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Tonsils and lyme disease

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Posted 4/22/2016 7:10 AM (GMT 0)
I have always had problems with sore throats. I wear a scarf to bed to keep my throat warm. If I don't I will get a sore throat.

I also get these bumps that pop out of my skin around my tonsils. They're like little nodules.

Does anyone else with lyme have tonsil issues?

Has anyone had their tonsils taken out? Can you do this as an adult? Did it help at all?
Posted 4/22/2016 7:18 AM (GMT 0)
I'm from the generation that your tonsils were removed as a child - at the drop of a hat.
Bad sore throat more than once - tonsillectomy.

So, mine are gone.

You can remove them as an adult...if they're really causing you problems. They are part of the lymphatic system though - fight infections. They do have a purpose.
Posted 4/22/2016 7:19 AM (GMT 0)
Yuck. I just looked up removing tonsils on youtube and found videos on tonsil stones. I think I've actually had these before, but I didn't know what they were. Gross. Just small ones.
Posted 4/22/2016 7:22 AM (GMT 0)
So, once you get your tonsils removed, did you no longer get sore throats?

I remember as a kid everyone talking about getting their tonsils out. This was the early 80s. Now I never hear about it.

I've always had sore throats ever since I was a child. I wonder if I had my tonsils out if it would fix this problem.
Posted 4/22/2016 8:47 AM (GMT 0)
I didn't get many. I did have strep throat when I was 19 or 20.

My son was born in the 90's and it wasn't a common procedure to have tonsils removed. (He never had his removed)
Posted 4/22/2016 11:22 AM (GMT 0)
some people who have their tonsils removed end up getting bronchitis more often, bc the tonsils are not there to fight the infection. I would think long and hard about getting them removed. there has to be something that would help your sore throat? when i had lyme my throat was killing me, but it was a different kind of pain - it wasn't the regular sore throat pain. i have those bumps too. it was weird, but it felt more like the muscles in my throat were hurting rather than my actual tonsils. my tongue hurt too.
Posted 4/22/2016 3:33 PM (GMT 0)
Did you get tonsil stones too? They're like these little white clumps that will show up on your tongue. They are pretty stinky.

I used to get them all the time, but I didn't know what they were until yesterday when I started doing some research.
Posted 4/22/2016 3:45 PM (GMT 0)
Got my tonsils out in the tonsil removed generation. Gosh those doctors back then must have made a fortune. Every kid got theirs out.

20 years later with a child in school, she brought home all kinds of lovely colds, etc. I got sore throats, bronchitis, pleurisy, and everything else she brought home. I don't think tonsils in or out made a difference in my case. By the way, my daughter had hers intact.

When I first got lyme I had a sore throat. It was a weird sore throat. Not the sore throat of a cold or illness.
Posted 4/22/2016 4:09 PM (GMT 0)
peteza - that is exactly what I said - I think it was muscle pain, which is why it felt weird.
Posted 4/22/2016 4:26 PM (GMT 0)
It was a strange and different sore throat. I even did my Mom's cure-all of gargling warm salt water. That actually made it feel better.
Posted 4/22/2016 5:32 PM (GMT 0)
Do you have allergies? Sometimes I get a chronic sore throat from allergies. I used to have a sore throat most of the time, but now it just pops up if I'm having allergy issues or am getting a cold. My tonsils used to be really large, but they aren't now.

Could it be a virus?

This lists sore throat as a Lyme symptom. www.lymeresearchalliance.org/signs-symptom-list.html
Posted 4/22/2016 6:45 PM (GMT 0)
I have sore throat all the time and I think that one part of Lyme bacteria resides in my tonsils. I wish I had removed them.
Posted 4/22/2016 7:11 PM (GMT 0)
I, too, had my tonsils yanked!

My story is a little different... When I was 3 my mom (finally) noticed I was not hearing well. They tested me and I was 100% deaf in one ear, 90% loss in the other ear. My adenoids were also so swollen they determined that it was the cause of the hearing loss (the adenoids are like "inside" tonsils that are located right above the tonsils).

I didn't suffer from a lot of throat infections but they removed my tonsils and adenoids anyway. (I was tiny but distinctly remember how excited I was after the surgery that I got to eat... a banana! I wanted nothing to do with all the ice-cream they were offering.)

Anyway, this begs the question, what was making my adenoids so swollen?? I think something happened, some virus was acquired and overwhelmed my glands, which caused its own problems but I think that viral load(s) that has challenged my immune system ever since. I was always a weak kid, scrawny, I looked fairly malnourished in school pictures and all through high school up until my 30s I battled mono. In fact, I walked around with it completely unaware most of the time. To this day I have problems fighting off viruses.

How it's all connected to lyme? mystery. The bumps around your tonsils could be what are called tonsil stones.

-p
Posted 4/23/2016 1:19 PM (GMT 0)

hrz said...
My understanding is that tonsils are a major component of the lymph system so it makes sense they become compromised from Lyme and the co's.

Agreed.

And, just like gfields, I developed tonsil stones (for the first time in my life) when on abx....and they are still there (yuck).

I'm not so sure that white smelly spots on the back of the tongue are tonsil stones, though....I must admit I'm thinking Candida/thrush....

Count me in with the sore throat experience. I had a sore throat on and off throughout the time I was on abx. Thankfully, that symptom is long gone.
Posted 4/23/2016 5:25 PM (GMT 0)
Actually there are over 700 glands in the lymph system. The tonsils help filter infection that comes in through our mouths/nose and "major" players in our lymph system are lymph fluid, lymphatic capillaries, vessels, nodes, ducts and organs like the spleen, thymus, appendix, etc... It's functioning is quite broad. Check out the image on this website - fascinating and helps you understand why dry brushing is so helpful.
www.livescience.com/26983-lymphatic-system.html

I'm glad MDs aren't removing tonsils and adenoids as much (the MD community sure likes to eliminate symptoms but never seems to want to discover the causes...).

-p
Posted 4/23/2016 5:31 PM (GMT 0)

cd3764 said...
...And, just like gfields, I developed tonsil stones (for the first time in my life) when on abx....and they are still there (yuck).

I'm not so sure that white smelly spots on the back of the tongue are tonsil stones, though....I must admit I'm thinking Candida/thrush....

Count me in with the sore throat experience. I had a sore throat on and off throughout the time I was on abx. Thankfully, that symptom is long gone.

DING DING DING!!

I dare say, that most MDs, ignorant about yeast/fungal issues, see those white spots and automatically w/out probing, asking questions, verifying or culturing assume it's a bacterial infection and prescribe MORE abx. It's happened to me and I've witnessed two different MDs do it to other people. Insanity. Of course, with more abx, the y/f overgrowth gets even worse, but you've heard my rant before.

Anyway, I highly suspect that MDs are also removing tonsils for that reason and I can only shake my head. Those poor patients.

-p
Posted 4/24/2016 1:54 AM (GMT 0)
Have you considered it could be Mycoplasma?

I was reading this earlier today.

/vitalplan.com/blog/mycoplasma-the-most-common-lyme-coinfection
Posted 4/24/2016 7:10 PM (GMT 0)
Hi gfields, I just wanted to chime in that I have Lyme and co's and have experienced what you're describing.

I had chronic tonsil problems seemingly "out of nowhere" about 7 years ago (before diagnosis, but while infected with Lyme). I was getting sick all the time-- I'd get sick, get over it, and within the week come down with something else... Continually, for months. I started to notice that my tonsils were huge and inflamed all the time, and eventually that I developed terrible tonsil stones as well (they sure are disgusting, huh?). Looking back, I do believe that Lyme and company played a part in all of this. I've had Lyme for about 18 years and it has shown itself in many different ways throughout the years. Chronic sickness and infections was one of them while I was in college...

I did have my tonsils removed, and no longer have those problems since I no longer have my tonsils, but knowing what I know now about Lyme and coinfections, I'd be much more cautious to go through surgery again as an adult. This is something I'd talk a lot about with your doctor to weigh the pros and cons. A tonsillectomy as an adult is pretty terrible, especially if you are sick with Lyme. Surgery is very hard on your body. So while surgery did end up relieving me of my tonsil problems, I wonder how my current doctors would have treated the problem had we known I had Lyme at the time.
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