Is it safe to peel phlegm off of my tonsils?

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i'm on my 1st week and a half of mono (keep in mind mono is viral, and not caused by bacteria) and it's given me some gnarly membrane tonsillitis. my tonsils swelled up over the course of 4 days and it's gave me a lot of difficulty breathing. i took a pair of tweezers and peeled away at some of the mucus that was coating my tonsils to help air flow. so far it's helped but i have some canker sores growing at the spots i picked at. anyone know if the mucus will grow back or if i had made things worse? thank you.

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2 Replies

  • Posted

    Dont pick at your tonsils. You can easily irritate them more than they already are. That will not help your pain. Cakers are painful and leave you at risk for a bacterial infection.

    Can you try flushing it away gently with a syringe of water? Or gargling with salt water to relieve some inflammation?

    Dont forget to drink lots of fluids.

    • Posted

      i picked at them a bit more before reading this. peeling the phlegm helped the pain but the tweezers pinched at my tonsils, so they stung for a while but the pain was more bearable. after seeing this took your advice. took a painkiller and smoked a bit of marijuana (through my nose to avoid throat irritation) to numb my tonsils. i drank a bottle of water while it didn't hurt to swallow. all of a sudden i have a tickling back behind my tonsils so i got up and coughed an entire layer of phlegm and dead skin that was sitting on my tonsil all week. immediately i'm able to breathe and swallow normally again with little to no pain.

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