Okay...so i live in a small town of 4000 in a rurual community. We only have one drs. office in town with only 3 doctors. The clinic is only open from 9-5pm and then you are out of luck if you get sick or need to see a doctor..Well..the doctors office was full up with no appointments available.. So i had no choice but to use the hospital emergency room(which sucks by the way, because there is only a doctor on call in emergant situations and because of poor staffing of the nursing department, there is not enough nurses to go around)... So last week.. i go in to the ER because my throat felt swollen and i had pain around my lymph/thyroid area... The doctor sees me cause he just so happend to be in the hospital at the time.. He takes a throat swab( I never hear back about the results) and he says its probably just a cold virus. He doesnt bother to check the side of my neck.

Fast forward...its a week and a half later..both sides of my neck by my glands hurt whenever i touch them.. I open my mouth and i can see white patches inside where my tonsils are and the back of my throat is..its red and yellow and swollen to the point where i cant even swallow pills. I cant eat anything solid. The only thing i have been able to eat for the past three days is : Slurpees, chicken broth and popsicles.. So i have to go back to the hospital because i was getting a fever and the pain and swelling was un-bearable. I go to the ER and the doctor on call is a doctor from down island who happens to be covering the ER for the weekend only. I wait 3.5 hours to see him and he looks at my throat, takes a swab and sends me home saying that he wont start me on antibiotics..he thinks its viral. Nothing more.

So i come home..its been another 4 days..im getting worse...my throat has even more white spots in the back of my throat and tonsils, i can barely swallow...i have tried.. Strepsils, and Cepecol and ive tried antiseptic throat numbing sprays and nothing has worked.. Ive tried tylenol and advil and ive used cough and cold and flu syrups and nothing... So i phone the doctors office today..which is 4 days later then when i went in..and they said "im sorry we dont have your throat culture..it gets sent to the lab in vancouver because our lab in town cant do the results..and if it is in..you wouldnt be able to get ahold of it, because the doctor on call would have the results and of course, he is down island and i cant get a number to phone him...
So i ask if there is anyway i can see a doctor in the office and they say they are all full..

So..what the **** should i do??? I know i have some kind of bacterial infection in my throat..im not an idiot.. ive had strep throat and tonsilitis before...even though i cant "prove it" yet... i know i have it..and the longer i leave it the worse it gets.. All i wanted was for them to start me on a common antibiotic to work on the infection because that would help reduce the swelling and the infection gets treated..but they refuse to give me anything until the test results are in and they refuse to treat me with antibotics on the basis that i dont have a fever (WTF i dont have a fever, because i take tylenol and advil all day, which masks the fever completely)

Im not stupid. I am smart..I am very smart.. I study health sciences for fun. And i have had enough infections in my body(since i seem to get one or two each year) to know what is an infection and what is a virus... And no i dont have Muncheausins... Im not making my symptoms up..I can take a #$^%&$* picture of my throat and point out on the picture what im seeing...

Sorry this is so long.. i needed to vent..but now i also need some advice on what to do..????? Im going out of my mind because i cant fix myself..and the doctors wont give me what i need to fix myself.

Ok, it sure sounds to me like you've got strep (just like you suspect). Strep can be deadly if untreated. You need to go back to the doctor and demand a strep test, which they ought to be able to do in a matter of minutes in-house.

The only other thing I can think of is a bad case of tonsilitis. You could have tonsil stones, if the white patches are only on your tonsils. Either way you're going to need antibiotics.

Why on earth do they not do a rapid strep test? It can be done in the exam room with you sitting right there. Is there a case manager at the hospital or clinic you can talk to? I'm sorry you are having this experience. My suggestion, and the best advice I can give you is to get a hold of the Hospital administrator and submit a complaint. that usually lights a fire under an MD's arse when boss man (or lady) starts calling.
*this advice rendered from a clinical administrator...my staff's arses would be in a sling if they treated a pt like that. *

Can you go to a Dr. in another town? Another ER?

I just went through THE.EXACT.SAME.THING. I finally had to get a friend to drive me to a walk in clinic in the city. We're in the same boat. 8 doctors for 15,000 people, no doctor on site at the hospital and 3 week or more waits for dr's appts. I had strep, a bad case. I would be complaining to the quality of care director if you can't get a Dr. to listen to you.

Sorry to hear this. (I know where PHG lives and it's about a five hour drive to the next town with any sizeable medical facilities - Nanaimo.) I guess you just need to tough it out and keep trying.

Oh goodness We're only two. Sounds like the health staffing struggles aren't limited to the prairies.

It's not much better in the big cities. I know a lot of people without family doctors, and I live in a city with a University with a good Medical School. The walk in clinic waits are awful, and they usually just brush you off.

Ugh. Rural Saskatchewan clinics are the WORST for this crap unless things have changed since I lived there few years ago. My son (3yrs old at the time) had an ear infection and they tried to book me in over a week later! Um, NO! A co-worker had a UTI and they booked her a time 2 WEEKS LATER! Wtf? In both instances we called around to a few other communities and found a doctor that day, but holy crap! What if I had been a less pro-active parent? Just let my son sit with an ear infection for a week? It's like they want us to abuse the ER system. SO inefficient! Nurse Practitioners FTW!

Wow,sorry to hear about your situation.I've had strep numerous times and that sounds about right by your symptoms.In fact,I went in to an Urgent Care and told the Dr. on call what I had.He smirked and told me he would be the one to let me know.He took one look at my throat and didn't even bother swabbing it...just gave me an antibiotic and told me I was right.

I would try like others have suggested...maybe go to the nearest town that has an urgent care type place? Strep,like someone else said,is not something you want to wait on.Good luck!

Jim Henson died cuz of strep induced organ failure. Don't wait, demand treatment!

Go to the ER, faint and stay fainted until you get treated.

I don't live in Canada, I'm in the U.S. Your dilemma scares me as our Obama Care is coming. Scary stuff!

I work for a veterinarian, we carry human grade antibiotics and are also in a small town, and I can see people bringing in pets that are not sick, just to get the meds they need.

my docs office is scheduling most patients on the day they call except for physicals etc. For infections, one gets in that day for sure. I am also in Canada. Its a matter of taking scheduling seriously. Keep going to the hospital, as the provincial system keeps track of people who go to ER because the doc couldn't get them in. I agree, don't leave until you have treatment

this has nothing to do with socialized healthcare. It's because she lives in a small town and there is a nationwide shortage of doctors.

I'd suggest you stop taking the tylenol till your fever is back and then go back to the hospital.

I would just go back and insist the doctor you see give you a prescription for penicillin or something. If you're persistent they'll give you the prescription before the test results come back.