posted
Hi, My LLMD is concerned that my tonsils are in a chronic state of inflammation, even after 8 mos of antibiotics. She asserts that chronic infections can reside in one of three parts of the body: gallbladder, sinuses and tonsils. Gallbladder is not an issue for me bcs it was removed. But, in her opinion, if the tonsils are not removed then the lyme treatment won't be efffective.
Has anyone had a similar experience? As an adult, I'm concerned about having a tonsillectomy but if it will indeed "cure" me of lyme, then I"m all for it. I just wanted to see if I could get more info.
dontlikeliver
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4749
posted
Nika,
I had my tonsils removed when I was 25. I had already been sick for four years, but that particular year I kept having 'tonsillitis' on top, or as part of, the Lyme (then diagnosed as CFS).
I thought having them out would 'cure' me, I was dreaming, obviously. I still had Lyme and throat problems/swollen glands. However, NEVER like it was WITH the tonsils. My tonsils were 'shot' as my surgeon said - they were the biggest he'd ever seen and had 'burrowed' into the back of my head.
I am glad I had it done, because I coulnd't (still can't) imagine going on like that.
These days, oddly, I don't seem to get the swollen glands on my neck anymore. Still get sore throats though during flares or when run down.
So, if things are bad, I would get it done. It's not a piece of cake and it is riskier when you're an adult. But, if you keep tonsils that are constantly infected and don't work then what option do you have?
DLL
Posts: 2824 | From The Back of Beyond | Registered: Oct 2003
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bpeck
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3235
posted
Constant abx not only create imbalances in your intesinal flora, but can create imbalance in any other mucosal membrane in the body- and that includes the throat So an opportunistic bug can be causing the sore throat (and it could become a resistant strain)
Removing the tonsils won't correct the problem.
Changing your antibiotic class might- have your Doc. do some reading on which classes of abx creat more imbalance than others.
It's part of the collateral damage casued by long-term abx, that can be mis-interpreted as something else.
A culture would tell you what the bug is, and a abx sensitivity test would tell you what it's resistant to, or suseptible to.
Barb
Search on the name Margolis- or go to this page in PubMed.
dontlikeliver
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4749
posted
In my case I had numerous cultures and NOTHING was ever cultured. I ended up in the hospital on IV Unisyn, and then 6 months later, tonsils out.
Good point though what you said about opportunistic bugs, guess it could be that too.
DLL
Posts: 2824 | From The Back of Beyond | Registered: Oct 2003
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liz28
Unregistered
posted
Sounds whack. Don't chop anything until you've tried more treatments, especially for co-infections. Eight months is not enough time to try all the treatments available to you, and while you don't say which ones you are on, they probably are not the strongest ones out there. And co-infections are notorious for causing Lyme treatments to fail. They have a little symbiotic arrangement going, these bugs.
Swollen neck glands in particular are a major, major symptom of bartonella, which also causes a relapsing fever and progressively worsening neurological symptoms. Over the past few weeks, a lot of longtime Lymenetters abruptly started getting better on bart treatment--please see a post by Caat, with a response from Riversinger, about a "rifampin update." You can also look for posts from the past three years by Auntybiotic, Cigi, Pattiecake, Kaos, Chainsaw Joe, Lymeinhell, and many others.
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SunRa
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3559
posted
doesnt sound whack to me. In the past 4 years, I've basically done every treatment but my head and neuro sx just keep getting worse. and tonsils more and more inflammed.
Up until I got Lyme, I had chronic strep & tonsillitis my whole life but for some reason decided not to have them out. When I got Lyme, the sore throats stopped, but massive neuro sx and head/neck/jaw pain set in.
My tonsils are so scarred and still inflammed (drs also say they're the biggest they've ever seen) and they basically take up my entire throat, causing me to gag on them at times.
the ONE time in the past 4 yrs that my head felt a little "clearer" was early on in my illness when i did a juice fast and my tonsils shrunk to half their size, but that only lasted a day. Since then I knew they were an issue but no matter what I do, I cant get them to shrink again.
A couple drs agreed they are still chronically infected and that they arent giving me sore throats anymore b/c they're not functioning correctly anymore. Theyre just balls of scarred tissue holding in tons of neurotoxins and bacteria, & blocking the lymph flow out of my brain...so all the toxins from my infections, herxing, detox, etc are just stuck there. This could explain why my neuro and head sx only get worse with most treatments and I can never get over herxes.
This makes a lot of sense to me and I'm thinking of getting the tonsillectomy. I'm just worried about handling surgery right now
Dr K in Seattle talks about this a lot and often recommends tonsillectomy to certain patients, especially if neural therapy doesnt help them (which would be something else you could try first before going through with the surgery). So far neural therapy hasnt helped me, but many others have had great success with it.
I'd like to keep in touch with you about this and whether or not you decide to go through with it. Good luck Posts: 1563 | From MA | Registered: Jan 2003
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