If you are prone to tonsilitis is there anything you do to prevent it?

[Cloud44]

If you have had tonsillitis a few times, is there anything you have found that prevents it? I remember someone in here mentioned gargling with strong mouthwash everyday has stopped them catching it again?

PS No, it's not true that is "goes elsewhere" 🙈

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7266207/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20results%20of,can%20improve%20the%20immune%20response.

I regularly remove any tonsil stones and I use antiseptic throat spray at the first signs of a sore throat

Total rubbish. Had my tonsils out at 20 and apart from a normal amount of colds (probably less than most people) I have been much healthier for last 26 years.

My daughter got tonsillitis over and over again. the GP referred her to the consultant but the referral was rejected.

We paid £200 to see the consultant who took one look and agreed that they needed to come out. He added her to his NHS waiting list and they were removed about 6 months later.

Best £200 we ever spent as she has had no problems since then at all.

Ah okay, I am 30 years on though now, never ill, no covid either.
Not sure.
Might be different for everyone

I had mine removed at 19 after recurring infections since I was very young. I just ended up with years of recurring tharyngitis before half a tonsil grew back (must have left some behind). Now I'm back to tonsillitis, though admittedly it's not quite as bad as before.

Mine stopped after I had DC's. An extreme remedy unfortunately.

The absolute best oral disinfectant (which I was told by specialists to apply before tonsillectomy) is iodide solution. I also gargle with it when I have a cold coming on and it works a treat. Not sure I'd use it for everyday prevention though - I'd stick with salt water for that. Long-term though it sounds like this is turning into chronic tonsillitis, your tonsils are probably pretty much non-functional by now and it'll be best for them to come out asap.

Warm if I'm in a hurry because the salt dissolves faster, but it doesn't matter if it's cold, I just run some water in a cup, stick half a teaspoon of salt in, stir for about 20 - 30 seconds until at least some salt has dissolved, then gargle for a bit after brushing my teeth. I don't get mouth ulcers much since I started doing that either. Salt's amazing.

Having them out was the only solution for me. They were so infected that they had black pits in them, when i finally got referred to ENT they took one look and booked me to have them out the following week. I'd spend 10 days every couple of months in agony, lost a lot of weight. Colds do tend to go to my chest now but it is nowhere near the pain level of the tonsillitis.

Brill thank you @Watchkeys , do you find it helps your tonsils as well as mouth alcers?

I’m afraid that’s simply not true. It’s a myth. You may know people who have no tonsils and have had bronchitis, but they did not get bronchitis because they have no tonsils. People with tonsils also get bronchitis.

Removing the tonsils doesn’t mean you’ll never get a virus or a bacterial infection, but it does mean that every virus or bacterial infection you get will no longer be accompanied by the agony of pus-filled tonsils the size of golf balls.

Revisiting post as I’ve currently got tonsilitis again at the moment. That’s interesting @Bushmillsbabe , I have been given a 10 day AB course this time so I hope it does the trick- did the doctor say why they don’t just prescribe 10 days as standard? Do people think using a strong mouthwash like listerine and taking echinacea etc helps prevents bacterial tonsilitis? I just want something to do the trick once and for all!

Tonsillitis is so awful! I once had antibiotics for it FIVE times in a short few months as it kept recurring and was so debilitating! For me it came down to stress. Once I started looking after myself more and taking time to rest, it improved. I also started eating better and getting outside more around that time - basically really taking care of myself. Also getting more sleep. And it all helped massively! Also agree with others about gargling with warm saltwater and/or an antiseptic mouthwash.

I do think stress is playing a part for me @Clauz , work is so busy but I don’t know what I can do about that? I’m on my second lot of antibiotics in a couple of months. How did you get rid of it in the end?

Try gargling with baking soda every couple of hours at the first sign of trouble

Both of my kids had theirs removed (at ages 5&6 respectively). It’s a fairly brutal recovery, but both of them have gone from being on antibiotics every 6-8 weeks to being extremely healthy. My eldest also ended up with sepsis on one occasion, and steroids on another. The points about tonsils being part of the immune system are valid, but having severely infected tonsils multiple times a year is not healthy. In addition, repeated bouts of tonsillitis can have other systemic effects.

I am also prone to tonsillitis (and have spare abx on stand by). I haven’t used them in a while, but I wish I had my own tonsils removed as a child as they are incredibly scarred and I get awful tonsil stones. If I’m coming down with something and feel it in my throat I gargle listerine which sometimes helps.

@Cloud44 I had a horrific summer of tonsillitis in 2018 where I had something like 90g of penicillin over a 3 month period. In the end it was a month long course that shifted it for me. I did see a surgeon (privately) about tonsillectomy but chickened out. His take was that recurrent tonsillitis is caused by a biofilm and eventually the biofilm just dies and it goes away.

Could you specify what you’re talking about?

This hasn’t been the case for anyone I know who got recurrent infections and had their tonsils removed as a result, myself included. The issue is strep throat, which causes tonsillitis. Without your tonsils, you are at lower risk. If you have it often, tonsillectomy will be recommended. I believe this is the case for any bacterial condition because it gets “caught” in your tonsils, so to speak, and they will exacerbate everything (swelling, pain, amount of pus, ability for there to be tonsil stones, tonsil scarring afterwards).

https://www.healthline.com/health/can-you-get-strep-without-tonsils

I don't get any warning (immunocompromised though)
Was working and felt really grumpy but wasn't sure why. By 2pm I started shivering and had a temp of 40c so finished work
Next day tonsils covered in pus

I had recurring tonsillitis. The only thing that worked was having them removed.

Best decision ever.

I had mine out at 6. But the only thing that worked at all was penicillin and I had been taking that pretty constantly.
I did get german measles and scarlet fever the next year. But otherwise have been pretty normally healthy.
I have though developed a penicillin allergy.

But it all depends how bad they are.

I had them taken out. I didn't realise how swollen they were from all the damage until they were gone and I could breathe a lot more easily 😂

Get the tonsils removed?