Sore throat just won’t go

Q

I have constant sore throats and cough up white, cheesy globs. My GP says it’s chronic tonsillitis and means an op. Can’t I just take antibiotics?

Amy, Ballymoney

A

Tonsillitis is an infection of your tonsils, two glands at the back of your throat. Usually, it clears within a few days, but repeated infections can leave bacteria lodged deep inside. This is chronic tonsillitis and seems more likely if your crypts, natural pits in the surface of your tonsils, are extra deep, allowing food and bacteria to become trapped.

The result is permanently swollen tonsils spotted with white pus, plus sore throats and bad breath. You might also cough up a white fleck of cheesy pus from one of the crypts. Antibiotics can’t penetrate deeply enough to cure this and treatment often means an op to remove your tonsils.