Tonsillitis is a condition that causes inflammation and swelling of the tonsils. It is most often an acute condition, although some patients may suffer from chronic & recurring tonsillitis. It frequently affects kids and teens, although adults of any age can get it. The infectious agents which cause the condition are most often viral in origin, although bacterial tonsillitis is also frequently diagnosed.
“If you need to consult with an Otorhinolaryngologist, otherwise known as an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor for tonsil treatment, visit Pristyn Care ENT Clinic for consultation and best daycare treatment. Don’t worry about what the doctor may ask you? Or how will he treat the symptoms? Pristyn Care has the best ENT Specialists for tonsil treatment. And the best part, the treatments are painless, performed by coblator and completes within 2 hours.”
How does tonsilitis makes us worse and how to fight tonsil infection?
Major symptoms of tonsil infection include:
- A sore throat
- Mild fever
- Difficulty or pain while swallowing
- Bad breath
- Red or swollen tonsils
Common causes of tonsil inflammation:
- Adenovirus
- Enterovirus
- Influenza virus
- Parainfluenza virus
- Epstein-Barr virus
- Cytomegalovirus
- Measles virus, or
- Herpes virus
Tonsillitis is an infection that causes inflammation in the tonsils. They are soft tissue masses at the back of the mouth on each side of the throat and support the immune system in the prevention of infection. However, sometimes when tonsils get infected, they lead to swelling and inflammation.
Moreover, days of easy diagnosis are gone where a doctor simply chooses the best course of action and tells the method of treatment to the patient. Now, it is more of a shared decision-making process and the job of the ENT specialist is to inform you about all available options. To ensure that conversation happens, you may have to research available treatments on the internet or try home remedies, if it suits you.
Diagnosis
Tonsil is can easily be diagnosed by a health-care professional or an ENT doctor in a physical examination of the throat. Pain relievers and watchful waiting are among the commonly suggested treatments but with bacterial tonsillitis, treatment with antibiotics is recommended.
Why is treatment needed for tonsillitis?
The course of the medical condition, acute tonsillitis, is good and mostly, patients of tonsil infection recover without any long-term problems. In cases of bacterial tonsillitis, some complications can sometimes occur. The course of chronic tonsillitis depends on the severity of ailments and how much discomfort a patient is suffering from?
Another thing to remember about the condition is that it’s a contagious one. So, the transmission may occur if a healthy person comes in direct contact with an infected patient. The infectious organisms are transmitted either through airborne droplets released or indirectly via contact with infected surfaces.
Tonsil it is caused by a virus is easy to treat and is often contagious for about 7 to 10 days. On the other hand, untreated bacterial tonsillitis may remain contagious for over 2 weeks. Also, when people with bacterial tonsillitis get the treatment with antibiotics, they become non-contagious within 24 hours after starting antibiotic treatment. A kid may be allowed to go to school after 2 to 3 days and adults can resume their work and day to day activities within 24-48 hours. If the OTC, simple or medicinal treatments don’t deliver desired results, make an appointment with an ENT specialist for you.
How long does to take for tonsillitis to heal?
A lot of people who get tonsillitis fully recover without medical care. People who have bacterial tonsillitis may require antibiotics or medical care. Also, it mostly is difficult to differentiate viral from bacterial tonsillitis based on just symptoms. A patient should get in touch with their healthcare provider or an ENT specialist if they face:
- Severe pain in the throat
- Difficulty swallowing
- Unable to eat, drink, take medicines or open the mouth
- Swelling or redness of the neck
- Change in voice, such as muffled speech
It is not unheard of that tonsillitis patients may experience complications such as airway blockage from severely swollen tonsils. The lump of growth from tonsillar infection into the neck can be seen or a collection of pus that needs drainage in the tissue surrounding the tonsils. Complications can be swelling of the throat, difficulty breathing or drooling may become life-threatening. Always keep your ENT doctor on speed dial if you feel any problem in neck, throat or other symptoms.
Treatments involving antibiotics, pain medications, and OTC measures may take up to 2 weeks to fully cure the condition. It is so because of the accurate diagnosis of tonsil infection is really needed to properly treat the same. In the cases of mild or acute tonsillitis, surgery may not be needed and some home remedies might work. However, if the condition is severe, surgical treatment may be prescribed. The advanced surgical treatment is performed under general anesthesia and involves the removal of tonsils from the upper throat using coblation, which has made the entire treatment, painless.
Best & most advanced surgical procedure for tonsilitis
The tonsils may be cut using a scalpel or blade or a specialized surgical tool that utilizes high-energy heat or sound waves for removing or destroying infected tissues and cease bleeding. The common advantages of modern daycare procedure are that patient gets to go home on the same day and they experience quite a faster recovery. Moreover, they are likely to feel less or no pain and very minimal loss of blood. The treatment is USFDA approved and ensure that the quality of life gets better.
If you are experiencing the symptoms of tonsil infection, home-remedies and OTC medications are not working, don’t keep waiting. Make an appointment with your ENT specialist now.