Yep, a poll about tonsils. Who’s got 'em? Who ain’t got ‘em? I’m lookin’ at you — all of you.
Why? Oh, I got diagnosed with strep throat yesterday after wandering around since last Saturday wondering why in the hell my sore throat wasn’t just turning into a full-blown cold, and why I was so damned tired. It got me thinking about the fact that I know a lot of people who had their tonsils removed as a kid, but I never did. I’m wondering if I’m truly in the minority.
Poll to follow!
I used to get tonsillitis a lot as a kid, but never got 'em removed. As an adult, they’ve only once become a problem-- I had some sort of weird growth on one, but after months of visiting specialists who were plum out of ideas, it just went away on its own.
I had mine out as an adult. A tonsillectomy is a fairly serious surgery for adults and not to be taken lightly. The recovery time is long and the risk of complications up to including death are much higher than that for kids. I don’t think most kids get their tonsils out today like they did back the 50’s and 60’s. I hardly ever hear about kids having it done among the ones I know personally.
I had mine out when I was 5, and thereby hung a story.
Apparently this was some kind of emergency that happened just before my family was due to go on vacation. So my grandparents took care of me while I was recovering. But, unknown to anyone, apparently the incision didn’t heal properly and I was hemorraging some small amount and, not knowing any better, was swallowing it.
Apparently the change was so gradual that my grandparents didn’t notice any difference, but when my parents came to pick me up a week later, they took one look at my pale, waif-like self and rushed me to the hospital for further repairs and a transfusion.
Ah, good times.
Roddy
I got mine out when I was maybe 12 or 13, so that would have been in the early 80s. I’d been getting strep throat about twice a year for a while, and they finally decided to yank 'em. I don’t think I’ve had strep again since, so it worked!
Got mine out aged 33 after a lifetime of misery, getting tonsilitis 4 to 6 times a year.
One of them has now grown back, though it doesn’t seem as enthisiastic about making me sick all the time.
I had mine removed when I was 33, because they’d grown crypts and were keeping tiny particles of food and shrouding them in repulsive bacteria - kind of like disgusting pearls. Plus, I was constantly getting sore throats and ear infections.
Shagnasty is right. It’s a long recovery period. I had mine out over the summer when I was teaching. For a solid week, I was nearly an invalid, hugging an icepack to my neck. Then another week when I felt mostly normal, and then all the scabs where my tonsils were peeled, and I was back on pain killers. Three weeks total, but it was totally worth it. Not only have my sore throats and ear infections gone away, but my allergies have almost disappeared. Plus, I no longer produce foul smelling nuggets at the back of my throat.
Do tonsils really have anything to do with strep throat? I mean, you still have a throat after and I’d imagine that could still get a strep infection.
They can grow back?!
I had a resident physician who looked in my throat tell me that my tonsils didn’t look inflamed. I told her I’d had a tonsillectomy at age 5 (lots of bouts of tonsillitis, etc.) and she looked embarrassed, but neither she nor the attending bothered to inform me of any new developments in there…
They aren’t always a cause, but in some cases they can harbor the bacteria that cause strep. So yeah, you can still get strep throat without tonsils, but if someone suffers from frequent strep infections, there’s a decent chance it’s because something’s wrong with the tonsils.
I still have mine, but I want them out. I suffer from everything phouka mentioned (FYI, those “disgusting pearls” are called Tonsilloliths/tonsil stones. And yeah, they are nasty. :() In addition, my ears always, and I mean ALWAYS, feel “plugged,” and they pop all the time. Like…every time I swallow.
I’d like to think it’s all related, so one surgery later I can be done with it.
I really should go see an ENT someday.
I think it was much more in vogue to yank tonsils decades ago. Now they think they at least contribute something to the immune response, so kids are much less likely to have them removed.
I have mine, and I have deep crypts that form tonsil stones. But it’s really more of an annoyance than anything, and I don’t seem to get sick much more than the average parent of small children, so I can’t justify the torture of recovery from tonsillectomy as an adult. Maybe I’ll get them laser resurfaced one day.
Raging jealousy towards my brother who had his yanked, and the doc refused to do mine so I got repeated strep infections, repeated ear infections, missed lots of school and life in general and yes, I even get tonsoliths.
I hate my fucking tonsils. :mad:
Have my tonsils, but did have my adenoids removed.
Brian
I never had mine out, although I wish to hell I had. Never any problems when I was a kid - only as an adult did I develop tonsil issues. For a while I would have a serious tonsillitis episode about every two years - serious as in two weeks off from work. One doctor was convinced I had mono and refused to believe it when the test came back negative. It was just really bad tonsillitis. In between those episodes I’d have several lesser ones. Agony to swallow, neck visibly swollen, misery.
Saw an ENT who told me yes, I have big tonsils, but my history didn’t warrant yanking them out. Was very disappointed, although I dreaded the surgery too.
Then I discovered that if, at the first signs of any discomfort, I began aggressively gargling and rinsing with warm salt water several times a day I could keep it from going full blown. That’s worked well and I haven’t had a serious episode in years. It only goes as far as some enlargement. So I guess I’m stuck with the tonsils, and had just better not run out of salt.
See, thats why I had mine yanked out. It was getting to the stage that something as simple taking the dog for a 20min walk on a cold afternoon in winter would end up with me getting a sore throat and then almost certainly tonsilitis.
Not sure how it is in the US but here you generally have to get a referral to a specialist from your GP. I just about had to bang my fist on my Doc’s desk to get one. The specialist listend to my history, took a 10 second look down my throat and said “yep, the need to come out”. A month later it was done.
Recovery wasn’t too bad, a humidifier running in the bedroom at night and drinking lots of liquids + painkillers was key 
I had mine out when I was 12, and the surgery was performed with a local anesthetic. I have never met another person who had his/her tonsils out with a local. I would be very interested to learn of any Dopers who have.
I had mine out when I was four, I think. Mid 1950s. They were shredding and I was spitting out pieces of tonsil, so it was kinda necessary. I pulled such a TANTRUM after the surgery, I was allowed to go home the same day. Now these days, same day surgery is a common thing, but back then, it was unheard of.
Hubster got severe tonsillitis/strep as an adult. One time his throat had actually swelled shut, and he had to be medevac-ed by chopper. He finally had the stinkin’ things removed, and ended up getting a secondary infection post surgery requiring more hospital time and IV antibiotics.
The Daughter had hers removed at age 5. Again, frequent tonsillitis/strep, plus she snored like she had a chain saw in bed with her.
~VOW
Got them out in '94, was 8-ish. They were three times the size they were supposed to be and I had a hard time breathing and kept getting tonsillitis. had the tonsillectomy, adnoidectomy, and tubes put in my ears all in one go. It was a pain, took two weeks to recover, but it was totally worth it.
I grew up in the tonsil-hating 1950s, but my doctor never pushed to have them removed. I didn’t get a lot of colds, anyway.
My brother and I, probably five and six at the time, had them out together back in the heyday. Always got ice cream afterward! I still remember them putting the anesthesia mask over my face and fearing suffocation.