Hi, I thought I should reply as I have had a very similar experience to you. Apologies in advance for the lengthy post, but I know it has helped me hearing other people's experiences when so similar to mine.
I am 24 and have been ill for around 2 and a half years now. I have seen countless specialists and GPs, including an ME/CFS specialist who has excluded all other causes and given me a firm diagnosis of ME/CFS.
My illness started with recurrent tonsillitis and throat infections, countless courses of antibiotics and feeling very run down. One specialist thought that perhaps the persistent infection was the cause of all my symptoms and so I was referred for a tonsillectomy. I was having a lot of tests at this time and it was then that they found I had had glandular fever somewhere along the line which was probably misdiagnosed as a bad bout of tonsillitis. As I was unaware that I had glandular fever at the time I went back to work and did not rest etc appropriately; having read a lot about glandular fever I now think this was one of the main contributors to my long term ill health. But no one can turn back the clock, we can only make sure we look after ourselves properly now.
Anyway, I had the tonsillectomy July 2015, got an infection afterwards so more antibiotics. Once fully recovered I felt well for around a month and then my symptoms returned worse than ever leaving me house bound, some days unable to get out of bed and as a result I lost my job. I too was still experiencing the daily sore throat along with swollen painful glands and all of the other unbearable symptoms of ME/CFS, despite being fully healed following the tonsillectomy. This caused me immense upset and frustration as I had been through a great deal of pain getting the tonsillectomy and being ill during the recovery period with infection, vomiting etc. I also was drinking several litres of water a day because I was experiencing the constant dry throat and feeling like I needed to swallow liquid down to help.
The good news is, although I am not completely better and am still looking for answers and treatments myself, I have made a vast improvement. I am unsure what to attribute this improvement to as I have tried many different things but I can definitely recommend some things I think help.
Firstly, my GP has been very good throughout this time and has recommended many beneficial things. She recommended I gargle with chlorexidine/corsodyl mouthwash every day to help with the daily sore throat, which it did. I now only have to use this when I get a sore throat which is maybe once every two weeks, sometimes less. When I was still getting recurrent throat infections she also recommended I make a solution of boiled and cooled water mixed with a couple of drops of tea tree oil and gargle with this for around a minute, again this really helped and I would sometimes mix in some salt to the solution. I swear that gargling with these saved me from having yet another course of antibiotics on many occasions. I am now over a year on from having the tonsillectomy and haven't needed any antibiotics since the recovery period and my throat is much much better than ever before. Like you, I also found the Difflam spray really beneficial. I would also make warm drinks of boiled and cooled water, with honey and fresh lemon squeezed in, sometimes adding ginger, and I found this helped soothe my throat.
I think that being able to give my body a rest from the antibiotics has helped a lot and I have been taking a probiotic every day to try and build up my gastrointestinal health, as advised by the gastroenterologist that I see.
I have been off work for almost a full year now, which I think has had a big influence on my health. Although it can be soul destroying at times not having a job, I think that the physical and mental rest is necessary. I try and do as many things as I can for my mental health like meditation and also going to counselling. I'm unsure what impact this has had, but I do believe it is important to try and reduce stress or handle stress more effectively in order to get better; although I know this is easier said than done.
Like you, I no longer drink alcohol as I was experiencing the exact same problem of having a sore throat for days after and feeling really run down, I was also burning up and feeling very unwell when drinking. So it's been nearly a full year since I drank any alcohol which I think has also helped. My view is that alcohol is a toxin and when the body is already trying to deal with illness it's probably an added stress that it doesn't need.
Again like you, I was going through a really stressful time with personal things going on whilst having the tonsilitis and glandular fever, combined with working a stressful job doing long days, some vitamin deficiencies that I didn't know about, bile acid malabsorption which I didn't know about, being on constant antibiotics which do have well documented side effects and then also having the operation in the midst of all this. I think that the combination of mental stress along with physical illness is really detrimental to the body. After doing so much reading, the theory I think that makes the most sense to me is that when the body encounters so much stress both physically and mentally it manifests in chronic physical symptoms. I have read a lot about how the body floods your system with stress hormones when it perceives a threat (stress, illness, trauma etc) and how if this continues long term it can start to have a damaging physical impact on the body. I have also read a lot about how people can be 'stuck' in this pattern, there is a well known training programme which claims to change the brain patterns which influence the nervous system to give us these symptoms. I am still reading into this training programme myself and making up my mind as to whether I think this will be a cure for me or whether I think it's too wishy washy or maybe even a con. There are many recovery stories from people who have used this programme, and there are also many stories from people who have made no improvement using the programme and sometimes even became more ill. In my opinion, the jury's still out for me so you should read into it and see what you think, I find it comforting on my less skeptical days to at least believe there is a cure.
I think it may be worthwhile for you to have some tests done for vitamin deficiencies if you haven't already. Along the way my GP worked with me to correct any smaller issues that may have been contributing to my fatigue etc and found that I was deficient in folate, vitamin D and vitamin B12 and for whatever reason these seem to be quite common in people with ME/CFS. Perhaps it's just that people with ME/CFS present with so many symptoms it's a necessary test to do and people who are well may not think to have the tests done if they can function adequately.
In general in our position I'd say it's important to be looking after yourself in terms of diet, sticking to a good sleeping pattern, looking into whatever supplements etc you think may help, taking the rest you need and trying to reduce/cope well with stress.
Anyway, I won't bore you with anymore detail but if you have any questions about anything I'd be happy to answer as like I say I feel like your post could have been me a year ago, and I know exactly how that feels.
Xx
. Sounds like we are in the same boat really.