Long-term swollen tonsils and white spots

I had a similar experience. Turns out I had an abscess at the back of my throat due to a build of bacteria around my tonsils. I had what felt like strep or tonsilitus for months. Finally I took myself to emergency at the hospital and they put me on a portable I.V. with some sort of antibiotic. It did nothing. 3 days later I rushed myself into emergency because I literally couldn't eat or drink any more and was like look, I'm not leaving till you figure out wtf is wrong with me. They got me in for a CT scan immediately, found the abscess, removed it, felt good as new shortly after the procedure.

about 2 weeks ago i got a sore throat, this one was different because it was a burning pain (sharp pain) way in the back of my throat. I thought i had strep throat again as i had one persistent white spot on my left tonsil (not tonsil stone) and some white streaks along the back of my throat behind tonsils.

dr. gave me Clindomycin for 7 days (3x a day) - took it but it only seemed to make it worse. after 4 days i went back to see another doc. he said i have a candida overgrowth - yeast and put me on Fluconozole (anti-fungal) 150mg once a day for 5 days then once a week for 10 weeks.

after 5 days on the anti-fungal my throat got 90% better - except late at night it would come back a bit. but on the 6th day it seems to be returning again.

i dislike taking antibiotics and pills - i've totally cut sugar and wheat out of my diet and am taking a pro-biotic.

anyone have an idea what to do?

I too have been dealing with these symptoms for a few years now. My lymph nodes would get so swollen that I couldn't open my jaw without it making some gross squishing sound (of the node moving) with each bite of anything. The white spots and redness on my tonsils usually came at the same time as the swollen lymph nodes. Each time the doc would put me on new antibiotics and eventually they would clear up from white spots and ease a little on the swelling. 

Numerous blood tests and throat swabs later, over the course of 1.5 years, they tell me that I HAD mono at some point during this but currently do not have it, nor are my WBC counts high enough to indicate any infection.

Lately I have been getting bouts of swollen cervical lymph nodes without the obvious symptoms of throat infection so they decided to biopsy the nodes just in case. There were three on my left side, measuring 0.4cmx2 and 1.2cmx1. Doesn't seem big.. but each time you move your head, you sure feel them. Biopsy results came back normal so I'm off to see an ear nose and throat specialist next month. I've noticed the little white balls in the creases of my tonsils again so I am blaming all of this on those. I'll let you all know what I find out! 

In the meantime I will try the salt water/aloe gargles :)

I'm only 14 and I've had this for plenty of years. Constantly swollen tonsils, sore throat, holes in my tonsils, and white spots. I've went to 4 doctors, they've tested me for strep plenty of times, all negative, and recently was tested for mono. I had it at one point but they can't tell when or how many times. She sent me to a ear, nose, and throat doctor who didn't even care about my throat and kept giving me spray for my stuffy nose and took me off my migrian to. He's a dumbass. I'm lactose intolerant if that makes a difference. I don't have any dairy anymore but still constantly get sick. Sometimes for months. I went to my school nurse 3 times in 1 day nearly in tears and she didn't see much of anything wrong till I told her to look at my tonsils which she apparently didn't know existed. She sent me straight home then and told me not to come back till that was gone. Still had to though because it never fully goes away and my parents don't ever let me miss school unless I'm puking. No one knows what it is and no one really cares. (Thanks to you, AMERICA) The only doctor that even did a test other than strep was an Indian doctor who immigrated her. She really cares for my heath and helped my migrains but WS lost when it came to my throat. Sick of it. Literally.

Ive had the same thing for about 2 years no joke :( swelling then white dots every couple of weeks ... Get antibiotics swelling goes down white dots go away ....couple weeks later same thing its like a cycle .... Theres not really any pain , maybe there is and i have learned to live with it the first couple of days i feel week but i cAn always eat and always have energy but the throat always comes back ive been to ent also ....the worst part is no dr or specialist knows what it is its beyond a joke now !!!

Iv had a swallon tonsil for nearly two months now on my left side its not sore or anything its just i know its their all the time whats the best thing for it..a doctor said it was from smoking

My oldest child is almost 7 and has one tonsil that covers half her throat we noticed it when she was 2 but I have also noticed white spots on it that get bigger and smaller the tonsil swells when the white spots get bigger but the swelling never goes down more than half her throat. She is scheduled for a physical later this month and I will be having her tested. She says it hurts bad when the swelling starts.

I think when they put a qtip down my throat i think its going to hurt so imma try to stay away from hot foods and soft drinks cause i can't swallow or eat anything

See a ent specialist

Hello,i I see these posts are from a long time ago although I am seeking the web for answers. I have Epstein Barr virus and was diagnosed in 2003 after I was in a car accident and i had trauma to my abdomen, the X-rays so internal damage and they did surgery to find that my spleen had ruptured. It was abnormally enlarged and ruptured upon impact. It took the doctors 1 month of me being very ill to find out that it was Epstein BV. So...fast forward, haven't had many problems really since then until Fall 2015I had an unexplained so-called diagnosis of TIA (minis Stroke, I'm 33 and weigh 160lbs) . About 8months ago we moved into an apartment and I felt very congested here immediately and always stuffy nose, itchy skin and most importantly swollen tonsils the whole time. I thought that there is something I have a problem with in the carpet here or even the walls.

Also, I have a dairy intolerance too so if I decide to eat ice cream with lactose pills, I experience even more swelling. I have been experiencing neck pain (cervical spine) for weeks and headaches a lot! my balance is a little weird if I move my eyes or head too fast (playing with my kids) or I am easily dehydrated and see bright colored spots accompanied with headaches, the spots only go away about 30 minutes after I chug 2 glasses of water.

The swollen tonsils along with headaches and being easily dehydrated makes me concerned but never have I had poor lab results, only low Bloof Pressure, even when I had the TIA and they did full lab work-up.

I thought my frequent headaches were from working on the computer so often(8+ hrs/day) so I bought special glasses for computer use, I feel like they make it worse sometimes, its only been 1 week.

I don't have the time or money for several doctor appointments to get nowhere. Just looking to somewhat diagnose myself by reading posts like this. I am wondering if you have experienced this with EBV?

Heather

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Uh. Same thing

a lot of people have problem with swollen tongsills, in somme cases for long long time (years), it is really hard to get swollen tongsils after mononucleosis back to normal. Few different antibiotics may work, some people try gargling salty water, gargling anti inflammatory herbs tea, like camomilie, echinacea purpurae, even gargling tea made from onion, etc. I am just thinking to try one more stuff, gargling canabis tincture. I red a lot info. about canabis, it is thousand years old medicine. In order to not get high or by stoned, do not swallow the tincture. Canabis containing THC and CBD strong canabinoids compounds that regulate every single cell in our body, THC has strong anti inflammatory effect. peter

no the pus spots do not wipe off, because iv tried thinking it mivht hurry up recovery , dab teatree or menthol oil on sootng and antibacterial

I have been suffering from tonsilitis since one and half year.It pains through out year if i dont take care of.m always on hot water and keeping my neck warm by wrapping up scarf.It gets worse in winter night.so i sleep by covering my whole face and neck at night.i cant sit for long in ac room.

I've been suffering for almost three months now with what started as step throat. I came across this post today and had to share my story with everyone here. I hope my experience can assist in anyone going through the same issues.

Back in June, I woke up with an extremely sore throat. I couldn't open my mouth to eat food and the pain I experienced when I tried swallowing was nothing I've ever felt before. My fiancee had just went through wisdom tooth surgery a few weeks prior, so I began taking his amoxicillin right away to start some type of treatment until I could see a doctor (yes, I know it's bad to take other peoples medication). I started feeling a little bit better after four days of taking the medicine. Unfortunately, on the fifth day I had an incident happen where I was feeling very light headed, my whole body was shaking violently for a few minutes, and I was experiencing heart palpitations. I wasn't sure what was going on so I stopped taking the antibiotics out of fear. I had a doctors appointment scheduled two days after that happened.

I saw my doctor and told her about the incident that occurred. At the time, I wasn't feeling anything in my throat anymore so I did not mention I had strep. After what happened a couple days prior, I was so scared I honestly forgot about the strep. The next day, I started feeling pain again in my throat. Thankfully I was able to see the doctor again that day. She looked in my throat, I told her I had these symptoms last week too, and she assumed it was strep so gave me Amox-Clav to take.

A few days later I was in still in a large amount of pain. The antibiotic did not do anything for me. I called the doctors office who told me to stop taking the Amox-Clav and begin taking Z-Pack. I was on the last day of Zpack but only got some relief. I called the doctor but did not get a call back until later that evening. So, I went to urgent care. Urgent care decided to perform a strep test to make sure what is what it is. Came back positive for strep throat. I was prescribed another antibiotic (Keflex)...

When my doctor called back, she prescribed me a 6-day steroid treatment which I took along with the 4th antibiotic. At this point, I was feeling better than I have been the entire time but I still couldn't shake off the annoyance my throat caused. It felt like there was something stuck at the base of my throat. I felt it 24/7. Luckily, I wasn't in much pain anymore but the sensation was really bringing me down. I was starting to get depressed. My quality of life was gone for weeks.

I saw an ENT a couple weeks after a follow up with my primary doctor. When I told her I was still feeling something in my throat, she basically said "I don't know what it is. You need to see a specialist." Anyways, I saw the ENT and explained everything that was going on. He took a look in my throat with a mirror and light.. said "everything looks really good." Well, I don't feel good! He said to wait it out and see how I feel in a week. If I still feel bad he would prescribe me one more antibiotic (my 6th one). Sure enough, a week later I was starting to go down hill again. I was prescribed clindamycin. I started feeling much better after that antibiotic. I still felt there was something stuck in my throat but at that point I didn't care. I was happy to be feeling almost normal again. I was ready to accept that I would feel the sensation forever. My ENT sent in a test called a barium swallowing test in case something else was going on. Everything came back normal. And I am about $160 poorer from it lol

Fast forward to a week after being off of the last antibiotic. I started feeling the pain again... I was in tears during the early stage because I knew "here we go again." The next day I was in pain white white patches appearing on my tonsils again. I couldn't see my primary doctor (who already didn't know what was wrong with me so I didn't want to go to her) and the ENT was on vacation so I had to make an appointment 17 days out. I couldn't wait that long so my finacee took me to the ER. The doctor at the ER looked at my throat and asked "has anymore thought to test you for mono?" NO. I took a mono screening and strep throat test there. Both came back negative. Although, it was explained that the mono screening is not accurate since it only detects if I have mono at that time. I had to take a blood test through my primary doctor to see if I have mono antibodies. If you do some research, mono is a HORRIBLE sickness. Symptoms can last from weeks to months. It is a little difficult to diagnose because the symptoms can suggest other conditions. The sickness can cause strep throat, tiredness, swollen lymph nodes, white patches in throat, and fever just to name a few.

Anyways, I left the hospital with no meds but at least some idea as to what's been going on. The next day I saw my primary and holy s**t I was IN PAIN. It was one of the worst pains I've ever felt. I was crying before I was fully awake that morning. It was hard to swallow as well as drink water. My glads were so swollen they were up to my jaw bone. It was so embarrassing at the doctors office because I was crying in so much pain. I know I looked horrible and miserable. The doctor took a look in my mouth and let out some "oooo's" and "oh no honey." She said I had a lot of abscess in my tonsils which is why it was hard for me to swallow and explains why I was in a lot of pain. I purposely didn't look in my throat that day because I didn't want to freak myself out. I was prescribed penicillin (my 6th antibiotic! this can't be healthy, right?) for a week which was extended to two weeks to be safe. I got the tests done for mono which came back positive for high antibodies (tests cannot show exactly when you've had mono. Just tests for antibodies). High antibodies is a good indication that I had the sickness just recently. I am feeling better, but still have white spots on my tonsils. I saw my ENT again yesterday, who took me a bit more seriously this time, so he could look and see if there's anything I should be concerned about. I feel much better but I can still see some white on my tonsils. He says he does see some white but it seems to be trying to clear up. Unfortunately, if I go through another episode I will have to get my tonsils taken out. I asked the ENT if this complication is common with mono and he said most definitely.

So it took almost 3 months to receive an answer on what has been going on. I've been so relieved to find some sort of answer. I was beginning to feel crazy! If you've been sick for a few months, please try asking your doctor about mono. I am 25 years old so it never crossed my mind that it could be mono! Not saying this could be what you have but it could be the answer you are searching for. I am blessed I have health insurance because I have already spent hundreds of dollars in the past months to figure out what's been going on with me. I am getting married in October so I really was getting scared I wasn't going to be okay for my wedding day. I'm hoping I don't experience another episode because I've heard that tonsillotomy is very painful as an adult. I just want to feel back to normal again.. I am sure you all feel the same way! Good luck with everything and try to stay positive.