Growths of the Throat

I have been searching the internet to no avail and I really need to know if what I am experiencing is normal. Ever since I was little, I get small white lumps (similar to what a curd of cottage cheese looks like) that grow in my throat near my tonsils. After they get to a certain size, they come loose. They smell terrible! I want to know what they are and what causes them. Anyone know?

Hi! Do you sometimes cough up this bad smelling lumps or balls? Have you ever seen an ENT on the matter? Do you sometimes feel an irritation in the back of their throat?

These lumps are formed from bacteria, sulphur compounds and dead mucosal cells. The lumps are called tonsil stones or tonsiloliths. The bad smell comes from the bacteria.

Tonsils have little pits on their surface, which are lined with oral mucosa. Oral mucosa that lines the tonsils I being shed just like the skin and is usually mixed with saliva and swallowed. However, these dead cells may build up and form little balls. This is very bacteria sets in and together they make the stones.

Almost every ENT recommend having tonsillectomy for getting rid of them. You may be a good case for tonsillectomy considering you’ve had a chronic problem but you should certainly try all the non-surgical alternatives before undergoing tonsillectomy.
You should consult your ENT about it and ask for tips and advices.

A doc may decide to give you an antibiotic but it hasn’t been proven to be much effective. You may also try to gurgle warm salt water after meals. You make the mixture by mixing 1 teaspoon of table salt with one pint of water. Divide this mixture and gurgling three times a day and see if you experience any benefits.

If you think these may not be tonsils stones, it would be wise to see an ENT about it.

I also get these. Awhile ago I thought it might be tonsillitis or strep throat or something like that. However, the doctor I went to told me that sometimes bits of food become lodged there and that's what happens. Same thing as you... it turns into a white lump and smells really bad. He just removed them with a tongue depressor and I've done the same myself since then. I don't know if that's the right thing to do, but that's my experience. Good luck!

cgarlitz wrote:

I have been searching the internet to no avail and I really need to know if what I am experiencing is normal. Ever since I was little, I get small white lumps (similar to what a curd of cottage cheese looks like) that grow in my throat near my tonsils. After they get to a certain size, they come loose. They smell terrible! I want to know what they are and what causes them. Anyone know?

omg !! i hav the same proably but i am a teenager and very worried about it
it has made a small hole in the back of my throat near the side

So I have had a white lump on the back of my throat for a few days now. I have showed people and they were hypnotized by it for some reason. I kept thinking it was cancer, or strep throat perhaps (because I get strep throat practically once a year) and my throat is sore. HOWEVER, I called my doctor and he said that it is probably an infection of the lymph node and it is bacteria (just like everyone else here said).
New Information though : He said to gargle liquid Motrin or Tylenol in my throat and then swallow. I will see how it goes...

Hi

I've had the same thing for a couple of months now and I don't know what to do! I have a hole by my tonsil and although it's quite small it occasionally gets the cottage cheese type stuff in it. I've been using a cotton bud to get the stuff out, but it goes a long way down and I can't really get it all out completely. I've been using a mouthwash and gargling lots but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Some days I feel like I have a lump at the back of my throat and it's doing my head in!

Can anyone offer an actual solution?!!!

Thanks

Hi, I'm a 20 year old female and for probably the last 2 years I have been getting white lumps on my tonsils n my throat always feels sore and itchy because of this. However they come and go all the time I have not yet had it checked out as I hate going to the doctors but now for about the last month I have had 2 groths on my tonsils they are red and are just latched on to my right tonsil, they are nothing like the white bumpos and they are bigger so now I am beginning to worry but I dont want to go to the doctors if it is nothing. Does anyone have any idea?

This is completely normal. IT's only bacteria.

hi i am only 15 yrs old and have developt 7 holes in the back part of my throat and they fill up with what looks like cottage cheese...and i loved cottage cheese...but i stopped eating it when what came out of the holes....some times the holes fill up so much thec cut off my airway and scare me...i take a flashlight and go clean them out the best i can...right now i have 7 holes in my throat...is it normal to have so many??

Hello,

I just happened on this site and thought my experience might be of help to some of you with this problem. I am in my thirties now, but I had this "holes-that-fill-with-white-junk" in the throat problem for years. I was always misdiagnosed with strep and given antibiotics, which did happen to clear up the bacteria, but the strep test always came back negative. When I had these, I often had 7 or more holes that would fill with the stuff, which I learned to pluck out on my own with Q-tips. Other times only 2 or 3 holes would be infected. Maybe they were triggered by something different each time, but the primary problem was not bits of food that got lodged there, although this could sometimes happen at other times, as the holes did not go away even when the infection cleared up. But oftentimes I'd have a fever or feel generally ill and have a lumpy sort of "sore" throat, not scratchy. Doctors never knew what it was when I was younger but my husband [who is a doctor] said it looked like a strain of tonsillitis. Antibiotics work well, but if you get it frequently enough you might consider having the tonsils removed. It's a fairly easy laser procedure now from what I understand, but the tonsils play a major role in the body's immunity, so if you can put up with the nuisance [and bad breath-- yuck], they might resolve on their own eventually. I stopped getting them in my late twenties. Good luck.