21–30 of 209 posts
Is there a causal link between the surgery and the increase in long-term disease risk, or were patients who were more likely to get the surgery (because of more severe symptoms or more frequent occurrence of infections) at greater long-term disease risk (whether they had surgery or not)? Without some functional mechanism, I'd be very wary of these kinds of data analyses.
Is there a causal link between the surgery and the increase in long-term disease risk, or were patients who were more likely to get the surgery (because of more severe symptoms or more frequent occurrence of infections) at greater long-term disease risk (whether they had surgery or not)? Without some functional mechanism, I'd be very wary of these kinds of data analyses.
> Without some functional mechanism, I'd be very wary of these kinds of data analyses. Kind of a tangent, but dumb question: wouldn't the sensible default assumption be that messing with your body is likely to be harmful unless proven harmless? Rather than the other way around? So if you're skeptical, shouldn't you be skeptical that it's harmless ?
Whether that be the formation of peritonsilar abscesses (potentially fatal), difficulty breathing (watching a 6 yo struggle to get air into their lungs due to enormous tonsils is not a sight I enjoy seeing) or just missing large numbers of days of school due to repeated illness, with knock on effects to child wellbeing and performance, there is a firm reason why we do this procedure
Is there a causal link between the surgery and the increase in long-term disease risk, or were patients who were more likely to get the surgery (because of more severe symptoms or more frequent occurrence of infections) at greater long-term disease risk (whether they had surgery or not)? Without some functional mechanism, I'd be very wary of these kinds of data analyses.
> Without some functional mechanism, I'd be very wary of these kinds of data analyses. Kind of a tangent, but dumb question: wouldn't the sensible default assumption be that messing with your body is likely to be harmful unless proven harmless? Rather than the other way around? So if you're skeptical, shouldn't you be skeptical that it's harmless ?
Is there a causal link between the surgery and the increase in long-term disease risk, or were patients who were more likely to get the surgery (because of more severe symptoms or more frequent occurrence of infections) at greater long-term disease risk (whether they had surgery or not)? Without some functional mechanism, I'd be very wary of these kinds of data analyses.
> Without some functional mechanism, I'd be very wary of these kinds of data analyses. Kind of a tangent, but dumb question: wouldn't the sensible default assumption be that messing with your body is likely to be harmful unless proven harmless? Rather than the other way around? So if you're skeptical, shouldn't you be skeptical that it's harmless ?
Anyway, my skepticism is not so much with this particular result, it's the experimental design generally. How do we know the sample represents the population when it's not randomly selected? At best, it's the starting point of a possibly interesting research tangent, not something I'd be publishing as a stand alone paper.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Without some functional mechanism, I'd be very wary of these kinds of data analyses. Kind of a tangent, but dumb question: wouldn't the sensible default assumption be that messing with your body is likely to be harmful unless proven harmless? Rather than the other way around? So if you're skeptical, shouldn't you be skeptical that it's harmless ?
It has not been until recent times that any form of messing around the body was for any reason other than self preservation or the improvement of quality of life. I am talking post-enlightenment/age of reason medicine here, not dark ages blood letting. And we still get it wrong, and still do things without enough of an evidence base, but when it comes to removal of adenoids, the reason it is done is because in those…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It has not been until recent times that any form of messing around the body was for any reason other than self preservation or the improvement of quality of life. I am talking post-enlightenment/age of reason medicine here, not dark ages blood letting. And we still get it wrong, and still do things without enough of an evidence base, but when it comes to removal of adenoids, the reason it is done is because in those…
Weird to hear tonsilectomies being spoken of in thw present tense. It stopped being routine in Australia in the 80s.
Tonsillectomy is indicated When young children have had >7 episodes in one year or >5 episodes in either of the last 2 years, or quinsys, or obstructive sleep apnoea.
Tcj_pcx for some reason I can’t reply to your comment, but there’s almost nothing in it that actually makes sense:
I'll just pass straight over the emotional comments.
Massage doesn’t cure tonsillectomy; and frankly this thing that people say, that ‘doctors treat the symptoms not the cause’ is actually a vein of deep ignorance in the general populace.
The treatment cures (in around 97% of cases) tonsilitis. Which may have lead to (in the above scenarios) a 6-10 year old child missing up to 30-40 days of school a year. And therefore having a severe impact on that child’s learning and progression. It is not treating a symptom: giving analgesia or an ice cream would be an example of that. Is modifying the mechanism by which the condition unfolds and therefore preventing the condition from occurring again.
[0] https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/...
I’ve begged my doctor to remove my tonsils and they refuse due to studies like this. I get tonsil stones every single month and at least one severe case of tonsilitis per year (usually closer to 3-4.) Anyone have strategies that worked to convince their GP to allow them to be removed? At this point I’m considering just paying out of pocket to get it done.
Think of it as another maintenance task. Like brushing your teeth.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Weird to hear tonsilectomies being spoken of in thw present tense. It stopped being routine in Australia in the 80s.
There are more than 35,000 tonsillectomies done in Australia every year (and more than half a million in the US). This is a highly routine procedure. In fact there is very clear guidelines on when GPS should refer for tonsillectomy: Tonsillectomy is indicated When young children have had >7 episodes in one year or >5 episodes in either of the last 2 years, or quinsys, or obstructive sleep apnoea. Tcj_pcx for some rea…
> tonsillectomies [are] a highly routine procedure.
Hopefully someday the medical profession will figure out how to treat the cause of tonsil problems, instead of treating the symptom.