Online doctor, throat and tonsils
Tonsillitis While Travelling Symptoms and what to do.
NHS guidance says most tonsillitis is caused by a viral infection and that symptoms usually go away after three to four days. Speak with an English-speaking doctor by video about your throat and get clear guidance on what to do next.
Away from home the hard part is rarely the pain. It is not knowing whether this settles by itself, whether the person sharing your room is next, and whether it is worth finding a clinic in a town you do not know.
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A Throat That Stops You Eating, a Long Way From Your Own GP
NHS guidance describes tonsillitis as a sore throat with difficulty swallowing, often alongside a high temperature, a cough, a headache, feeling sick, earache and feeling tired. Looking at the tonsils, it lists red and swollen tonsils, white pus-filled spots on them, swollen and painful glands in the neck, and bad breath.
Most of it is viral and most of it settles. NHS says symptoms usually go away after three to four days, although they can last longer, and that complications are very rare. What makes it harder on a trip is the practical side: a throat too sore to eat or drink properly matters more in the heat, and working out whether this is a pharmacy problem or a clinic problem is exactly the judgement a traveller has no local reference point for.
- Consult securely by video
- Avoid unnecessary travel and waiting rooms
- Get clear guidance about your symptoms and treatment
- Talk it through in English, wherever you are staying
What Video Can Settle, and What It Cannot
One limit is worth stating before you pay anything: a video consultation cannot tell you whether this is the viral kind or the bacterial kind. Nothing can, without a test.
Where a video consultation genuinely helps
- talking through what your tonsils look like and what the rest of your symptoms are doing
- how long this has reasonably got before it needs someone in the room
- the warning signs to watch for tonight, so you are not guessing at 3am
- whether a test for strep is worth chasing where you are, and how you would go about it
- what you can safely take for the pain, and how to keep fluids going when swallowing hurts
- what to say, and what to ask for, if you do end up at a local clinic
Most of what decides a sore throat is history rather than a photograph: how many days, how high the temperature, whether swallowing is getting harder or easier, whether the glands are up, who else has it, and who the patient is. Those questions travel down a video call perfectly well.
What needs someone in the room
- a throat swab, which is the only thing that confirms a bacterial cause
- difficulty breathing, or any sense that the airway is narrowing
- being unable to swallow your own saliva, or drooling
- a severe sore throat that is getting worse quickly
- swelling on one side of the throat that is pushing things out of shape
Pomodoc connects you with an English-speaking doctor by video for €40 per consultation. Fixed price, no surprises, and no subscription.
If your throat needs examining or swabbing, a doctor will tell you that rather than talk you out of it. Knowing which of the two situations you are in is most of what you came for.
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How It Works
Medical advice by video in three simple steps
Start online
Tell us which country you are in and what is going on with your throat. It is a short form, not an appointment request.
Join by video
See your English-speaking doctor using your phone, tablet or computer.
Get clear guidance
Discuss your symptoms and receive advice about your next steps.
Why Use Pomodoc?
Explain it in English
Describe when it started, how bad swallowing has got and what you have already tried, in English, rather than pointing at your throat across a pharmacy counter.
Straight about what video can do
We will tell you plainly that video cannot separate viral from bacterial. What it can do is work out whether that question needs answering at all, and how quickly.
From wherever you are staying
No taxi, no waiting room, and no working out which clinic near your hotel is open.
One fixed price
€40 per consultation, whichever country you are in, with no insurance and no local registration needed.
Travellers who needed a doctor abroad
I was very happy to find this service
I was very happy to find this service! I was able to get a video visit with a physician promptly and get care.
Easy, competent, nice
Doctor was very nice and adequately thorough, explained everything very well. The whole process was far easier than expected.
Reliable and efficient
Reliable and efficient, able to provide medical support while you're away from home.
Reviews of Air Doctor, our medical partner, published on Trustpilot.
More About Tonsillitis While Travelling
What tonsillitis looks like
NHS describes the visible signs as red and swollen tonsils, white pus-filled spots on the tonsils, swollen and painful glands in the neck, and bad breath. Alongside those it lists a sore throat with difficulty swallowing, a high temperature, coughing, headache, feeling sick, earache and tiredness.
Two of those surprise people. Earache is on the list and is not necessarily a second illness: NHS lists it among the symptoms of tonsillitis, and its earache guidance links ear pain with pain when swallowing to a sore throat, tonsillitis or quinsy. And white spots are not a diagnosis: they appear in the more severe presentations generally, not only in the bacterial kind, which is why nobody can read the cause off them. They are, though, a reason to act: NHS says pus-filled spots on the tonsils mean getting urgent help now.
Tonsillitis or strep throat, and why the difference is a test
They are not two separate illnesses in the way the question implies. Strep throat is a sore throat caused by group A streptococcus bacteria, and NHS guidance lists sore throat — as strep throat or as tonsillitis — among the things that bacterium causes. So strep is one of the causes of tonsillitis, not its rival.
What matters practically is that most tonsillitis is viral, where antibiotics do nothing, and some is bacterial, where they may help. NHS says most children and adults get viral tonsillitis, which clears up on its own, that for bacterial tonsillitis a GP may prescribe antibiotics, and that a GP will usually wait for test results to tell which type you have. The word doing the work in that sentence is tests. If the antibiotic question is the one you actually have, the strep throat page linked below is the one that covers the swab: where it is realistically available, and what a result would change.
Is it contagious, in a room you are sharing
NHS puts this precisely, and the precision matters in a twin room or a hostel dorm: tonsillitis itself is not contagious, but most of the infections that cause it are — colds and flu among them. So what spreads is the underlying virus, and whether it becomes tonsillitis in the next person is a separate question.
The practical answer is unchanged by that distinction. NHS advice is to use tissues when you cough or sneeze and throw them away, wash your hands afterwards, and stay away from other people while you have a high temperature or do not feel well enough for your usual activities. Keeping your own cup and water bottle while you are ill is a sensible extra on a trip.
Swallowing, fluids and the heat
NHS self-care for tonsillitis is rest, drinking plenty of cool drinks to soothe the throat, and taking paracetamol or ibuprofen. For adults it also suggests gargling with warm salty water, which is not for children.
That advice carries more weight in a hot country than it does at home. A throat that makes drinking unpleasant, in heat that makes you need more fluid, is how a manageable illness turns into a dehydrated one — and NHS lists being unable to eat or drink among the reasons to seek help rather than wait. Cool drinks rather than hot ones, and small amounts often, is the practical version.
Children's tonsils, away from home
Tonsillitis is a common childhood illness, and NHS gives the same symptom list for children and adults: a sore throat, problems swallowing, a high temperature, coughing, a headache, feeling and being sick, earache and feeling tired. A younger child may not tell you their throat hurts, so some of the others may be what you notice first.
Drooling is on NHS's call-999 list for a sore throat, which notes it can be a sign of not being able to swallow, and that applies to children as well as adults. A child booked through a parent can be seen by video for the assessment conversation, and a doctor will say plainly if what you are describing needs someone in the room instead.
Good things to know.
What does tonsillitis look like?
NHS describes red and swollen tonsils, sometimes with white pus-filled spots on them, alongside swollen and painful glands in the neck and bad breath. The spots are worth a word of caution: they turn up in more severe presentations generally rather than only in the bacterial kind, so they do not tell you which sort you have and nobody should diagnose from a photograph. They do change the urgency: NHS says pus-filled spots on the tonsils are a reason to get urgent help now rather than wait.
How long does tonsillitis last?
NHS guidance says symptoms usually go away after three to four days, although they can last longer. That gives you a reasonable line to hold in your head on a trip, and NHS pairs it with a second one: see a GP if symptoms do not go away within 1 week. The urgent signs above apply from the first day and are not subject to that wait.
Is tonsillitis contagious?
NHS puts it this way: tonsillitis itself is not contagious, but most of the infections that cause it are, including colds and flu. In a shared room the practical advice is the same either way: NHS says to use tissues and throw them away, wash your hands after coughing or sneezing, and stay away from other people while you have a high temperature or feel too unwell for your usual activities.
Is this tonsillitis or strep throat?
Strep throat is one of the causes of tonsillitis rather than a different illness: NHS lists sore throat, as strep throat or as tonsillitis, among the things group A strep causes. Most tonsillitis is viral. Telling the two apart reliably takes a throat swab, which is the subject of our strep throat page and is not something a video call, or a photograph, can settle.
Can a doctor diagnose tonsillitis over video?
A doctor can take a full history, hear how your throat sounds, ask what you are seeing and form a view on how likely tonsillitis is and how it is progressing. What no video consultation can do is separate viral from bacterial, because that needs a swab. We would rather say that before you book than after.
Will I be given antibiotics?
Often not, and that is the guidance rather than a limitation of the service. NHS says most tonsillitis is viral and clears up on its own, and that for bacterial tonsillitis a GP may prescribe antibiotics, usually after waiting for test results to tell which type it is. A doctor may issue a prescription where it is clinically appropriate and local rules permit; it is not guaranteed, some things cannot be prescribed remotely at all, and medication you buy at a pharmacy is not included in the €40.
Can my child be seen for this?
A child can be booked through a parent, and a video consultation is a reasonable way to have the assessment conversation. One caveat is worth naming: NHS's sore throat guidance says to call the emergency number or go to an emergency department if you or your child are drooling, are unable to swallow, or have difficulty breathing, and that is an in-person matter rather than a booking.
Sources
- TonsillitisNHSThe symptom list including sore throat with difficulty swallowing, a high temperature, cough, headache, feeling sick, earache and tiredness; the visible signs of red and swollen tonsils, white pus-filled spots, swollen painful neck glands and bad breath; that most tonsillitis is caused by a viral infection and symptoms usually go away after three to four days but can last longer, and complications are very rare; that tonsillitis itself is not contagious but most of the infections causing it are; the advice to use tissues, wash hands after coughing or sneezing and stay away from others while you have a high temperature; the self-care advice on rest, cool drinks, paracetamol or ibuprofen and salt-water gargling for adults; the reasons to see a GP including symptoms that do not go away within 1 week; the reasons to get urgent help now, pus-filled spots on the tonsils and a sore throat so painful it is difficult to eat or drink; the emergency signs of a severe sore throat that quickly gets worse, swelling inside the mouth and throat, difficulty speaking, being unable to swallow, difficulty breathing and difficulty opening the mouth; and that most children and adults get viral tonsillitis, which clears up on its own, while for bacterial tonsillitis a GP may prescribe antibiotics, usually after waiting for test results.
- Sore throatNHSThat you or your child should call 999 or go to A&E if you have difficulty breathing or are unable to swallow, or are drooling, which can be a sign of not being able to swallow.
- EaracheNHSThat ear pain with pain when swallowing can be a sign of a sore throat, tonsillitis or quinsy.
- MeningitisNHSThat a stiff neck with being unable to look at bright lights, confusion, or a rash that does not fade when pressed are reasons to call 999 or go to A&E.
- Strep ANHSThat group A streptococcus is a common bacterium, and that NHS lists sore throat — whether as strep throat or as tonsillitis — among the illnesses it causes. This is the source for the statement on this page that strep is one of the causes of tonsillitis rather than a separate illness competing with it.
Sources last checked: . General information, not a diagnosis.
Not Sure Whether Your Throat Needs Seeing?
Speak to an English-speaking doctor by video and get guidance from wherever you are staying.
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Video consultations are for suitable non-emergency medical concerns, and a throat that is closing is not one of them. If you are having difficulty breathing or cannot swallow your own saliva, call your local emergency number or go to the nearest emergency department. This page is general information, not medical advice about your own situation.