Just coming online to research the same thing in myself....
You can have "tosilitis" without them being pussy. If they are enlarged and red like irritated and inflamed it is still tonsilitis.
As the others have said, they prefer not to remove them unless they are causing breathing difficulites or there is excessive infections.
The other girls are right. If they were huge and red before, he probably had a mild tonsilitis, on top of what are naturally large tonsils.
Unless he has so many infections that it is affecting his growth or development, or he develops sleep apnoea, then it is safest to leave them be. A generation ago we used to take out a lot of tonsils, but the operation is not without it's risks, bleeding being the main one, and I have not long ago looked after a child that ended up in hospital for a week after a post-tonsillectomy bleed, and they nearly bled to death. So the practice now is to leave them alone unless there are clear reasons to take them out.
We have the same here. DD2 has huge tonsils. She also has sleep aponea BUT we are not removing her tonsils, just her adenoids (probably, just waiting on an xray to confirm). She had tonsilitis this year and last, so the ENT said that is not much and therefore it's our choice as to whether we want the tonsils out. He said for the sleeping prob, if we remove adenoids AND tonsils, there's a 95% chance of fixing the prob, and if we just remove adenoids it's 80%. For us, we go the latter, as the tonsils pose the biggest risk.
Although it's not common practice like it used to be, our ENT said just recently there was a study done as they were saying ENT's were taking out tonsils too often. The study actually found it was in fact not often enough. Since that study I've got 5 friends getting their kids tonsils out.
And one of my friends sons has such enlarged tonsils, he's got speech probs. So it really depends if they are causing a prob or not. xo
Thanks for your replies everyone. He is actually a quiet sleeper and for the most part you don't hear him at all (he is in our room again) but he eats bugger all and has stopped gaining weight, so not sure if thats part of the issue or an intolerance issue that we are investigating ATM. We have another Dr's appointment in a week so I will ask him what he thinks as well. At least it's documented then if it ever does become an issue for him.
When I was a teenager I got a lot of tonsilitis, and one year I had six cases of it. Each time my tonsils would become enlarged, then decrease in size, but not completely. Later on, I had it a few more times, and they ended up at the point where they were permanently touching each other in their normal state. Byt the time I was 20 it was obstructing my breathing, particularly when i slept, so they came out.
So, ummm, the point of that is.... maybe keep an eye on them? Mention to your doc, see what they think.
My DH has huge tonsils, and loves them because he can always get a sick certificate. He just tells them he has had abit of a sore throat, they take a look, and say 'oh dear, yeah they are really swollen'. He gets a prescription for antibiotics (doesn't fill them) and a sick certificate!
He is having his adenoids removed in the next 3 months as they are enlarged and he is snoring but his tonsills are also up and aren't reducing in size! He is on antibiotics atm to reduce the infection but it is happening! If he is ill when his op comes around he won't be able to get it done!
The ENT we saw told me they don't like removing tonsills in young kids as it helps to mature the immune system!
DS1 snores loudly when he sleeps (The CC center knows when he is there due to his snoring at nap time!) and breathes through his mouth!
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