For me personally, getting my voice back to normal was a gift

Where — and what — are adenoids? Adenoids are a soft patch of tissue really high up past your throat, behind your nasal passage. It’s basically between your nose and your throat (you know those are connected, right?). You can’t see them without specialized instruments. They are part of our immune system and help to keep out bacteria and viruses that enter through our nose or mouth.

Why do people get their adenoids removed? The adenoids can get enlarged and swollen, blocking the airways and causing various complications such as mouth breathing (which causes other problems, too long for this page), constant congestion, ear infections, sinusitis, voice changes (sounding like we always have a stuffed nose!), snoring, sleep apnea (which is really unhealthy), runny noses, and other really not-cool symptoms. Most kids who need to get their adenoids removed have it done at a young age, but this can happen in older kids — even teens — and necessitate adenoid surgery when older.