Leave No Stone Unturned (Tonsil Stone, That Is)

I’ve received a number of requests to cover tonsil stones. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if this subject would be prevalent enough to interest all my readers.

Indeed, some people are prone to tonsil stones, while others aren’t.

Folks prone to this condition have often experienced repetitive occurrences of tonsillitis, met with repeated antibiotics, of course. That fact alone leads me to ask the question: Could tonsil stones be an iatrogenic disease? Meaning, could drugs of commerce (specifically antibiotics over-prescribed for throat infections) contribute to a seeming predisposition to developing tonsil stones?

I’m not saying it does. I don’t know. However, it’s an interesting question to consider. I am reminded of Dr. William Osler’s instructive quote:

“The person who takes medicine must recover twice, once from the disease and once from the medicine.”

Now, before you dismiss that quote as simply the rumination of some random outlier, keep in mind that Dr. Osler was a founding father of Johns Hopkins! It’s hard to think of a more conventional source to have exposed this consequential principle.

Write it down, my friends, in a place where you'll see it over and over. It's that important of a message.

However, whether tonsil stones are iatrogenic or just the “luck of the draw,” they are formed by calcified bacteria and debris within the tonsil folds.

Homeopathy often doesn’t need to identify the etiology. When tonsil stones are discovered (often accompanied by throat or ear pain and halitosis), Hepar sulphuris calcareum (also known as Hepar sulph) is generally employed in the 30^th potency, twice daily, until the stones are pretty much gone. Be mindful that the medicine may require an elongated period of time to complete the job.

I know that sounds vague, and I don’t mean to be. It’s just that this condition can sometimes take months to resolve. It’s essential for the sufferer to observe, observe, observe to ensure they have chosen the correct medicine. As long as we observe improvement in any of the three “magic markers,” we know we’re on the right track.

What are the three magic markers, you may ask? Well, I teach more about them in my Gateway to Practical Homeopathy®: A Guided Study Group Curriculum. But in short:

1. Once the remedy is given, the first marker is that the symptoms appear with less intensity. In other words, on a scale of 1 to 10, what began as an 8 has been reduced to, say, a 6, then to a 4, and so on.
2. The second magic marker is a shorter duration of the presenting event. For example, if vomiting is the issue, the episodes will not last as long. So, though the person may continue to vomit over the course of a few days, the time actually suffering is shortened.
3. The third and final magic marker is larger increments of time between each event. For example, if someone is vomiting every hour, then every three hours after taking the remedy, it is considered a noticeable improvement.

For tonsil stones, we would watch for them to get smaller, not be as hard, or simply be easier to release. If we observe any movement toward those goals, we can confidently assume we have determined the correct medicine and continue until very much better. Usually what I witness over time is a complete resolution of the condition. 

Once there’s improvement — even the tiniest bit — the medicine is then given its due time to act fully. Rome wasn’t built in a day, after all.

If a sufferer is considering a tonsillectomy — or as I like to call it, killing a mosquito with a bazooka — I would encourage them to read my blog post, I Want My Body Parts Back, to learn about my experience with tonsils.

It’s one more reason my mission is to pass on the good news of homeopathy!

Warmly,

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