Help!!!!!!!! Weird throat symtoms- no-one knows what's wrong

[snowqueen]

Years ago I had a sore throat and a white spot on my tonsil. I was given three lots of antibiotics for tonsillitis which didn't work and months later was told by different doctor it was thrush instead and given nystatin, which didn't work either.

Then one day I started "choking" and coughed up a foul-smelling bit of white "stuff" and suddenly realised my throat didn't hurt anymore. I looked i the mirror and realised the white spot had gone from my tonsil, but to my horror there was a "hole" where it had been. I kept it to show my GP as I had an appointment the next day but it had shrivelled up and actually looked like a bogey! (Sorry, I know this sounds disgusting) Obviously I just threw it away then.

Then I got one on the other side and again it left a big hole. They kept coming back on both sides for about three years even though sometimes I was able to squeeze them out. Then they suddenly stopped coming back.

About a year ago it started again though. My throat doesn't usually hurt with them now but my breath smells awful and the symptoms baffle me. I am dying to know what the problem is and what causes it. I tell people about the symptoms and they look at me as if I'm mad. Has anyone else had this problem.

Is it quinsy by any chance?
i had it a couple of years ago. it started with a sore throat and eventually I started choking. I had to go into hospital and put on an antibiotic drip for 2 days. They are like abscesses in your throat.

I know this sound horrible but I think it might be food that has lodged in the holes in your tonsils and rotted. This happened to my dd once and the doctor 'flushed' it out with a water jet thing. If you have had tonsillitis in the past it can leave pits and holes on your tonsils that can fill with food and eventually turns white. She had her tonsils removed in the end which solved the problem!!

Thanks Rioja, you're right it does sound horrible but at least I know I'm not the only one who's had this

Sorry doormat, I hadn't seen your reply. I have had quinsy before about 2 years ago. It was about a year after the first three years of having these spots and the symptoms I've got now are like they were when I was coughing up the lumps for three years.

Quinsy is horrible isn't it? I think I would knoww if it was quinsy because of the pain and from what I remember it doesn't make your breath smell does it?

No snowqueen it doesn,t make your breath stink. I hope you find the answer.take care

Snowqueen, I read in a magazine years ago about something similar. It was on the letters page, you know one of these ask the doctor pages?

The woman wrote in to say that she had terrible breath caused by yellowish pus that came out of her tonsils.

Can't be of much help to you as they didn't give a name for the condition or a cause, just said how to minimise the bad breath. But maybe it is pus in the tonsils in your case.

Can't help with the holes, etc. but a few years ago DH was suffering with really bad breath and was told by a ENT specialist that it was due to his tonsils. Think it was because they are a bit like u-bends so 'stuff' stays and rots. It was 'tonsilith'. Found something on it on the net

www.heartburn-help.com/MessageBoard53/_disc34/0000029f.htm

Tonsils got whisked out a few months later. A few days of agony and he has been fine - and sweet smelling - ever since.

HTH.

Thanks Gem13, I've just looked at that website and it says the tonsilith contain lime or calcium so I'm not sure if I've got that. I've found something else though. It looks like it might be food, apparently there are crypts in the tonsils and these can get quite deep and fill with bacteria and debris which the patient can often sueeze out. thinking it is a boil or something similar.

I've had a similar thing, years ago, Snowqueen, and my teenage dd has also had it once, although I don't recall either of us having bad breath. It was only painful after the 'blobs' had come away. The doctor said it was ?keratin, stuff like nails and hair are made of, and didn't need any treatment as it usually clears up of its own accord. But if it's giving you a bad breath problem then it's worth checking out with your GP again. HTH.

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I used to get this, snowqueen and a friend gets it. I got my tonsils taken out, problem gone. I think it is just food particles and, like has been said, if you get tonsilitis a lot, your tonsils do get pitted.

I get this!!!!!!
LOL!!
Yep I know exactly what your talking about, strange white lumps (not pus) that grow in holes left in your tonsils after tonsillitus/quinsey. And yes, they are just about the worst smelling things I have ever come across. Whenever one starts to grow, I 'operate' and get it out, but its difficult to not gag from agitating the ol' punchbag. I really hoped my breath was'nt affected, but DP would never tell me, so maybe it is. I knew I wasnt the only one cos two friends from uni got it aswell, but its always good to hear your even less of a freek. Whenever I'm at the docs, I always forget to ask.

I think that I get this occasionally as well.

Used to get tonsillitis in late teens/early 20s, and had a throat infection about a month ago, and now suspect that the pits left behind are a real plaque/bacteria trap. Every so often cough up one of these things described, almost like a piece of soft cartilage or gum (yuk), last time was yesterday which is what reminded me of this thread.

Having had another bout of this about 10 days ago I have noticed a fleshy spot has grown where the white matter was. It is not painful at all and I feel perfectly well. Any ideas ?

I have had the white hard spots growing on the tonsil bed (my tonsils are out) that fall off leaving a hole. I was told at the time by the doctor that it was debris that was trapped in them. It just resolved itself. Haven't had any bother for years.It isn't quinsy which is a serious tonsil infection.

does anyone know of any generic medicines? something i can buy at walmart without getting a prescription for this kind of stuff?

Thanks

Gargling with chlorhexidine solution helps stop tonsoliths reforming.

I get the same thing im 22, i have had this going on for over 4 years now, when i move my tongue i can feel the lumps, i can push some out but most are trapped really deep, this morning i got some out an my tonsils bled, i think we all know its not puss, i think it is this rotting food thing, because i know i get bad breath, i clean my teeth but you can sense the stench.

i went to my GP last year and he said the don't remove them anymore??

tonsils are designed to trap bacteria in your mouth, but if the food is rotting and causing bacteria shouldn't it be removed?

Those holes are called crypts and the smelly blobs tonsil stones (aka tonsiloliths / tonsoliths), I also get them on and off.

What helps me is sterimar nose spray (washes down through the throat), use of olive oil in salads (make them slide out easier and occasional primrose oil capsule (again, helps them slide out).

I also had eustachian tube blocked, and for that I often try blowing through my ears (nose pinched and blow), it seems to help to dislodge them occasionally.

Plus, any neck exercise, within reason and opening mouth wide, like yawning.

No drs ever wanted to bother themselves with this tho.

its a bit weird though that doctors dont really care, does anyone know how much it would be to get my tonsils removed privately in the UK its quite annoying now, i just had alot more come out of my right and it bled, but the tonsil is reducing in size. i dont want to do this every few days.

i think this is also affecting me eat certain food, mainly bread, if i chew it i cant swallow it, when i do my throat goes tight

I get these, but get a peverse pleasure from pushing them out

How do U push them out fizzbuzz?

With my tongue

ta fizz.., I will give it a whirl to make sure they are all out