Enlarged Adenoids In Children – Symptoms And Treatment

Written by Aayantika Choudhury
Last Updated on

Parenting is a gateway to loads of happiness, joy and excitement. Along with this comes a huge share of responsibility and often times you will have a lot of questions. So are you looking forward to know more about enlarged adenoids and ways to fathom if your child is suffering from it or not?

The brighter part is, we are here to help you know all you need to know about enlarged adenoids in children.

What Are Enlarged Adenoids?

Adenoids are a lump of tissue that is located at the rear end of the nose and throat. It works towards safeguarding your child’s nose, throat and ears by keeping infections at bay by fighting away germs.

Adenoiditis or Enlarged Adenoids is the condition when the adenoids get swollen or are inflamed when they are not able to fight away the infection.

Some facts about the adenoids are mentioned below:

  • Enlarged Adenoids can block the nasal passage of your child.
  • Adenoids tend to shrink beyond the age of 5 years of your child.
  • The adenoids can tend to stay enlarged even if your child does not appear to be sick and they shrink on their own without calling for the need of any form of intense treatment.

[ Read: Ototoxicity In Children ]

What Causes Of Enlarged Adenoids?

You would definitely be interested in knowing what causes enlarged adenoids in kids. While the exact causes are not very vividly available, some of the facts stated by the medical experts are as follows:

  1. As a rare occurrence, your child might have an enlarged adenoid at birth.
  2. Some form of allergy or infection due to germs or bacteria can cause the adenoid to be enlarged in your child.

Well, do not get caught by surprise, if you see that your child has enlarged adenoids without any particular trigger or cause, as you have done all that is possible to take good care of your child, it’s just one of the things that happened because it had to happen.

[ Read: Sinusitis In Children ]

Symptoms Of Enlarged Adenoids In Children:

One of the glaring questions running your mind right now would be, “How will I identify, if my child is suffering from the condition of Enlarged Adenoids or not?”

Well, here’s the answer for you. Some common signs and symptoms of enlarged adenoids are as follows:

  1. Constant occurrence of ear infection, build up of fluid or pus in the middle ear leading to hearing impairment.
  2. Constant or severe pain in the ear.
  3. Incessant cold or having a blocked or a stuffy nose every now and then.
  4. Disturbed and hassled sleep.
  5. Complaints of sore throat.
  6. Hindrance or pain while swallowing food.
  7. Dry mouth and cracked lips due to dryness caused due to difficulty in breathing.
  8. Experiencing difficulty in breathing through the nose.
  9. Irregular pattern of breathing during sleep, known as sleep apnea.
  10. Heavy snoring while sleeping.
  11. Prominent nasal sound while speaking.

[ Read: Hepatitis In Children ]

Treatment For Enlarged Adenoids In Children:

The treatment of Enlarged Adenoids is simple. So do not get overworked or intensely worried if your child is diagnosed with Enlarged Adenoids.

Here are a few steps that will be involved in the treatment of Enlarged Adenoids.

  1. An X-ray of the throat and neck will be conducted to gauge the exact state of the adenoid tissues.
  2. An ENT specialist will be the right medical expert to treat your child and he/she may conduct a sleep study as well to diagnose the condition.
  3. Healthcare professional may use a special tube named endoscope that will be inserted through the nose to check the exact state of the adenoids.
  4. The doctor might just recommend a few antibiotics or steroid nasal sprays to cure the infection. Administering proper dosages of the medicines will cure the condition of your child.

[ Read: Bacterial Infections In Children ]

In case of severe symptoms of enlarged adenoids, a surgery known as adenoidectomy may be required during which the adenoids will be removed to eliminate the root cause of the problem.

Make the best use of the information mentioned above and do not get tensed or do not move into a panic mode if you observe some of the above mentioned symptoms in your child. Consult a medical practitioner to let you know the exact reason of the occurrence of the symptoms.

If you have experience dealing with this issue, please share it with us!

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