Medical Treatment

• After a careful exam your doctor will decide on a course of treatment.

• Most of the time, your doctor will recommend the home care actions and may prescribe a steroid injection or prescription.

• If the doctor is concerned about a bacterial infection causing the laryngitis, then he or she will prescribe a course of antibiotics.

• Sometimes, the doctor may choose to observe you in the office or the emergency department for a short period of time in order to be sure you are not getting worse quickly.

• If you have any signs of respiratory distress or think your airway could swell and close, then you will be admitted to the hospital.

• In some emergency situations, more commonly in children than adults, the danger of your throat swelling shut exists.

• It may be necessary to place a breathing tube into your throat in order to breathe for you (the procedure is called intubation).

• You will then be placed on a machine to breathe for you called a ventilator.

• In this situation, you will receive IV antibiotics and likely steroids.