Funny-tasting food after tonsillectomy?

I am 23.

 

My mum and I have been fighting for YEARS to get my tonsils out because of issues with swallowing, swelling, and tonsil stones. My new Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor said that this surgery will most likely take care of my ear-pain (no ear infections) as well. BONUS!

 

I had my tonsils out May 21st. I have had many surgeries with barely a problem; doctors have told me that I heal very well/fast, but this one has been hard on me because you have to swallow and that was of course painful.

 

My surgeon said to stay away from acids like tomatoes, to swallow, swallow, swallow because it promotes the healing process and said that day 5/6 is usually the most painful so I wouldn't think I was getting worse.

The first two weeks after surgery I only ate ice popsicles and iced the area where my jaw and neck met as well as the antibiotics and pain meds. I stayed away from ice-cream because I already have enough mucus from seasonal allergies. By the end of week two I was eating pasta and soup and lost all the scabbing (mostly unnoticed). By week three I was eating things slightly "sharp". In other words, I took it easy. 

 

When I started to eat things, other than pasta or soup, they did taste funny/odd, but not gross. 

 

I have been having issues with chocolate. The taste is not right and it makes my soft palate and the spots where my tonsils were feel funny/irritated, not painful though. I can't wait till chocolate tastes/feels like it used to.

 

It is now week 5 and I am pretty much eating normal, with normal tastes (besides chocolate! lol), and have not been in pain for about 3 weeks. 

 

I hope this info helps :-)

 

Hi im 28 years old had my tonsils removed on the 27th of September. It was the worse experience of my life. The pain was terrible. the night after the op i bleed and the nurse said it was normal. I even vomitted the morning after ( due to the anesthetic i think ) .

When they discharged me they forgot to give me anti biotics. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ANTI BIOTICS. I was in so much pain , i couldnt swallow, i as the days went pain got worse, frequent earches, couldnt sleep, chest got heavy ,started coughing, do not assume that its just a cold , its not .you do have ear aches after op but when its frequent something is wrong!!!!(COUGHING IS BAD FOR THE OP IT OPENS THE OPERATION) 1 week after the op the earaches got so painful that i felt my head was going to explode. I called the doctor, and explained the symptoms and he had asked if im taking the anti biotics , aaaand  i was like what anti bioticso.O and then he prescribed anti biotics for me. It helped with the earache but by this time i cudnt even swallow water without pain.

It was alittle late for me as my op was infected. 2weeks after the op one morning after coughing alot ( due to the chest infection ), it began bleeding continuously.... had to go to the  doctor,  he had put me on meds to close the wound. Thank god it worked or back to the operation table.

Now one month , 2 weeks after the op its still sore, but i can eat but yip there is no taste. Hoping for it to come back soon.

SO guys please make sure you get anti biotics coz that helps it to heal quicker.

 

Hi
I had my tonsils out 2 weeks ago and also had a branchial cyst removed.
Since the op nothing tastes right I have a fowl taste in my mouth all of the time it still hurts to swollow.
When I drink anything More than a few sips i get like the brain freeze feeling that you get when eating ice cream to fast .
I put the taste problems down to giving up smoking

Really pleased to read this thread. I had mine out a little over a week ago and had to go back in to hospital as I had an infection in the wounds. Obviously it's still very painful for me and everything fun to eat tastes disgusting so I'm pleased to hear other stories about peoples recovery, gives me an idea of the road ahead. Bit gutted I can't eat chocolate mind, I would have thought it was one of the best things. Conversely hot chocolate is quite drinkable. 

Hi, I dont want to scare you even more but yes it is true that you will loose your taste buds. I had my operation on the 28th November and still cant taste food until now and i dont know how long it will take before i can taste nice food again.

Hi.. I dont want to scare you nbut it is true that you will loose taste buds after the procedure. I had mine removed on the 28th November and my taste buds are still gone. Good luck

Hi,

I am 56 and had mine out 4.5 weeks ago and all food, except milk, tastes bad.  Thought about giving it up until my taste returns.

I am 50 yrs old and I am 2 weeks post surgery & everything that I eat tastes like metal or just a strange indescribable taste. I'm able to eat most foods. I love Barbeque ribs, I ordered them put a ton of sauce on them and had to end up throwing them away because of the metal taste. I pray my taste buds come back soon. I was told by my health care provider that I would be in pain but this is a different kind of pain. I was never a big eater before my surgery but now I don't eat but a few bites to nourish my body then I'm done with food. Hope this ends soon

Hey I'm starting to give up on my taste buds its been 3 months and I cant taste anything i still.......I eat hoping to taste but no luck..its depressing..:(

I would like to post something semi positive. I am now into my second week post op and would like to describe my progress thus far. I had my adenoid and tonsil removal tuesday september 16, it is now thursday september 26 and almost all scabs have fallen off! Yay :) the first day for me wasn't so rough, in fact i was just really sleepy and didn't notice too much pain. However on my 3rd day the pain was excruciating!! It would even make me cry, i would only eat soup, and baby food, i was also not drinking anything at all but water, but even the water hurt to get down my throat. My nights were completely restless and it seems the pain was worse when i woke up in the middle of the night and in the mornings, but all that was only until about the 6th day, after that i'm now eating everything i like! No food tastes the same right now, but i know it's normal. It goes away. I've eaten things like spaghetti, hamburgers, pizza, chicken McNuggets, cake, Cuban sandwiches, you name it! The only complication now is that all foods taste bland :( praying that it goes away soon, i have lost 8 pounds and will probably lose alot more because i am not enjoying food AT ALL. As for the pain it is almost completely gone, the only times of the day the pain is a little bothersome is after waking up, still don't understand why. Good luck to everyone!

Try Stouffer's mac and cheese and Kozy Shack tapioca pudding cups. Also 7up tasted really good. All three saved me. I got so tired of eating soup and ice cream. I'm now 3 weeks past the surgery, but don't have full taste yet. Some sweet things and juice taste metallic. I ate a piece of pizza tonight that didn't seem to taste as good as I remember. Hope that returns soon. I had the worst pain under the left side of my tongue. Worse than the throat actually. Hope you feel better. I also gargled every day with warm salt water and then peroxide mixed with warm water.

Omg I had it done a week ago and have severe ear pain!!! Prepare for the worst.... It's horrendous!

Im 38 and had my tonsils removed nearly 2 months ago. It took about 3 weeks before the pain went away. Now I can eat things fine, however food has lost it'a savor, I used to love mashed potatoes now they taste horrible! Another thing I should mention is having a metallic taste in my mouth nearly all the time.

Hey I'm almostt 13 and I just got my tonsils out 4 days ago, I have to say that the second day was the worst so far, everything tasted so bad like sour and bitter, the third day I tried to drink Starbucks and it tasted really bad, all I could eat/drink was water and now I'm on day four and I tried oatmeal this morning then I had mashed potatoes and then I had soup broth, the sour/bitter taste is barley there and the only time food tastes bad is after I take my antibiotics( there so bad) I got my mom to get me some Kraft Dinner, Mr.Noodles, Juice and I asked for cheese (babybells) and cookies (like the soft ones that you get from Pillsbury) and try to eat watermelon it actually tastes really good and its mostly water so yes. Here's to a speedy recovery

Did your taste ever got better/normal? I am on my 9 months and everything still taste nasty