Tonsil Stones

[Marie79]

Jennie,

Are your tonsils enlarged at all? Or do you only have problems with the tonsiloliths and bad breath?

The same thing happened to me with my ex-boyfriend. He was the one that told me I had bad breath and that was why he didn't want to kiss me anymore! I was so humiliated.

I know the fear of the pain is scaring you away from the tonsillectomy. But if you don't get it done, you will likely have this embarassing problem for the rest of your life. Do you always want to feel self-conscious? After 2 weeks, the pain was almost gone for me.

[A-Girl]

First, if that Thera product works, please let all of us know. I am 26, and recently developed Tonsil Stones. I just got them in April. At first, I thought they were coughed up from my lungs, but later I discovered that I was wrong. I have no idea how I developed them. I went to see TWO ENT doctors. One doctor told me that I should just live with them because surgery is so painful. The other doctor told me, I will have to live with them, because insurance companies consider this a cosmetic surgery and would not pay for the tonsillectomy (I guess Health Companies may be the Doctor after all - since they decided my fate is to suffer with Tonsil Stones). Although the ENT agrees that they are a nuisance. If I experience infections then it would be grounds for removal of the tonsils, according to the ENT. I never get any throat infections, only sore throats. I want my tonsils removed. I use the Water Pik, Q-Tips, self-gagging method, coughing, etc, and NOTHING works. I can barely see mine and when I do, it is only because I am making a weird face and then they hide again. It is horrible. I cannot think of living out the rest of my life with this. At times, (to say the least)... Most of the time, I get a low-grade sore throat because they are so irritating. I even got a sinus cold and literally felt them in my throat, but could not get them out. I still feel them this very second and every time I swallow. I am envious of all of you that can "pop" them out. I would live with that, but I cannot live with Tonsil Stones, because mine do not pop out. When one finally does (after two weeks), I think there is a line of them waiting to come out, in addition. Again, I ocassionally get a glimpse of them on both tonsils. I have no idea why or how this happened. If anyone is successful by other means of surgery, I will definately pursue it. I am deathly afraid of a Tonsillectomy. The pain that people write about is horrific. I can deal with a bad sore throat and not eating, but I cannot imagine, razor-like feeling in the back of my throat. I have very small tonsils, but the ENT said, that does not matter. Plus I am allergic to Codeine. Does anyone else out there have any solid advice. I want to find out more about Laser Surgery and just scraping the surface of the tonsil so that there are no more pockets. I think Flonase caused this to me.

[Enfys]

Well... imagine my surprise at finding this message board while looking up "quincy" through Google. What I thought was an unusual condition and what my doctor told me (as some other's doctors have) must have been food impacted in my tonsil, turns out to be much more common than I would have ever thought. I had a "tonsil stone" or whatever you like to call it on my right tonsil this morning... I say "had" because just since I started reading these posts, I've apparently coughed it out... just took another look and it's gone now. It had been there for the last three days and I'd been keeping an eye on it to see just how big it would get. When my fiance caught me looking at my throat in the mirror and asked what I was doing, it was difficult to explain about these "things" I've been having come out of my tonsils for years now so I did a search to try to show him I'm not nuts.

My sister and I have had these nasty-smelling little buggers for years and years (I'm 46, she's 43) and when they first started we both thought, as some of you did, we were coughing them up from somewhere deeper inside... maybe from down in our throat. Neither one of us could imagine what they could be but since we both had them, we figured it couldn't be all that serious.

A few years ago, however, I had a VERY sore throat... it had been sore for about 2 days so I took a look to see what was going on and, as the one woman's doctor put it, "Holy S***!!!"... what was that THING sticking out of my left tonsil? It was my first glimpse at a tonsil stone/tonsolith/whatever. Over the course of the next two days it got bigger and bigger. I let my sis take a look at it and her response was to jump back (literally!) and ask "what the H*** is THAT?". LOL... my thought exactly. Being my usual optimistic self, I immediately made an appointment for the next day with my regular MD so he could tell me I had throat cancer. Wouldn't you know it... during the night part of it came out (I have NO idea what happened to it... swallowed, perhaps... ick!). No biggie, I thought... there's still enough left poking out of my tonsil to show my doctor I have cancer (yep, I'm an optomist, alright!). During the morning before my appointment, a coughing fit comes over me... wham, bam, what's left of the stone flies out of my tonsil and into my hand (can we say "ugh"?). I run to the bathroom and take a look... nothing left but a big GAPING hole in my tonsil. Ok, fine... still good evidence that I had a tumor in my tonsil, right? Wrong! By the time I got to the doctor's office later that day, the hole had nearly closed up. "It must have been impacted food", he says, after giving me that "she's clearly out of her mind" look. I just looked back at him and said nothing. Maybe it wasn't a tumor after all, but I KNOW it's not impacted food! Food? I still have my doubts on that theory but finally I'd discovered just exactly where those hard little thingies I'd been coughing "up" for years were coming from. I still have problems with them. I also have many of the problem lots of you folks have described... a hard time breathing through my nose (hence, I'm a mouth breather), chronic postnasal drip/drainage/whatever, throat sore more often than not, tonsils constantly swollen and inflamed.

I've gone on and on here, haven't I? LOL... sorry, just wanted to tell my story and say I've read every single post in here and as soon as I get married (at which time I'll have medical insurance), I plan to get myself to an ENT and have something done about this... I don't know what, but something WILL be done. I'm sick of the constant sore throat, drip, swollen tonsils, etc. In the meantime, I'm going to look into getting a Waterpic... it seems from some of the posts, that trying to keep my tonsils cleaned out will be a big help. Thanks to everyone for your input and good luck... maybe we can all get some help of some kind eventually.

[This message has been edited by Enfys (edited 06-28-2003).]

[Grrrrrrrr]

Wow, I'm amazed at how popular this message board is.
I too have been fighting the endless battle with these nasty 'tonsil stones'. My removal method of choice has been sqeezing them out with my fingers and lots of gargling with listerine. (Luckily my hands are small enough to reach back there.) However, that Waterpic sounds like a really good idea. I think I'll go buy one this weekend and add it to my daily tonsil-picking ritual.

Anyhoo, my question for you all is this... Does anyone have any idea if other people can smell these rancid things on our breath?? If I knew somebody else could catch even the slightest whiff of these nasty things, I don't think I'd leave my house! My boyfriend told me that most of the time he can't smell them, but he could just be being polite. I'm curious if anyone else has gotten any confirmation from a trusted friend!

Thanx for the all the stories!

~Tara

[This message has been edited by Grrrrrrrr (edited 07-04-2003).]

[platinum3kt]

Just wanted to respond to the previous message, I'm sure if someone is close enough to you they would be able to smell your breathe. Which is why I always chew gum or keep some powereful meant in my purse. Lately, the tonsil stones have gotten worse. Just yesterday, they not only showed up in the pockets of my throat, but they were also behind the Uvula (you know the thing that dangles in the back of your mouth). This morning my throat is aching, I'm not sure if its becuz there are more or becuz I was picking at my tonsils. I definitely plan to use the waterpik. I also so advertising for some mouthwash and oxygen tablets that are supposed to decrease nasal drip and bacteria causing the tonsil stones. Its amazing that this topic has been going on for almost a year!!!