Can't find the thread on 'emitting pellets' due to sinus problems

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Gosh the thread title sounds like a bad Alan Partridge episode, sorry.
A while ago someone on here posted about a condition they had that they had just discovered the name/reason for - the symptoms were similar to sinus conditions but they also produced small 'pellets' (for want of a better word) from the back of their throat that were small and textured and smelt incredibly bad. I have the same problem and doctors have never been able to figure out what to treat, so I want to go along armed with a name or better description of this condition than I have in the past.
Please help, the search function has been of no use and I don't want to cough up any more smelly balls!!!

― Sinusiii, Sunday, 6 November 2005 20:39 (twenty years ago)

When this came up before I think someone said that those were the result of "cryptic tonsils".

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Sunday, 6 November 2005 20:51 (twenty years ago)

Dan I. I salute you!! thanks very much - I also found this much better description of the condition:
occasionally I cough up small (

― Sinusiii, Sunday, 6 November 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

oops, don't know why that cut off:
occasionally I cough up small (

― Sinusiii, Sunday, 6 November 2005 21:34 (twenty years ago)

oh forget about it! It described the pellets as 'brain-like' anyway.

― Sinusiii, Sunday, 6 November 2005 21:34 (twenty years ago)

i get these a lot, too.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 6 November 2005 21:45 (twenty years ago)

I had these several times a week a couple of years ago. But after I changed my diet and cut down on the pork chops and similar chunks of meat they basically disappeared. Cheese could also have been a contributing factor to these pellets in my case, but I'm less sure about that.

― ac, Sunday, 6 November 2005 22:05 (twenty years ago)

A tonsillolith (or tonsil stone) is a ball-like accumulation of food particles, bacteria, leukocytes, Dead white cells, and dried mucus in the folds of tonsils. These folds are referred to as crypts. The balls of bacteria and their waste products are colored white or yellow, are often described as resembling cottage cheese or cauliflower, and have a very foul odor, especially when dislodged and broken. Tonsilloliths may contribute to halitosis and sore throats. Prevention methods include gargling with salt water or a non-alcohol, non-sugar based mouth wash. A cotton swab dipped in hydrogen peroxide applied directly on the tonsil stones will dislodge them. The use of a water pick to clear out the crypts of accumulated debris may also help (the lower pressure tongue-cleaner attachment is recommended). A more drastic method, a tonsillectomy, is not usually indicated or recommended.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 6 November 2005 22:24 (twenty years ago)

Has anyone else attributed these to meat eating like ac did? I am quite a carnivore but hadn't considered this would be a cause. Cheese seems more of a potential culprit to me, mucus-producing-wise.

― Sinusiii, Sunday, 6 November 2005 23:01 (twenty years ago)

It means you have inoperable lung cancer.

― M. V. (M.V.), Sunday, 6 November 2005 23:55 (twenty years ago)

well there's a cheery thought

― Sinusiii, Monday, 7 November 2005 00:59 (twenty years ago)

weird

i had these

i could always feel them there and would treat it like a battle. Getting them out using any method i could think of.

― Googley Asearch (Toaster), Monday, 7 November 2005 01:07 (twenty years ago)

I originally blamed the 'Space Raider' brand of 10p crisps.

― Googley Asearch (Toaster), Monday, 7 November 2005 01:07 (twenty years ago)

Just because it was the cheapest and thus most likely culprit.

― Googley Asearch (Toaster), Monday, 7 November 2005 01:08 (twenty years ago)

Search ILX for "cryptic tonsils" I believe this is the condition you mean

― seemtoremember, Monday, 7 November 2005 01:09 (twenty years ago)

I just searched for this and on some 'Doctors answer questions' message board i found this person seemingly at the end of his/her hilarious tether:

I'VE GOT A HOLE IN MY RIGHT TONSIL THAT DISCHARGES A FOUL SMELLING MUCUS AT TIMES. I CAN USE A Q-TIP AND APPLY PRESSURE AND IT COMES OUT IN A MASS FORM. IS THIS WHAT THE CALL A CRYPTIC TONSIL? OR IS THIS A SIGN OF SOMETHING ELSE. MY MOTHER ALSO HAS THIS PROBLEM.

― Googley Asearch (Toaster), Monday, 7 November 2005 01:11 (twenty years ago)

eww this thread is making me feel even worse.... can someone please chime in with a timely reminder that this can be gotten rid of, and how...?

― sinusiii, Monday, 7 November 2005 07:48 (twenty years ago)

and for the record I don't even know what Space Raider crisps might be and if 10p would be cheap or dear. Oh no Oh no.

― sinusiii, Monday, 7 November 2005 07:50 (twenty years ago)

Cheese seems more of a potential culprit to me, mucus-producing-wise.

No, the little ball you cough up is just the small piece of brain you have lost by believing the myth that dairy products increase mucus production.

― marianna (mariannapm), Monday, 7 November 2005 22:27 (twenty years ago)

ha!!

― sinusiii, Tuesday, 8 November 2005 02:26 (twenty years ago)

these are tonsil stones, tonsilillis or something, i get it too, its really pissing me off!

― TT, Saturday, 12 November 2005 04:39 (twenty years ago)

Is it ok to push them out? My doctor advised against it. But then again, she had me on allergy medicine for 10 years until I went to an allergist and found out I have no allergies. Sometimes when I push them out there's a little blood, which worries me.

― EPO, Saturday, 12 November 2005 05:40 (twenty years ago)

I used to get this, but oddly, not any more. Some people's tonsils have...spaces, cavitis, crypts...hence cryptic...that trap food, mucus, sloughed off skin, etc. This detritis begins to rot and produces the foul smell...decaying animal matter. Sometimes vigorously moving the muscles around in your throat will dislodge the matter, or you can go to a doctor who will whisk it out with a Q-tip. there's no inherent danger in that as long as you don't damage your throat or tonsils with too vigorous q-tipping, or if you use something septic that creates an infection, or if you use something sharp that cuts your soft pallet, etc. Try the muscular thing first.

It's really gross, but nothing to be done about it.

here's that old thread: bizarre body events

― yup, Saturday, 12 November 2005 05:51 (twenty years ago)

Jesus, this thread has me emitting VOMIT due to learning this many people are poking smelly rotten pus-balls out of their THROATS.

Still, always nice to know there's some foul thing that happens to everyone else and not to you.

― nabiscothingy, Saturday, 12 November 2005 06:32 (twenty years ago)

the strange thing is that the tonsil stones are sentient...

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 12 November 2005 06:35 (twenty years ago)

OK, reason #417 I'm a vegetarian

― (plurplurplur) ^_- DJ 'O' Nut -_^ (rulprulprulp) (donut), Saturday, 12 November 2005 06:45 (twenty years ago)

as far as i know they can form from vegetable matter as well...

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 12 November 2005 07:49 (twenty years ago)

well, I've never had these pellets.. is it just a curse of genetics that some people are more prone to tonsilloliths?

― (plurplurplur) ^_- DJ 'O' Nut -_^ (rulprulprulp) (donut), Saturday, 12 November 2005 08:12 (twenty years ago)

I don't think it's meat. I'm not a vegetarian, but I haven't had much meat for the last month and a half as I moved to university and the meat doesn't match my religious requirements. I've also noticed these little pellets have only started appearing in the last few weeks, when my meat intake is well down on what was usual.

― Nikolai Lobachevsky, Wednesday, 16 November 2005 00:27 (twenty years ago)

This thread is making me so very glad I had my tonsils out.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 00:31 (twenty years ago)

I get these whenever I'm having sinus problems. Not at all meat related, afaik.

― hostile java crips (dr g), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 00:43 (twenty years ago)

ten months pass...

I also get these gross little things from time to time. I just push them out because I know they're making my breath smell horrible. I think our body has some role in their creation. I'm not convinced that they're caused by a build up of food in the crevices(spell check please!). However, I'm going to try the garling method after meals to see if it'll help them go away. I think more research by Doctors that specialize in this area is very much needed because I think more people have this problem than we realize. I don't know about you but I hate having even the slightest degree of bad breath.

I asked a doctor once about these things. At first he seemed annoyed like I was wasting his time or something. He told me they were called crips or crypts. Then, he said just push the things out as he ran away crying because I was wasting so much of his precious time. Some doctors are such PRICKS!!!

― Brian Patrick Comiskey (brianINDYracing), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 04:29 (nineteen years ago)

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