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My understanding is that tonsillectomies can be very effective for OSA in children with crowded airways, but that it seldom helps for adults.
Daniel said:My understanding is that tonsillectomies can be very effective for OSA in children with crowded airways, but that it seldom helps for adults.
thanks , i went to a ENT 2 days ago and he wants to remove mine but says that it might help my sleep apnea MIGHT, but i think i need a second opinion as a friend of mine said she heard it will, but he wants to remove mine due to mine are deteriating and causing bad breath and other complications such as food particles building up in there(i have holes in my tonsiles due to being sick all the time) and sore throats monthly etc.
Tams, do you ever cough up pearl-like flecks of i don't know what, but that smell really bad? i was getting those for awhile, and did some research online -- turns out it was decaying food that got stuck in the pores of my tonsils, or something similar to that. gross, but true. turns out it happens to people with large tonsils. nothing to be alarmed about. for some reason, they just went away for me. even though i still have my tonsils (much to the chagrin of the sleep doctors who tried to get me to have them yanked out)
tams wrote:
OMG yes they are disgusting lol and i find myself digging them out of the back of my throat too as thier irritating and he said they would keep building up and eventually iritate my stomach to where i would get really sick so i need to have my tonsils out. he said it would take up to a months time for me to heal, BUT i just seen ont he show DOCTORS where they have this new technology out called lasor surgery im gonna look into that as the girl was talking right after the surger and it was performed right in the doctors office as well and only takes a few wks recovery :O)
Mike said:Tams, do you ever cough up pearl-like flecks of i don't know what, but that smell really bad? i was getting those for awhile, and did some research online -- turns out it was decaying food that got stuck in the pores of my tonsils, or something similar to that. gross, but true. turns out it happens to people with large tonsils. nothing to be alarmed about. for some reason, they just went away for me. even though i still have my tonsils (much to the chagrin of the sleep doctors who tried to get me to have them yanked out)
tams wrote:
OMG yes they are disgusting lol and i find myself digging them out of the back of my throat too as thier irritating and he said they would keep building up and eventually iritate my stomach to where i would get really sick so i need to have my tonsils out. he said it would take up to a months time for me to heal, BUT i just seen ont he show DOCTORS where they have this new technology out called lasor surgery im gonna look into that as the girl was talking right after the surger and it was performed right in the doctors office as well and only takes a few wks recovery :O)
Tams,
What you and Mike are describing are called tonsilliths. You're right in that food particles can get trapped in your tonsil's spaces, festers and gets infected, causing bad breath and even tonsil infections. These can cause the tonsils to stay swollen and worsen sleep apnea. For most people (like Mike), it comes and goes, but for others, it can be pretty debilitating. Whether or not to get your tonsils out for this reason is an individual decision that you and your doctor must make, as it's purely elective surgery. For the very few that do elect to undergo surgery, the vast majority are very happy with the results.
As for the pain issue, there are newer ways of shaving tonsils that are much less painful than traditional techniques. There are many new ways of performing tonsillectomies, but the the one that I use is called a Coblator. It uses radio-frequency energy to vaporize tissues at relatively low temperatures, so there's less charring and thus less pain. Of course everyone has a different experience, and it also depends on the surgeon and the particular technique that's used.
Regarding tonsillectomy for obstructive sleep apnea, it depends on your anatomy. Unfortunately, most adults won't respond fully to tonsillectomy alone, since there's some or a significant degree of tongue base involvement. Yes, it does work better in children, but if you got sleep studies pre and post surgery you'll see there are a lot of children with persistent obstructive sleep apnea, despite feeling significantly better. If you follow Friedman's staging system, you need very large tonsils (3 or 4+) and a relatively small tongue (where your can see most of your tonsils without sticking your tongue out or by pressing down with a tongue depressor) to be in the "favorable" group who respond to to palatal and tonsil surgery only. Most of the positive effects of the surgery are probably due to tonsil removal.
Tams,
What you and Mike are describing are called tonsilliths. You're right in that food particles can get trapped in your tonsil's spaces, festers and gets infected, causing bad breath and even tonsil infections. These can cause the tonsils to stay swollen and worsen sleep apnea. For most people (like Mike), it comes and goes, but for others, it can be pretty debilitating. Whether or not to get your tonsils out for this reason is an individual decision that you and your doctor must make, as it's purely elective surgery.
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