Recurrent tonsillitis in 13 month old

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My LG is getting recurrent tonsillitis so often. She has had 8+ episodes with antibiotics since January this year.

it stops her eating, drinking, playing and now nursery. She cannot sleep, screams in pain and grabs at her throat. It is awful to watch and I am starting to loose my patience with the GP/ out of hours. We spent yet another whole night until 5am in A&E due to her screaming for hours in pain and high temp that wouldn’t come down
the dr was off with us and asked why we went for tonsillitis. I just don’t know what to do and they don’t understand how much it impacts my LG and also the family as a whole. It’s awful.
has anyone ever experience this before!

you need a referral to an ENT - do her tonsils stay enlarged all the time?
All your dr to refer you x

Yes what are her tonsils like in between bouts? Does she mouth breathe/snore at night at all? This can impact tonsil health.

Perhaps she has Epstein barr virus

Do they swab the tonsils each time to check what bacteria it is? Ask them to do this and then you can see if they’re giving the right antibiotics and it’s a long enough course. It could be the same infection and it’s not going away.

Do the fevers occur with regularity? If so, have a look at something called PFAPA. If it fits, you can try to get a referral to paed immunology and ask for a meds called Colchicine. We had it and it totally stopped the fevers and sore throat.

Tonsillitis is minimised but it really is awful. Have they done bloodwork? Like a pp I’d be wondering about Epstein Barr/ glandular fever. I had this as a little girl and it was missed (tested for but a false negative which is common) so I was taking endless antibiotics but it’s viral. You can develop secondary bacterial tonsillitis as inflamed tonsils provide an excellent breeding ground for bacteria but the antibiotics only deal with symptom not underlying cause so keeps reoccurring.

Thank you. I asked for a swab last week and it was negative but she had antibiotics already so dr said that can happen.
she is so poorly again today and gp has confirmed tonsillitis again. High temp again. Poor girl. I have phoned ENT today and they have eventually offered an appointment for 9 weeks time!

Hey, I could write this myself. This has been my son’s life for the past 7 months. Since January he has had 11 lots of antibiotics. 2 hospital stays and a bout of sepsis. It’s horrible…

Just yesterday he was sent home from nursery with a high temp.

due to their age local hospital (mine is Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells) won’t help.

the doctor did a referral to ENT we was rejected by 5 different hospitals. Then back to Maidstone…
we had an ENT appointment 27th May. Who did a referral to London Evelina and peads.
we had our peads appointment and they confirmed he needs his tonsils out. They have also arranged for a range of blood tests on 3rd August.

I do have an appointment Wednesday 8th July at London Evelina hospital.

I have every symptom, date, doctors 111 and A&E visit documented.

Ask the GP for a viral swab. Often they only try to grow bacteria and don't swab for common viruses like EBV.

Just thought I would leave an update after yesterday’s ENT appointment. My son has been put on long term antibiotics. He will have his tonsils out within 2 months. Keep fighting xx

Hi OP, I’m sorry to hear that your little one has been so unwell.

My DD had tonsillitis at least once a month at a similar age, her temperature would spike really high and would make her fit.

Shes 2.5 now and hasn’t had tonsillitis in over a year. I was convinced the tonsils would have to come out but they really have settled down. Hope you get somewhere with ENT.