Tonsillitis

Dear stix,

I am sorry to hear your little brother is sick. You don't say how old he is; therefore, its hard to be too specific as to treatment (such as medications or surgery).

Your tonsils and adenoids are part of your lymphatic system (or, part of your system which traps infections, and allows you to be healthy, while it 'eats up' the invading bugs). Your tonsils are in the back of your throat and your adenoids are higher up, behind your nose. They help protect you from infection by trapping germs coming in through your mouth and nose. Sometimes your tonsils and adenoids become infected themselves. Tonsillitis makes your tonsils sore and swollen. Enlarged adenoids can be sore too, making it hard to breathe and causing ear aches.

The first treatment for infected tonsils and adenoids is not surgery, but antibiotics (your little brother has been given an antibiotic). The antibiotic will fight the bug which is causing his tonsils to be infected, and also decrease the ability for the bug to infect you. How about that? Two things for the price of one!

If your tonsils frequently become infected, then, you may need surgery. Surgery to remove the tonsils is tonsillectomy. Surgery to remove adenoids is adenoidectomy.

When someone gets tonsilitis, it is possible that you might catch the bacteria that initially caused the tonsilitis. Washing your hands frequently, and not getting too close to someone's face when they are coughing or sneezing are two things you can do to prevent getting sick yourself.

Finally, stix, remember that everyone who gets a cold, does not get tonsilitis. The older you get, the less likely it is for you to get tonsilitis.

Thank you for writing. Please let us know how your brother is, and how things went for you. Sounds like your little brother is very lucky to have a concerned person, such as you, in his life.

Roxanne
RN
"Retired from VA, on to New Ventures"