Adenoids

As a parent it is a disturbing time for me with my kid snoring at night and every now and then having to rush in the middle of the night to the nearby hospice with a earache”. Well this is the usual refrain from a parent of a less than seven year old child and more so in the cold winter months as the blocking of the nose and earache are common symptoms which disturb the child and the parent’s peace at night which are more often due to the condition of Adenoids.

Adenoids are soft, bulgy tissues which lie hanging in the nasal passage, above the throat and are called as lymphoid tissues which answer the clarion call to fight or neutralize any bacteria, virus or any other infective agent seeking its way into the child’s system. As this happens the glands also enlarge and unwittingly block the free flow of breathing. This becomes worse in the horizontal position when the child is asleep insisting on the child to open his mouth while breathing and causing the typical snoring. As such the adenoids because of their swelling also do not let the ear secretions back into the throat and thereby the child seems to suffer from a “cold” all the time with a typical, thick yellowish or a greenish discharge. The ear is also connected to the throat and the serous protective discharge that needs to be drained into the throat is also obstructed due to the swollen adenoids causing recurrent bouts of ear pain. The moot point is not the adenoids becoming swollen; as such they are just doing their job. But they seem to get swollen even when there is no apparent infective agent that is the cause for concern. It is a case wherein the child’s immunity seems to respond to every other antigen in the environment causing the swelling of the adenoids and tonsils. No wonder all these symptoms are common in children when they attend their first year of preschool when they are exposed to various external environmental stimuli apart from the apparent infections of other children. What adds to the parent’s agony is the fact that the child becomes dull, morose and lethargic unable to concentrate on his studies.    

Apparently to keep the symptoms at bay and treat the cause would be the way to go ahead. Steam inhalations are of help as they tend to keep the nasal passage clear and allow the discharge to drain. Restraining the child from exposure to cold and variations in temperatures do help. Homoeopathic dilutions like Agraphis, Teucrium, Baryta iod and Kali bich keep the inflammation and swelling of the lymphoid tissues of tonsils and adenoids down thereby the nasal passage is clear and breathing is not disturbed. Remedies like Pulsatilla, Kali mur, Kali sulph etc. help in keeping the ear infections at bay by keeping the channel between the ear and throat patent. It is only when the child has breathing difficulties, sleep being disturbed often due to these spells and recurrent infections that a surgical excision is considered. But what makes such a necessity seldom is the fact that homoeopathic medicines like Calc carb, Silicea, Kali bich, Sticta, Lycopodium etc. are safe and sound and help in seeing that there is no overt reaction of the adenoids to any insignificant antigen.