Originally Posted by
Captain irrational
I've been told some people can be carriers of strep bacteria without it causing any infections, it just lives in your mouth and nose without causing any problems. This is likely why you are testing positive and why the antibiotics won't touch it, because it's not actually infecting your body.
As for lymph nodes, they are pretty much a law unto themselves. Some people have soft ones, some have hard ones, some puff up and down constantly, some people can feel loads of them, some people can't feel any at all (and by God, do I envy those lucky *******s!), sometimes some are bigger than others for no apparent reason at all, sometimes they enlarge and stay enlarged forever. And to confuse matters even further, every health related website seems to have a different opinion on what is "normal" for lymph nodes and what isn't. I am increasingly of the opinion that there is no absolute "normal" when it comes to lymph nodes, everybody's behave slightly differently, so really you have to figure what is normal for you.
As a general rule of thumb though, nodes that are small, moveable and not continually growing in size or drastically changing in texture or shape, are usually nothing to worry about.