What Are Common Tonsillitis Symptoms?
Tonsillitis is the inflammation of all or part of the tonsils, which are two round lumps of tissue that sit at the back of your mouth, just above your throat. The inside surface of the tonsils can be red, white or yellow if there’s a bacterial infection, or purple if you have a viral infection. (3)
The symptoms of tonsillitis can vary from person to person. The most common symptoms are swollen, inflamed tonsils and a sore throat. Other symptoms may include a high temperature (fever), mouth ulcers and loss of appetite. The symptoms can vary in severity, with some people suffering only mild throat pain – while others have tummy aches and general malaise. If you have difficulty swallowing, or hearing loss, or feel generally unwell with other problems like earache and headache, see your GP urgently for further investigation by laboratory tests or blood tests.
The symptoms discussed below may appear anywhere between two days to two weeks after initial exposure:
Sore throat
Sore throat is a common tonsillitis symptom. It can be described as a general feeling of discomfort or pain in the throat. It’s caused by inflammation or swelling of the tissue in your throat. The sore throat feeling can be mild, moderate or severe and can range from throbbing to severe aches, depending on the extent of your condition. The discomfort in the throat tends to be worse in the morning and may develop over several days or weeks. You may also have a sensation of something stuck in your throat. It can be accompanied by other symptoms such as cough, nasal congestion and fever.
Fever
A moderate to high grade fever is one of the most common tonsillitis symptoms. Often, it’s the first symptom to appear in children and adults. It can vary in intensity and may last for a few days or for as long as a week. In severe cases, you can feel fever for over a week with tonsillitis – if your tonsils are very swollen or infected.
Fever may also lead to malaise – a constant feeling of being ill, tired, and wanting to sleep more than usual. Bacterial tonsillitis is more likely to cause high grade fever in children under 6 year of age. If not treated quickly, a high grade fever can cause febrile fits in the children – a case of a medical emergency. You can lower your fever at home with cold sponges and over the counter fever-lowering drugs. If home remedies don’t prove effective, you should consult your healthcare provider for a specific treatment.
Difficulty swallowing
Trouble swallowing may occur if the tonsils become swollen or inflamed. It is one of the most common symptoms of tonsillitis, as well as swelling and inflammation in the throat. This happens because inflamed tonsils make it difficult to ingest anything, which then restricts your body from getting the nutrients and water it needs to sustain itself. It’s also one of the reasons your throat might feel sore while you have tonsillitis. If you can’t even eat your favorite foods and drinks, this can cause problems with your overall health as well.
Difficulty in swallowing can be chronic (long term) in severe cases. This may lead to deficiency of important nutrients in the body and further complications such as malnutrition. Malnutrition in children with chronic tonsillitis is quite common in developing countries around the globe. Malnourished children are also prone to developmental and academic delays.
Cough
Many people usually mistake the symptoms of tonsillitis with those of a cold or flu. However, there are some characteristics of the illness that differ from these, as well as others that make it possible for you to diagnose your condition early on and receive treatment as soon as possible within 6 hours of experiencing the first symptoms.
One such symptom is dry, irritating cough that can last for up to two weeks. Coughing secondary to tonsillitis may produce yellow, green, or rusty phlegm. Coughing can help to clear the airway by raising mucus and bacteria up to the throat where they can more easily be coughed out, but sometimes coughing can hurt your throat as well – such as irritating cough of the tonsillitis.
Coughing violently is common with this condition, so it’s important to have your child drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration and throat irritation. The coughing is often accompanied by a fever and sore throat. A prolonged, harsh and painful cough may suggest a more serious infection like whooping cough or pneumonia.
Headache
The headache in this condition is generally due to tension or stress on the muscles around your head, which leads to pain in your head. The muscles are compressed when they are pulled or pushed against something (tonsils and inflamed lymph nodes in this case), and it can result in pain.
A headache is present in many cases of tonsillitis, although it can also be a symptom of other ailments. Headaches may cause pain on one side of the head or across the forehead. They may also be accompanied by symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light and sound. The headache is usually worse than the sore throat and can be described as dull, or throbbing. It lasts for a long period of time (although it’s not usually severe) and can affect sleep.
Earache
Earache and tonsillitis go hand in hand. This is characterized by pain or discomfort in the ear, particularly behind and around the ear. The pain may be described as dull or sharp and may keep you awake at night. The pain is often worsened by swallowing and eating, which pushes food or liquid down the throat and into the inflamed tonsils.
If you feel like there is pressure or discomfort in your ears, it is possible that these could be due to swollen lymph nodes. If you have been experiencing this for more than a few days and it has not gotten better, contact your doctor for further advice
Feeling tired
Feeling tired and drained, especially when taking part in activities that you normally enjoy? It may be caused by tonsillitis. Feeling tired is often a symptom of tonsillitis along with sore throat, swollen glands and difficulty swallowing. This fatigue is because of dehydration and the way infection has disturbed your immune system to work hard to fight off infections.
If this is the case, take a break from normal activities and make sure to drink lots of fluids so you don’t get dehydrated.