Tonsillitis

Tonsillitis is an acute inflammation and swelling of the tonsils, which are oval-shaped masses of lymph gland tissue located on both sides at the back of the throat. Chronic tonsillitis occurs when tonsils are enlarged and is frequently attacked by infection.

Symptoms
Main symptoms include a fever, headaches, sore throat, difficulty in swallowing, lethargy, and various body pains. The tonsils are inflamed and have turned to a reddish color. Most often seen along with the general signs is pus discharge.

The tonsillar lymph glands are enlarged and tender. The ear are sometimes painful to the touch.

Causes
Tonsillitis occurs due to body intoxication. This could be due to inability of the body to detoxify itself through the skin, kidneys and bowels; and chronic constipated which left the bloodstream intoxicated. The body therefore, is unable to resists infection that ultimately lead to inflammation and enlargement of the tonsils. This also leads to sore throat.

Home Remedies
Lime: Squeeze fresh limejuice into a glass of water. Add 4 teaspoons of honey and ¼ teaspoon of common salt. Sip slowly.

Milk: Boil a glass of milk. Mix 1 pinch of turmeric powder and pepper powder. Take it every night for 3 days.

Vegetable juices: Mix 300 ml of carrot juice, 100 ml of beet juice, and 100 ml of cucumber juice. These juices can also be taken individually.

Banafsha flowers: Boil 12 gm of banafsha flowers (Viola odorate) in 50 ml milk. Drink milk while still warm. Alternately, lightly fry a filtered banafsha in ghee to make a poultice. Place around the throat at night.

Fenugreek seeds: Simmer 2 tablespoons of fenugreek seeds in ½ liter of water for 30 minutes. Leave to chill. Use as a gargle.

Diets
For a start, take an orange juice and water diet for 3-5 days. Follow with a fruit diet for the next 3-4 days after the acute symptoms subsided. Eat more seeds, nuts, grains, fruits and vegetables afterwards.

Foods and drinks to avoid are fried foods, curd, buttermilk, condiments and spices.

Further Suggestions
Administer a warm water enema everyday during the orange juice diet.

Applying a dry friction and taking a hipbath can also help.

Perform breathing exercises everyday.

Apply a cold pack on the throat every 2 hours during the day.

Taking a hot Epsom salt bath everyday or every other day will also help relieve the condition.