Why is she ill so much?

[GoodOnPaper]

My DD (14) has had a lot of tonsillitis/sore throats and general unwellness for as long as I can remember. We discovered she had a large nasal polyp a year or so ago and she's had steroid drops (spray wasn't enough) which reduced it, but was back again in November so she's been back on drops for it.

She's now in Y10 and although she's still having issues with her throat/tonsils and feeling generally wiped out it doesn't lead to high temperpatures/bacterial tonsillitis as it did when she was younger, so not in need of antibiotics but rest and painkillers.

The GP has done blood test a couple of times over the years and not turned up anything.

Is there something that could be underlying we could look at getting some sort of treatment for - the GP didn't want to send her to ENT....but should she be referred?

Any advice from your experiences would be really helpful as she's missing out on so much.

It impacts so much on her missing out on doing things. She managed her Duke of Edinburgh practice walk (one day, no overnight) but then was ill for the following week so hasn't continued with that. Plus lots of other things she's had to miss.

I did wonder about Ehlers Danlos Syndrome as she has a few of the signs e.g. unusually long fingers/limbs for our family and was always very flexible and I know connective tissue diseases can be linked with immunity. But the GP assessed her and said not.

Is there something else which could be causing this - the GP has resisted sending her to ENT, they said they would only be looking at surgical solutions rather than anything else (I'm not sure if that is true?)

The blood tests didn't show anything up. I don't know if going private would help in any way.

I'm just concerned about her missing out, the impact on her learning and her life in the longer term if we can't get past this.

As it's not bacterial tonsillitis and she's not getting temperatures etc. would they take her tonsils out still?

My daughter was similar to this with throat infections and tonsillitis all the time it seemed. She got a referral to ENT but they rejected it and didn’t see her.
We paid for a private consultation with the ENT, cost £120 about 14 years ago. The consultant took one look at her throat and confirmed that she badly needed her tonsils removing.
He did the tonsillectomy within the month on the NHS.
She never looked back.
It was so worth that consultation fee.
She is in her late 20’s now and hasn’t had so much as a sore throuat.
it really made all the difference.
You might be worth looking into that.

Had she had allergy screens? I was a sickly kid. Had I moved out from the fag smoke and cat hair I would have had a far better life. I was only well when I camped in the garden the eight weeks of the summer holidays like kids did on the 70's or if I went to stay with a relative.

Has anyone considered that she could have had glandular fever? It is often misdiagnosed as tonsilitis, but it is quite common for it to lead to post viral fatigue - similar to long COVID. Also, gps know very little about hypermobility and eds - my ds was diagnosed with hypermobility spectrum disorder following months of appointments and scans with rheumatology. The gp said it wasn't an issue.. have a look at some of the online eds sites and push for a referral if the joint problems become an issue. Eds has different variants and most gps only consider the "stretchy skin" issue!

Thank you all.

It's really helpful to hear advice from others and ideas of things to look into. It sounds like it might be worth going for a private appointment to explore some of these things.

She does have some strange joint issues so sounds like it's worth looking more into that too, as well as the allergies.

My sister was exactly the same and once she had her tonsils out she was fine. She should be referred.