Sore throat and tonsillitis, recurrent and obstructive

Possible causes: throat pain can be of viral origin or bacterial origin.  With the pain due to a virus, treatment is Tylenol and/or Advil and waiting for the virus to resolve. Antibiotics do not help viral causes of throat pain. Pain of bacterial origin can cause the throat to be painful and cause tonsillitis; if the exact bacteria is known, like strep, it is called strep tonsillitis.

Treatment is with antibiotics.  If the tonsillitis is frequent (recurrent) like 2 - 3 times per year, then a tonsillectomy is indicated.  If the tonsils become large and stay large and cause problem breathing at night and apnea occurs, then a tonsillectomy is recommended.