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curious question about tonsils taken out as a kid.

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Posted 1/10/2009 3:15 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, this may sound silly, but I was curious about something. My son, who now has colitis, had his tonsils removed when he was three.  Before he did, he was always sick, always got strep throat, one case after another.  Then at 3 his doctor took out his tonsils.  After that, the kid never got sick, not even a cold, a flu, (that the rest of us would get)

Then about 10 years ago, he got this colitis.  He is now on Remicade, gets his 3rd infusion Friday.  So,  I wondered if any body else had this connection.  My two other sons, still have their tonsils and they dont' have colitis.  The weird thing is,  my husband used to get strep throat all the time and around 25 had his tonsils out.  It is rough on an older person.  It was a couple years after that he got his first colitis symtoms.  Hmmmm. just made me wonder.  Do the tonsils have anything to do with someones immune system.  I still have mine, and I don't have colitis either. 

Posted 1/10/2009 3:21 PM (GMT 0)
Don't know if there's a connection or not, but I had mine taken out around four years old. Mine was taken out because of allergies and sore throats. I also ended up around 8 or 9 having to have tubes in my ears... Took awile til they figured out I was allergic to grass and hay. They started me on weekly allergy shots, then went to monthly about the time I turned 14. By 16 we quit shots all together. I still have the allergy, but not as bad. Now I can mow the grass with no problems and even make hay. Being trapped up in the mow with all the hay makes it a little hard, but I can handle it.
Posted 1/10/2009 4:19 PM (GMT 0)
I still have my tonsils and have UC. Had a two year non stop flare a few years back.
Posted 1/10/2009 4:42 PM (GMT 0)
got mine out when I was 26- after a year of being on antibiotics basically non-stop for chronic strep. If anything, the trigger would likely be the heavy antibiotic use due to the chronic strep. I haven't had strep since.

Posted 1/10/2009 4:55 PM (GMT 0)
I have tonsils but I have had other surgeries that were hard on my body... I wonder if surgery and the antiboptics from surgery could have something to do with it?
Posted 1/10/2009 5:46 PM (GMT 0)
I was 30 when I had mine out and by then I had already had Uc for about 8 years. There was a theory floating around here about a year or so ago that there could be a connection of Uc activation and our appendixes and tonsils. I can't quite remember what it was all about so maybe try a google search and see what you find.
Posted 1/10/2009 5:59 PM (GMT 0)
I still have my tonsils and my appendix. I took antibiotics a lot as a child; almost never as an adult. I developed UC in my 50's.
Posted 1/10/2009 6:07 PM (GMT 0)
There is likely no connection, I still have all my parts, tonsils, appendix and such and I still got an IBD and my mom has UC and never got her tonsils out...it's similar to the coincidence of people who've had mono and then getting UC at some point, it's coincidence, although there are triggers involved with having an IBD so I guess nothing can be necessarily completely ruled out, besides which for the most part, one must be genetically disposed in order for the triggers to set off the disease.

:)
Posted 1/10/2009 7:23 PM (GMT 0)
I doubt that doctors fully understand what tonsils do-- they are part of our lymph system-- so they have something to do with immunology. Many members writing here suffered serious and/or recurrent bouts of tonsillitis (& some have sinusitis) before developing UC. I had severe tonsillitis around age 7-8 then it went away 'til my early 20s. Then UC hit me 8-10 yrs later, but my tonsils have been o.k. during that time. Medical science still cannot explain these things. Some IBD researchers in the 1990s thought there may be a connection between childhood appendectomy (due to appendicitis) & failure to develop major intestinal disease later in life-- so they concluded that the appendectomies had a possible "protective" effect on the rest of the colon. But that is really still speculation-- they still don't know enough about the human immune system to arrive at a proven relation between the 2 types of illness. / Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC ... [etc.])
Posted 1/10/2009 7:52 PM (GMT 0)
They used to think there was a link to crohn's and the mumps but further research found there was no actual link after all...much still needs to be learned when it comes to IBD, the sooner the better for us all.

:)
Posted 1/10/2009 9:31 PM (GMT 0)
I got my tonsils out last year, about a year after I got UC. There was an interested thread posted here about it, probably around September of 2007 if you want to search for it.
Posted 1/10/2009 9:39 PM (GMT 0)
     I had my tonsils removed when I was five.  I really don't think there is any connection, but I do think there is a connection between heavy antibiotic usuage and UC.
Posted 1/10/2009 10:46 PM (GMT 0)
I have my tonsils and I have UC. My sister got her tonsils out when she was 5 or 6 and she doesn't have UC. Definitely no connection from my family's perspective.
Posted 1/11/2009 12:17 AM (GMT 0)
My son's ENT told us that the tonsils are there to "catch" germs,etc. when a person swallows. As you grow and your immunities build then you don't need them (supposedly after around the age of 3). I have my tonsils and UC. My son had his tonsils out last year so I pray that there is NO connection!!

Posted 1/11/2009 1:47 AM (GMT 0)
I'll chime in with those who mentioned antibiotic use could be a trigger/connection with UC. Absolutely a link. As well, use of antibiotics is associated with increased risk of incident of certain cancers, like breast cancer.
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