Editing Openai/692c5e6a-daac-800f-8ce0-b9c62a9fa661 (section)

=== Assistant: Think of tonsils and adenoids like the old neighborhood watch. ===
Think of tonsils and adenoids like the old neighborhood watch. In little kids, they’re important early-life security guards. In adults? They’re mostly retired and hanging around causing chaos for no reason.

Here’s the deal in plain Missouri-sense logic:

When you’re little, your immune system is still learning the world. Tonsils and adenoids help catch germs coming in through your mouth and nose, then teach the rest of your system what to do about them. That’s why they’re bigger in childhood.

But some people’s tonsils and adenoids go above and beyond—and not in a good way. They can become:

• too big (genetically)
• too reactive (always inflamed)
• chronically infected
• blocking airways
• messing up sleep
• causing sinus/ear infections
• turning into germ hotels

Eventually, the doctor says “these aren’t helping; they’re holding you hostage” and out they go.

Other people? Their tissue behaves normally. It shrinks as they get older, stops being a big player in the immune system, and just… stays out of the way. Those people never need surgery.

So it’s not that some people “need” theirs and some don’t. Everyone needed them as kids. It’s just that for some folks—usually because of genetics, allergies, chronic infections, or plain bad luck—the tonsils and adenoids never got the retirement memo. They keep acting like overgrown security guards picking fights with the neighbors.

Once they’re removed, the rest of your immune system just takes over quietly, like “finally… we’ve got this.”