I have tonsillitis

[Pawelk198604]

I have tonsillitis, I thought that only kids get sick on it, apparently I was wrong. I wonder what it causes

[Tommygun]

My brother has had it several times, but it went away on its own without needing surgery.

I think I may have had it once in my late 20s, but it faded after about a week and before I had a chance to see a doctor, so I never had it checked.

[Majorjim!]

Hi Pawelk198604,

I know this well.. In my teens I had it often, three times in one year and on and off for 5 years. It sucks but I didn't have surgery

and it has never returned.

Go see the doc if you haven't already. I don't think docs like to remove them anymore.

If you dont mind me asking, how old are you? Have you had it before?

MJ

[szputnyik]

I had it when I was 5. Had to stay 4 days in the hospital to have it taken out, then to recuperate.

I was dressed in pyjamas, assigned a 4-bed hospital room with other children, then about 2 hours later a nurse came, and gave me some kind of sedative pill. It didn't seem to have any effect, it would've been more effective to just pour me a shot of vodka or pálinka.

Then, 30 minutes later I was taken to a smaller room, made to sit in a chair, the doctor reached into my throat with a pair of forceps and ripped out my tonsils. I remember shouting out in pain. Then came 3 days of recuperation, during which I was given a lot of ice cream to cool my throat down, I enjoyed that.

This happened in a small town hospital in 1996, I've heard that nowadays, anesthesia is used during this surgery so no pain.

[rdfox]

Technically, tonsillitis is any form of inflammation of the tonsils. And while it used to be standard procedure to just automatically do a tonsillectomy any time someone had it, at least in the US, by the late 1980s, that was no longer the case--when I had it back then, the doctor explained that it was now recognized that the tonsils had an important purpose (they help catch things falling down the esophagus that could cause infections) and that tonsillitis was actually them doing their job properly by keeping an infection from getting further into the gastrointestinal tract. So, instead of a tonsillectomy, he prescribed bedrest, lots of fluids (which were about all I could swallow at the time, anyway), and antibiotics to help fight the infection.

Still have my tonsils today, as a result...

[phoenix_ca]

As rdfox noted, all that means is inflammation. I can be caused by a myriad of possible things, most often a viral or bacterial infection. Pretty much all a GP needs to do is check to see which, and then determine course of action. If it's viral you're screwed; we don't have any medication to target common viral infections directly, beyond vaccination. If it's bacterial, antibiotics are an option but generally considered one to be avoided if possible, but that determination depends on the severity of the infection, the risk to the patient (and their general health), how long the infection has lasted, etc. In short, it's best to leave it to a doctor to make that determination.

We've pretty much learned in medicine that it's usually a better idea to leave people's organs in their bodies unless there's a very compelling reason to remove them (i.e. life-threatening or extremely detrimental effects on a patient's health). . Well, except for foreskin. Some doctors are still happy-go-lucky about lopping it off.

[Pawelk198604]

As rdfox noted, all that means is inflammation. I can be caused by a myriad of possible things, most often a viral or bacterial infection. Pretty much all a GP needs to do is check to see which, and then determine course of action. If it's viral you're screwed; we don't have any medication to target common viral infections directly, beyond vaccination. If it's bacterial, antibiotics are an option but generally considered one to be avoided if possible, but that determination depends on the severity of the infection, the risk to the patient (and their general health), how long the infection has lasted, etc. In short, it's best to leave it to a doctor to make that determination.

We've pretty much learned in medicine that it's usually a better idea to leave people's organs in their bodies unless there's a very compelling reason to remove them (i.e. life-threatening or extremely detrimental effects on a patient's health). . Well, except for foreskin. Some doctors are still happy-go-lucky about lopping it off.

In my case it is, unfortunately, according to my doctor, viral infection, gave me a prescription for anti-viral drug "Neosine" I have to take it 4 times a day:(