What are common causes of throat
pain?
Usually pain in
the throat can be caused by infection of the tonsils or pharynx but it can also
occur due to high acidity, anaemia or cancer. If the pain in the throat is not responding
to usual treatment, the opinion of an ENT surgeon should be obtained.
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What are the causes
of hoarseness?
Ans-
Most commonly it is during common cold, misuse or over use of voice (speaking too
much, shouting, and whispering). It can be caused by acidity, tuberculosis, cancer
or paralysis of vocal cords.
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What is the treatment for hoarseness?
Voice rest is
most important aspect of treatment without which nothing is effective. Steam inhalation,
warm saline gargles, mucolytics, anti-inflammatory agents and sometimes antibiotics
are required. If there is no response in 10-25 days otolaryngologist may advise to
do direct laryngoscopy / microlaryngoscopy.
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What to expect after tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy?
Normally tonsillectomy takes half an hour to 45 min on an average. You will be kept
with your head low and lying to one side post-operatively.
Pain: As pain reception
varies
from person to person, nurses usually give you pain medication. You can put
ice-packs around your neck that reduces pain.
Diet: Ice cream
is ideal first meal after surgery because it is soft and offers comfort for sore
throat.
*For first 24 hours you can have cold yogurt, jelly, and pudding.
*For one week have soft, bland diet not very hot like meshed potatoes, oatmeal,
soups.
*Avoid acidic, spicy and rough food.
*Lot of chewing-gums helps.
Medicine: Antibiotics
are often prescribed for 5-7 days to improve healing, along with analgesics.
Bad breath: Oral-hygiene
is very important so you do gargles every time you eat something. Take plenty of
fluid.
*You may have mild soreness of throat for 7-10days, mild earache for one week or
blood mixed mucus for one week.
*You may have mild fever for few days and nausea or vomiting.
Work and physical activity:
For desk job you may start working in 7 to 10 days. Heavy physical work is to be
avoided for 14 days after surgery.
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What are
the causes of difficulty in swallowing?
Dysphagea can be caused by foreign
body in the food pipe, stricture, acidity, paralysis and cancer.
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What is hypothyroidism?
The function of thyroid hormone is to control the speed of body’s metabolism. The pituitary gland
(located in brain) controls how much thyroxine to make. It does this by making thyroid
stimulating hormone (TSH). TSH then tells the thyroid gland to make more or less
thyroid hormone.
An under-active thyroid results in hypothyroidism, producing overall
less thyroxine. This makes the pituitary gland send more TSH into the bloodstream
to get the thyroid gland to increase thyroxine production. This is why the TSH level
is increased in patients with hypothyroidism.
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What is hyperthyroidism?
An over-active thyroid results in hyperthyroidism, producing
overall more thyroxine. The pituitary gland then decreases the amount of TSH in
the blood, and patients with hyperthyroidism have an overall low TSH level.
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