Tonsil stones and Stress

[britty23]

I have never had tonsil problems as far as I can remember, but I recently developed white spots on my tonsils. I went to doctor and she told me they were tonsil stones, but they did not seem hard to me, but I never tried touching them either. Can something like this just appear one day out of the blue and can stress and anxiety bring this on. I have been suffering from chronic stress for a while now and anxiety. I see a therapist about this. However, I am wondering if stress/anxiety could have caused these. Im just still anxious about them...they have since gone away, but it has freaked me out a lot.

[ENTMD]

I suppose that doesn't sound entirely implausible.  Sure, why not.  'Tonsil stones' can come and go in that you may have many of them at one time and then not so many (or none) another time.  

[britty23]

ok, interesting article...just read it, but can tonsil stones be a once in a lifetime thing or will they always reappear? also my doctor also said that if you havent been getting proper sleep and your body has been run down due to the stress im under that it can be hard for the body to fight off the bacteria and that could cause them also. does that sound like it could be right?

[friggy]

If you put this title into Google, you will find an informative story in the NY Times:

"In tonsils, a problem the size of a pea"

[ENTMD]

Both are probably involved, but bacteria make up the bulk.

[britty23]

ok, that makes me feel somewhat better, but what causes it? is it caused by bacteria or do some people just have large tonsils where food can get trapped easily?

[ENTMD]

The word "stone" is used loosely here.  Rarely are they very hard, mostly they are pretty soft.  There is no correlation with stress or anxiety; this is a coincidence.  These are harmless (but can be smelly...).