|  | Conditions Treatments | Medical Conditions

How Do I Cleanse My Adenoids?

Adenoids are tissues located at the back of the nose, in the area where the nose leads to the throat, about where your tonsils are located (the uvula). The tonsils are a pair of tissues, while adenoids are only one set of laryngeal tissues. You can avoid adenoid irritation by taking good care of your throat, which includes keeping adenoids cleansed and lubricated.

  1. Cleansing the Adenoids

    • Stay hydrated to ensure that there is no irritation. After a meal or if you begin to feel a sore throat coming on, gargle with salt water to cleanse and soothe the throat. In some cases, despite proper cleansing and care, adenoids will swell up. This happens primarily due to infections or due to collection of fluid. When they swell up, they can cause discomfort. More importantly, the role they play can get reversed. Instead of fighting infections, they can cause them because the swelling interferes with normal breathing. This can cause you to breathe through your mouth, which means you inhale unfiltered air, becoming prone to infections. This also makes you lose your olfactory and gustatory senses quickly. Some children have enlarged adenoids which, as they near the age of 10 or so, go away on their own. Persistent swollen or enlarged adenoids can cause repeated ear, nose or mouth infections, and it may become necessary to remove the adenoids entirely. Depending on the extent of swelling and other related factors, your doctor will decide if the tonsils need to be removed along with the adenoids.

    Cleansing Surgery

    • For clean our your adenoids, you are put under general anesthesia, and the enlarged portions of the adenoids are curetted, or cleansed surgically. Advances made in the field of electrocautery have made it possible to do the surgery and lose less than one ounce of blood.

    Post-Surgical Complications

    • Following a surgical procedure to cleanse the adenoids, some complications are possible. One of these is excessive blood loss, though this is rare. Surgery also increases the possibility of an infection, although this happens in only one out of 7000 cases. Superficial, temporary infection of the adenoids can cause bad breath, which can last from one week to 10 days. You can also get a stiff neck, which is also a temporary condition. Non-allopath practitioners advise preventive techniques that are aimed at strengthening the throat. Some of these include singing; playing flute and deep breathing yogic exercises.

Medical Conditions - Related Articles