Hi,

Sorry if this is yet another post saying does anyone know what's wrong with me.

For a while now I have had a problem with what feels like swollen tonsils. abotu 18 months ago this started and I felt swollen on both sides. This went on for a few weeks and then one day in the shower I coughed up what I now know to be a 'tonsil stone' basically a medium soft whitish thing that smelt absolutely foul when I crushed it. A while after my tonsil/throat on the left side seemed to feel normal again.

Anyway the right side didn't change much but after a while it eventually seemed to go down.

Then last September the right side seemed to swell againa nd I got some very mild pain in the ear on the same side and a cough. I went to my GP who said he thought my ear looked as if there was slight pressure inside and he could hear mucous on my chest. He prescribed Ciprofloxacin which after 7 days cleared up the cough and chest problems. It also seemed to ease but not 100% eliminate the tonsil problem.

For the past year this seems to have come and gone at intervals. Also I should point out that in my 20's (41 now) I had a very bad absess on a lower molar tooth on the right hand side which was treated and then extracted by my dentist. However since then the salivary gland I think it is under my chin on that side has been slightly larger than the other side.

Sometimes over the past year this has ached a little when I have the tonsil problem.

I visited my GP 3 weeks ago who examined me again, as the cough seemed to be back, but he didn't think it was very bad. He felt my neck very thoroughly and also felt the glands under my chin. He checked my throat and said he thinks this is a reaction to infetion or a mild virus.

He suggested a blood test would not be a bad idea. He ticked the boxes for the following tests:-

Blood Count
U&E
ESR
Glandular Fever

The blood tests all came back normal.

I do think I suffer froma bit of post nasal drip sicne I often have a bad taste in the mornings and might spit out a bit of mucous.

Also I have suffered a little with TMJ - with the jaw joint on that side clicking sometimes.

Also when I am talking I will be aware sometimes of something on that side in the tonsil too - feels like another tonsil stone and maybe if it moves it makes me cough.


The GP seems to think all is OK so maybe it's nothing but would appreciate any advice etc.

Your story sounds very familiar.

I have had a problem with a spot on my tonsil since I had a quinsy on the opposite tonsil earlier this year.

I'm going back and forward to the docs, and to be honest, am only so fervently pursuing it since my mum was diagnosed with tongue cancer 18 months ago. I am following instructions to "be dilligent" with anything in the mouth which isn't right.

Thanks for your reply Winnie. I must admit I did wonder if there was any type of quinsy on this tonsil, however I thought probably not since it's not intensely painful, which by all accounts a quinsy is.

I do have a litle white bump on the skin just in front of the tonsil, which has been there for many years and isn't changing in size or anything, and the feeling of swelling doesn't come from that.

The ironic thing is after I get up in the morning I tend to have a bit of mucus to get rid of and then it feels pretty normal. Later in the day - late afternoon it seems to get worse - at the moment it seems swollen on both sides, with the troublesome right side feeling more swollen.

As mentioned I do get clicking the jaw joint on that side and do often have a nasty taste in my mouth in the mornings. So not sure if that is related or not.

I don't feel that my GP is brushing me off - he's actually very good. He saw from my record that I am not one to keep going for anything, as my last visit was 10 years ago. He actually said it's a good idea to call in every 2-3 years regardless for a routine blood pressure check etc.

I was relieved that the blood tests he ordered all cam back perfectly normal., but not sure what could be told from the ones he did.