Besides the obvious painful discomfort of your throat when you gulp or swallow, sore throat brings with it a lot of other symptoms. The cause of the discomfort determines what kind of symptoms may appear. Symptoms may include tonsil inflammation, feelings of scratchiness and dryness, hoarseness of voice, swallowing difficulty and pain. Symptoms that may develop due to an infection which can involve feelings of nausea, body aches, headaches, fever and cough. The persistence or frequent recurrence of the symptoms for a week or more should be reasons enough for you to consult with your doctor.

Tonsillitis simply means the Inflammation of the tonsils. It can be either the result of a viral or bacterial infection. Viruses that can cause tonsillitis include herpes simplex or influenza. Bacterial infection is mainly due to streptococcus bacteria. If you suffer from tonsillitis you may exhibit signs and symptoms such as coating on the tonsils, fever, headache, ear ache, throat blisters, swollen lymph nodes and glands. The main treatment course for bacteria-caused tonsillitis is antibiotic therapy. For viral infections, antibiotics are useless.

Tonsils are tissues that are part of the immune system that produces antibodies to battle infection. They are responsible in protecting the body by preventing toxins from entering the respiratory system. For severe types of tonsillitis, surgery to remove the tonsil (tonsillectomy) may be needed. Tonsillectomy used to be the treatment of choice for treating tonsillitis but these days it is recommended only when the problem produces serious symptoms or is experienced frequently.

Acupuncture treatment is a viable treatment for tonsillitis as declared by the WHO (the World Health Organization) in 1979. A 1987 study involving 220 subjects saw that tonsillitis symptoms were relieved by acupuncture. The study also found that sore throat and fever abatement was attained more in the test group than in the control group.

In 2009, a study done by the University of Heidelberg ‘s Department of Otorhinolaryngology showed that the duration of post-surgical removal of tonsil pain relief was substantially prolonged with acupuncture therapy. Patients who were using NSAIDS (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) had extended relief of post-tonsillectomy swallowing pain by an average of three hours. The researchers concluded that the acupuncture protocol applied on these patients may also be appropriate for other patients who cannot tolerate NSAIDs.

Based on the principles followed by traditional Chinese medicine for treating tonsillitis, the acupuncturist addresses a pattern involving toxin and excess heat that causes tonsil swelling. The swelling causes blockages in the lung meridians which results in the stagnation of blood and qi. The stagnation of blood and qi then leads to the swelling of the lymph nodes. Some individuals suffer from other sore throat conditions that may entail a distinct diagnosis of yin deficiency or wind heat pathogenic attack.