So I am happy with the way he handled the situation but am left with a question: Are those rapid test reliable? I know many doctors use them exclusively, but based on a few very experienced doctors, I feel that the rapid just can't be as accurate as the overnight. What do you think?