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Medical questions
Ok, this one's for my brother and sister, or any of their nursing friends who read this blog...

A couple days back I woke up to a slightly swollen right tonsil. At first it was hard to eat solid foods, but I could manage - painfully manage. But now, three days later, I really can't eat solid food due to the pain.

The really funny thing is that despite my tonsils being swollen, I have no other symptons. I don't have a cold. I don't have a fever. I don't have a cough. I don't have headaches. I don't have stomach pains. AND I DON'T HAVE A SORE THROAT. Only my tonsils hurt when touched by food while eating. So I've completely ruled out strep throat because I've had that many times before during my mid-teens years and strep throat feels completely different...fever, night sweats, sore throat, cough, etc.

I've been gargling salt water and eating stuff like (salty) soups, eggs and oatmeal. Oatmeal is expensive here in Japan!!! I also went to the university doctor yesterday and the clinic was really busy, so I didn't get much time with him. I told him the situation and he basically gave me three days worth of anti-biotics and a bunch of different meds for coughing, headaches, sore throat, and stomach pain. Even though I told him that I didn't have any of the latter symptons. But he sent me on my way. hahahah! So I am not and do not plan on taking the various other pills he gave me for my stomach, coughing, headaches, etc. I'm just taking the anti-biotics - twice a day.

I find that when I sleep at night swallowing doesn't hurt at all, like I didn't have a tonsil problem at all. Thus I've been sleeping a lot.

I've read various online medical websites and people describing similar symptons to mine, but not exactly the same. And various web doctors have mentioned stuff like:

tonsil stones [tonsiloliths] <- clickable link


So, my medical questions are:

As much as I hate going to the doctor for the very reason described above, I feel a bit compelled to go to a real doctor (ENT? an ear, nose and throat doctor) to see what he says about my situation. Or should I not worry about it and just let the antibiotics I'm taking do their work? Then if they don't work, go see an ENT?

I don't have that much experience with doctors but do they always just give you their patients blanket prescriptions and send them on their way, hoping that it was the right solution and the patient won't come back?

When I look into the mirror and see my swollen tonsils, they don't look *that* big, but it is noticeable. I mean, they are not inhibiting me from breathing or anything. But my right tonsil is definitely bigger than the left one. Has anyone experienced these symptoms before? Remember, I have NO fever, cough, headaches, stomach pains....nothing. Just swollen tonsils.

Could my situation be a product of stress? I've been really stressed since being here mostly due to having to learn linear algebra and complex operations management optimization algorithms in Japanese. That stuff is hard to understand and follow in English! Anyways, I've really slowed down a lot since my tonsil swelled, so I don't feel too stressed out right now. Mostly I'm hoping that my body can heal itself soon.

One last thing, this tonsil crap is really irritating because my 26th birthday is on the 25th and I'd like to go out with friends. On Friday I want to fork out the $30 for a Pizza Hut pizza while watching some movies with friends. At this point, it'd be pretty painful to eat some pizza....and the movie night is tomorrow evening....Also if I'm on anti-biotics, I not supposed to drink alcohol, right???

So, if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions regarding my current situation, let me know!

Thanks,

Jake