Sons huge tonsils, what to do

[Squirtgem]

Hi, I was wondering if any of you out there have got kiddies with very large tonsils. My son is 4 now and has large tonsils on both sides since birth. He doesn't get many infections on them but he is always tired, skinny and snores like his dad. I took him to the doctors when he was 2 and the GP said bring him back when he is 6 if they are still big. I went again a year ago to be referred to ENT but the GP said he will only reffer him if I want them taken out so we didn't. His tonsils are so big now that there is only about a 5mm gap between them now. Shall I take him back to GP and demand a refferal? any advice or experience would be great.

Thanks

worried Mum

Get a referral then decide what to do once you have opinion of an ENT doctor. If he snores and is pale then he may well recommend removal. DS had his out earlier this year and it has helped him enormously.

Thanks ohbugrit (Terry Pratchett by any chance?) how old was DS when he had them out?

Dd had her tonsils out at 7. She only had tonsillitis once or twice, but the tonsils were just so huge she was snoring, mouth breathing almost all the time and had stinky breath. Took her to ENT consultant (referral from gp but we have health insurance so went private). He said that he was concerned that if she did get tonsillitis her throat might obstruct, particularly since she had some sleep apnoea.

Had the op and was fine. Honestly, she was bouncing off walls within 48 hours, ate straight after the op and so the 2 weeks at home were.... Interesting

Really glad we did it. Consultant said afterwards that was absolutely the rot thing to do - she actually obstructed immediately after she was given the anaesthetic gas in the side room.

We had a chat at the follow up appointment and he did say that the pct would prob not have funded the op without a sleep survey regarding the apnoea. And even then would prob not have authorised.

The health insurance folk were initially saying unlikely to be covered until they saw the letter from consultant which specifically referred to the apnoea.

right not rot.

DS was almost 4 but we would have done it sooner if we'd realised what the problem was, and if the GP we saw initially hadn't been so dismissive. He was always exhausted and woke every night. His behaviour suffered. He didn't fully participate in nursery. I could go on all day. Only after having to try sleep training for a month :( did the HV spoke to the GP on our behalf to confirm that it wasn't behavioural did we get referred.

The recovery was very very tough for a week but the op itself didn't seem too hard for him to cope with.

Happy to answer any questions - this subject took over my life for a few months this year!

Thanks guys that's good to know. I think I will try and see an ENT and see what they say. I don't want them to take them out but if that is the best option then so be it. I jusy want him to get enough, quality sleep.

Have you had him tested for a dairy intolerance or other allergies? Enlarged tonsils can be quite common in children with allergies.

Bumbley - can you tell me more about the connection between allergies and enlarged tonsils please. DS2 has both but I've not heard of a link before

ds2 (8) had his out last month - he was getting lots of tonsilitis and missing lots of school - op was horrible and he was in pain for at least 10 days, but he is really well now and eating me out of house and home. He also sleeps so much better, no snoring, no bad breath, no constant sore throat. We are hoing he will now start to fill out as he is skinnier than a skinny thing!

I think the younger they take out the tonsils, the easier the recovery.

Sorry madness, I don't know too much about it myself! A few of my younger cousins were having tonsil problems and it was something that came up. The doctor said it was quite common with children with allergies. One of them had a known allergy to cats and dog hair and I think her tonsil problems just got better as she got older. Cutting out dairy helped quite a lot with another two of them (siblings). We seem to have a lot of dairy intolerance on my side of the family! They were always snuffly and getting ear infections too and that all seemed to stop as well. That's all anecdotal of course!

Not sure my experience is relevant here (ignore if not!) but I had enlarged tonsils as a small child, then from about the age of 11 I used to get tonsillitis every 6 weeks without fail - sometimes needing hospitalisation for steroid jabs to reduce the swelling so i could breath. No idea why but my parents never put me down to have my tonsils removed so at the grand ole age of 23 I finally had them removed and it was horrific. The operation is SO much worse as an adult, and I really I had had them removed as a little 'un so I could have avoided a) the operation but also b) the years of scary not being able to breath and frequent illness.

Like I said, discard this if its not useful, I think Im still traumatised by the operation so frequently get on my soap box about tonsils!

Thanks to all again and I will have a look at the allergy thing. I really hope I don't have to cut diary out as I rely on milk,cheese and yogurt to fatten him up as he is sooooo skinny.

Hi squirt, my mum had the same problem keeping weight on me as a chid but if he'll eat things like nuts, avocados (even in guacamole form) and hummus then you should be ok. :) Mum used to make me yummy smoothies with all sorts of things hidden in them. There are a lot more dairy free alternatives out there now too so I think it's a lot easier than it used to be if you have to do it. I'm sure there are plenty of dairy-free MNers here who could help you out with ideas! :)

I would press to have his tonsils removed ASAP. Over this length of time swelling it is a chronic condition which is unlikely to improve and odds are it will become even worse as he gets older.

I can't understand why doctors are so dismissive and 'wait and see' in these situations. Tonsillectomy under five seems to go well with little distress and quick recovery. Tonsillectomy in your teens or adulthood is a frightening, drawn-out, experience. My brother at 13 was seriously affected by the operation and had to have a blood transfusion. Fortunately he recovered well and it cured the problems he'd had for years.

DD is 13,and got Tonsillitus in the summer for the 1st time...was really ill. She has had it 2 more times,with a week off school each time. She has now developed a roaring snore,mouth breathing and smelly breath/funny taste in mouth.
GP say s one tonsil is huge,andhas referred her to ENT (Dec 20th)
It is the time off school that is worrying me. Coming up to starting GCSE,she will most so much work.
She has stopped going to sleepovers due to the embarrassment of snoring,and has grown anxious re her bad breath.

However..the horror stories on the recovery for teens is putting me off a bit

The reason they don't rush into the op is that it is common for children to outgrow the problem and because that haemorrhage risk is there even in young children. It is major surgery and needs to be carefully considered.

What if they first acquire it in teens? Do they grow out of it then? Because if they do,I may reconsider surgery,but GP says unlikely at this age to grow out of it.

My ds 14 developed huge tonsils after tonsillitis aged 11. He's had lots of time off school with recurrent problems and he would complain about how he could feel them all the time. He's just had them out after the Nhs criteria was relaxed to include episodes not requiring ABs. If this had been the case when he first began to suffer he would have had them out 3 years ago and I really wish that had happened.
He had the surgery over half term and Hes had to have 2 weeks off school.
I had read that it takes longer to recover the older the patient and I would agree in my ds case. He was quite under the weather for the first week ( he didn't even want to go on the x box so he must have been feeling poorly!!!)
I know that there is a risk in a GA but if he's going to have recurrent problems it may be better to bite the bullet sooner rather than later.
It won't affect him too badly missing school at his age and he is likely to have a much quicker recovery than if he's older.

I'm not sure they would 'outgrow it' in their teens but sometimes there is a cause of it that can be eliminated. Has she checked for tonsil stones? That could be causing bad breath. In the meantime, has she tried gargling with diluted tea tree oil? It's naturally antibacterial so could help with the sore throat and any infection that might be there.

Crazy I was told that because they were so enlarged ( they almost met in the middle) they wouldn't shrink.
He missed so much school with recurrent episodes and I'm sorry he didn't meet the criteria last year as it wouldn't have impacted on his yr 10 work. Even so I think it's had a minimal effect as its only the start of yr 10 do there's plenty of time to catch up. The alternative if last year was any comparison would probably have been a week at least off every half term so it's a long term gain.
Yes it's a painful recovery but shouldn't be more than 2 to 3 weeks and with regular pain medication it's manageable.

Never heard of tonsil stones bumbleymummy. Will check that out. Can you actually see stones?
Will try the mouthwash. Thank you

She does get really ill with anything she gets IDontDoIroning ,seems healthy when she's healthy,but goes down quick even with a cold. I can imagine her recovery will be a slow one...but she has so many issues with the bloody things,it would be worth it.

DS (9) has huge tonsils - consistently remarked upon by dentists and doctors - but they seem [fingers crossed] to be healthy. He does snore, but is also very tall and muscly for his age, so it has never really occurred to me to worry about his tonsils too much.

There seem to be fashions in medicine - in the 70s/80s it was not the "done thing" to take tonsils out - so my DB who used to have tonsillitis every month or so never had his taken out. Mine were done in conjunction with adenoids when I was ~11 though .

Yes, you can sometimes see little whitish yellow lump embedded in the tonsils. They can be quite large but kind of hidden deep to you may only see a little bit of it. They are hard and if you squeeze/put pressure on the tonsil they will come out. Sorry if TMI! They absolutely stink so they can cause bad breath. Definitely worth a google and a check for them!

bumbleymummy I had awful problems with tonsil stones, they really affected my quality of life as a student (they taste and smell horrific) so seconding what you said!

I had "dirty great tonsils" according to the ENT surgeon who removed them at age 22 and the awful tonsillitis (horrendous unable to lift my head off the pillow pain etc) I had experienced as a teenager had left them scarred and more likely to develop stones (or tonsilloliths as they are known).