Tonsils and adenoid removal

[taxman]

I'm a child of the 70's and remember having to go to hospital to have my tonsils and adenoids removed under general anesthetic. It seemed to be done as a matter of course in those days.

 

I'm wondering..is it done to such an extent nowadays? Was it really necessary to do it then or was it just a fad? Surely if people have tonsils and adenoids they are there for a reason, so why did every kid in the 70's have them removed?

[tinfoilhat]

I'm a child of the 70's and remember having to go to hospital to have my tonsils and adenoids removed under general anesthetic. It seemed to be done as a matter of course in those days.

 

I'm wondering..is it done to such an extent nowadays? Was it really necessary to do it then or was it just a fad? Surely if people have tonsils and adenoids they are there for a reason, so why did every kid in the 70's have them removed?

 

No dr is taking my adenoids. It's not decent.

[El Cid]

I'm a child of the 70's and remember having to go to hospital to have my tonsils and adenoids removed under general anesthetic. It seemed to be done as a matter of course in those days.

 

 

I believe I had that done in the 60s, although I dont remember. I was very young at the time, only 2; not sure if the documents that I read are correct.

Why have them out at such a young age?

[Daven]

I believe that T&A'. were routinely removed from a child as a matter of course back then if a child had recurrent tonsillitis which could have been life threatening back then without the sophisticated antibiotics there are available today.

T&A removal is still performed on children today but only as a last resort as it can be a dangerous operation.

My son had his adenoids removed when he was 5 back in 1993 but only because he snored and it was affecting his quality of sleep.

[banjodeano]

I'm a child of the 70's and remember having to go to hospital to have my tonsils and adenoids removed under general anesthetic. It seemed to be done as a matter of course in those days.

 

I'm wondering..is it done to such an extent nowadays? Was it really necessary to do it then or was it just a fad? Surely if people have tonsils and adenoids they are there for a reason, so why did every kid in the 70's have them removed?

 

not sure, we all have appendix and not sure if they are needed, i was told they were from when we just ate grass or something millions of years ago..

I had my tonsils remved in the 60's because i always had tonsillitis..

my daughter had tonsils out, adenoids and grommets fitted, this was because she always had ear infections and couldnt here, this was in the early 90's

[Daven]

Tonsils and adenoids are made of lymphatic tissue which fights germs in the body. They get inflamed and sore when they are fighting infection - so they are doing their job - but sometimes they become too swollen for the body to cope well. I guess removing them will always be a last resort these days.

You are right about the appendix - it serves no useful purpose and can get inflamed causing pain and potential peritonitis if it bursts.

Edited June 5, 2016 by Daven

[ll49]

Tonsillectomy operations and adenoid removal are not done anywhere near as routinely as they used to be. Removing tonsils can be quite a complex procedure due to haemorrhaging/transfer of bacteria and diseases, and a number of years ago there was an incident with a patient which caused a huge hoo haa and actually lead to hospitals having to dispose of all of the reusable instruments they had for this procedure and had to switch to single use (which I'm sure you can imagine cost millions and millions of pounds).

 

I had my tonsils and adenoids removed when I was 4 years old and I remember there being a few other children in my primary school that had also had it done, so maybe it was a bit of a default procedure at one point for children with repeated cases of tonsillitis.

[geared]

back then if a child had recurrent tonsillitis which could have been life threatening back then without the sophisticated antibiotics there are available today.

 

The vast majority of antibodies in use today were discovered back in the 50's or before.

[Daven]

The vast majority of antibodies in use today were discovered back in the 50's or before.

 

Not antivirals though - a completely different genre.

Also the way that AB's are used in the 21st century is different to the 50's.

[GLASGOWOODS]

I remember was i was in the hospital (age eight) for a radical mastoidectomy (lug hole problems). All the other kids on the ward were in the for either ears pinned back, boz-eyed eye's made uncock-eyed, or tonsils out.

Edited June 5, 2016 by GLASGOWOODS