“What the heck?”
I stared at the tiny, hard, white and rubbery thing that I had just coughed up in consternation. I didn’t remember eating anything like what I was holding in my hand, and since the offending object had somehow managed to crawl up from the depths of my esophagus without my noticing it until it began its tickle torture on my uvula, I wanted to know what the hell it was before I smooshed it between my fingers and tossed it in the trash. What can I say? After being forced to watch Joe Millionaire last night I was feeling particularly vindictive.
Yeah, I’m petty. So what?
The offending object had the color of dirty milk and, by the way it had managed to ravage my throat as it made its escape from my windpipe, an outer shell made of equal parts sandpaper, old leather and ground glass. It was about the size of half a grain of rice, but squashed flat with a small lump in the center. Kind of like it’s nucleus, so to speak.
Rolling it between my fingers had no effect on its shape.
I started listing everything I had eaten in the last few days in my head trying to figure out what this alien embryo was made of. After about half an hour I found that I was making myself hungry but was still completely flabbergasted and no closer to identifying my mystery throat ejaculate than I had been before I began. Shrugging mentally, I flicked the offensive piece of detritus off my hand and continued on my way, determined to put it completely out of my mind.
But the little bastard was not to be gotten rid of so easily.
All day, no matter what I’ve been doing, thoughts of that unidentified piece of crap have been running through my head. I know I’m not the only person to ever have something like that come out of their mouth because I’ve actually asked people and it seems to have happened to almost everyone. Everyone seems to agree that they’re annoying but no one, and I mean no one, has any idea what the name of the damn things are, or what they’re made of.
Not even my doctor friends.
So, now that I’m unable to sleep because I’ve been too busy doing internet searches for ‘white thingie you cough up’ I figured I might as well ask my loyal readers if anyone else out there has ever had the misfortune of discovering one of these little bastards clinging to the back of their tongue. If so, what the hell was it and what do you think it was made of? Oh, and by the way, I’ve taken the liberty of naming them just so I can stop coming up with clever ways of saying ‘hard, white thingie I coughed up from my throat’. From this day forward these tiny minions of evil shall be known throughout the world as Throat Scabs.
Copyrighted and Trade Marked by The Mighty Geek. Patent Pending.
Just like Pinger©™®.
*** Update ***
Due to the amount of traffic this post has garnered by those who are afflicted with these horrible Throat Scabs, I have decided to no longer allow comments on this post until someone has actual medical knowledge to impart that has not yert been discussed. If you think you have something important to add to this topic, please email geekman AT themightygeek DOT com and I’ll add it for you if it is relevant.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to write about their troubles with tonsilloliths, and their homemade remedy’s.
GeekMan.
*** Update 03/08/04 ***
Thanks to a wonderful girl who seems to like green flowers, and who apparently wishes to remain anonymous, I was pointed towards this article which may help those of us afflicted with this horrid, horrid nuisance.
*** Update 06/09/04 ***
A kind gentleman named Roland from New Zealand sent us a link to this website which carries a product called BLiS Throat Guard that he claims helped solve his Tonsillolith problem. Roland says;
I had this problem for 50 years and finally found something that works. It is called Blis Throat Guard, developed at the University of Otago and on sale in New Zealand, I do not know about other countries. The best I can figure out how it works is like thinking of your throat and mouth as a microscoptic garden with bacteria growing all over it. The first step is to weed out the garden of bad bacteria and then replant with good plants) bacteria. Take a look at the site they have on the net and see if they sell overseas yet.
Thank you Roland!
quiet, ya old pinger. lest I zneetch you with my thorlyth.
ew. yuck. ick.
deja vu! yah, i coughed one of those up too way back when. mine looked like a small piece of cauliflower. yum. don’t worry, it’s not lung cancer it’s just congealed snot.
dinner is served
ohfortheluvofmike. I actually debated weather or not to telephone my dentist about this, but quickly realised that it was something I’d really rather not know. *slapping forehead*
I’ve had the same unfortunate reaction. When I asked my doctor he suspected that it was hardened phlegm.
yeah i used to get those too.. the snot things. they were yellow-white for me, but the worst part about them was the SMELL.. yeesh they were like bad breath in solid form..
Thank GOD!!! Someone else that knows what the hell I am talking about! I didn’t know what to put in the search engine so I put “solid yellowish in my throat”. How in the hell do you describe something so frigin’ strange and smelly? I NEED to know what they are called! What is that annoying little bastard that smells so damn bad?!
Yeah, what the hell ARE they? I only found his page because of a web search for the terms ‘cough rubbery phlegm’
Let me know if you find out!
Thanks.
My friends and I have all decided to call it, basically what it is, a “white thing.” Put it in a test tube and save it for your grand kids, makes a fun conversation piece, and hey, smells so funky, i know you guys catch yourselves smelling it again, knowing dayam well it stinks like hell!! hahaha, We’re not alone D!!!
I must be the only person who hasn’t had one of these things. Unless I have had it and I thought it was a piece of rice. Either way…I never recognized it. However If you give that away as the gag gift again, I hope I don’t get it…. the smell is like poop marinated fish that has been baking in the sun for 2 weeks
True Story
My latest experience has been equally unpleasant… Once a day for the last four weeks I have been hacking up a solid chunk of dark green snot about the size of two small eraser heads (side by side). One side is smooth and the other is all chunky, it’s like a piece of ripped open grape. Now I thought I had hacked up just about anything and everything at one time or another but this takes the cake. It comes up like a bullet. And I stare at it in complete shock for like 5 minutes every time it happens.
In case I die of some mysterious undetectable illness in the next few days I have drawn a map in the washroom where I work as to the various locations where I have hidden these green little goblinoid eyeballs of choking death. I hope the maybe there is a chance that I can save some poor bugger the same undignified fate as me one day. Oh ya my girlfriend wanted me to mention that I had my tonsils were removed years ago… I think I was 7.
UberDuPer
they are called tonsilloliths, if your dentist doesn’t know about them, then my advice would be to find another dentist. They are not harmful, just a pain. It would be interesting to know if people who have not have their tonsils removed are the only ones who recieve this special surprise, since that is where they are formed.
Oh and the reason they smell bad is because they are made up almost entirely of bacteria. Usually they go unnoticed and you just end up swollowing them. Yummy. If you’re worried about it, then just gargle some warm salt water everyday and you should notice an absence from then on.
Take a look at http://www.tonsilstones.com
Found this entertaining site by our search for “coughed up small bits”. My son who’s 9, has been bringing them to us. When I was younger, I had them, too. Not my husband. He thinks we are very wierd. The doctor told them they were probably from the lungs. I said “no way – they come from the back of the throat.” So now I know. Tonsiloliths!
THANK GOD FOR YOU PEOPLE! I am so fed up with them and right now I decided to do a search as I believe I have one of the offenders digging in my throat right now. My husband thinks I am nuts and says he has no idea of what I am speaking about… now I know I am normal and it is him who is not as he has his tonsils HAHA!
Oh, thank god I’m not the only one…I’ve been so worried I’d contracted some strange throat disease that brings with it severe bad breath. Some time a while a go my throat started getting quite ‘mucusy’..from hayfever and post nasal drip I assume. From there on I started getting tickling sensations in my throat and what I thought was terrible breath. I freaked out..I began brushing my teeth ultra compulsively…but to no avail. The tickling sensation remained and the breath stayed bad. One day I got a torch and shone it down my throat and what I saw horrified me so much that I was in shock for a while for at the back of my throat to the side were white clusters of solid ‘bits’ I scraped them out with my finger tips and curiously smelt them…by golly they reeked…I’m sure rotten fish could have smelt better.
Six months later I’m still periodically picking these things out with cotton buds or if I get very frustrated I scrub frantically with a toothbrush which makes my throat bleed more than anything else. Somebody help me…surely there must be a cure. I’m sick of people advertising throat sprays and oxigenating products that do very little except cost a leg. I work in an industry where dealing with clients is an everyday normality…I just can’t keep worrying about my breath..nor can I keep chewing gum in meetings. Somebody must know something more than the rest of us on this matter…I would truly appreciate anything you have to say…I’m desperate and paranoid…
simply amazing. i was wondering how many lists i was getting myself on for searching for the following on google:
* foul smelling white thoat things
* coughed up white chuck and it stinks
* white funk in my throat
i’m also relieved i’m not the only one who smashed one with my fingers and smelled it.
what a discovery!
These are just the answers I’ve been looking for!!! I’ve reciently been finding these little whitish-yellowish hard things in the back of my throat…and yes, THEY SMELL HORRIBLE!!! They really do make your breath smell. I even had to pick a few out of my throat with a toothpick, they bothered me so much! Nobody I’ve talked with has ever heard of such things, so it’s great you people are out there. Thanks for the advice…I will start gargling with salt water every day…anything to keep those nasty critters away!
Thank God for you people. Despite the fact that most of you are already experiencing this stinky phenomenon, I still believe after reading all of this that I have something to add…
I am a 31 year old mom who began noticing the Funk about one year ago. Because I am so insane about bad smells, and could just TASTE the smell, I looked at my mouth and as you have all stated found the white chunks. I dug it out and you know the rest…
To this day, I DAILY dig in my throat, both sides squeezing these gems out almost like pimples. I then take a Q-Tip and dip it in alcohol and swab it around the area. I know have scars on my tonsils from these buggers and my gag reflex is all but gone because of my constant digging back there. My tonsils are the size of grapes, NO pain, but I will be darned if I am gonna let the stinky buggers win. Keep up the fight fellow sufferers!!
Note, since using the alcohol etc, I have noticed that a daily extraction has resulted in smaller nodules, nothing like the original huge balls, still just as stinky!!!!
I just finished digging one of those suckers out of my throat. It was by far the biggest one I’ve uncovered to date which prompted me to do Google it. I’ve been dealing with this for the last 2 years now and it just seems to be getting worse. The only good thing about it is that I can now scrape ’em out without my gag reflex kicking in. And for some reason they only come out the left side of my throat.
I’ve had these things for like three years now, with a mild sore throat. Antibiotics don’t do squat. Been to the doctor 10 times and been prescribed nasal sprays, allergy meds, and even stuff for acid reflux to combat these suckers. Thought I was the only person in the world with this problem. Did a million and one web-searches. Had to search for “smelly throat chunks” to find this page. We all seem to be suffering from a common ailment of sorts. If someone knows of a cure for these, please enlighten us all. I’m going to start a regimen of salt-water gargling tomorrow. I’m at my wits end with these things.
Thank God there are other people out there with this problem! Last night I went in with a Q-tip and pulled out enough to fill up an 1/8 of a teaspoon, which was the smelliest and nastiest I have ever extracted. It was more yellow green, and the biggest chunks I have ever seen! This spring I was scheduled for tonsillectomy, supposedly to remove where the problem originates. My ENT said that they were fungus, growing from malfunctioning tonsils that were severly scarred. I am looking for a second opinion, and looking for an answer. YUCK!
Yes, They’ve haunted me as well… increasing in frequesncy and size lately.. I actually open the flap and dig them out before they rear their head…
I hate them.. I must kill them all.
I was horrified when two of my friends told me that this happened to them. They explained that “white stinky balls” would come out of the back of their throats and then they’d squoosh em and smell them and said it just wreaked. I said that was gross and then later that day it happened to me. It’s been happening now for about 5 years and it’s just gotten worse. When I woke up today and looked at my throat I freaked out because now they are not just coming out of already existing pockets in my throat, but they are coming to a head like a pimple.
Well I looked up quite a bit on the net and couldn’t believe how many sites were dedicated to this very prolem. “Tonsil Stones” , “Tonsiloliths”. So I’m relieved to see the problem is very common, but will continue to research to find the best solution. Good Luck to all of you out there!
Thank god I’m not the only one!
I’ve been to the doctor, he has no idea. His professional answer “gargle with salt”. Sure enough it was dislodged. Still I wonder what it is that I’m eating, that’s making them come back.
I once heard them called “tonsils curls” after searching the web, no such word.
Reading all the other horror stories, makes me glad I’m not the only one with this.
Next step, tonsils removed!
-J
Ahhh, I appreciate sites that give you answers to mind boggling questions! I called them throat boogers because they were nasty and came out of the throat. Haha, “white funk in my throat” search by didjit.
I’m not alone!
I thought I was a freak!
This sucks, eventually I am going to have my tonsils removed.
Thank God! I thought that I was never gonna find out what the hell these things were! I’ve had these “chunks” (as I’ve always called them) coming from my throat for almost as long as I can remember–I’m 21 years old. I’ve never had a history of throat problems or anything though, like a lot of people say that they are common with. I’m not sure if they bother me enough to go and get my tonsils out, but I’ll definitely try gargling or something.
it is refreshing (though not for breath) that there are others dealing with this predicament. i first noticed the effluvial throat bits in my adolesence, and 17 years later i still get them every few weeks. my condition is, as it seems, not as bad as some of you out there, but i agree that they are certainly under the radar screen of society; the fact that i never heard about it anywhere (not even in a seinfeld episode) led me to think it was a nuisance to be quietly tolerated…alone. now i see there are others to share the woe. i’m no doctor but i don’t think it’s necessarily safe to stick things in one’s throat (scratching the throat tissue can create a damaged environment for more bacteria to thrive as an infection) and common isopropyl alchohol seems too harsh, and it’s dangerous if accidentally ingested. gargling with saltwater or listerine cures most throat ails, so i’d stick with them. a dilution of peroxide and water might also help.
Good luck my friends, and may we someday get different lumps in our throats upon knowing we are finally cured of this problem!
hahahaa, i also thought i was the only one, like there was something completely disgusting about me. i remember getting the first one when i was much younger. i could feel it in the back of my throat but everytime i went to push it out i gagged. when i finally pushed it out i gagged again and coughed until i could spit it out. EEEWWW YUCK they’re gross. my dad told me they were chunks of fatty somethingerothers…yeah thanks dad. so i searched for ‘throat tonsils white balls’ and came up with yeah ‘tonsiloliths.’ grrrr, salt water u say? cuz i hate em
haha I found this white things in holes in my tonsils too. I thought i was The only one i was worried. Sometimes there is just one, or sometime theres a whole cluster of like 5-6 of them. its really annoying.
Wow,
I got my first one a week ago, and am not pleased to hear that some of you get them for years. If I stick my finger and rub my left tonsil, it smells really bad. I’ve been gargling with listerine, peroxide, but they don’t do anything. I scrape my tonsil out with q-tips till i see blood. Does anyone know- would having your tonsil removed solve this problem? It’s so bizarre. My dads a doctor and tells me its nothing, it’ll go away. Apparently not true. Some of your posts are hilarious by the way
yea mine only come from the left side of my throat too(which my left tonsil is also permanently swollen). i’ve been having this problem since i was really young, im going to the doctor to see what he has to say. oh yes have any of you had mono?
oh and also they aren’t coming from the back of my throat, they are coming from the cavity just above my left tonsil, if i press against the tissue they will squeeze out, gross
I am happy to come across all of this info on exactly what I have had for years. I thought it was kinda weird but am more comforted to know that I am not entirely alone. I am a 35 yr old male and have had these symptoms going back to at least a teenager. It is somewhat more frequent now but sometimes not at all. I thought maybe tonsil related or maybe cramming too much food in and having it get stuck, but it always seemed to come from within and smell horrible as described. (Barf). I know that my mom has the same thing so maybe it is in the genes (boy thanks). I will try the salt water and see if that helps. I do sometimes use listerine but will try and do it more regularly. I will keep looking and let everyone know if I find any good info. The internet is awesome!!! Thanks all.
I work for a doctor and we had a patient with these symptoms. As I listened to him tell me what they are, I am thinking to myself, I have the very same thing. He informed me that she had Cryptic tonsils. Little pockets in her tonsils that food gets stuck in when you eat due to the muscle contractions when you swallow. The food then rots, leaving you with what he calls fetid breath. Which means smells like feces. He informed me that the only way to get rid of these is to have your tonsils removed. That’s what I’m going to try to get done. Hope this helps.
that’s so funny
i’ve been getting those damn things for so long.
me and my friend have just named them poop balls because they smell like shit. our boyfriends think we’re nuts and they probably get them too, they’re just embarassed to say anything.
anyways i’m glad someone came forward and admitted they had the same thing so now all of us don’t think we’re the only ones with shit in our tonsils.
I feel soo relieved to find other people with this problem. Had it for a little over a year now- age 22. However a litte saddened that to fix it is an expensive tonsil operation. Are we sure this is the solution? Does anyone know how much a tonsilectomy costs?
Man, this message board is really popular. I just found all these sites that want hundreds of dollars for some nasal spray… who can afford that? Then I read that you can just gargle salt water 3 times a day. I think I’ll give that a try…
Good luck to all the stinkers out there!
yep, me too… stinky white things in my throat. i was surprised when i so easily found something when i searched for “throat chunks.” the first time i saw one in my throat was about a month after i got over a bacterial infection and assumed i was getting another one, so i called the university health center… they informed me that unless i had any other symptoms, it wasn’t anything to worry about… “sometimes food just gets stuck in there… it’ll go away.” sure enough, about 9 months later (!!) i randomly coughed and this huge nasty white ball came out… anyhow, i’ve had them regularly now for the past year or so. i’ve found that rinsing with mouth wash makes them come out a lot sooner. i do think it’s just nastified chunks of food stuck in the folds of my throat… maybe my throat skin has more folds now as a result of that infection? i don’t know… just a thought. hopefully they don’t get worse!!
I’ve had this also for a few years. When I was young I had many throat infections and it caused my tonsils to become very scarred resuliting in folds and such. When I talked to someone about it one time they told me it was mucous that gets in the folds of your tonsils and dries there as you breathe resulting in the white particles. Not sure if that’s the case though.
AMAZING! Here I thought I was some kind of freak with these “stink balls”! Thank God for this site! I feel like the Michael Jackson song “You Are Not Alone”! I have tried numerous things to rid them to no avail. A doctor once told me they were caused by chunks of food getting caught in the folds. WHATEVA! I just want to get rid ride of ’em for good. I ususally have them only on the left side. To get rid of them (temporarily) I use this “rig up” of an ink pen tube, the end opposite the ball point, not the actual pen casing (Scripto seems to work best!:). I lift the fold of skin and insert the open tubular end into the pocket and extract the funky chunks inside the tube opening, no touching/squishing/smelling at all! Of course I had the bleeding throat thing for a while coupled with an initially sensitive gag reflex. Now I have become quite de-sensitized & no more bleeding. I usually conduct this procedure at least 3-4 times/week and always use Listerine. Recently, I have pressed my luck and modified my surgical extraction tool by inserting an a straightened hair/bobby pin (with the ball pulled off both ends) into the tublar opening of the pen, leaving a pointed wire like protrusion to extract the little finky wonders. This seems to work even better than before as seemingly the smaller the extraction tool, the smaller the gag reflex. This approach is quite risky as you could puncture your throat, as such it requires a steady hand and a flashlight. Hope this helps someone! Who’d ever think anyone could ramble on & on about such a quirky topic………
AMAZING! Here I thought I was some kind of freak with these “stink balls”! Thank God for this site! I feel like the Michael Jackson song “You Are Not Alone”! I have tried numerous things to rid them to no avail. A doctor once told me they were caused by chunks of food getting caught in the folds. WHATEVA! I just want to get rid ride of ’em for good. I ususally have them only on the left side. To get rid of them (temporarily) I use this “rig up” of an ink pen tube, the end opposite the ball point, not the actual pen casing (Scripto seems to work best!:). I lift the fold of skin and insert the open tubular end into the pocket and extract the funky chunks inside the tube opening, no touching/squishing/smelling at all! Of course I had the bleeding throat thing for a while coupled with an initially sensitive gag reflex. Now I have become quite de-sensitized & no more bleeding. I usually conduct this procedure at least 3-4 times/week and always use Listerine. Recently, I have pressed my luck and modified my surgical extraction tool by inserting an a straightened hair/bobby pin (with the ball pulled off both ends) into the tublar opening of the pen, leaving a pointed wire like protrusion to extract the little finky wonders. This seems to work even better than before as seemingly the smaller the extraction tool, the smaller the gag reflex. This approach is quite risky as you could puncture your throat, as such it requires a steady hand and a flashlight. Hope this helps someone! Who’d ever think anyone could ramble on & on about such a quirky topic………
Okay, I had commented weeks ago, on my experience, but just pulled the site up to show one of my friends who suffers from this mysterious ailment. We’re VERY curious about something. Several people have said that they only have these on the left side of their throat and me and my friend have the same problem. What does this mean? Does anybody know?
Well, like everyone I swore I was dying when I saw these crappy things attached to my tonsils…mine though are only attached to the RIGHT tonsil. Since I have a minor toothache on the left side of my mouth, I favor my RIGHT side when eating. I wonder if it’s that. Do you guys who have the “smelly balls” more on your LEFT side, favor your LEFT side when chewing?? Don’t know for sure, just a thought. Besides poking them out w/ Q-Tips…I have an impressive gag reflex!…is there anything else anyone can suggest to do to them…aside from salt water? And should the water be WARM?? I know that if I sneeze real hard sometimes they come flying out! GROSS! Also, I see one in the back of my tonsil (my tonsil is enlarged by the way) and then like two little spots on my tonsils…Are you guys plagued w/ little white spots on the frontal surface of the tonsil? Are these “smelly white balls” in the making?? HELP!!
Well, I finally did my search for “throat chunk” and found you! For years I have been digging these gross things out with a Q-tip. Every night my husband yellls from bed to the bathroom “Are you doing surgery?” The disgusting answer is yes. I can taste the smell of them and it is so gross…and even grosser to wake up to. I am glad that it is a common thing but I wish there was a cure. I guess I am going to head to the ENT and request that they take my tonsils out. I have been dealing with this for about 20 years and it stinks! I’m glad I’m not alone though.
i am so glad that i am not alone i have been dealing with this for a while and i cry writting this . It is something i am going to have to live with and i am going to try and make it apart of my life. i really thought that i was alone. Thank You