tonsilectomy recovery time

ostling · Newbie Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 20

Hello. I'm 20 year old male and I would like to find out more about tonsillectomy operation. I suffer from chronic acute tonsillitis fro several months now and this is troubling me every year for past three of four years. I have been to my doctor several times over this and every time I've got some antibiotic but nothing really could help me.
Just the other day I am being referred to a specialist to have my tonsils removed. I don’t know anything about this tonsillectomy operation and I would really like to find out some information. I am wondering what I can expect the recovery time to be, the amount of time I should take off work and when I will be able to go back to day-to-day activities soon?

corabella · Silver Member Joined: 07 Feb 2002 Posts: 255

I have had this tonsillectomy operation few years back when I was 18 and I can tell you that tonsillectomy tends to be a very painful operation in adults. It hurt me like hell even though I've got the anesthesia injection. It can be done in short time period and you can be home the same day.
There are almost now side effects but there are post-op risks. The main risks of tonsillectomy are bleeding, pain, and dehydration.
Dehydration can occur because of low oral intake after operation. Bleeding also could occur and the common period for it about 7-10 days after surgery because "scab" first begins to slough.
But after 15 days you should not have any more problems with it. But it is essential that you have this discussion with your surgeon.

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Jane23 · Supporter Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 470

My son also had tonsillectomy done and it wasn’t as scary as your story is.
He spent a few days in hospital before the surgery and he was given a local anesthesia. There were some post-operative bleeding. I can’t say he wasn’t in pain after the surgery but it wasn’t that tragic. I am sorry you and your child had to go through such painful procedure. Maybe you should have asked questions about the surgeon first.

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I had my tonsils out 3 weeks ago, and i am 20. It was a horrific experience, I must admit. I am still healing. At one point I did not think I was ever going to get better. It was extremely painful, horrible time for me. Everything went wrong, that seemed to be able to go wrong. I Had to be rushed back to the hosipital two days after, because of the dedydration, throwing up, I felt like I had the flu!!! Then, since I was not getting better at all, I went to my family doctor. She gave me anti nausea patches, which helped alot with that. I was still dehydrated, so she threatened me with getting more down, but it was so hard, and everything taste horrible. Then, I pushed myself to go back to classes, but I could hardly make it. I had my post op visit exactly two weeks later, and he said another week and i will be perfect, but the next day I woke up with post of bleeding. It was the 15th day after.....it was the scariest experience in the world. I thought I was going to DIE...but as you can see I am fine now, but the experience was horrible. Today is the 20th day...and i finally have begun to eat more, still not right. Everytime I eat I get a stomach ache, and severe pains. I guess because I didn't eat hardly anything while I was healing, I lost a total of 24pounds....I finally made it through a full day of classes on the 16th day after, but I have yet to make it too work. I am going to try that on monday. You feel so weak, and exhausted so quick, that its hard to get back into a routine. I also, still get a really dry throat when I talk, so i constantly have a bottle of water or something in my hand, and my throat still hurts a little, especially after I eat, or wake up from sleeping. Its a really slow recovery. My voice has changed, i sound really nasally now, I hope that goes away...but the good thing is that I feel like I can breathe now, and i don't choke anymore on food...so now that I am almost better, I don't regret having it done as much as I did. But, be prepared for a long recovery if you are an adult. I definately wasn't. My doctor also said the larger your tonsils are when they come out, means the longer of a recovery that you are going to have...I wish he told me that before the postop, I would have waited till i had more time to give to recuperation..I am so behind in college, that i don't know if theres a return..so the expereince sucked..

chris0987656 · Newbie Joined: 13 Apr 2006 Posts: 1

i would like to make a few responses to the post beginning with:
'my son has had this surgery and was
treated just as roughly by the surgeon as could get.'
I would first of all like to ask which country this operation was performed in? I ask because i have some serious doubts about the kind of healthcare that allows you to become so traumatised after such a simple operation. This is not life-threatening major surgery as you have alluded to...indeed myself and many of my family have undergone this operation...one of whom had hers removed with no anastetic or painkillers on her kitchen table (I will admit that this was an exceptional circumstance where they needed to be removed immediately, and this was many years ago before we had the medical advances available today!).
I would however like to state that i myself had a tonsillectomy eight days ago, and as i am sure you are aware if you have read up on the subject this procedure gets significatnly more painful in adulthood. As an adult, and one who had several complications including a lot of blood loss afterwards and a large suction tube being put down my throat to attempt to remove a blood clot, i was extremely glad that i was not rushed back into theatre to have the back of my throat cauterised which became an option. Fortunately i eventually stopped bleeding and now ate eight days and counting i am still in pain, have only just begun to get my voice back and eating is my least favourite part of the day.
Having undergone all that i am astounded that your surgeons cut anywhere near your son's brain, why on earth would they do this...your tonsils are in the back of your throat..what were they thinking! The only way they could have got near his brain would have been to shove a sharp impliment violently and with intent through the top of his mouth and force it into his head...why would anyone do this!!!!
I would also like to point out that surgery is a relatively violent thing...that is just how it must be, it is not intended to be the easy way out, but it is not a reflection on the surgeons themself who have merely prevented your son getting bouts and bouts of tonsilitis...which i assure you is not a plesent experience. I am currently waiting for the pain to subside...i do not however, regret for a second this procedure and certainly would not hesitate for a second to recommend it to parents, especially as the younger the children are, the less a traumatic experience it will be. I belive children are able to reture to school within a week! This seems somewhat better than keeping children cooped up in a hospital for two weeks when other patients with serious illnesses may need the beds.
Please, please write back and tell me whereabouts your child had this horrible experience, as it really should not have been such a trauma for either of you!

Brian D · Newbie Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 4

I'm almost 25 and going in for a tonsilectomy in about two & a half weeks. They have been treated (unsuccessfully) with different anti-biotics several times.

At the hospital, the results of tests show no apparent cause - disease, virus, bacterial infection, auto-immune disorder, or otherwise - for my tonsils to be swollen. However they have been swollen for the past 17 weeks.

As there is no risk of infection (my blood being clear from all the tests), it is reasonably safe to perform the operation. They prefer not to perform the operation with swollen tonsils but they can’t get them to go down. I’m on antibiotics for the next two weeks to kill anything bad in my system & try further to reduce swelling and one week for them to leave my system.

I've been told recently by others that they now encourage the eating of toast or rougher foods (instead of jelly & ice-cream) to progressively remove the outer layer of scab on a continual basis as the recovery. This, I presume, stops one large scab from forming & falling off. Does anybody know anything about this?

Are there any particular questions to ask the surgeon beforehand?

Thanks,
Brian

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OK PLEASE DO NOT LISTEN TO THE CRAZY MOM THAT DOESN'T SPELL VERY WELL!!! As long as you find a decent doctor at a good hospital you do not have anything to worry about when you get your tonsils out. Yea it kinda hurts and if you have problems with bleeding it can be a pain, but it won't kill you. Everyone has a different reaction, I for example just had surgery 5 days ago and have not taken any pain meds since the day of the surgery. I've been eating pasta since day 2 and plan to continue although I've heard warnings that day 7 is going to be worse than the previous days. ANYHOW MY ADVICE Don't go to Doctor Bubba that doesn't know about the new and improved methods of surgery and you should be fine. In my opinion when it comes to surgery and me not being conscious I want to be at the best hospital I can find in my area, and in the hands of the best doctor I can find. And if it costs a little more, IT'S PROBABLY WORTH IT! I mean they are cutting into you so go the safe route instead of being sorry later.

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Hi, I am a 20 year old adult male, who 5 days ago had his tonsils and adneoids out. When they finished my operation the doctor told my parents that I had abnormally large tonsils and that the recovery will be more difficult than most of his patients. So far I can still barely eat anything, drink anything. Very hard to eat macaroni. I am just sticking to yogurt. This has caused me to lose 8 lbs so far. Be very careful, I am amazed I have not had to go back to the hospital for dehydration. Try to drink as much as possible even though it is extremely hard to do.
In general, if you are not a kid, having your tonsils out is going to hurt more. So far this has been an extremely painful operation and recovery. I still can barely talk, but I know that the pain I am in now will be worth it.[/i]

HadATonsillEctomy · Newbie Joined: 30 Jun 2006 Posts: 1

Hi I am a 21 year old female and I had my tonsils out exactly two weeks ago, I have had numerous strept throat infections and some have even sent me to the hospital because my throat completely closed up. Anywho, my surgeon warned me how painful the surgery would be but after weighing the options I decided to have it done because you never will get an infection again.

The surgery only took a half an hour and I was in the hospital for about 5 hours total. The first day wasn't bad for pain, I was given percocet for pain and an antibiotic called Keflex. The second and third days were the worst for pain because I could not eat or barely drink. I am not very tolerable for pain so I had to crush my percocet up and take them with applesauce. I ended up back in the hospital on day 2 from dehydration and vomiting everything that went down. I spent the night on IV fluids and was given Reglan for the nausea and some Morphine for the pain. On days 4-7 I had to resort to drinking thickened apple juice because I was choking on think liquids. But, by day 8 I started drinking regular liquids and started eating macoroni and noodles and soups.

Now on day 14 I can eat almost everything, except for crunchy foods like chips and such, I would not recommend eating milky foods like ice cream, pudding, and yogurt because they make you very flemmy and it makes you feel like you have to keep swallowing. I am going back to work tomorrow and I feel good to do so. I would recommend two weeks for a full recovery and lots of rest. The first week you may get restless nights of sleep because of uncomfortable pain. It's a good idea to have ice packs handy that helps with the pain if you apply an ice pack to your throat. Your voice is going to change for a while also but it will go back to normal and it may seem like you can never eat again but don't worry you will.

A humidifier is also good while sleeping, it keeps your throat moist. And don't worry if your throat looks all white, it's suppose to, those are the moist scabs, it means it's healing. I didn't have a bleeding problem with my scabs falling off but just take it easy on what you eat. Don't jump into crunchy foods right away start soft and gradually progress. Even after two weeks I still won't do potato chips and it still hurts to swallow at times. The pain will get better I stopped taking the percocet after 8 days. It is always the most painful in the morning but the pain gets better as the day goes on.

The pain isn't fun at all I will admit that and it is still there but at least it is bareable now. For the first days it may seem like the pain will never end but it does get better. So good luck with the surgery.

tonsilectomy recovery time

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