Dr. Hive - only symptom of strep vomiting?

[Teresa in MO]

I have been at my dd's house since last Thursday.  On Wednesday, she had chills, body aches, and a sore throat.  She had been having sinus issues the past few weeks.  Friday night while my 3 year old granddaughter started throwing up.  I took care of her during the night.  She threw up about a dozen times.  She relapsed Saturday evening, then was just tired and laid around.  The other 4 grandkids all started throwing up by Sunday evening.  They typical 12 hour period.  I started throwing up during the night Monday night.  Had a bad headache on Tuesday with no energy.  I fell better today and all the grandkids are back to normal.  My son-in-law came down with chills, body aches, and sore throat on Tuesday and was diagnosed with strep this morning.  My dd (she is pregnant) had an OB appointment today sent her to her primary to be tested.  She has strep also.  They told her that what we all had could have actually been strep.  There have been absolutely no fever, sore throats, or body aches, just the vomiting and headaches after.  Does this sound right?  And if so, should we get tested also?  I read that strep does not go away for weeks unless it is treated.  Anyone have any experience like this?

[sweet2ndchance]

I have one kid who never looks sick at all but tests absolutely positive for strep. The only way to tell that he has strep is that he has a borderline fever of around 100 and looks glassy eyed. Other than that he's running around and playing and says he feels fine. But if we take him to the doctor with just a borderline temp and glassy eyes, they look at us like we are nuts for wanting to test him for strep but he has it every time we get him tested with those symptoms. So yes, you can have strep without the usual symptoms and vomiting is actually a pretty common symptom of strep in my experience. So, yeah, if you are still feeling a bit yucky, I would go to your PCP or even just a walk in clinic and explain that you know you have been exposed and have had the same symptoms and you want a strep test. It's a pretty quick and not terribly expensive test and a round of antibiotics should clear it right up rather than being miserable on and off for a month while your body fights it off without any help. Plus, you run the risk of continuing to pass the germs around and reinfecting your dd's family and others.

[Ottakee]

Yep.  Happens with my sister's kids all the time.

[J-rap]

That's weird!  I've not heard of throwing up with strep.   But, if more than one person has tested positive and you've all felt sick in one way or another, I'd probably have everyone tested.    I used to have a weird symptom of strep, even before the sore throat part would kick in.  My lips would turn slightly numb and tingle!  The doctor was skeptical when I told her that was one of my symptoms, but I had strep 3 - 4 times when my kids were young and always had that symptom.  Now that I think of it, I think my hands would tingle too.  So, I guess different people have different symptoms!     Another thought is that the strep and the throwing up could be completely separate bugs, but one of them could be lowering the overall immunity so that it's then easier to pick up the other bug too, which is also circulating among family members.    I know that often happens with strep and mono.

[The Governess]

My dd once had strep and just had an on-off low grade fever, a rash that would come and go on her torso, and an upset stomach. Her throat never hurt.  Until then I didn’t know that you could have strep without a sore throat!

I do think that it is more typical for kids to present like this with strep than adults though. Most adults get the traditional sore throat.