I’m on day 5 of a miserable viral throat infection. I’m wondering what is physically happening in my throat to make it hurt so much. Google didn’t help me – just told me causes of sore throats but not why it actually hurts.
In: Biology
Very simplified, your throat has become a war zone between the virus trying to replicate in cells, and your immune system destroying those hijacked cells. End result, you throat is all torn up by the battle.
Often times we get drainage from our sinuses, even if we don’t feel “stuffy.”
This sinus drainage is not the same mucous already present in your throat and can cause irritation from the contact with the tissue. This is most often the case with early symptoms of any illness.
Another cause: general swelling. We have a lot of lymph nodes in the area.
Ps the white spots are likely bacterial growth. Viruses tend to be inside the cells whereas you have clusters of bacteria causing pain on the surface – you cannot treat viral infections with antibiotics, they are for bacterial infections only (such as strep throat or bacterial tonsillitis, -itis being inflammation of).
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