Chronic Tonsillitis

Understanding Chronic Tonsillitis

Chronic tonsillitis is used to describe a condition where, a person suffers from long lasting throat infection. A person may suffer from repeated episodes; due to which the pockets in the tonsils, called the tonsillar crypts form. These become the bacteria’s dwellings, bacteria gather in them in form of small stones called tonsil stones or tonsilloliths. A patient having these stones in their throat may feel that there is something stuck in their throat constantly and has foul breath.

People who have suffered from repeated episodes of acute tonsillitis usually get chronic tonsillitis. This is because as the person keeps on getting acute tonsillitis, the crypts become enlarged chronically. The tissue on the surface of the crypts is infected, which generates production of bacteria over and over. Since, most of the people have already taken multiple doses of antibiotics in order to cure acute tonsillitis medication is of very little help when the condition changes into chronic tonsillitis. Often people get so frustrated with these repeated episodes they might just decide to do nothing about it, which is not a very good idea.

Constant accumulation of bacteria in your throat not only gives you bad breath and pain in swallowing, it can lead to other complications as well. Sometimes these tonsils are so enlarged that they may hinder the breathing to a dangerous degree. The bacteria can also spread to your ear canal, and all the food that you swallow has to pass through your infected throat, leading to other stomach and kidney related problems such as diarrhea and formation of kidney stones. People suffering from this chronic condition suffer from chronic sore throat, halitosis, swollen glands in the neck which are tender to touch, stiffness in neck and ear ache.

As far as the treatment is concerned, it depends upon the cause. Children may suffer from chronic inflammations and swelling but this is often due to viral infections. In this situation it is not a good idea to give antibiotics. It is better to let the immune system do its work. Doctors may prescribe paracetamol or other pain alleviating drugs in such cases. However, in case of a bacterial infection antibiotics are prescribed. It is interesting to note that treating chronic tonsillitis via antibiotics is not that effective either. This is because the time seen in recovering from the symptoms whether; a patient is taking medicines or not is the same. Antibiotics such as penicillin are prescribed which have their nasty side effects. But this does not mean that a patient should not be looking at cure.

It is interesting to note the home remedies which can be used to treat a case of chronic tonsillitis are extremely fruitful. If a person suffering from the condition takes care of their oral hygiene, brush after every meal, gargle at least twice a day with saline water and consume warm liquids such as herbal teas and broth; they all help in preying on the accumulated bacteria in the crypts. Warm liquids help in breaking down and flushing out the tonsil stones. They also provide great relief to the aching throat.

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