Long-term health risks after having adenoids or tonsils removed in childhood • Hacker News Board

Re: Long-term health risks after having adenoids or tonsils removed in childhood

#71

Post by DanBC » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 9:03 AM UTC

robbiep wrote: post #26

nailer wrote: post #25

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…

> 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.

But it used to be a lot more common. It used to happen after the first or second episode.

Re: Long-term health risks after having adenoids or tonsils removed in childhood

#72

Post by manmal » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 9:06 AM UTC

My son had adenoids removed last year because his hearing was VERY bad because of some kind of mucus blockage. Doctors explained to us that he would hear perfectly without the adenoids, because inner ear measurements were very good.

So during the OP they cut away the adenoids, and made a hole into each eardrum, so fluids could exit. After the OP his hearing was so good that he told us not to scream at him when we barely whispered - for 2 weeks. As soon as the holes in the eardrums healed up, the blockage developed again and his hearing was exactly the same as before the OP.

We tried alternative treatments for a year, strange juices with corticosteroids and stuff (which worked well for his hearing, but he couldn't really sleep while on them), near-infrared radiation through the nose (our favorite so far, but does not work that well because adenoids are too far in)... so he's soon have his second OP where they will likely remove adenoids again (they regrow sometimes) and insert little tubes into his eardrums such that fluids can regularly exit the ears.

Distant relatives of mine have the same issue, but worse (delayed speech development due to near-deafness), and for them the OP worked for 1,5 years and now its positive effects are going away; perhaps requiring another OP.

I'm not thrilled about all this.

BTW here is advice a very expensive doc gave me regarding hearing and speech development: If your kid understands what you are saying while you whisper from a distance of ~1 meter, then her speech development should not be negatively affected, or not that much.

Re: Long-term health risks after having adenoids or tonsils removed in childhood

#73

Post by kome » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 9:10 AM UTC

graycrow wrote: post #58

headmelted wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right to be cautious and fact check everything you're told. I apologise if my response becomes overly ranty. This isn't to scare you, just to encourage you that you're doing the right thing by taking such an active role in your child's care. I have views on this that would seem to most people to be seriously conflicted. I'm militantly pro-science, and I argue constantly in the face of anti-science and pseudo-s…

> I sincerely hope the circumstances in the Czech Republic are better and that the doctors are much less overworked and much more capable of helping you I'm not an author of the parent comment, but i also live in the Czech Republic and can say that no, It's not any better. And based on a stories which my friends living in other countries telling me, I starting to suspect that the whole world health care system "made…

I am very happy about the professionalism and the humanity of Italian doctors and the Italian national healthcare service.

Of course there are problems, waiting lists, lack of funding. But damn, it's good and (mostly) free. I feel lucky.

Perhaps there are regional differences, but in my city, it's really good.

Re: Long-term health risks after having adenoids or tonsils removed in childhood

#74

Post by eivarv » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 9:10 AM UTC

madaxe_again wrote: post #41

godelmachine wrote: post #2

When my father was a child, there was a craze in town (India) that tonsils are bad and removing them will only do good. My grandma fell for it, among hordes of other mothers, and got my fathers tonsils removed. My father is a Gen X cohort, and now whenever the pollen season arrives (he is in USA now), he is totally helpless.

It was the same in the UK in the 80’s - I remember pretty much my entire year at school going for surgery over the course of a year. Despite having had repeated tonsillitis as a kid (and bronchitis at the same time - unheated boarding school with abysmal hygiene and dozens of boys to a room is quite the disease incubator), my mother, a nurse, dug her heels in, and said no. She'd had to deal first-hand with the outcom…

> I’ve always been extremely sceptical of “its vestigial” or “that body part is bad for you”. I mean, surely if either were true, selection would have done away with it.

That's not necessarily true - if something is vestigial it is no longer affected by positive selection pressures; it won't be selected against until it is harmful. [0]

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestigiality

Re: Long-term health risks after having adenoids or tonsils removed in childhood

#75

Post by tcj_phx » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 9:19 AM UTC

robbiep wrote: post #69

tcj_phx wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Massage doesn’t cure tonsillectomy Tonsillectomy is prevented by figuring out why the tonsils are becoming inflamed in the first place. I said "bodywork (massage/etc)" because most people aren't familiar with the different kinds of bodywork that were developed over the course of the 20th century. I would place the emphasis on "etc". Massage is a general treatment, while other forms of manual therapy are more specif…

that would not be an obvious bow to draw from your comments, and frankly, and medical practitioners who are not looking at holistic health when presented with a patient are missing the point. However, you are so far off point on the tonsillectomy. Let's take a slightly different condition. A patient has gallstones, causing ascending colangitis. The treatment (which you would describe as treating only the symptoms) is…

My mother had to have her gallbladder taken out ... maybe 6 months ago. IIRC she was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis at that time too. If she'd been taking better care of herself, she might not have deteriorated to the point that gallbladder removal was necessary. Hindsight being 20/20, the signs of a developing gallbladder condition were all there... (Adult children generally have very little ability to influence their parents' habits.)

> 'Doctors/The medical-industrial complex is with-holding the cure for cancer, because if they fix it they don't make any money'.

Progressive cancer doctors are coming around to the idea that Otto Warburg (who theorized that cancer is a metabolic condition, rather than genetic in origin) might've been on the right track: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/magazine/warburg-effect-a...

> But slinging mud on my profession I can not sit idly by and abide.

My goal is to help the profession clean up. Sometimes doctors do good work, but frequently the evidence to support an intervention never actually existed: https://www.propublica.org/article/when-evidence-says-no-but...

Re: Long-term health risks after having adenoids or tonsils removed in childhood

#76

Post by arethuza » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 9:24 AM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #63

madaxe_again wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was the same in the UK in the 80’s - I remember pretty much my entire year at school going for surgery over the course of a year. Despite having had repeated tonsillitis as a kid (and bronchitis at the same time - unheated boarding school with abysmal hygiene and dozens of boys to a room is quite the disease incubator), my mother, a nurse, dug her heels in, and said no. She'd had to deal first-hand with the outcom…

> I can tell you why it remains such persistent practice - It's strongly recommended against in the UK now. We do less than 1 operation per 1000 population. > A surgeon in the UK can do ten or more in a day, at £3k a pop. That's not how English surgeons are paid, is it? https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/tonsillitis/ > It's very rare that someone needs to have their tonsils taken out. This is usually only the case if you…

My son had his tonsils taken our in a private UK hospital 6 years ago (my job at the time had private health care) and the total bill the insurer paid was rather less than £3.

So the idea that consultants were getting £3K for individual private operations in the 1980s seems unlikely - and as far as I know that's definitely not how they are paid for NHS work.

Re: Long-term health risks after having adenoids or tonsils removed in childhood

#77

Post by arethuza » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 9:27 AM UTC

b34r wrote: post #10

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.

I had my tonsils removed at age 24 after horrible problems with tonsilitis and tonsil stones.

Wish I'd had the ghastly things removed much earlier - my son had his out at 12.

Never had any problems afterwords - indeed only times I suffered from any allergies were before I had them removed but I suspect that is coincidence.

Re: Long-term health risks after having adenoids or tonsils removed in childhood

#78

Post by gvurrdon » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 9:35 AM UTC

headmelted wrote: post #31

Only barely related but I have a personal story about this! I had my tonsils removed at eleven years old. I didn't know why then, and I still don't now. I suffer quite a bit now from allergies (I'm not sure how related to this it is, and I guess I've no way of knowing really). I remember being really scared, and the surgeon playfully telling me that I'd be fine, I'd be asleep through the whole thing and would wake up…

Very unpleasant! I recall spitting up blood afterwards, but it wasn't that bad at all. Although, I was never supposed to have my tonsils removed. I was in hospital for another reason but got mixed up with someone else and the wrong operation was performed.

Re: Long-term health risks after having adenoids or tonsils removed in childhood

#79

Post by krageon » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 9:42 AM UTC

bigbluedots wrote: post #68

panda888888 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any relation between tonsils and your ex's gender/personality ("She was an emotional wreck") is nonsense. Don't post sexist stuff like that here.

The commenter is saying that a particular person, who happens to be female, is / was an emotional wreck. How is that sexist?

It's not, unless you somehow associate being an emotional wreck with having a specific gender. Ironically saying it's sexist is probably the sexist statement here.

Re: Long-term health risks after having adenoids or tonsils removed in childhood

#80

Post by slowmotiony » Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 9:47 AM UTC

panda888888 wrote: post #37

tcj_phx wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a girlfriend who'd had her tonsils out as a child. She was an emotional wreck. I got her some bodywork (massage/etc), which she could have had as a child to prevent the surgery, and she's doing much better these days. She's still a firecracker; I'm glad she's living in the next state over.... > tonsillectomies [are] a highly routine procedure. Hopefully someday the medical profession will figure out how to trea…

Any relation between tonsils and your ex's gender/personality ("She was an emotional wreck") is nonsense. Don't post sexist stuff like that here.

OP should have just said "my friend" and you wouldn't call him sexist then. Did you really react like that only because a woman was mentioned in the post? Do you realize that it makes you sexist, and not OP? Don't post sexist stuff like that here.