Adult Tonsillectomy Post Op

I had the worst experience. After the procedure it was the most pain I had ever been in my whole life. I've had broken bones, torn knees, but nothing compares to getting your tonsils out. After day nine, I woke up one morning thinking I had a really bad snot drainage. I got up and spit into the trash can and it was pure blood. I went upstairs and got a bowl and bled about a pint into it until I got it stopped with cold water. The rest of the day was fine until the next night. I coughed and again it started flowing like a sprung leak in a boat, making the bathroom look like a murder scene off CSI. I eventually got it stopped, losing again a lot of blood. The next night it began to bleed again, I told my girlfriend that I need to go to the emergency room. While we were driving there I poured blood into a Tupperware container and when we got there the person at the front desk asked where the finger was? We got in quickly to the back and talked with nurses. Still bleeding they gave me bags to spit into and cold water to stop the bleeding. Eventually, I had swallowed so much blood I started throwing up what seemed like gallons of pulpy blood spattered with 1' blood clots. The doctor arrived after about 30 minutes and tried cauterizing it by chemical. It would seal and then break open. It felt like a throat swap for strep throat X100. It didn't hold and the doctor left. Still bleeding I told the nurse I'm gonna pass out. She must not have thought I was serious. I passed out backward on the bed and when I came to I had about 4 different doctors and 5 nurses. They said I needed emergency surgery to cauterize it. They gave me one blood transfusion while I had surgery and pumped my stomach of the blood. I had to stay 3 nights in the hospital and had 2 more transfusions. 3 total transfusions. That is my horror story of a tonsillectomy. Please consult your doctor about it.

How scary. Sorry you had such a bad time. Thank God I didn't have to read your post before I had my surgery. I would have skipped it altogether. Mine wasn't bad. I drank gallons of ice water from the moment I woke up from surgery until I healed. That seemed to do the trick. As long as my throat was wet I was fine.

If you are still out there, my son died 2 days after his tonsillectomy. He was 21 years old. There was not any bleeding, he died in his sleep. They say it is from the pain medication. He weighed 240 pounds and was 6'5", muscular build. He had only taken 1/2 of the dosage prescribed to him for pain. It was Oxycodone. I have discovered many people that have died this way because of the pain medication. If you think this is what might have happened to your friend, will you please contact me Thank you!

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Are you crazy?

I'm so sorry for your loss. March 16th 2017 my best friend who was 39 passed away a day after her tonsillectomy surgery. Her husband was at work and three year old son at the Grandma's. Her Dad was with her and left to run an errand while she took a nap. When he came home she was unresponsive and had blood out her nose and mouth. They tried to get her to a hospital and save her but she passed away. I am so devastated and can't believe she is gone. I had my tonsils out at 24 and had no issues. I always had someone with me though. I wouldn't have thought at that time it was life and death kind of surgery. I think for my friend it was a combination of age, bad health(sleep apnea) and thyroid issues and the misfortune of being left alone. It still may have happened but I wish I would have said make sure someone is always with you. I miss her as I'm sure you miss your friend. I hope people read these and maybe others lives will be saved.

I got my tonsils out at age 16 years old but not my adenoids. Well I'm 25 years old now and have been problems with my adenoids since March of this year. I got diagnose with adenoids enlargement and so far I've seen 4 different doctors with the same diagnosis and none of these doctors don't know what to do. I'm gonna see one more doctor on June 5th hopefully she says I can have surgery. I rlly think I need it. I want to know if I can force my doctor in doing the surgery because I'm sick of this 100 day cough, coughing up blood, and tired of taking all these meds none of them r working. So can anyone tell me wat r my rights as a patient and can I force my doctor to do surgery. Plz let me know asap

I live outside of the US, but went back to have my surgery there. I contacted an outpatient clinic that does tonsillectomies and they booked me in. I didn't need a referral from my local doctor. I assumed that, in the US, once you are willing to pay they will take you. Is this not the case?

I am a 34 year old male and I recently had a tonsillectomy and septoplasty. I am in the medical field so I did a lot of research before my surgery which helped me be prepared but also increased my anxiety. I scowered the internet and read everything as well as watched everything pertaining to tonsillectomy. I decided to go with the mentality of preparing for the worst and hoping for the best so that I would not be blindsided by the recovery. With all my preparation and understanding that I would be enduring the worst pain ever, I was still blindsided by how terrible the recovery was. Days 1-3 were not that bad mainly because the effects of anesthesia in my system combined with my ability to eat and drink made things quite tolerable. Immediately after surgery I was able to talk and eat ice chips. I slept ok during this time. I even had a humidifier setup with a mask to ensure that my throat remained hydrated and moist. Days 4-10 were days I wish I was dead at times. As the scabs harden and begin to fall off the pain becomes unbareable. I have a pretty high pain tolerance (I have more tattoos than I can count) yet this pain was something I've never experienced. I was on a combination of Percocet and ibuprofen every four hours to control the pain but the pain medicine never relieved my throat pain. My pain that I experienced when swallowing was so bad that I hardly drank any water, ate any food, or even swallowed my saliva. I did not sleep at night during this time because the pain was so bad. I would sit up in bed trying to psych myself up to swallow and the pain was just too much. I became very dehydrated and malnourished. Luckily my sister is an ICU nurse and she put an IV in me and gave me some fluids. I believe that if it weren't for the IV I would have ended up in the emergency room. These days were real dark for me and I isolated myself and really questioned if I could continue on. Days 10-14 I began to feel much better and was finally able to eat and drink with tolerable pain. The pain I felt during the rough days 4-10 felt like I was swallowing burning knives every time I swallowed. Everyone will have different experiences and recovery stories. Those who say there recovery wasn't that bad, good for you because mine sucked.

Hello fellow patients. I am about to be 32 years old and am currently a week post op from my tonsillectomy. I read up a lot before the surgeries and heard some horror stories. I like to think of myself as someone with a high pain tolerance so I just kind of said yea yea I know it's bad as an adult. Well they were right. It sucks. I luckily have not experienced any bleeding. I had my first cup of soup today which is all I've had since surgery. Ive lost 8 pounds. I've forced water down all week for fear of getting dehydrated but it's a process. Everyday I think It's got to get better tomorrow...but everyday It's unbearable pain all day. The worst is at night so I've saved my liquid narcotics just to sleep and I take 30mL of liquid Tylenol every 3 hours to get me through the day. Either medication begins to wear off in about 2 hours and then it's just pain until the next dose and even that doesn't rid you of it completely. At night I wake up usually around 3-4 hours after my dose In excruciating pain and have to take more. Hopefully there is a end in sight. I only have enough for one more dose of the narcotic and that won't get me through the night tomorrow. I just keep telling myself it's one really bad sore throat to end all sore throats.

Nooooo. You are having a surgery and don't know the surgeon? I'd be skeptical of this. Seems like a scam and poor health practice.

I agree. I'm ending day 7 and so far 5-7 have been the worst. I couldn't fathom anyone thinking this isn't that bad but If so, im glad not everyone endures it this way.

I am 27 ur old female and I got my tonsils out tues nov 21, making today my 3rd day post operation. I was prescribed prednisolone (a steroid for swelling), oxycodone for pain, and Zofran for nausea. The first two days after surgery I started running fevers which the doc said is normal. I HAVe been able to eat lightly and keep myself very hydrated with water and pedialyte popsicles. I was able to eat room temp mac and cheese and I was able to eat cut up turkey with gravy yesterday (thanksgiving). I still feel sick in my body, not sure if that’s normal. The oxycodone makes me insanely nauseas so my doc prescribed me liquid hydrocodone..which I haven’t taken yet, I’m waiting til my nausea from my morning dose goes away! My uvula is huge and my throat looks super gross and the mornings are the absolute worse. My ears hurt and I feel slightly depressed and very lethargic. Anyway, I notice pushing lots of fluids and ice pops and just regular ice is the biggest help! Even bigger than the pain meds....it hurts but the more you do it, the less it hurts because it helps the swelling and starts to numb the throat. Just relax, take your meds, and follow the docs instructions

You were not crazy or over exaggerating about your post-op tonsil pain. As an ENT nurse who instructed patients for 20+ years and watched family members go through this I really did not fully understand the difficulties of this surgery until I experienced it first hand at age 58.

I have had a C-section and other surgeries and this was by far the worst. Usually I took pain medication for 1 or 2 days post-op, 7 days with C-section, but needed 14 days with the tonsillectomy, tapering it down by day 11.

After first hand experience I am shocked they send patients home immediately out of the recovery room. They had me so drugged up that I was able to drink immediately. Knowing many nurse in recovery & OR they were shocked at how well I appeared to be doing.

Well, at home it was very different and as you described. Literally choking down pain medication struggling to breathe, waiting for med to kick in so you can begin to force the fluids to stay hydrated. Unable to talk for 3 days and still needing to rest from talking for 2 weeks. I was not able to eat for 7 days and lived on water, ginger-ale, slushies, and chicken broth. I could not sleep the first night and woke every 10 minutes gasping for air. I slept so much that I missed taking 3 whole days of antibiotics in total. Day 4 or 5, the doctor started me on steroids to reduce swelling and pain. Day 7, I had to return to work. Day 8, I called off due to pain and exhaustion and slept all day. I'm 4 weeks out and still feeling pain on one side with swallowing.

In addition, they give only Tylenol ES liquid due to all the drug addiction problems in the U.S. Patients now suffer due to drug addicts. This seems cruel and unfair and I voiced that to the doctor for the concern of all patients. This has been a very difficult recovery.

I am shocked that the doctor performed a tonsillectomy and septoplasty together. They really should have been done separately.