Tonsillitis is a painful condition caused by a bacterial or viral infection that inflames the tonsils. Symptoms include a sore throat, fever, and swollen glands. It can be difficult to recognize, especially in young children, but early treatment can prevent it from becoming a medical emergency.
Tonsillitis is an often painful medical condition in which a person’s tonsils become inflamed due to a bacterial or viral infection. It often starts as a common cold or throat infection. Treating tonsillitis is quite simple, but it’s important to recognize the signs of tonsillitis so that you can seek the proper medical help. The most common symptoms of tonsillitis include symptoms of a common cold and other indicators such as earaches, fever, and most importantly, swollen tonsils. Due to the fact that tonsillitis often affects young children, it is important for parents to familiarize themselves with the condition, although this can be difficult due to the fact that tonsillitis can initially seem like a harmless cold.
Most people are familiar with the symptoms of a common cold: runny nose, sneezing, cough, nasal congestion, sore throat, and fatigue. When an individual has tonsillitis, they may initially experience many of these symptoms and dismiss the condition as a common cold which typically goes away within a week. An early indication that an individual may be developing tonsillitis is that cold symptoms seem abnormally severe. For example, with a common cold, an individual may complain of a sore throat that has developed due to post-nasal drip resulting from sinus congestion. An individual with tonsillitis is likely to experience a much more intense sore throat as the infection sets in.
In addition to experiencing heightened symptoms of a common cold, individuals with tonsillitis typically experience high fevers, indicating the presence of infection. Other signs of throat infection include bad smelling breath and difficulty swallowing. One of the other early signs of tonsillitis is swollen glands, which surround the throat and often lead to earaches, stiff necks, and headaches.
Perhaps the best way to check for signs of tonsillitis, although it is somewhat intrusive, is to actually look at the person’s tonsils using a flashlight. Getting kids to open their mouths and move their tongues around long enough to see their throats and tonsils can be challenging. Common visual signs of tonsillitis include red and swollen tonsils, yellow or white patches on the tonsils, or gray discoloration of the tissue on or around the tonsils. In some cases, the infection can reach a point where the individual has thick mucus or blood on their tonsils.
Tonsillitis is a difficult condition to recognize, particularly in the early stages of the infection. This is often true when the affected individual is a young child who cannot describe the symptoms he is experiencing. Caregivers should be especially alert when symptoms of a common cold intensify, fever sets in, and visual indicators appear on the throat and tonsils. Watching for these signs of tonsillitis and seeking medical help early can prevent the condition from evolving into a medical emergency.
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