RECOVERY AFTER TONSILLECTOMY IN ADULTS

Guest · Guest

I am 41 years old and now five days post op. This has been the worst nightmare of my life. It did not help that any meds would not stay down. I was vomiting, up until yesterday all the liquids I would take in. I look like death and feel even worse. Every time I try to drink it washes up my nose and out and the pain is beyond anything I could imagine. I have had five kids, so I thought I was very tough...NOT!!! So much for the fairy tales of Popsicles and ice cream...NOT!! I am so weak and tired. I did not throw up at all today, which I am certain this has contributed to my slower recovery. Throwing up was like ripping out my throat all over again. I have lost about 10 pounds which is no way to lose weight. I wish this were easier. I am now slowly able to suck on ice chips. It's very hard to even open my mouth. Ugh!!

quote="36 year old female"]Reading through these post it becomes quite obvious that the old adage is true that this surgery is harder on you the older you get. With few exceptions it is the 25 and under crowd that breeze right through this surgery.
I have had two children and horrid labor and would do it ten times over than go through the last 5-6 weeks.
Who knows if the super hydration method would have lessened the pain but even water was excrutiating to get down. I could only do ice chips for nearly 3 weeks! I was on pain meds into week 5! I am going into week 6 and while the pain is mostly gone I have lost some sense of taste . As odd as it sounds I am also dealing with learning to speak a little differently. The best way of describing it is like I am attempting to speak with a spoonful of peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth. When I drink liquids, it tends to ride up into the nasal passages. I wish I had been aware of these after effects prior to the surgery. I may have deceided against it.[/quote]

Guest · Guest

ahhh I'm terrified reading these stories Shocked

. I'm 26/ f and am going to have a tonsillectomy with possible adenoidectomy on nov 1st in a Fort Worth, Tx hospital. I'll keep y'all updated. Did most of you have it done as a day surgery or how long did you stay in hospital for? did you get sedation before the anesthesia?

Thanks and good luck to anyone else,

Kat

Guest · Guest

So the first few days were the pits... i slept through everything. i dont remeber doing much of anything. No that im on day 5 i feel like i have a false hope. I keep hearing how when the scabs fall off i will get this enourmous amount of pain...

other than that i just want to know when most people start to talk like normall again. right now i can only word out some phrases without keeling over in pain. :::sighs::: Sad

hopefully this will start getting better soon, like in the next few days. (trying to be optomistic)

Guest · Guest

hello all, i am a 22 y/o female that just had my tonsills out today... after one stright year of swollen tonsills that would not go down,those nasty stones, and problems with my ears i decided to have them just taken out. i requested a week off, but now i don't know if that was enough time. it hurts so bad, that i dont know what to do.. my doctor gave me augmentin and tylenol#3 both elixers thank god, but i am just getting an overly dry thoat no matter what i put in my mouth. but i do have one question on what to expect with the scabs??? Embarassed

Guest · Guest

My husband is 53 years old and just had tonsillectomy, and septoplasty, and trimmed the pallate on 10/31. He keeps coughing when he drinks anything (even taking sips of water). He said it feels like he's choking because it takes a second for the water to go all the way down. Lots of mucous coming up (probably anesthesia related, maybe) Complains of dry mouth. Any suggestions would be most helpful.

JCar793 · Newbie Joined: 08 Nov 2007 Posts: 1

I had surgery back in February of 2007 and actually wound up in the hospital again back in May from experiencing an abcess infection due to the removal of my tonsils. It is now November, and am still experiencing throat soreness which I feel relies solely on the surgery. Any advice or opinions on what the case of this may be?

preemiemom · Newbie Joined: 10 Nov 2007 Posts: 4

preemiemom · Newbie Joined: 10 Nov 2007 Posts: 4

Guest · Guest

I too almost canceled mine due to all these horror stories. After my surgery - I sucked down some orange slush and water - I came home and made oatmeal at that took some medicine and went to sleep. Woke up a few hours later and made a huge thing of frozen mashed potatoes from Bob evans - these were great, just had to be warm and mushy to eat. I made some jello and ate a bunch of popsicles.

Last night I did get some shooting pains in my throat but kept forcing myself to drink water and eat chicken noodle soup and I felt much better. Late last night I couldn't talk either.
Its just hard to laugh(no more watching comedies for me) and I had to cough and that hurt pretty bad.

But seriously, I woke up today and felt much better - I had more soup, water, and popsicles and I can talk a little more. We'll see if I get the crazy pains tomorrow.

okacr · Newbie Joined: 15 Nov 2007 Posts: 1

I am on day 10 of post op. I'm 24 and have had tonsil problems my entire life. My tonsils were enlarged and "cryptic" meaning they had places on them that were easily susceptible to bacteria. I had my surger on November 5. The first day was actually alright, I slept most of the day and was able to drink water and tea at room temperature. Days 2 and 3 were a little bit worse. Most of the time I was able to get applesauce and other brothy soups down. My was at home with my parents they had to crumble my medicines into whatever I was eating. I was on hydrocodone, tramadol and ibuprofen.

Days 4-8 were MISERABLE. Mornings were the worst. I did end up spitting up a very small amount of blood on the 5th or 6th day. It was in the morning and I was a little scared. I drank a glass of water and then was very gentle when swallowing. I didn't bleed to death or pass out so I'm assuming that it wasn't a free flow of blood. My doctor said anything more than about 2 tsp. is alright, but if it's more you should call the doctor.

Every morning through Day 9 or so, I would wake up with the dry throat. If I tried to drink anything when I first woke up I felt like my throat was splitting and burning. Heat helped on my ear and jaw pain. If you're having ear pain and don't have one of those heatable bags that are filled with corn or beans, try wrapping a damp cloth in plastic wrap microwaving it for about 2 minutes, then wrap that in another dry cloth (I used a dishtowel) hold that just below your ears on your throat, until the heat goes out of the cloth, then you can microwave it again if you need to. I found that it eased the pain in the mornings.
Day 10 is alright. I actually slept through the entire night. I woke up with a dry throat and was in a small amount of pain. that dissipated through the morning. I still have a place in my throat that is pretty sore and causing the ear pain. The days are getting better, my voice still sounds as though I am a deaf person...

All in all I will say that reading old posts from the original thread helped to realize that I am not crazy and that the pain is very real. If you are planning to have this surgery or you have already had the procedure I wish you good luck and hope you have a speedy recovery. I feel like I am slowly getting better so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

RECOVERY AFTER TONSILLECTOMY IN ADULTS

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