Was the tonsillectomy really worth it?

CATTT · Newbie Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 3

This is to all of you who have replied about excrutiating pain. Has it been worth it?

I am a mother of 3 and have had strep 7 months in a row and repeats every year. I can go on like this or get a tonsillectomy. There is no guarantee I won't get sorethroats ever again. After reading all of the blogs I feel like I could lose either way. Did all of you fully recover?

Can anyone tell me if their throat problems have gone away. I want to know if the pain is worth it.

Thanks!

Guest · Guest

Not only did I suffer from recurrent tonsil infections, but I also had those nasty "tonsil stones" stuck in all the little crypts on my tonsils. I tried everything to get rid of these-blasting them out with a waterpik, picking them out with my fingers, coughing them up, gargling, changing my diet, etc. Nothing worked. So, I saw my ENT.

He discovered that not only did I have a tonsil problem, I also had a sinus problem. I was actually getting sinus infections due to a deviated septum and a massive concha bullosa in my left turbinate. He did tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, nasal septoplasty and endoscopic sinus surgery to correct the concha bullosa. I did this all in one sitting.

The day of surgery, the worst part was vomiting. I vomited violently for 3 sessions. The last few days, it has been the pain (with one episode of vomiting). I cut out the darvocent/percoset/vidodin and went with just the codeine and ibuprofen to lessen the nausea, and that has helped. Now, I do have very severe pain in my throat and radiating to the ears. However, I still say this is worth it.

The tonsil stones alone were inhibiting my quality of life because I always worried about bad breath. I am young and was in the dating world...and I'm also in a career path that forces me to talk frequently to other business peers. Plus, getting sick multiple times every year made me appear weak and fragile to other coworkers. I couldn't have this. My quality of life is going to be elevated exponentially for this. The pain is bad--but I think of it as a lifetime's worth of frustration rolled into one week.

Guest · Guest

no. days after surgery they found I had strep again.

Guest · Guest

tonsillectomy does not get rid of strep throat. strep throat causing the tonsils to inflame not the other way around.

SamanthaMc · Newbie Joined: 05 Jul 2007 Posts: 9

As horrible as this process is, I had strep for four months straight this year alone, and if I don't get sick as often it will be worth it.

Guest · Guest

I had my tonsils removed when I was 20 and my 10 year old is having hers removed in a few weeks. I have never regretted it.

I did not find recovery difficult or painful.

However I had mine removed because of abscesses, which were extremely painful and frequent strept. I still get strept once every other year or so? Because my daughter has had strept 7 times this year and I managed to avoid getting it I would say it has reduced it greatly.

gotmytonsillsout · Newbie Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 1

Don't do it!! I am in my fourth week. My surgery went very well.... I was down for two weeks. In the middle of the third week things started getting bad as I began coming off of the meds. I took hydrcodone. I have felt mentally inable. I feel crazy!!! I can't sleep, I keep throwing up, I keep crying. This is just full of pain and misery! I honestly don't know how much of the spins I can take. I used to get such bad throat problems that I would be down about a week every other month. At least. All I can tell you is that I have almost gone a month. I am a college student and I have not been able to attend any class. I have not been able to work. God bless my mom for lending me rent money. Oh yes, and to top all of my deliriousness... my throat still hurts... still feels clogged... This is the worst EVER!! I have withdrawn from many narcotics and hard drugs... THIS WAS NOT WORTH IT!!

Guest · Guest

I had my tonsils out last wednesday and I seem to be doing fairly well compared to most posts that I have read. (age 31) I was talking funny and had a really swollen tongue for the first five days. I am still talking funny but know that it will go back to normal in time. I have throat pain but nothing worse than what I had expierenced before. I tried to eat solids such as mashed potatoes on the third day and they went down... I then attempted almost anything including a hamburger and fries yesterday it just takes a long time and lots of water to get the food down. I think if you can be brave you can attempt to eat anything you want. I take the pain meds in the mornings to get me swallowing better and then try to stay off it most of the day. I began that on day three because I forgot to eat something with the codine and I threw up all night long. So make sure you eat something even if it is a pop before you take the meds. Throwing up is painful and aweful. I have lost 10 pounds and feel better each day (except day 3) and gum helps a lot. I have a student that is 19 and was cheering at a game the next day after hers came out and she did not sound funny at all. Don't be scared of anything except yawning and sneezing (neither of which I have fully done yet). Even the beginnings of them both scare me to death. My doc recommended that I stay on liquids the first two days and that is all I did. I drank over a gallon of liquid the first two days and it seems to help a lot. Looks as though my scabs are beginning to fall off but haven't had any major problems with them either. I had cryptic tonsillitis (with the food getting stuck and causing bad breath) and already noticing an improvement in my bad breath!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good Luck

Guest · Guest

It has been 8 months since I had my tonsil out. I almost backed out at the last minute because of all the horror stories I read on these message boards. I really isn't that bad. Yes, it hurts, but I feel that drinking water was the BEST thing I could have done. Drink it very cold. THe more you drink, the easier it gets. I think because of all the water, the scabs weren't such a big deal when they fell off. The basically just disolved. Day 3-5 were the worst for me. It took about 3 weeks before I could yawn with no pain. On day 6, I was up and cleaning out my shed and even felt well enough to tile my backsplash in my kitchen. I hated the taste of the liquid Vicoden, so I took about 2 doses per day for the first few days, then I mixed it with strawberry smoothie mix to get it down. Frozen smoothies are the way to go.

Guest · Guest

Was the tonsillectomy really worth it?

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