Gross out-- Not for the faint of heart

[Dazi]

Someone else who has tonsil stones! DH and I both had severe chicken pox as children, and have pockets in our throats where these things build up.

Is that why I have them......

I've learned how to deliberately TRY to cough them up once I can taste them.....it seems to help me resist infection, as if I were cleaning the filters that the stones are blocking.....or maybe it's just that the nasty taste in the back of my throat goes away......

 

I've never heard any correlation between chickenpox and tonsil stones.  Basically, anyone who still has their tonsils can get them.

Tonsils filter out  toxins, bacterial debris, lymph/dead white blood cells and it can collect in your tonsil crypts.  The most common chronic sufferers are people with sinus, allergies and post nasal drip sufferers.  Those with autoimmune disorders can have recurring issues as well.  Most anyone else get them from time to time after bouts of severe illness as the tonsils collect all the dead white blood cells and dead bacteria into compact calcified pus balls.

It's nasty, smells nasty and taste nasty....and can give you some gnarly bad breath.

[ladyknight1]

I can actually feel them when they start to dislodge. Ugh.

[Black Delphinium]

My doctor said there was a correlation between strep throat and tonsil stones.

[Reika]

Huh, I still have my tonsils, have allergies that make my sinuses feel like they're congealing when triggered and never got a tonsil stone. For which I'm grateful, they sound thoroughly awful.

[Outdoor Girl]

And I'm grateful I had my tonsils and adenoids removed when I was 7!

[greencat]

I hadn't realized until this string of tonsil-stones posts got going that OH...that's what those are!  My tonsil stones don't get very big before they pop out though - they never get to the stinky point.

One of the rare times I had a tonsil infection, I could see the swollen tonsil when I opened my mouth and looked in the mirror. So I did the only obvious thing a gross-out thread fan would do - I took a q-tip and soaked it in Listerine and then poked at it.  I managed to lift the little flap closing it and it spewed bloody pus all over the back of my throat and all over the q-tip!  I was much much better after that

[Ambrosia Hino]

so that's what those things are! I blame Vorfemme for mine, since she didn't get my tonsils taken out! 

[CrochetFanatic]

Yecch, tonsil stones...    Before I actually knew what they were, I thought they were coming from my sinuses.  I'd feel something that wasn't quite pain, but would be very uncomfortable, and this nasty little lump would slide onto the back of my tongue.  I just swallow those, having no desire to see or smell them, but with one of my first ones I spat it into a tissue to see just what the heck came out of my head.  It was like "bad breath plus". 

My brother's gotten a couple of those, and he said, "Looks like a bean, smells like *excrement*." 

Um, no, it doesn't.  Smells worse than that, in my opinion.

[Snooks]

Tonsil stones sounds amazing for a gross out fan.

[siamesecat2965]

Ewww. I'm almost sorry I looked at this, but I knew someone here would find it fascinating, so I had to share. Tonsil removal that reveals a nest of stones.  Blech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvj3CAof3k8

[CrochetFanatic]

...I was going to get a snack, but now I think I'll wait a while, haha.

[ladyknight1]

That is terrible. I want to barf.

[GreenHall]

oh wow, I can usually take this thread but I was already feeling queasy today, so i REALLY shoudl have skipped the video.  Probably not helped by the fact that i have  had a few tonsil stones myself, so, even though the patient HAD to be under, the idea of how much...flavor...would be involved is adding to my issues...

[greencat]

Yearch.  The tonsil stone bit was cool...but then the removal of the tonsil...I had to click away.

[ladyknight1]

My reactions were vice versa.