Tonsillitis is considered as an infection going in the tonsils, which are two tissue masses present at the backside of your throat. The tonsils are like filters that trap germs, which may enter the airways and happen to cause infection. They also produce some antibodies for fighting infection. However, they get overpowered with viruses or bacteria. It may make them inflamed or swollen in nature. It is a common condition, especially in young children. It may sometimes occur in a short while.
There are three different types of the condition:
Recurrent tonsillitis – when you get the condition multiple times a year
Chronic tonsillitis – when you get the condition for long term
Acute tonsillitis – when the symptoms last up to about two weeks
Symptoms
Some of the main symptoms of the condition include inflamed and swollen tonsils, sometimes with the severity to cause shortness of breath. Some other common symptoms of Tonsillitis include the following:
- Tenderness or throat pain
- Fever
- Red-colored tonsils
- A yellow or white-colored coating on your tonsils
- Ulceration in throat
- Headache
- Appetite loss
- Trouble in swallowing
- Ear pain
- Gland in swollen nature in your jaw or neck
It is an infection of the tonsils, which act as the filters trapping down germs that may go into your airways, causing infections. However, there are some times in which they get accumulated with viruses or bacteria, causing them to become inflamed. Tonsillitis is especially prevalent in young children. It may occur repeatedly or only once.
They help the immune system of the body to protect itself from viruses or bacteria. Unluckily, the frequent contact with the microbes makes them highly susceptible to different conditions, leading to tonsillitis. Viral infections are usually the most common cause of this infection, while bacterial cases make up from 15 to 30% of the total cases. As tonsils start shrinking in teen years, it is a condition much rarer in adults.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Surgery is the ultimate solution for this condition. However, over the years, it has been regarded as one of the less favorable conditions. First of all, the doctor will start doing a physical examination. They will examine your tonsils to check if they are swollen or red. They will also check you for fever. You will also be assessed for any signs of infections in your ears and nose. The doctor will also check your throat for any signs of pain and swelling. There are some tests you might have to undergo for tonsillitis. These include the following:
Throat swabbing – The physician will be testing the cells and the saliva from your throat in order to identify strep bacteria. They would be running a cotton swab along the throat back area. It may be an uncomfortable experience, but it wouldn’t hurt you. The results are available in a span of about 15 minutes. However, your physician might want a test that may take some days. If the tests come out to be negative, the cause of your condition will be a virus.
Blood testing – The doctor may identify it as the Complete Blood Count. It may account for abnormal numbers of the blood cells for showing if a bacteria or virus caused your tonsillitis.
Rashes – The physician will be checking for a scar that is linked to an infection.
Home Remedies for Treating Tonsillitis
There are several home remedies for the treatment of tonsillitis. Let’s see the different techniques that you can include in your life.
1) Warm Liquids
Broth, soup, teas, and coffees help in soothing the inflammation and irritation linked with infection and swelling. What’s more, herbal teas may include certain ingredients such as glycerine and honey that help form a kind of a protective layer of the throat and mouth’s mucous membranes. These are especially helpful if you are having different symptoms of the condition.
2) Cold Food Items
Children are usually given an indication to consume ice cream after tonsillectomy. It is because foods that are cold in temperature and soft in texture help in numbing the throat that helps to relieve pain. Frozen yogurt, smoothies, ice cream, and popsicles come along as one of the popular choices. If you don’t have any fever and related symptoms, you may consume cold foods as an ingredient to relieve irritation in your throat. Only follow this tip if you are not showing any signs of ear or nose infection. The colder temperature might aggravate the fluid accumulating in your sinus.
3) Stay Away from Hard Foods
Foods that are chewy in nature and hard in texture aggravate the irritation in your throat and may cause damage to the delicate mucous membranes of the throat. It will worsen your condition, so you need to stay away from such foods – these include toast, carrots, apples, crackers, potato chips, and other items. So, it is important to stay away from the different food items as stated above.
4) Gargle Regularly
You can add some salt in water for gargling every day. You can dissolve a pinch of salt in a glass of warm water. Then gargle for some seconds before you spit the water out. It will soothe your pain and irritation in the throat. Repeat the process multiple times a day, considering you have more symptoms of the condition. It is helpful to gargle frequently as it also helps to wash out the harmful bacteria in your mouth. It will help stop the accumulation of bacteria in your tonsils and help you get a better throat.
5) Get a Humidifier
Air humidifiers add some moisture to the air that helps in soothing the irritable throat. Suppose you wouldn’t have a humidifier, close the door, run a warm shower, and get all the steam in through your nose. You may also want to get a steamer for yourself in order to get the warm air inside. All of these tactics will help you get relief from the irritation and pain sensation in your throat and help you see improvement in tonsillitis conditions.
6) Don’t Strain Voice
It is the inflammation in the throat which may induce a muffled voice. It is highly important to know that straining your voice can aggravate the tonsillitis condition. This will help to improve the symptoms of the condition. Therefore, it will help us protect ourselves from aggravated conditions. The louder you speak, the more aggravated will be your pain and inflammation. It may also disturb your voice box or vocal cords that can add insult to the injury.
7) Improved Rest
Resting will be helpful for your body as well. It will help your body’s defense system to heal the damaged mucous membrane which is inflamed. Also, it will help you avoid consuming anything that will be negative for your throat condition. When you are sleeping, the inflammation will begin to slow down, and your body begins to heal by itself. What’s more, staying in your home resting will help to spread the viral or bacterial infection to others, which is important to control the flow of disease.
8) OTC Medications
Over-the-counter medications such as NSAIDs are helpful against pain and irritation. If you have symptoms associated with a throat infection, you might want to take acetaminophen or ibuprofen upon the doctor’s recommendation. Don’t consider giving your child aspirin as it may contraindicate. You need to make sure to start the medication only upon advice from a medical healthcare professional.
9) Throat Lozenges
Sucking on some throat lozenges is one of the effective and easy methods you can try to tackle tonsillitis. Lozenges come with soothing ingredients such as menthol, which may help in the numbing of your throat. They will also help you in providing relief against irritation and any swelling going on in your body. However, it is important to note that throat lozenges are not suitable for children as they pose a choking risk to young children. Therefore, they should only be consumed by adults.
10) Throat Sprays
Throat sprays are also helpful in reducing inflammation in the tonsils. These are considered anti-inflammatory medications that are antiseptic and cause numbing of the site going under irritation. With the spray, you can get relief from the inflammation and the associated symptoms such as irritation, cough, and pain. However, it is important to note the quality of the nasal sprays before buying. That means you need to consider ingredients like dibucaine, benzydamine, phenol, benzyl alcohol, benzocaine, chlorhexidine gluconate, and cetylpryidimium chloride. These are among the effective ingredients that will help you provide relief.
Final Word
As you can see, there are certain home remedies that you can practice for getting rid of the inflammation of your tonsils. For kids, the course of treatments and the remedies have some modifications, of course. For example, while adults can get throat lozenges for getting rid of pain and irritation in this condition, it is not recommended to use for young children due to the risk of choking. However, if there is an aggravation of the symptoms or the symptoms tend to persist for long, it is strongly suggested to consult a healthcare provider at the earliest.
References:
1) Stelter K. Erkrankungen der Gaumenmandeln im Kindesalter [Tonsillitis and sore throat in childhood]. Laryngorhinootologie. 2014 Mar;93 Suppl 1:S84-102. German. doi: 10.1055/s-0033-1363210. Epub 2014 Apr 7. PMID: 24710788. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24710788/
2) Bathala S, Eccles R. A review on the mechanism of sore throat in tonsillitis. J Laryngol Otol. 2013 Mar;127(3):227-32. DOI: 10.1017/S0022215112003003. Epub 2013 Jan 15. PMID: 23317998. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23317998/
3) Gan, Weigang MDa,d; Xiang, Yu MB; He, Xinrong MMc; Feng, Yiyuan Md; Yang, Hongbin MD; Liu, Hai MD; Liu, Shixi MDa; Meng, Juan MDa,∗ A CARE-compliant article: Lymphangiomatous polyps of the palatine tonsils in a miner, Medicine: January 2019 - Volume 98 - Issue 1 - p e14009 DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000014009 https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/fulltext/2019/01040/a_care_compliant_article__lymphangiomatous_polyps.67.aspx