Contents:
- Medical Video: Sore Throat | How To Get Rid Of A Sore Throat (2019)
- What causes swollen tonsils?
- 1. Gastric Acid (GERD)
- 2. Smoking habits
- What is the difference between sore throat and tonsillitis?
- What is sore throat?
- What is inflammation of the tonsils?
- How do you distinguish pain from sore throat and because of tonsillitis?
- Treatment for sore throat and tonsillitis
- Sore throat
- Tonsillitis
- Do you need tonsillectomy?
- Natural tonsil medicine that you can try at home
- 1. Salt water
- 2. Lemon juice and honey
- 3. Garlic
- 4. Cinnamon
- 5. Turmeric
- Also do some of the following when you have tonsillitis
- 1. Take a break
- 2. Eat soft food
- 3. Take painkillers
- 4. Drink a lot
Medical Video: Sore Throat | How To Get Rid Of A Sore Throat (2019)
Tonsillitis is a swollen condition of the tonsils or tonsils due to inflammation due to germs. Although it creates an uncomfortable feeling, tonsillitis is rarely a serious disease. This condition can occur in patients of any age, but is most common in young children to adolescents.
What causes swollen tonsils?
This sore throat has almost been experienced by anyone. But keep in mind, that the function of the tonsils is to support the body's immune system by protecting the body from infection that will enter the body by mouth. Now when the tonsils or tonsils themselves are infected, it will become inflamed which causes the tonsils to swell.
The symptoms that are usually shown when tonsils are inflamed include fever, the onset of pain in the throat and pain when swallowing, and the reddish color.
Swollen tonsils can occur because of several things, such as viruses and bacteria. The virus that causes inflammation of the tonsils is the same virus as the virus that causes it cough and flu. While the bacteria that cause tonsillitis are generally streptococcus bacteria.
There are several other things that cause this condition to occur, namely:
1. Gastric Acid (GERD)
The food you eat, from the throat to the stomach, must pass through a long tube called the esophagus. This muscle in the form of a valve in the esophagus prevents backflow of food from the stomach back to the throat.
But when the valve in the esophagus muscles do not work properly, by closing the road so that the food does not return to the throat, your stomach acid flows into the esophagus, then irritates the esophagus wall. This condition is then known as gastric acid or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
A study conducted by the American Academy of Otolaryngology revealed that, gastric acid (GERD) can trigger swollen tonsils. The study was supported by Doctor Michael Friedman, who said that this condition can occur because stomach acid has the same effect as other causes of tonsils.
2. Smoking habits
A study conducted in Colorado showed that there was a relationship between smoking behavior with enlargement to tonsillar cancer. This condition is predicted to occur as a reaction from the tonsils to the chemical reactions contained in cigarettes.
What is the difference between sore throat and tonsillitis?
Sometimes, pain in the throat and pain when swallowing food is often considered a symptom of tonsillitis. Likewise, swollen tonsil symptoms are also often considered trivial as a sore throat. However, do you know that they are different?
Yes, indeed a sore throat, in this case sore throat, is closely related to the condition of swollen tonsils. Although at a glance they both have almost the same symptoms, but sore throat is a different disease. What is the difference?
What is sore throat?
Throat inflammation is a medical term called pharyngitis. Throat pain caused is often caused by infection with various viruses or infections of Streptococcus pyogenes bacteria. Usually people who experience strep throat will experience pain in the throat area, precisely in the larynx, pharynx, and tonsil glands.
This condition for the people of Indonesia is often referred to as deep heat. Inflammation of the throat will make you feel uncomfortable because the throat hurts or is hot, making it difficult for you to swallow food.
What is inflammation of the tonsils?
Inflammation of the tonsils is inflammation that occurs in the tonsillar gland, which is one of the glands that functions as the body's defense system to capture and kill germs in the respiratory tract. Common causes are viral infections and the rest are caused by bacteria.
Some viral infections that often cause swollen tonsils such as influenza, coronavirus, adenovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, and herpes simplex virus. However, make no mistake, this condition can also be caused by bacteria from group A Streptococcus, which is also a cause of sore throat.
How do you distinguish pain from sore throat and because of tonsillitis?
Although both of these diseases both make pain and are uncomfortable in the throat, there are some symptoms that can be a difference between sore throat and tonsils. People who experience sore throat generally will feel:
- Fever
- Swollen lymph nodes in the neck
- Muscle ache
- Itching in the throat
- Pain and difficulty swallowing
- Red throat
Whereas people who experience it tonsillitis generally will feel:
- Fever
- White or yellow changes in or around the tonsils
- Tonsils redness and swelling
- Pain and difficulty swallowing
Treatment for sore throat and tonsillitis
The best way to distinguish and treat both types of inflammation is to immediately see a doctor. Knowing the cause of a sore throat will really help you cure the disease. After seeing a doctor, you can also do the following.
Sore throat
There are several ways you can reduce the symptoms of sore throats including:
- Gargling while looking up (to hit the throat)) with warm salt water to relieve swelling in the throat. However, the water should not be swallowed.
- Drink lots of water, especially if you have a fever. Adequate intake of water can increase your body's resistance to fight fever.
- Don't smoke and avoid smoky environments.
- Do not consume drinks or foods that are too hot and hard textured.
A sore throat will usually subside on its own in less than a week. You can also take over-the-counter painkillers at drug stores such as ibuprofen.
However, if your condition does not improve for more than 7 days and is accompanied by a fever above 38 ° C, immediately consult a doctor so that it does not have more severe consequences.
Tonsillitis
Although most of these conditions are not classified as serious, but you are still advised to see a doctor if you experience symptoms that last more than 4 days and show no signs of recovery, or the symptoms are even more severe.
If this condition is caused by bacteria, the doctor will usually give it antibiotic drug to eliminate the infection. But if it is caused by a virus, then try to drink lots of water, eat soft foods, and be given drugs to reduce symptoms such as ibuprofen or paracetamol.
In some cases that are already classified as severe, often relapse, or can no longer be treated with medication, doctors are usually forced to do so tonsillectomy to overcome this.
Do you need tonsillectomy?
Tonsillectomy is common among children, although some adults do it too. Surgery to remove the swollen tonsils is also considered safe and common. But now, many doctors prefer to wait and use tonsillectomy only in certain cases.
Tonsillectomy is also known as tonsillectomy, a surgical procedure that aims to treat it tonsillitis or chronic inflammation of the tonsils.
When infected, the tonsils will usually become swollen and there is discomfort in the throat. In most cases, this problem can be cured with antibiotics. However, if the condition worsens and becomes chronic, the patient is recommended to undergo tonsillectomy which is totally removed.
Tonsillectomy can be done in two methods. However, the more commonly used method is diabetic bipolar dissection, because this method can reduce the risk of bleeding.
This method is done by using an electric forcep to cover the blood vessels that are between the tonsils and the surrounding muscles. Then, the tonsils will be removed one by one. So this method is used to completely remove the swollen tonsils, to make sure no tissue is left behind.
While the other method is using the intracapsular method. This method uses electric probes to break down and destroy proteins in the tonsil tissue.
The probe contains a salt solution that is heated with an electric current, so it can destroy the glands in the tonsil layer. This method is not too risky to damage the muscles and blood vessels around your tonsils and throat.
Tonsillectomy is performed if you experience the following:
- Occurrence of tonsillitis five to seven times you experience in one year.
- You begin to experience difficulty in breathing.
- You often snore when you sleep hard volume.
- Your tonsils are bleeding.
- You have difficulty swallowing food, especially meat
- You have cancer in the tonsils, you also have to do tonsillectomy
- An operation will be performed, if the area around your tonsils is infected and forms a bag of pus, it is called an abscess
- Doctors will recommend surgery if antibiotic drugs are no longer able to overcome the bacteria.
- There are tumors although this condition is rather rare.
Before the surgery, the doctor may ask you to consider how influential this infection affects your life or your child.
For example, some parents choose the path of tonsillectomy when their child starts to get sick continuously so that it interferes with their school activities.
Or adults who might want to consider surgery because this recurrent infection will affect their sleep. With consideration and influence on your life, tonsillectomy can be done according to time and purpose in yourself.
Natural tonsil medicine that you can try at home
The following are some tonsil medications that are easily found at home to relieve inflammation from swollen tonsils, including:
1. Salt water
The easiest tonsil medicine from natural ingredients is by gargling using warm salt water. Warm water has a calming effect on tonsils, while salt acts as a natural antiseptic that helps reduce inflammation by killing viruses and bacteria.
You can mix one teaspoon of salt into a cup of warm water. Then gargle with the solution, but make sure you don't swallow it.
2. Lemon juice and honey
The benefits of lemon for health is indeed no doubt. Lemon has anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties so it is effective in treating infections and inflammation. In addition, the content of vitamin C in it can increase the body's immunity against infection.
As a medicine for tonsils, which are made from natural ingredients, you can use lemon juice (1 fruit), a little salt, and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of warm water. Stir until all mixed, then drink slowly. Do this routine twice a day to speed healing,
3. Garlic
As one of the tonsil drugs that have been used for thousands of years, garlic is believed to strengthen the immune system because it is rich in antioxidants and antibacterial and antiviral compounds so it is effective against viruses due to colds, flu, and tonsillitis.
One way to use garlic as a medicine for natural tonsils is to eat whole garlic. But if you can't stand the smell and taste of garlic, you can mix it with herbal tea.
The trick, boil two mashed cloves that have been mashed for 5 minutes (use as much as one cup of water). Then remove and strain the garlic water. To give a sweet taste, you can add one teaspoon of honey.
4. Cinnamon
Not only as a seasoning or cake, cinnamon turns out it can also be a natural tonsil medicine. This is because cinnamon is rich in anti-microbial properties so it can inhibit the growth of bacteria and other microorganisms attached to the tonsils. That way, cinnamon helps reduce swelling, pain and inflammation.
To get the benefits, add one teaspoon of cinnamon powder to a glass of hot water. After that, mix two teaspoons of honey. As long as the drink is still hot, breathe in the water, and after the water has warmed you can consume it. You can drink this natural herb 2-3 times a day for a week.
5. Turmeric
Turmeric is one type of spice that is useful as a strong anti-inflammatory and natural antiseptic. So it's not surprising, if turmeric can help fight infections and can relieve tonsillitis symptoms that greatly interfere with your swallowing activities.
If you are one of those people who like to eat milk, you can add a glass of warm milk with a teaspoon of turmeric powder and a mixture of black pepper. Drink this turmeric concoction at night for 2-3 consecutive days. This method is believed to be effective as a natural tonsil medicine.
In addition to using several types of tonsillitis described above, you should also pay attention to food intake if you are experiencing tonsillitis. Avoid greasy foods like fried foods and coconut milk. Then multiply the rest and make sure if you are well hydrated so as not to aggravate inflammation so that it can speed up the healing process.
Also do some of the following when you have tonsillitis
1. Take a break
When the body, especially the tonsils and throat are inflamed, you should rest first at home. Because, resting can speed up the healing process. A body that is experiencing an infection requires a lot of energy to fight bacteria.
Therefore, try not to do excessive activities such as work, school, or exercise until you recover.
2. Eat soft food
This condition generally makes you lazy to eat because it is difficult to swallow. To work around this, choose foods that are soft, fruitful, and easy to swallow. Foods like porridge, soup, team rice, or mashed potatoes (mashed potato) can be your choice.
Avoid first fried food or spicy food because these foods can make the organs in your throat more irritating.
3. Take painkillers
If the pain in the throat is unbearable, you can drink painkillers like paracetamol and ibuprofen. For children under five years of age, consult with a pediatrician what pain relievers are safe for consumption.
4. Drink a lot
Keep the condition of your throat to stay moist. Dry tonsils will feel more painful. So, make sure you drink plenty of water to maintain hydration. You can drink warm water so your throat is calmer. However, cold water is also good for relieving pain. You can choose for yourself which is most comfortable for your throat.
