Hi All,hope you are all doing well. I came across this thread after googling swollen tonsils. I don't suffer with them and I don't think I've ever had tonsillitis but over the last five weeks my throats has started to feel a bit weird! When I lay down I feel like I'm not swallowing properly which has led to me starting to panic. I tried to ignore it telling myself it's congestion but It's now 2am and it feels the worst it's been so have been doing a bit of self investigation, I think one of the little blighters is swollen. My throat feels dry despite drinking loads in fact it feels like I have something stuck in my throat.  I don't seem to have any other symptoms just the feeling of not being able to swallow, my question to you all is... does this sound familiar with anyone? 

Hi I'm glad you have posted this, I've also been following the thread. I have an enlarged left tonsil, cough and hoarse voice. It was treated as reflux for 4 months then my return visit to ENT consultant noticed my left tonsil was very large. I was prescribed with antibiotics and sent home to see if the tonsil responded to antibiotics, I'm still coughing and my voice is still very hoarse, it has been 4 weeks of waiting and now I have to wait for an appointment to go back. The surgeon said it would need to come out if it was still inflamed. Looking at it myself, as you do, it looks much bigger and I have started to have a strange pain at the back of my throat to one side, I always need to drink water to stop the irritation and I am constantly swallowing, which doesn't hurt at all !!! I bait the constant waiting, just want to feel normal again and speak with my normal voice again!!!!

I've had an enlarged left tonsil for years. No pain and no other symptoms. With last could, GP was concernwd and referred me to Ent. Had appointment today and was surprised lymphoma came up, although they mentioned it is unlikely. More surprised that tonsilectomy was suggested instead of a biopsy but agreed and am scheduled to have the procedure next thursday. Apprehensive but more relaxed after reading this post, thanks for sharing.

Gosh, that must have been a shock, but at least you are being seen quickly, I wish you well and hopefully you will have a speedy recovery. Did you have any lumps or bumps or any other symptoms, tiredness, pain or itching in your throat?? 

Good luck with your operation xx

Hi 

what was the outcome with the biopsy? My boyfriend has to have the same thing little worries 

Hi Cadigo,

how did your tonsilectomy go?

did you find out your results of the tonsils they sent off.  Hope you are feeling better now.  Best regards Nas

I am grateful to Dani and everyone in this thread discussed their experiences. Out of everything that internet tells you one side enlargement is cancer, this really had some reassurance effect to see real life people going through the investigations and turned out to be fine. So I feel I would like to share my experience too. For other people who has similar symptoms in future who found this post, would hopefully be slightly less anxious whilst waiting for investigations.

I am 31 years old and the symptoms started with intermittent sore throat and change of voice. My GP incidentally found that I had a mildly enlarged left tonsil, and the right one was barely seen.

I am medically trained and this instantly worried me since I did not know how long it has been there. I was referred under 2 weeks wait to a local ENT who was not that concerned but said we will take them out for histology to exclude anything nasty. Unfortunately I then found out that the surgeon I saw had high complication rate and asked my GP to refer me to a London hospital.

I went to see the London consultant a week later who was not concerned due to my age being young, and the probability of me having tonsil cancer or lymphoma is very low. He then said to have MRI scan and if not showing anything, then do not need to take it out.

I waited for another 2 weeks for MRI to be done which was reported as some very mild changes there, no obvious cancer but can not rule out any subtle lesion inside the tonsil. My consultant however wrote back to me to say it's completely normal and he would not advise surgery.

I had continuous symptoms and main symptom being a sore throat. Occasional ear pain and some lymph nodes under my chins started to be more prominent. I explained all these to my consultant through email and I did not feel they cared. They put me on a routine wait for tonsillectomy because I wanted one. This meant the wait can be another 6 weeks if not longer.

During the investigation time, I was extremely anxious and suffered from panick attacks a few times everyday. And this was how I found this post online.

I eventually opt for a surgery with a very good consultant privately within a week after knowing NHS was really not helping or understanding my worries. I did not have private insurance but the worries and anxiety really damaged my mental health. So I ended up paying quite a bit of money.

Fortunately the histology report only showed benign lymphoid hyperplasia. Nothing nasty. But this experience was horrible for anyone in any age group. And I still do not quite agree with diagnosing with MRI scans.

Wish best luck to whoever reads this in future. If you are young, the chance of anything nasty is low. However, do get them proper checked.

Post op is very very painful. But it's totally worth it if you are worried and if the enlargement does not go away.

Ok - so had a sore-ish throat for three months and decided to go to the docs . I am 50 and have had tonsillitis many times over the years . ENT specialist diagnosed one tonsils bigger than the other and suggested having them out or a scan . I went for the scan option first ( less painful ) - but then made the mistake of googling “ one tonsil bigger than the other “ . Damn you google .

so now trying to Change the scan for an op .. though I’m sure that if the tonsils are removed and they are ok , then you would need a scan anyway to see what WAS causing the issue - and of the tonsils did have cancer , you would need a scan to see if it has spread ? So would need both whatever the outcome ?

must confess wasn’t fancying the 50 minute MRI scan .. but that seems ok now compared to the tonsil removal ! 

I wish you all the luck with the results! Let us know how it goes.

After much stressing and googling I found this forum and was hoping for some advice. I have had a sore throat and swollen tonsils on and off for a few months now. I went to my gp and was treated for tonsillitis and tested for glandular fever (which returned negative). Although this reduced my sore throat symptoms, I have still had a swollen left tonsil for quite some time. I have also been having on and off ear pain. After googling these symptoms tonsil cancer was the top result! It seems to have taken over my thinking and I wondered if anyone could give me some advice on what I should do, and if any of their experiences started in a similar manor with one constantly enlarged tonsil and white spots.

thank you!