I get them and they’re a real inconvenience. No amount of gargles, brushing, or other preventative methods have worked for me. I used to get a lot of throat infections when I was in my early 20s, and I should have let them take them out then. Now I get them more when I’m sick or getting sick, for some reason, and they cause my throat to hurt when I sing and such. HATE. GROSS.
Any chance this could become an Olympic sport?
(rocks back and forth, muttering the badger badger song until the bad men go away)
whimpers
mushroom, mushroom
I have opened this thread THREE times! And felt sick each time.
Why? Because I keep forgetting what it’s about. I’m sure my mind is blanking out the memory to protect me. Well get this mind it’s not working!!!
[sub]Note to self: NEVER OPEN THIS THREAD AGAIN![/sub]
I never got them until I had mono in high school, and my tonsils got all huge and pocketed. Afterward I got them all the time and routinely went in for “cleaning.” Stuff just got caught in there all the time.
Now they are out and I am no longer plagued! Woohoo!
:joins the group who are free from vile things in their tonsils: Ahhh.
Hey Velma, that sounds similar to what happened to me. I never got them, but one day I woke up and could barely swallow, and felt like crap. They suspected strep–throat culture negative. They said they’d be able to find out in a few days if it was mono, but it was gone by then, so it probably wasn’t. Anyway, I’m sure my throat closing up like that was tonsil inflammation, and now I’ve got these big, well, holes in the back of my throat that these things pop out of from time to time. It usually only happens when I’m having sinus problems.
I can usually empty them by flexing my throat muscles. This can prove to be quite embarrassing, as one time a rather large chunk popped out in the middle of a deep kiss. That was awkward. Sometimes I have to push or squeeze, like the method mentioned in the OP.
If I’ve not been sick for a while, the holes will kind of shrink and close up, but then when I do start having sinus troubles again it’s harder for the stuff to come out and my tonsils get sore. I’ve been seriously thinking about getting rid of them altogether.
Oh, nasty. My boss had to have her tonsils out because they were hugely swollen and pus-laden…she told me that she used to be able to just cough up huge hunks of nastiness from them when they got really bad.
After she had surgery, she said breathing felt almost sinfully good, since getting the tonsils out cleared up her airway significantly.
I have some bad news. For me that is.
I had my tonsils out 30-something years ago.
I still get these stone things.
It’s exactly as Orange Skinner described. Even though my tonsils reside in a jar on my shelf rather than in my throat there are still pockets back there. Actually I haven’t had one in years. They were mighty annoying because once I discovered one I’d obsess over it, trying to get it. I’d either be trying to work it out with my tongue or trying to find an implement that was just right for extracation.
Thinking about it now I realize that they only popped up for a couple of years and I haven’t had (or noticed) any in a couple years. Weird.
Excellent thread though. I didn’t think anyone else had these things.
eeeeeeeewwwwwww!!!
I also get them, after many bouts of strep/tonsilitis. I had no idea what they were for the longest time until I confided in my ex-husband.
Then he lovingly told me that they were dried up boogers.
EEEEEEEEWWWWW!!!
Had my tonsils out at 23 because of this problem. The medical term for having those little pockets in your tonsils is “cryptic”, which I love. My cryptic tonsils didn’t give up their booty, though, and they were actually rotting in my throat. I musta had breath that would gag a billygoat.
Now my cryptic tonsils are gone, I never have throat problems and rarely get colds, and my breath is springtime fresh!
A lot of people have tonsil stones and don’t realize it because they don’t get very big, and they get swallowed instead of coughed out. I had them all my life and didn’t even notice them until about a year ago, when one got out of control. Since then, everyone I’ve talked to about that has said, “Oh, that stuff–I thought it was lung gunk I was swallowing/coughing up!”
Mine aren’t very stinky at all unless they get broken up. I like to cough them out, smoosh them between my fingers, and take a deep breath. Really nasty!
I envy your new-found skill, Enola, but I can’t do anything with mine but cough them out. 
Those of you who get your tonsil stones cleaned out professionally–who does that for you? I talked to my dentist and he said it wasn’t his department.
What is the hardness and consistency of one of these… objects?
Could you use it to write a message on the mirror like it’s a grease pencil?
Honstly, I was fine with this thread, not grossed out at all, and you just HAD to go and post something like that! Where the hell is the disgusted smiley?
Hey! I just realized that it may be within my power to gross out anyone strong-stomached enough to have read this far without feeling queasy, if’n roadkiller weren’t the last one.
I’ve never admitted this to anyone, but since look@hergo! has added to my vocabulary, I find I have a way of expressing it that (initially) doesn’t sound too bad:
I have a cryptic penis. :o
Just one, uh, “crypt,” thank god. It’s about midway down my boy, on the right side, and is like to be “mined” about semi-annually. There’s no offensive odour, I guess because of the relative dryness of the area. Whaddya call the product, in this case-- a penilith? Whatever you call it, it looks for all the world like a flax-seed, only slightly translucent. I hate to think of what it’s composed of.
Do I win?
You win by me, Larry Mudd. I won’t even bother posting about the boil I had under my arm, right by the pit. Nowhere in your league.
By the way, I suppose I should go look in FAQ – but just what does “TMI” stand for? I’ve been able to figure out the other acronyms that abound here, but that one has me stumped.
Hmph. I opened another window and did look in FAQ – no list of acronyms. Help, please? I’ve ruled out “Three Mile Island”. Please, enlighten the acolyte? :dubious:
Actually, ETF, I think “WTMI” would be a better acronym for this thread.
WAAAAAAY Too Much Information 
but I still find it all disgustingly hysterical
Dear god. This is the most disgusting thread I’ve ever read.
Nice choice of smilie.
This is the first time I actually spoke the words, “OH MY DEAR GAWD” out loud while reading a thread.
I have to go now. copying gartog’s note to self and fleeing, trying not to make gagging noises