Tonsils are a pair of flesh pads that lie at the back of our throat. They are just like an army that is protecting the border of a country. Because tonsils act as the first line of defense for our body against viruses and bacteria. Read more about Tonsillitis below.
In our daily life, we take in a lot of germs through our noses and throat into our bodies. These two seemingly unimportant fleshy pads help our body fight against those germs. Hence. Tonsils are an important part of our immune system.
Tonsillitis is inflammation of the tonsils, two oval-shaped pads of tissue at the back of the throat. One tonsil on each side. Signs and symptoms of tonsillitis include swollen tonsils, sore throat. Difficulty swallowing, and tender lymph nodes on the sides of the neck.
The peculiar thing about tonsils is as human beings grow, tonsils start to shrink. This is because the human body develops required immunity against a lot of germs and tonsils aren’t required much. In cases where our immune system gets weakened our tonsils are attacked by viruses and bacteria which results in inflammation of tonsils.
This inflammation of the tonsils is known as Tonsillitis. It is a very painful condition and in some cases, surgery is required to put tonsils to rest.
In this article, we will take a thorough look at Tonsillitis and how we can prevent ourselves from getting into this painful condition.
● Causes
Tonsillitis is caused by infections. Most cases of Tonsillitis are a result of viral infections. However, there are some bacterias as well that may cause Tonsillitis.
Under normal circumstances, these Tonsillitis causing bacteria and viruses can easily be tackled by our immune system. But in situations, where our immune system gets weakened, it needs help from foreign bodies like medications to fight back against bacteria and viruses.
Some of the common Tonsillitis causing viruses and bacteria are :
- Streptococcus bacterium is a major bacteria that causes this disease
- Adenovirus is also responsible for Inflammation of Tonsils
- Herpes simplex virus may also cause Tonsillitis
● Symptoms
Tonsillitis usually occurs in children due to their weak immune system. It can also affect some adults too. Some common symptoms of tonsillitis are:
- The tonsils get red and swollen
- Swallowing food or water becomes really painful
- High grade fever
- Sore throat
- Bad breath
- Drooling
- Itchy throat
- Headache
- Stomachache
- Pain in the neck
If you have any of the above-mentioned symptoms consult an ENT specialist in Islamabad immediately.
Diagnosis
An ENT specialist can diagnose this problem just by having a look at your Tonsils. If he finds out that your tonsils are red, puffy or swollen there won’t be any good news for you. In some cases, doctors ask for blood tests as well to identify the bacteria or virus that is causing tonsillitis.
However, Tonsillitis is one of those diseases that can be treated quite easily if diagnosed at an early stage. So, if you are having trouble swallowing food and you have a fever too you should consult an ENT specialist in Karachi and get yourself diagnosed and treated.
● Treatment
These are the two treatment methods used for the treatment of Tonsillitis:
- medication
- surgery
In most cases, medication is offered to the patient and they recover from the disease after completion of their medicine. A common antibiotic used to treat tonsillitis is penicillin, it helps treat Tonsillitis by killing the bacteria that is causing it.
Can tonsillitis go away naturally? The tonsils are areas of lymph tissue on both sides of the throat, above and behind the tongue. They are part of the immune system, which helps the body fight infection. After that, Tonsillitis often goes away on its own after 4 to 10 days.
In some severe cases of tonsillitis, surgery is required to remove the set of Tonsils altogether.
● Prevention
It’s an old saying that, Prevention is better than cure. This saying means that if you can prevent something it is better to work on preventing it rather than waiting to be diagnosed and then treated.
Anybody can prevent themselves from getting this problem by following these tried and tested prevention methods:
- Eat a balanced diet.
- Add vitamins to your diet.
- Wash your hands thoroughly.
- Avoid direct contact with a sick person.
- Stay hydrated.
- Change your toothbrush frequently.
- Maintain good oral hygiene.
All in all, Tonsils aren’t vital organs for our body, and life without them can also move smoothly. But still, we need to stay focused and be on our toes to avoid suffering from Tonsillitis as it can prove to be a very painful condition.
