HOW CHRONICALLY INFECTED TONSILS KEEP YOU SICK
If you are chronically ill and not making expected improvements, even with the best tests and protocols, think “focus of infection.” This is a localised infection which may not produce symptoms at that site, but nevertheless, exerts harmful effects on other distant organs in the body. If you have a silent focus but don’t know about foci of infection and their effects (sadly, many doctors and dentists don’t) you will suffer! The worst foci of infection are from chronically infected teeth or tonsils. I have written blogs about both before. This blog is about how chronically poorly tonsils can affect your health if you do nothing to rid yourself of the focus. If you are having a hard time getting better, please read on …
What are the Tonsils?
The tonsils are a group of lymphatic tissues known as Waldeyer’s Ring at the back of the throat. Lymphatic tissues are part of your immune system where immune cells are made, pathogens, toxins and debris are detected and filtered and immune responses are coordinated.
Tonsil tissues include the adenoids (pharyngeal tonsils), the tubal tonsils just in front of the Eustachian tubes, the two Palatine tonsils (two dense bodies of lymphoid on each side of throat visible by looking in the back of the throat) and the lingual tonsils located near the vocal cords in the larynx. This area is like a great big cave.
Tonsils - The Toilet of the Body
The primary job of the tonsils is to protect the body against toxins and pathogens entering via the mouth or nose. The lymphatic system is a superhighway of vessels, nodes and organs that collect and drain a substance known as lymph containing waste products like damaged cells, cancer cells, viruses and other unwanted substances. All waste products that drain from the tissues above the neck (brain, sinuses, teeth, eyes, skull, bones) pass through the Waldeyer’s Tonsil Ring.
The tonsils have been called the ‘toilet of the body’ by toxicologists like Dr Dietrich Klinghardt and other scientists. At night, the brain does it’s detoxifying by activating its own lymphatic system (known as the glymphatic system). This happens during deep sleep and this is where the brain rids itself of unwanted harmful debris like toxins, viruses, pathogens, damaged cells, cancer cells and the plaques associated with Alzheimer’s. That is why poor sleep is an independent risk factor for cancer and dementia and worsens all other medical conditions.
Two major factors can impair this important brain cleansing: the wifi router in the house which alters the rhythms of the brain and impede detoxification and chronically infected teeth and tonsils which act like a log blocking the flow of a river downstream. The result is infections and debris which remain in brain tissues, causing persisting brain inflammation and neurological symptoms.
How tonsils become a “focus of infection”
The tonsil surface area contains deep and narrow folds in tissues called crypts. This greatly increases the contact between environmental invaders and lymph tissue and helps the tonsils to filter more invaders like viruses, bacteria and mould.
However, when tonsils become chronically overwhelmed by a stready drip of toxins from infected teeth, gums and cavitations (unhealed chronically infected holes in the jawbone), they lose their defence ability and the crypts fill up with pathogens and their toxic waste products.
Any root filled tooth or any tooth with CAP (chronic apical periodontitis) exerts an enormous drainage of pathogens and toxins on the tonsil. These factors typically do not cause any local symptoms. The overworked tonsils then have to filter a constant stream of pathogens as long as the dead or infected tooth remains in the mouth. Permut et al. demonstrated that when ink is injected into the pulp of a tooth it appears within 20 minutes in the tonsils. Repeated infections can cause the tonsils to enlarge or develop pockets of pus (abscesses) and stones (accumulated debris) within the crypts.
How “tonsil foci” affect the body
Tonsils clogged with infection stop the brain from detoxifying adequately. Instead, toxins reverse their flow back up into brain tissues, keeping the brain inflamed and infected. Tonsil issues should always be looked for in chronic infections not responding to standard biological treatments or conditions like Pans/Pandas and autism.
Additionally, there is no food or drink that does not pass through the Waldeyer’s Tonsil Ring. Food allergies like cows’ milk help clog up the tonsils. When the draining tonsil becomes more inflamed and chronically infected, lymph flow through the tonsil begins to stagnate. When the mouth to tonsil lymph flow clogs up, this pushes excess lymph drainage from the mouth to alternative lymphatic and venous pathways. This overloads the draining neck and chest lymphatic pathways and sets the stage for malignancies to trigger in neck and breast tissues.
Why it’s important to address “tonsil foci”
Dental and tonsillar focal infections are a constant burden on the immune system and are the main reason I see in clinical practice why people don’t recover even if they are doing all the right things such as 100% avoidance of food allergies, supporting their immune system, and addressing chronic infections directly. That is why Dr Issels (1907 - 1998) had such success with advanced cancer patients by removing infected tonsils.
Dr Issels was a German physician and oncologist who started a hospital in Germany for ‘incurable’ cancer patients. It became the most successful cancer hospital in Germany. In a survey of adult cancer patients at his clinic, Dr Issels found that 98% of them had between two and ten dead teeth. The pathogens and toxins from dead (root canal-treated) teeth drain directly into the tonsils. Dr Issels routinely advocated tonsillectomy for his cancer patients. Prior to incorporating tonsillectomy in his cancer protocols, 44% of patients who did not survive, died of a heart attack. After tonsillectomy became routine, this number dropped to 5%.
Dr Josef Issels outlined four mechanisms by which infected tonsils can make the body sick:
1.Via the central nervous system - inflammatory effects, autoimmune effects (classic example is strep throat leading to PANDAS).
2. The toxic effect - thio-ether chemicals produced by toxic teeth draining into tonsil tissues are chemically similar to deadly mustard gas used in World War 1.
3.The allergic effect - Proteins released from dead/dying teeth ramp up the immune response. As foods pass through the Waldeyer’s Tonsil Ring, cross-reactions with foods can occur, creating mast cell activation, multiple food and chemical sensitivities.
4.The infectious effect - Infectious agents from teeth and tonsils (strep, Lyme, Bartonella, Epstein Barr Virus etc.) leach into the blood stream and travel to distant organs.
CCSVI Venous blockage from the brain
CCSVI stands for Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency and is a condition in which veins which drain blood from the brain and spinal cord are narrowed, leading to impaired blood flow. When the brain builds up toxins and metabolic waste as a consequence of blocked drainage from tonsil foci, drainage from veins and lymph becomes compromised. These veins are full of proteins which pathogens like Lyme and viruses like to feed upon. The immune system then attacks the bugs which narrows the veins. Blood cannot flow as easily in and out of the brain, with overall reduced brain perfusion.
Optimising the health of the tonsils plays a huge role in addressing this issue. There is a specific therapeutic cream plus lymph drainage technique developed by Dr Dietrich Klinghardt that can be used to open up the venous drainage. It is part of my therapy for autism.
Barriers to tonsil clean-up
*The biggest barrier to resolving chronically infected tonsils I have observed is the patient himself. He is reluctant to consider tonsillectomy even though the tonsils may be the size of golf balls or does not believe that this suppurating tissue can have any effect on his health!
*It has now become very difficult to find an ENT surgeon in the UK to remove chronically infected tonsils. You must have had 7 or more episodes of tonsillitis treated by antibiotics in 1 year (GP records matter!) to be considered for tonsillectomy. I know of one doctor who lied about this to his ENT surgeon so he could get his troublesome tonsils removed. It was worth it, for his chronic inflammatory markers normalised completely after surgery and the risk of cardiovascular events dropped dramatically. Doctors may consider tonsillectomy if tonsils are very enlarged where breathing is obstructed. However, I have known cases where this has been refused, even though a child struggled to breath at night because of tonsils the size of golf balls!
*There are some doctors and dentists who will tell patients that “focal infection theory”, as it was known last century, is now discredited and that a course of antibiotics should handle anything. Nothing is further from the truth.
*Dr Issels called tonsils “the great curse of the body” observing that they can appear normal on examination, but in his clinical experience, the normal looking tonsils in all cancer patients were found to be grossly infected.
*Most doctors don’t even consider tonsils could be an important factor in a patient’s heart disease, arthritis, immune suppression, kidney disease or any other chronic degenerative disease. These tonsils cana also look normal on examination. Cardiologist Dr Thomas Levy stated that “much of the time, however,
such infected tonsils are the primary causes for such disease.”
Steps to Handle Sick Tonsils
If patients react to tonsillitis with acute symptoms and fever, the health of the tonsils may be all right. It is when they have stopped reacting and entered on a phase of progressive degeneration of tissue that they become a focus of infection and a potential danger to health. They may no longer produce symptoms. If the owner of such tonsils is also chronically unwell, the tonsil status merits investigation with the following steps:
1.Firstly, remove gluten and cows’ dairy from the diet as both clog up the lymph and the latter is mucus forming.
2.Dental revision to remove infected teeth and metals from the mouth (removes the toxic tap draining into tonsils).
3.Gargle with cistus/propolis mouthwash.
4.ENT examination with a focal infection-literate Ear Nose and Throat surgeon. Unfortunately, I don’t know of any NHS ENT surgeon that falls into this category. (I have had two tonsillectomies as an adult as the first was badly botched. I went privately for the second and had no post-surgical problems). There are two ENT surgeons I refer patients to in the UK, and one in Germany.
5.Thermogram of the head and neck - this can often show up an inflammatory hot spot indicative of potential focal infection in the tonsils (I did this before my second tonsillectomy. This was for my own exploration. I would not expect the average ENT surgeon to be familiar with thermography, even though it is growing in popularity in the UK).
6.Test for and treat Epstein Barr Virus and strep which can affect tonsil tissues.
7.Tonsillectomy if indicated. I have seen this step turn around many cases, including Pans/Pandas and autism. Laser tonsillectomy without general anaesthetic can also be an option. Cryotherapy on the tonsils (available in Germany) may be another option.
Conclusion
*If you are chronically ill, doing all the “right things” and not making expected progress, check teeth and tonsils for foci of infection.
*Do seek out a focal-infection literate ENT surgeon for a diagnosis.
*If they suggest tonsillectomy, try and make it go right to get this step done. It may be vital for your recovery.
If you suspect that your tonsils are keeping you sick and would like help with this, please get in touch with the Good Health Clinic on goodhealthclinic@outlook.com to request a free 30 minute Enquiry Call or book an appointment. Please note that an Enquiry call is not a consultation but an exploratory call to see if this is a clinical approach you wish to pursue.To your very good health,
Suzanne Jeffery (Nutritional Medicine Consultant)
M.A.(Oxon), BSc.(NMed), PGCE, GNC, BSEM, MNNA, CNHC
The Good Health Clinic at The Business Centre, 2, Cattedown Road, Plymouth PL4 0EG
Tel no: 07836 552936/ Answer phone: 01752 774755
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All advice given out by Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic is for general guidance and informational purposes only. All advice relating to other health professionals’ advice is for general guidance and information purposes only. Readers are encouraged to confirm the information provided with other sources. Patients and consumers should review the information carefully with their professional health care provider. The information is not intended to replace medical advice offered by other practitioners and physicians. Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages arising therefrom.