There are many different things that can affect the tonsils and adenoids. The following are a few of the more common issues.
- Difficulty breathing due to enlarged tonsils and/or adenoids — these obstructions can cause snoring and disturbed sleep. Some orthodontists believe that mouth breathing (thanks to large tonsils and adenoids) can cause malformations of the face and poor teeth alignment. Symptoms include breathing through the mouth instead of the nose, noisy breathing, recurring ear infections, snoring, and sleep apnea.
- Chronic infection that affects the ear — infection can enter the Eustachian tube (the passage between the back of the nose and the inside of the ear), leading to recurring infections and hearing loss. Recent studies show that adenoid removal may help relieve chronic earaches that are caused by fluid in the middle ear.
- Tonsillitis — an infection in one or both tonsils. Symptoms include swelling, redness, a white or yellow coating on the tonsils, voice change, sore throat, painful swallowing, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, fever, and bad breath. Tonsillitis is often treated with antibiotics; recurring infections may lead your doctor to suggest surgery.
Surgery to remove tonsils and adenoids is often a same-day surgery. Before the procedure, you may be asked to not take aspirin (or medications containing aspirin) for two weeks or more. You will need to have blood and urine tests a few weeks before the surgery. The night before the surgery, you will be asked to eat or drink nothing after midnight. This is because inducing anesthesia can cause vomiting in patients. If there’s nothing in your stomach, chances are you’ll be just fine.
After the surgery, most patients are released in two to ten hours — every person is different, and may take more or less time to recover from anesthetic. You may experience swallowing problems, nausea, vomiting, fever, throat pain, and ear pain after the surgery. If you experience bleeding, contact your doctor immediately.
Children who are having their tonsils or adenoids may be frightened of things like:
- Looking different after the surgery.
- Not knowing the people in the operating room.
- Being separated from their parents during the procedure.
- Pain.
- Not knowing what to expect during recovery.
Help your child by making sure they understand what is going on. Talk to doctors, anesthesiologists, and other health care professionals and make sure all your child’s questions are answered. If your child has friends who have been through a similar procedure, talk to them about what it was like.