anyone had a sore throat lasting months that comes and goes

[tryingtobemarypoppins]

only on the left side, but comes and goes. Tends to be in the evenings??? Any ideas??

[MrsMerryHenry]

Tonsillitis, perhaps? Have you examined your tonsils? If you have white flecks on them during throat pain, it could well be, especially if it originally started out as a fever followed by the first bout of throat pain.

I had this last year and it always came on when I became run down. It went spontaneously after about 9 months.

[tryingtobemarypoppins]

Can you give me the idiots guide to locating the tonsils MrsM? Would I need antibiotics??

[EyeballsplayswithCake]

I wondered if mine was tonsilitis. The pain was at the back of my mouth, not as far down as my throat and further back than teeth/gums. I couldn't see tonsils as it hurt too much to open my mouth wide but I'd never had this sort of pain before. Had it on and off since Jan along with two colds, bad cough and fever.

[tryingtobemarypoppins]

What have you taken Eyeballs??

[MrsMerryHenry]

near the very back, they look a bit lumpy. One on each side.

Don't click on this link if you're extremely squeamish: [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Throat_with_Tonsils_0012J.jpeg here]. It's not grotesque, just the inside of a mouth. The tonsils in the photo are very swollen.

If they're swollen redder than the rest of your throat and have white flecks it means you have some sort of infection.

If the pain's bearable I'd say don't go to your GP, you can manage without ABs. I had about 6-8 recurrences of tonsillitis over a period of 9 months and only got ABs once, when the pain was horrific - it made me cry - I have a very high pain threshold, for what it's worth. Turned out I had a secondary infection (rare, and bloody awful).

After that I just made sure I got good nights' sleep and ate properly, drank lots of water - the usual stuff but it works.

[MrsMerryHenry]

tonsils - again!

[MrsMerryHenry]

If the pain is really bad you can take Codeine - but make sure you eat properly beforehand as the side effects are v unpleasant.

[Idranktheeasterspirits]

Yes i have. It was an ear infection. I now have a perforated ear drum.
I kept going to the doctors with a sore throat on one side.

[EyeballsplayswithCake]

I've only been taking nurofen, but the pain was so bad on swallowing sometimes I was in tears. I went through days where I couldn't eat anything and believe me, that's not a very frequent occurrence.

Oh ok, just looked at that pic. That looks like the location the pain was coming from.

[MrsMerryHenry]

Poor you, eyeballs! That sounds just like my experience of tonsillitis (though obviously this is not a medical diagnosis!).

Is the pain still that bad? If so I'd go to a doctor if I were you.

[tryingtobemarypoppins]

Ok, I have been a bit mad and started taking Fluxocilin 500mg last night as we seem to have loads in the house after DS was born etc etc. I thought 4 times a day for a week????? I KNOW I'M NOT A DOCTOR AND I AM VERY SILLY, but who has time to be ill when you have kids????
Thanks MrsM I located them and the left looks spotty and red, its rather interesting back there!!

[MrsMerryHenry]

MaryP, I don't know what bugs Fluxo is made to combat, but I'd be wary of taking ABs unless prescribed for that specific condition. However to protect against thrush I recommend that you also take something with 'good bacteria' in - like those yoghurts/ even a supplement that has them added. Reason being, ABs will kill all bacteria, leaving the fungi naturally occuring in your body free to do whatever the hell they like.

How bad is the pain at the mo? If it's bearable it is actually much better for your system if you let your body fight it yourself.

Also make sure you get early nights every single day. It will make a HUGE difference to your recovery.

[hobbgoblin]

I am tonsil problem lady. I've had Quinsy and been ambulanced to hospital all because of my sodding tonsils. So, it is with some experience that I can tell you I am as sure as damned that my on/off sore throat (particularly at night) lately is tree pollen related.

The other times my tonsils have been a PITA are when tired/run down, and when I had glandular fever.

Is that any help?

[LilRedWG]

I've had this for the past six months at least, accompanied by a nice big white splodge/lump on my right tonsil. Constant slight sore throat, flaring occasionally. I may go to the doctor about it as I don't like the lump.

[MrsMerryHenry]

for hobbgoblin. What's Quinsy?

[hobbgoblin]

Quinsy is when one tonsil eventually gives up the ghost fighting infection and develops an abcess. The risk is that you can quickly suffocate, hence need for ambulance in my case.

Quite rare, but worth knowing about nevertheless! Also, bear in mind that I was taking AntiBs at the time but they were not working and only IV penicillin got rid. My advice would be to glance at tonsils in the mirror daily if you have a sore throat, that way if they look spotty you can take action.

If it ever gets so bad that you can't swallow your own saliva you need to zip to GP or A&E I'd say.

[MrsMerryHenry]

Bloody hell that sounds horrific. As someone who did labour with nowt but a paracetamol and a wee bit of G&A, tonsillitis 2ndary infection pain practically floored me. So your Quinsy thing is now making me wobble.

You poor, poor girl.

Are you ok now? Did they whip out the rogue tonsil? How dare it let you down in your hour of need?

[hobbgoblin]

Ha! All 3 of my labours were more endurable than that I must say!

Just seen your advice about Codeine. I agree. I (somewhat unsurprisingly) hadn't eaten for days and was stuffing self with Codeine only to find it made me very .

I still have my tonsils, they are huge and always have been. They were going to lance them which I'm sure would have tasted vile and made me double .

My friend who does Shiatsu says that problem tonsils are a sign of not being able to speak your mind. !!!!!

That probably holds some truth for me...

I could talk tonsils all night OP

[MrsMerryHenry]

(whispers: let's not let on to the men that there actually is a pain worse than giving birth...)

[nevergoogledragonbutter]

haha,
that explains what happened to me once i had my tonsils taken out aged 23.

can't stop speaking my mind now.

so, while i'm here, FFS go see your GP, it could be any number of things, all worth getting checked out. and don't prescribe yourself AB's you mentalist.

[MrsMerryHenry]

So my advice was right, dragonbutter! Well, hell I could do your job!

[nevergoogledragonbutter]

it's not even my job. anybody can give medical advice on here. what a hoot.
i dare you to start a tropical diseases thread.
go on, i'll cure you.

[MrsMerryHenry]

Okay.

[MrsMerryHenry]

Done. You've got to guess my disease from the symptoms...but I'm a really difficult patient. Won't this be fun.

I'm clearly confused as to what your job is. Ages back you said something that made me think you were a GP. Then something else later that made me think you were a physio (unless I'm confusing things). Then your profile seemed to indicate that you were a professional mosaic and train track designer. Then recently you mentioned that your speciality is dementia.

As a psychologist psychology graduate, I think you have MPD.

[MrsMerryHenry]

Damn!

psychology graduate

(never funny 2nd time round is it?)