Thursday, October 23, 2008

Remind Me To Go To The Doctor More


Wow, how many times have I woken up with a sore throat and gone to work anyway? Taylor Momsen woke up with a sore throat and almost died. She woke up one morning complaining of a sore throat like all 15 year olds do, and her mom probably thought she was just trying to ditch studying for a test. Someone told her to go the doctor before she flew from LA to New York and the doctor freaked out and put her in the hospital.

"I have been treating Miss Taylor Momsen for the last few days. She has been hospitalized for a severe, potentially life-threatening throat infection since Sunday. She has been an excellent patient, and after aggressive antibiotics and medications, she is expected to make a full recovery in the next three to five days."

Now, I am thrilled that Taylor is going to be ok, and then it got to me thinking that how many of us would not try and see a doctor on a Saturday or Sunday because we know we wouldn't get in. How many of us then would have died. These kinds of things freak me out. What kind of sore throat says I need to see a doctor right now no matter the cost? I'm guessing this was not just strep or mono. Anyone thinking staph infection? What the hell is going on at the Gossip Girl set? I know we have talked about staph infections before and I have to say they freak me out. Can you get one inside your body? I've only heard of them on your body.

Any ideas what this could be from anyone?

32 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:56 AM

    A friend of mine had staph from what I hear it can be fatal. I believe the way he got it was probably he was was scratching a cut he had on his leg. Don't know if their is another way to get this.

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  2. It's possible that she suffered toxic shock syndrome. That's caused by a strep or staff virus, can have a pretty quick onset, has a sore throat, body aches and fever as its symptoms, and requires quick intervention with hospital care.
    Otherwise, it could have been a throat infection that got out of hand, like strep. In our hyper-busy, hyper-medicated society, we sometimes pop meds to keep us going instead of getting the rest and care our body needs to repair itself and to fight illness.

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  3. One of the symptoms of mono can be a severe throat infection. I was hospitalized when I had mono and my throat infection was so severe that I had trouble breathing and I could not swallow. Before I was diagnosed, my doctor thought it might be diptheria.

    A yeast infection in the throat can be pretty nasty too.

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  4. It's also possible she just has a normal strep infection, and her doctor ordered hospital care and aggressive antibiotics to minimize the time that she is sick, and to force bedrest.

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  5. My husband had a throat infection this summer that required surgery, major antibiotics, and two weeks of bed rest. We thought he had strep but it turned out to be a peritonsillar abscess. They can sometimes be treated with outpatient care and a few days of rest. If left untreated they can kill you because your throat swells up so badly that you can't breathe.

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  6. When you take lots of drugs and don't eat, it depresses your immune system and you can fall prey to all kinds of bugs that a health person could easily fight off.

    Enty, that's what Urgent Care is for! (I love the Urgent Care folks.)

    A Minnesota woman died a couple of months ago like a day after getting a "cold." It seriously freaked me out.

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  7. I wonder if her sore throat is really more like "exhaustion." she's gotten seriously skinny and a little glassy-eyed lately

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  8. In her defense, I had a severe throat infection this Spring, that nearly killed me. My throat swelled so much I couldn't eat or drink anything for days. I couldn't even swallow my own spit! I was so dehydrated, nurses pumped 4 litres of saline into my body in the first 24 hours of my hospitalization. It was days before I could swallow without wincing, and I was under the influence of a morphine IV.

    That doesn't mean Taylor was actually sick, but it CAN happen.

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  9. My aunt died this year from something like this. She got a sore throat and her and her husband didn't think anything of it. It was "just a cold".

    They left it and a couple of days passed and she was getting weaker and weaker. It got to the point where she was so weak they had to take her to the hospital. They thought possibly it was a really bad cold/flu.

    She was barely awake when they got to the hospital and my uncle had to wait outside in the waiting room. He waited for a few hours and was wondering what was wrong. Finally the doctor came out and told him that she had died. My uncle was floored.

    Turns out she had a form of this.

    Scary scary stuff.

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  10. oh god, now I feel kinda bad. I had no idea a cold or sore throat could get so out of control!

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  11. Anonymous10:44 AM

    I still think it was pharyngeal gonorrhea, and they're blowing this out of proportion.

    I'm sorry, but docs should not talk about their patients, even if their patients request it.

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  12. wade, sorry to hear about your aunt. this is good information to have.

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  13. Wade...the exact same thing happend to my mom's freind. she thought she had a cold or at worse pnemonia...dead within hours of arriving at emerg.

    this didn't happen to be in Manitoba? strange similarities.

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  14. i agree with molly, wade sorry about your aunt but thanks for sharing this is useful information.

    However Lainey and DListed thinks this girl just has a coke problem.

    I wonder if they really know that she has a drug problem or they're assuming because they don't know that a throat infection could potentially be fatal?

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  15. That reminds me - don't use antibiotics unless you HAVE to. Superbugs are some seriously scary shit!!! (But don't worry about antibacterial soaps - they actually don't lead to mutations because the bacteria aren't concentrated enough - I used to worry about that a lot and was relieved to find out they actually aren't part of the problem.)

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  16. Thanks moosh for the info about antibacterial soaps. I'm not a germ freak but I think handwashing is REALLY important.

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  17. and don't forget the purell!

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  18. wasn't there a blind item about one of the girls from gossip girl getting involved with coke?

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  19. antibacterial soap and purell are not the best thing to use all the time unless you are in contact with sick people on a regular basis (ie: medical worker) you weaken your immune system by not letting it get exposed to different germs. if your body isn't exposed to average germs, it doesn't know how to fight them. It's a natural process that your body has to do. People get so freaky about germs. We didn't have antibacterial soap or purell until 10-15 yrs ago and people survived just fine. Washing your hands with normal soap and water is sufficient.

    What is so bad about staph infections is they can get into your blood stream and that's when you are fucked.

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  20. She could have the clap in her throat. *Shrug*

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  21. My father went into the hospital for a heart valve replacement and ended up getting a staph infection. He died six weeks later of a massive system failure brought on by the infection.

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  22. Wasnt there a blind about a teenage actress/actor in NY partying all the time (against the wishes of their minder)?

    I cant find it, but it hinted at possible backlash ('exhaustion' related, or just general decline in popularity due to being a bad role model to youngsters).

    This could tie in with what lainey was hinting/trowelling on at with the 'looking like ass' comments.

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  23. Since she has become so skinny, if she is forcing herself to throw up, it could cause severe throat problems, especially if you add an infection to the weakened area too.

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  24. Anonymous7:12 PM

    I use Purell all the time and you would too if you were forced to utilize those restrooms at my work. You'd think a bunch of women would keep a bathroom CLEAN.

    The best rule of thumb is you feel bad and notice absolutely no kind of improvement at all within 48 to 72 hours, at the very least drop by the Minute Clinic at your local CVS and let them do an assessment.

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  25. Does anyone REALLY think she was at death's door? I don't even know who she is, but this pisses me off. Potentially life threatening? It is or it isn't, and factoring in every conceivable complication or outcome does NOT make it a tragedy narrowly averted. I crossed several streets and avenues in New York City today; I even jaywalked a few times. Where's my trip to Disneyland?

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  26. Hi, long time reader, first time poster from Australia.
    About 8 years ago I had keyhole surgery on my kidney. 2 weeks later I was rushed to hospital in agony and with a severe blood nose. Turns out I had a staph infection in my kidney from the op. Apparently it is one of the more common hospital superbugs and it's more common to catch one during keyhole surgery when they have more instruments to poke inside you. Needless to say, I now have so much scar tissue in my kidney it barely copes and may have to be removed one day.
    There's my 2c lol, hope my next blog entry will be a little more cheerful!
    BTW, staph is very contagious so if TM has been 'intimate' we will see her 'partners' in hospital soon.

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  27. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  28. If you're drugged out, Taylor, clean yourself up! Take a page from the Lohan handbook or you'll be getting kicked off the set of sitcoms before you can say "Grinch."

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  29. This was likely related to a peritonsillar abscess, a collection of pus around the tonsil. Often strep, many times polymicrobial (other bacteria that live in the mouth and throat). This can be easily drained by a qualified physician (an ENT or ER doctor) and several days of antibiotics usually clear it up completely. The "life-threatening" component comes from the fact that the swelling can close off the throat if it gets excessive.

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  30. Jesus, you all just scared the crap out of me!!! I just thought this was a coverup for a drug problem or such. it still may be...BUT after reading this I will be sure to pay extra close attention to a sore throat. I feel so bad now, when my hubby gets sick I usually give him some sort of nightime medicine and put him to bed. I will be sure to pay closer attention from now on.
    My heart goes out to all those that lost loved ones suddenly form an illness.

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  31. maybe the doctor wanted to bang her.

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