Often mistaken for common tonsillitis, quinsy has the potential to be very serious. Although it may begin with the same symptoms as tonsillitis, it is generally a worse form of the complaint and in the worst case may endanger life.
What Exactly Is Quinsy?
Quinsy is a common name given to peritonsillar abscess formation in the tonsil area. It affects people in their late teens and adulthood and usually affects one tonsil more than the other. It has the potential to be very dangerous if left untreated.
What Are The Symptoms?
Peritonsillar abscesses start as a sore throat and inflammation of the tonsils. It develops into pus filled abscesses on the tonsil area making swallowing very difficult and extremely painful, sometimes nearly impossible.
Along with this, there is often a high temperature and a general feeling of being unwell. You or those around you may have noticed a foul smelling breath odour and a visible swelling to the neck area. It is also likely that you will suffer from referred pain in the ears and neck area in general and a distinct change in your vocal ability and normal sound.
With quinsy, comes a lot of swelling of the area and surrounding tissues. This is what makes it so difficult to swallow and causes the pain.
How Is It Treated?
As many healthcare professionals are now convinced that most sore throats, even very bad ones, will heal on their own, people are afraid to go to their doctor with a sore throat complaint meaning that there is the potential for the condition to go undiagnosed until it becomes dangerous; quinsy, however is not very common these days.
If your doctor thinks that you have a mild form of quinsy or typical Tonsillitis, you may be fortunate enough to be offered a course of antibiotics which will help the body fight the bad bacteria away and reduce the swelling and abscesses.
For others though, surgery may be necessary in which the abscess is incised and drained and a course of antibiotics is given after the procedure. This will require a visit to hospital and the use of a general anaesthetic while the procedure is being carried out followed by the antibiotics and pain relief.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
The Dangers Of Quinsy
This condition carries several dangers, some more serious than others. In the worst case scenario, the individual may have a large, pus filled cavity to their tonsil which has the potential of bursting at any time. If this happens, the person may inhale the contained pus as they breathe, in which case the poison can enter their lungs; this is known as aspiration. It is made worse by the fact that the fluid they are inhaling is infected, it is thick and the body is already struggling to fight off the bacteria.
When a person aspirates their lungs are a lot less able to function properly as the lungs cannot exchange oxygen and other gases as well as the fluid is preventing this natural action; in the worst case, this can cause severe damage, sometime irreparable.
If suspected, quinsy should be treated as an urgent medical case and you should go and see your doctor urgently for treatment.
What Next?
If you are worried about contracting Quinsy or would like to know more about it read our article on Can You Still Get Quinsy?
7 days ago I went to the GP for a sore throat. She confirmed tonsillitis and sent me away with ABs and suggested Paracetamol and Advil. After 24 hours of chewing these like popcorn I went to ER. They say the infection but said no quinsy. They treated with steroid, iv antibiotics and morphine. I was discharged with oral abs and stronger pain killers. Within 24 hours i was back at ER after maxing our on the recommended doses of the painkillers. They assured me to persist it will go away. I went home for 4 hours tearing my hair out. Came back and a new doctor in ER identified the quinsy. They called an ent doctor who lanced it then cut it. He said not much came out. It did feel better and I was admitted overnight to get iv ABs. The next morning discharged but within 12 hours i was back in ER with even worse pain radiating up my neck, ear tonsils, teeth and jawline. I think they thought I was nuts. It took hours to even get a painkiller and 6 hours for the ENT to come back toER. This morning he aspirated the area around the initial incision and pulled out 5ml of pus. It was almost instant relief. I've been relatively pain free for 12 hours now, but I know it's building again. Under the jaw is swelling again and the tonsils are becoming increasingly tender. Still nothing like before but I can see it on the horizon for tomorrow morning. I will make him drain it again. Why won't this thing just die. It's like 4days of iv ABs and 3 of oral ABs, two lancing and drains???
The worst thing for me has been the recovery, my blood infection levels were apparently very high (508) and I am still very tired 2 months later...I have scar tissue from the large hole in my mouth the quinsy caused and it feels like I have something stiff in the back of my mouth every time I swallow. I have not found much information about after care so not sure if this is normal ??
Update on my comment from last year - I had a tonsillectomy and my instincts were right...I had a quinsy hiding under my left tonsil which is why my throat was so swollen and the infection wasn't going! It had been sitting there since August the previous year - which is actually really dangerous apparently.
Honestly, having my tonsils taken out was the best decision I ever made so if you have the opportunity, I really, really recommend it!! (It is 2 weeks of pure hell afterwards while you recover but the end result is so worth it). I had the operation in the beginning of July 2016 and haven't had so much as a sore throat since!
Just wanna say if you feel weak, ears and throat hurting plus your in a lot of pain? Then go to hospital cos it's a waste of time going to the doctors.
Thank you
I have an enlarged tonsils for 2 weeks now and I was sick earlier this morning and it contained blood and I'm struggling to breath and I feel I need to go to hospital but I thought I'd ask for advice.
Please help me
I've got a consultation next week as the doctors at the hospital have decided that my tonsils need to come out, I'm just worried that I'm not going to be free of the infection long enough for them to do it, as it seems as soon as I finish antibiotics, it comes back. It hurts so bad, and I can't sleep, I just need them gone.
I felt like I had wasted time of the doctors because it was just a sore throat.
I was 47. The hospital were surprised and said should it reoccur my tonsil would have to be removed partly because of my age.
I feel your pain, hope you get sorted soon.
Thank you x
By Friday night still no change unbearable pain went back to dr did not want to waste hospital time , he looked at my mouth and send my straight to eye and ear hospital emergency , was in drs room with 15mins starting the quinsy pus extractions 10ml then straight on antibiotics and drip due to di-hydrations the next day had to get it red rains and there was more puss to 2 nights in hospital can open my jaw and feel better. I've been told it's highly probable it could come back and if so come straight back to emergency , I had no idea of the severity my quinsy was extracting and leaking after 4days so relieved and aware, but going home!
Kevin was so patient with me as the forced opening of my tonsils to suck out the pus so excruciating.
I waited another three hours to go to a room as I have private cover and was currently positioned in the children's ward with two crying babies and a visiting toddler banging on the wall.
I arrived at a share room of 3 males and slept like a baby.
I awoke to blood everywhere as my period had just began to top it all off.
That explains the extra sensitivity my body had to the pus removal.
I am sooo relieved that 90% of my pain has gone.
I wish a quincy on no one!
When I woke Sunday morning I had a sore throat, temperature and swollen tonsils. I thought here we go again tonsillitis (I normally get it 2-3 times a year) so very used to it. One day in bed then push through it as usual.
Monday came the swelling got worse, the worse it had been, I just though "this is a bad one".
Tuesday came and I could not drink very well, not eat and breathing became difficult.
Wednesday (Christmas) came struggle to eat a 1/2 cup full of food cut into mashed proportions.
10pm could hardly breath (I normally can not breath through my nose after two surgeries) so relying on my throat air was becoming impossible. The dangly bit in my throat was so swollen, I kept gagging on it. I sat up all night as I was panicking I couldn't breath.
Thursday morning my husband took me to hospital where I was told I had to get a referral from a doctor to admitted.
Being Boxing day it was hard to find a doctor. Driving to three different centres after phoning first only to find different stories why the doctor could not write me one.
Finally a place in Bemont 35 mins away from where I live helped me.
1.5 hours later I was in hospital on a drip after not drinking for 3 days.
The doctor looked me over, I could barely open my mouth or breath. I could hardly keep my eyes open from the pain.
He stated I had tonsilitis and pharangitis, kept me in for 4 days, then released me on Sunday.
The swelling of my left side so extreme that it was pushing on my ear nerve resulting in an acute deep ear pain on top of everything else. I was still unable to eat or swallow, but he said it's the worst it will get, it's all down here from now.
Sunday 1pm my pain was getting worse. I was struggling to breath, I could not swallow at all, the pain was literally unbearable.
Monday stayed in bed all day, my husband wanted to take me back to hospital but I kept saing the Doctor says it's all down hill from here and I didn't want to be a whimp.
Monday night I could no longer stand it I had tears running down my face from the pain (not actually crying).
No doctors were open and the hospital would not admit me, asking again for a referral.
So sat up all night waiting until morning.
Tuesday husband took me to Doctor again got another referral and proceeded to hospital.
Went into a room where a nurse took one look and diagnosed quincy immediately.
Saw an ENT Doctor called Kevin 3 hours later, spraying with local anesetic he needled the left tonsil three times trying to extract the pus which he could not. So he had to needle my tonsil with more anesetic and cut it, use forcups to open it and suction out 8g of pus.
Almost instantly the pain from my ear was relieved.
Just now the pain still from the tonsils and now the cutting / needling etc.
Kevin was so patient with me as the forced opening of my tonsils to such out the pus so excruciating.
I have had lot of pain from accidents (some from people that were not so accidental) to tooth ache that most people know about and dread. But the pain from Quinsy is in a class of its own and if you have not had it, I hope you never do.
So when I got tonsillitis after not having it for 6 or 7 years, I could not tell I had it. Just a bit of a gravely feeling when eating, and feeling a bit offish. Then on Friday night 12/07/2013, it started getting hard to swallow and my throat felt like sandpaper, still not much pain but it was very sore. That night I hardly slept a wink, just tossing and turning soaked in sweat, even had to change the sheets and pillows in the middle of the night, and in the morning we turned the mattress over and put more clean sheets on the bed. Saturday 13/07/2013 my throat was slowly getting worse all day, and that night I could not stay in bed any more as it was like laying in a half filled bath of tepid water and the pain was really kicking in with a vengeance. Even upping my painkillers did not help and they are really strong. By early morning Sunday 14/07/2013 I could hardly swallow my spit and it was getting hard to breath. Taking my painkillers was out of the question, I would never get then down even if I split the pills and took the powder out of them. My wife walked me to our local drop in clinic at 8am and as always from other peoples accounts I have read here tonight they said "Its a virus, see your GP in the morning if it gets worse". My wife got me home, it took just over an hour to do a 20 min walk. My breathing was getting worse all the time, and without my painkillers all the parts of my body that had been smashed to pieces before were starting to kill me. But that pain was nothing compared to my throat ear and eye. After a while at home, I could hardly breath, my throat was almost closed and my wife said "I am getting you to the hospital". Panic set in and tensed my muscles closing my throat off and shutting what little of my airway that was left. Obviously I passed out on the floor. This time passing out was good for me as unconscious you relax and I was shallow breathing again. I opened my eyes to the ambulance crew as they put me on the stretcher and wiped me off to Queens hospital Romford. No messing in A&E the staff know their jobs and sent me straight the ENT specialist. No messing about here either, BANG the Quinsy is worked on, only 3ml of puss syringed out but with the swollen tonsils that could be enough to kill you. Straight into a bed on the word with intravenous antibiotics, painkillers, and liquids. All the hospital staff were fantastic and made me feel at home, not in hospital (thank you staff at Queens hospital Romford). Then its home Monday 15/07/2013 with my two antibiotics, Metronidazole tabs 400mg 1 x 3 times a day with plenty of water. Phenoxymethylpenicillin tabs 250mg 2 x 4 times a day 1 hour before food, and not forgetting the Difflam Oral Rinse. All three for the next 7 days. I have had lots of pain from accidents (some from people that were not so accidental) t
Thanks
j
I ve never had tonsilitis before and about 2 months ago started getting a sore throat. The pain was just on one side the right side, So using the light on my mobile phone i had a look at the back of the throat and could see the right side tonsil leaking some horrible looking brown/Yellow fluid down my throat.
After visiting my GP who gave me Amoxcillin for 7 days the pain was still there. Then I went again this time the pain was getting more. He gave me Ciproflaxin. This was used for another 7 days and still pain getting worse,
I was using alot of paracetomol and nothing was working. I went in a few walk in centres and they advised gargle with warm salt water, This didnt help.
Also I tried to use Q Tips to pick at the tonsil to see if I could manually drain it. This did not help and I do not advise it.
To cut a long story short I couldn't swallow any fluids including saliva, Ended up in A&E who used a needed to take some fluid from the abscess which had developed on my tonsil. At this stage my right side tonsil became so massive it was pushing up against my Uvula.
I would just like to say Please dont worry about this procedure it is a very very small procedure and they spray a local anesthetic at the back of your throat so you do not feel any pain at all. They they insert a needed (like a normal injection basically) to drain it. Not alot of pus came out of mine.
I was then put on a IV drip of Pencillin and Metrazpole. I could notice the symptons getting less after the 1st day. I was discharged 2 days later, Over the next 7 days I had to complete a course of anti biotics (Pencillin & Metrazpole). I was also given a green mouth wash to use (Difflam). This was good.
Over the next few weeks the tonsil that was inflamed slowly began to decrease in size. I would advise people who have this to go to A&E if your not getting better. Its nothing serious to worrry about if you get prompt medical treatment, Also if you can take some pics of it on your camera so you can see if its getting better or worse.
Its been a month now since I had it and the tonsil has gone down almost to normal size (its still about 2 times the size of the left tonsil)
Just wanted to know from any one who had had this if there affected tonsil did finally go back to its normal size and how long did that take?
Thanks
The worst case was when i was 30 i got quinsy and lost 2 stone in weight i could not even get fluid down my throat it completely closed, the doctor at the time gave me tablets and was told to swallow whole do not crush which was impossible, my wife fetched another doctor who gave me an injection within one hour they had burst and it was the foulest taste i can remember, this same doctor arranged for me to have my tonsils out 6 months later,
NO PROBLEMS SINCE THANK GOD.
If they had got to the bottom of this a few weeks ago would have saved us all a lot of money. As well as losing NHS money he is in the army and hasn't been able to operate fully for 3 weeks now. Fingers crossed it isn't anything more serious. At least the GP took notice this time.
I first suspected I had Tonsillitis about 4 weeks ago, and went to the doctors. They gave me some antibiotics and I went on my way - within about a week it felt like it was pretty much gone.
A few days later, it was back, so I went back to the doctors, got some more antibiotics, and went on my way. By the end of that course, it was pretty much gone again.
A few days later, I ended up going back to the doctors for the 3rd time to explain that the pain had come back and my left tonsil in particular was still very large. He told me that the infection could linger for weeks and it's nothing to worry about as my body will fight it off. I got some anti-inflammatory tablets prescribed for the swelling and went on my way again.
About a week later I sensed that it was getting really bad, so in the middle of the night I rang an out of hours service to arrange a doctors appointment for the morning. I went to that doctor and he prescribed me a different type of antibiotic.
I was on the new antibiotics for one day before getting to the point where I couldn't sleep at all, couldn't breathe through my mouth, and swallowing even saliva or water was almost impossible (not just because of the horrendous pain, but because the back of my throat was almost completely closed up). I went to A&E, worried that I soon wouldn't be able to breathe (as I could only breathe through my nose at this point).
As soon as I got there, the nurse got me to see a doctor, who immediately diagnosed me with quinsy. Within 3 hours of arriving, they dosed me with painkillers and aspirated the abscess (that means they stab it with a needle and suck out the pus - gross I know). A pretty horrible procedure but if it's at the same point that mine was at, the 30 seconds of discomfort to get it sorted out is well worth it. I was then moved on to a different hospital with a specialist ENT department (Ear, Nose and Throat), where they gave me saline (as I was pretty dehydrated), paracetamol and antibiotic drips. I was on that for about a day and a half, and was let out today, with two different antibiotics to take for the next week to hopefully kill the infection altogether.
Sorry for the long story, but if there is anything to take from my experience:
If you can't swallow water or saliva without extreme pain, go to A&E.
GPs are not to be trusted with this, I saw 4 different GPs (and I'm certain the abscess was there for at least 2 of them), and none of them suggested it was even a possibility, which is crazy because...
For me, it was easy to diagnose. When it started getting bad I looked in the mirror with a flashlight app on my phone, and it looked exactly like all the pictures of 'peritonsular abscess' look like on google. I told NHS Direct this the day before I ended up in A&E. What did they tell me? Book a doctors appointment, self diagnosis is not a good thing. Well guess what? It seems
It starts with being unwell, you feel tired like a cold is comming on, sore throat, but it is not like a normal sore throat this feeling is different.
Quincys is scary because your airways are blocked, I noticed when I slept I snored like a train, gasping for air, it is also unbelievably painful.
it started as a saw throat monday, by tuesday i had a swollen tonsil and was in a bit more pain (having to take paracetomol every 4 hrs day and night, pain worse at night) by thursday taking paracetomol and nurofen. Saturday morning the pain was getting worse and neither pain killers were helping so went to out of hours GP, who referred me to hospital.
please dont allow the symptoms to get too bad before seeking medical advice\treatment.
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