Question: On Wednesday I woke up with mild ear pain and a sore throat. It progressed with bidy aches and I went to the doctor. He was a resident who said he could not get a good throat swab so he sent it to the lab for culture testing. It was negative for the strip in office test. He sent me home with flonaze and said it was likeky a virus or allergies. I debeloped a 100 degree fever tat night. I took ibprofin and went to bed. I wike up feeling better and went to work. Symptoms were almst gone though I still had a sharp pain in one small area of my throat. Later I coughed up a large amount of yellow phlem at once. What scared me us tat for the first time ever in my life it contained blood. However my throat pain completely disappeared and I felt completely better. The next day I felt fine then in the evening my throat began to feel swollen and painful. I don't really have a cough but my right ear is completely plugged and they both hurt -especially to swallow. I have been taking Flonase once per day since the doctor and just took an allergy pill that helped somewhat unplug my ear. Throat culture negative for strep. What is going on?