Tonsils......sickness

I always get throat infections…everytime I am sick, since a little kid. I used to be sick every like 2-4 months, having a lower immune system my throat is my weak spot I guess, and working at a child center twice a week for the last year and a half didn’t help any. Anyway, I have been doing very well, and have not been to the doctor in 5 months almost half a year instead of everyother month, I think I might have had a cold or 2 but not so bad to go in they all past. Anyhow, today my doctor mentioned that anyone in my position he’d advice-should have the tonsils be removed, but it’d cause so much craziness with the sugars and all, so it was up to us… i think it an optional thing, if want to keep getting sick or have the few weeks, and dealing with the hardships of the diabetes of removal and get sick less I think I can live with soar throats and just taking meds… I am very sensative and cry and worry at very mention/thought of surgery I did have my wisdom teeth taken out last year and recovered very well but this would be more blood and risk and eh just wondering if other people with diabetes have had lots of throat sickness and had tonsils removed or talked about it… if anyone had advice/ pros. and cons?? Any experenses or advice about removal , and anyone have them removed when older not just a kid ?? Any thing that has helped boost the immune system keeps you well or prevents as much sickness???

I had mine out when I was 23 years old and went from having 4-5 sinus infections a year to none or maybe 1 per year. It’s a painful experience, but totally worth the trouble. (Days 5-10 are the worst because the pain meds wear off from the surgery after the first few days.) I enjoyed eating ice cream pies and mashed potatoes when I felt like I needed carb. Didn’t have to change my insulin regimen too much.

It’s a day surgery, so you don’t have to deal with much hospital time. And I was allowed to wear my pump through the surgery.

I had mine removed in 2006. I wore my pump and it was done as an outpatient surgery. I have not had any sore throats, or throat infections since I had my tonsils removed. Prior to the removal I had strep every month :frowning:

do lots of sugar free popsickles. I made them out of Crystal Light.

Some people believe that tonsils serve an important function by preventing infection from going deeper into the body. Kind of like a filter, I guess. If you haven’t been getting sick as frequently, why have surgery?

I also get a sore throat, and swollen lymph nodes every time I get a cold or strep. I got lots of sore throats and strep all through school. I don’t get sick as often, especially now that I am working in an office with only 4-6 people at a time. If I got sick often like back then, I would get the surgery. I didn’t know it would actually work, or I would have had my tonsils removed.

I had mine removed when I was 20, about 12 years ago. I was getting ear infections quite often, sore throats, etc… As Melissa said, it is painful. The amount of pain depends in part on which method they use to remove them. A laser removal causes less pain than having them cut or cauterized off.

Did I mention it is painful? I did get very good results, though.

I was wondering if you got yours removed. I just had mine removed this morning.

I had frequent throat infections like you, strep more and more frequently. When I was 18 the doctor took my tonsils out (I wasn’t diabetic at the time). I think you will feel so better without your tonsils. You also run the risk of getting sepsis if you keep those infected tonsils!

I was born in a time and place where they just pretty much came out. I was three when mine left me. Thank goodness. however my sons were born in 1979 and 1982 and we could not get those darn things out no matter what we did. I mean the docs jsut pretty much said no, like for years. Well finally after sickness after sickness, we finally got them out in the older one, and then later in the young one. Thank goodness. We went from an illness a week to almost none.

rick phillips

I had my tonsils removed two weeks ago. I had had chronically enlarged tonsils for about three months (so large that they touched when I said ‘ah’). I slept horribly (snoring/extremely heavy breathing due to a semi-blocked airway), was sick with colds very often, and had quite a hard time eating.

I had my tonsils removed via an outpatient procedure. Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy took only 45mins-1hr. I wore my OmniPod with minimal adjustments to insulin. They did give me a 5% glucose solution which didn’t mess my numbers up too much.

I was very aware after the procedure and took care of all my own diabetes needs post-operation. The pain was at times a lot to handle, but it would have been no different if I did not have diabetes. Young children just bounce back faster after a tonsillectomy than do adults. I am very glad I had the tonsillectomy. I even flew back to school less than a week after the procedure and did just fine.

I say go for it. (and by now, almost a year after your initial post, i hope you have)

Nope I still got em’…been pretty well though had longest stretch of like 4-5 months with no illness !!! almost 1/2 a year I think thats pretty good but this last time I had a triple infection both ears and throat ughh
so, how did it go how are you???

It’s going well. Pain is not too bad cause of all the meds right now. They removed my tonsils and adenoids. They were just going to remove the tonsils, but then saw my adenoids needed removed too. They told my parents that they were green, and I wasn’t even feeling sick. My tonsils have always been large. I wore my Omnipod through the surgery, and everything went well. I think the first thing I said after waking up was along the lines of how I could breath so much better. I had 5 infections this last year with antibiotics and my endo thought it was past time to get them removed.

I think that if one is in a position to consider having one’s tonsils removed, then the right decision is to remove them. I had chronic tonsillitis until I got them removed in 2005. Best decision of my life. I used to have colds every 3-4 weeks. SERIOUSLY. I have them like… once a year now.

You should go for it. The longer you wait, the more difficult the recovery!