Overgrown tonsils in children, called adenoids, cause a lot of trouble: the child often suffers from colds, is prone to allergies, his nose does not breathe and night snoring appears. Even in the initial stage, adenoids must be treated.
Among diseases of the upper respiratory tract in young children, adenoiditis occupies almost the top lines. Normally, the nasopharyngeal tonsils (this is the correct name for adenoids) serve as a kind of "protective gate" from bacteria and viruses inhaled through the nose, and protect the child from microorganisms. When a child is sick, the tonsils become inflamed and increase in size, and if diseases overtake the baby often, then the tissue of the tonsils, significantly increasing in size, itself becomes a focus of infection. It is important not to miss the moment of development of adenoiditis and start treatment on time in order to avoid all kinds of concomitant diseases and complications of this process.
Non-surgical treatment of adenoiditis
At an early stage of development of chronic inflammation in the tonsils, it can and should be treated without surgery. Having cured the overgrown adenoids and leaving this most important immune organ in its place, we leave the child the opportunity to have additional measures to protect the body from many ENT diseases in the future - bronchitis, sinusitis, laryngitis, etc.
So, if you notice that the child is breathing heavily at night, has often caught a cold, show him to the otolaryngologist. In the first stage, the disease may respond well to conservative treatment.
If the tonsils are slightly increased in volume, but the inflammatory process in them is not detected, then it will be quite enough for the child to regularly rinse the nose with herbal preparations or pharmaceutical preparations. The main thing is to do it regularly and correctly. Make sure that the child does not tilt his head to the side while rinsing, otherwise the product may get into the baby's ear and cause inflammation. The head should be tilted down and the mouth should be open to prevent the baby from choking. You can wash with broths of a string, chamomile, St. John's wort, as well as a solution of sea salt.
The solution of protargol helps very well in the treatment of the first degree of adenoids. This drug is instilled into the child's nose twice a day. It dries out and slightly shrinks overgrown tissue. In the case of using Protargol, the nasal instillation procedure should be carried out only after rinsing. The ready-made solution can be used for no more than 5-7 days, after which fresh medicine should be purchased.
Homeopathy has proven itself in the treatment of adenoiditis. Typically, the doctor will prescribe small granules for oral administration, taken in a special regimen. Of course, adenoiditis cannot be cured with homeopathic preparations alone, complex treatment is still necessary.
Sometimes the overgrowth and inflammation of the adenoid tissue is caused by chronic inflammatory diseases or allergies. In this case, it is important to cure the underlying disease, and the adenoids will not have to be treated at all.
Removal of adenoids
With the second and third degree of adenoiditis, the tonsil tissue grows so much that the child practically does not breathe through the nose, there is a strong night snoring, the child gets cold endlessly, and nasality appears. In such advanced cases, drug treatment is unlikely to give any results. Parents will be offered a surgical operation to remove the enlarged tonsils - adenotomy.
Adenotomy is performed both in a hospital and on an outpatient basis. It is very important that the intervention is carried out by a highly qualified specialist, since it is enough to leave a small piece of lymphoid tissue in the nasopharynx, and after a while the disease will relapse. Before the operation, it is necessary to take the baby out during the period of remission from constantly occurring colds and viral diseases. The presence of even a sluggish inflammation is a contraindication to surgery.
When deciding on an adenotomy, remember that such an operation is a huge stress for the child, so when the first signs of the disease appear, you should not postpone treatment so as not to expose the baby to unnecessary psychological stress.
