For about 2 months now I have had a cough that seems to get worse in the late afternoon/early evening. At the same time I have had a sensation of swollen tonsils. Inititally this was on both sides, but after coughing up a coupel of what I now know to be tonsil stones (one of which was quite large) the swollen feeling is just on the right side.

The tonsil on my right side has always been a bit larger than the other and a bit mis-shapen. It has what my GP thought was a small cyst on the flap of skin in front of it. This skin flap covers most of the tonsil on this side. That cyst like thing has been there well over two years and isn't getting larger.

Recently the cough has got worse and I felt was starting to irritate my throat, and also cause some ear pain on the same side.

I got so fed up with it I visited a medicentre walk in GP centre in London. The Doctor there checked my throat and felt glands etc and checked my ear. He said the ear drum was very slightly stretched on that side. He saw the tonsil on the right side was larger but didn't seem concerned about that.

Having looked in the mirror carefully myself there are a couple of white blister like patches on that skin flap in front of the tonsil, which seem to come & go. Also I do find at certain times of the day - again mainly evening that my tonsils look a bit red (both sides).

He prescribed a 5 day course of Antibiotics (Ciprofloxacin). That does seem to have helped reduce the cough but not got rid of it entirely.

I might have also been suffering a bit from Acid reflux since I sometimes find in the morning that I have a burning sensation at the top of my stomach and sometimes a sensation of a nasty taste in my mouth.

Finally the last thing to mention is that the salivary gland ont he right side under my chin feels to be very slightly larger than the left one. It's not hard, but just slightly larger and feels soft & rubbery if I press it.

I am starting to get worried that this isn't goign away, and it's constantly on my mind.

Is it possible that due to the larger skin flap on the right tonsil it too has a tonsil stone that is stuck and causing some of these symptoms?

Clearly the antibiotics helped a bit with the cough but haven't improved the throat/ear issues.

Any advice much appreciated.

CC

This message has been edited. Last edited by: CC,

Hello CC

Tell your GP that you are worried and ask him/her to refer you to the ENT specialist for an opinion. Let us know how you get on.

Best wishes
Vinod

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dr Vinod K Joshi,

I think thats the best thing as you say. However having read more here I wonder if I have some TMJ problem as well.

If I open my mouth I can feel the jaw joint on the right (problematic) side click a little, and if I open very wide it clicks fairly loudly. I sometimes get an ache along the line of the lower jawbone and up towards my ear.

Can aching in the ear be caused by TMJ?

Best wishes
CC

Yes. Muscle pain can be refered to the ear. Do a search for TMD and my previous advice.