Tonsils or no Tonsils ?

[curlylocks]

Hi everybody,
Ive been reading up tonight and am keen to know if there really is a connection between tonsilitus, strep and P, it will be intresting to see how many of us have had tonsils removed.

Curly  x

[JUDGE DREDD]

Interesting post Curlylocks

I still have mine and have never had tonsilitus. I have mostley plaque P. They tend nowadays not to remove your tonsils i am told as this acts as a barrier to your throat from infection. I have always blamed chickenpox at 16 for my P though my sister has it also. None of my other family do though.

[raine]

Hi

I've gone for"Combination without tonsils" but that doesn't tell the full story.

I'm 35 and until last year had no real signs of P ( very occasional flakes in scalp when stressed doing exams etc.). I then got several bouts of tonsilitus and finally ended up in hospital with a quincy ( abcess on tonsils). While in hospital I noticed a rash appearing on my arms and legs which was dismissed as viral/ mild reaction to antibiotics but a month later it was more pronounced and was diagnosed as guttate P.

In September of last year after several more attacks of tonsilitus I had the horrible things removed ( horrible according to my surgeon!) and was hoping the p would start to improve but instead it got worse and started turning into plaque p. I've since had UVB treatment which has cleared it all up.

The strange thing is that as a teenager I had fairly bad tonsiiltus about twice a year and at 14 was told that if I had one more bout then they would remove them. I then didn't have tonsilitus again until last year. The quincy was definitely more severe than anything I had as a child so perhaps the tonsilitus I had as a child was just never quite bad enough to act as a trigger for p.

There definitely was a trend not to remove tonsils when I was a teenager however I think that has changed a bit since. They do help to trigger your immune system to fight off infection partilcularly important for kids at school I suppose but if they get too badly scarred by repeated infections then they can do the opposite and actually harbour bugs. The consultant that dealt with my tonsils said he had seen a big increase in the number of adults like me needing their tonsils out because so few of us had them out as kids.

In case you're wondering what triggered the tonsilitus after such a long gap - having two kids within 2 years, neither of them being good sleepers, and topped off by both getting chicken pox in quick succession ( even more sleepless nights!!!). I think I must have been a bit run down.

Anyway - in my case there was definitely a strong link between tonsilitis and p . I sometimes wonder whether my p would ever have been triggered if they had taken my tonsils out at 15.

Hope this helps
Raine    

[curlylocks]

Hi Raine im so glad you are P free ,      **CONGRATULATIONS**

I really appreciate your post thanks - the plot thickens..................

[AnnieD]

Interesting Curly!  I got guttate p from a strep throat infection - but still have my tonsils intact!

[curlylocks]

Hmmm.......i wonder if we did'nt have our gorgeous tonsils anymore whether we would still contract strep infections in our throats , or are the tonsils there to fight the strep for us ??  i need more stats i think.
Thanks for responding

Curly  x

[rachd]

Mine started after a nasty throat infection 13 years ago.

[rd21]

I've had tonsilitis 4 or 5 times and had it (as well as scarlet fever) when I had my first Psoriasis flare up.

[curlylocks]

I've had tonsilitis 4 or 5 times and had it (as well as scarlet fever) when I had my first Psoriasis flare up.

Hey  rd21
could you have had the strep infection prior to the p?
i think this is the trigger.
What type do you have?

Curly  x

[rd21]

Yeah- I meant had it b4 the p although I had one patch of flexural prior to scarlet fever/tonsilitis, but they only told me it was p cupla months after (was being treated as ingrown hair/excema).

after sf/tonsil.., had big flare up of scalp p bout two weeks later I think, which has lasted 8 months (and counting).

Now I have scalp p, same spot of flexural, and plaque p on my face, ear and tiny tiny bit on my elbow.