Post Adult Tonsillectomy

I had mine out 6 days ago - and I've been off the pain meds for a couple days now - probably could have done so longer but I had no clue why it didn't hurt cuz I was taking them right on schedule - till I slept through a dose.

I guess the scabs are getting ready to fall off because I woke with a bit more discomfort today that I have experienced for the past 4 days - still not really really painful - just like a bad sore throat. . . a little pressure in my ears but I wouldn't say pain....

I have noticed that relief is coming now from hot liquids rather than cool - but I'm still drinking G2 and powerade incessantly to keep hydrated. I have also run my cool mist humidifier non-stop. I turned it on before I left for surgery.

I don't plan on drinking alcohol for another week or so because even highly acidic juices or salty broths tend to irritate me - but I have smoked m.j. a couple of times starting on day 4 (no - I don't smoke cigs) without irritation - but I did freezer hits and held ice in my mouth when hitting the bowl.

This really isn't as bad as I expected at all - I'm up cleaning and taking short trips to the grocery and feel fine having friends over to visit - still no solid food outside of mac-n-cheese (and that's pushin' it) but it's not so bad. I'm not like a bad ass or anything either - just a normal 27 year old chic. Never experienced childbirth or any major surgery to compare this to but - my body feels great except for the soreness at the site.

I had the surgery because I had tonsil stones - oh my GAWSH those things are SO nasty - I would rather have this pain every day than that taste in my mouth and to be self conscious about my breath all of the time like I was....oh and digging those little stink balls out of my tonsils - GROSS!!!!!!!!

If you're thinking about doing it - DO IT!

i had my tonsils taken out 5 weeks ago and my throat still feels weird and it still hurts to talk. i can eat normally and i did everything the way i was supposed to. the surgery is just hard to recover from

Hi im a 24 yrs female. I had my tonsills out on the 24th. I have had tonsill problems my whole life. I have tryed to get them out ever since I was little. I just recentlly got type f strp throat. My doctor refered me to a ent. After the ent saw how large and infected my tonsills were he decided to take them out for me. The reason im writing this is because I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I had read all the differant message boards about people getting tinsillectomys and how bad they were. I did tones of research and I still was not even prepared for the surgery. Now don't get me wrong the surgery went really well. the 1st day wizzed by. But the following days have been nothing but horrid. Im on day5. I have to go to the hospital on day2 at 3:00 in the morning due to nonstop vomiting. Now I am so weak from not being able to eat that I feel dead.My ent would not give me any anti nausea meds untill today.On the bright side they do work very well. I have been drinking as much liquid as I can. I am able to eat mac and cheese,mashed potatoes and gravy and pudding. I take my loritab every four hours which does not feel lke its really doing anything. I also am so dizzy all the time. My question is has anyone had the nausea problem like me. I would think that by day 5 I would be better. The pains not that bad but being nauseas all the time is killing me. Does anyone have any suggestions to what im doing wrong or what I can do to help. I would be really thankfull. If I had known that this was going to be this bad I would never of done it!!!!!!

I'm a 28 year old male and wanted to share my experiences so far.

Day 1 - Incredibly easy, my parents were shocked at how I was wide awake and almost chatty just after a general anesthesia.

I started setting my alarm for every 4 hours at this time to take my pain meds like clock work.

Day 2 - As easy as day 1, no problems at all, eating berry applesauce, jello, slim fast, ice cream, sherbert, popsicles,tried pudding but it's so thick, rice pudding is amazing though and the rice breaks up the thickness!!

Day 3 - This is when it started to get worse. I developed a mild fever and started taking Tylenol in addition to my hydrocodone pain meds. I didn't want to eat as much and the white mucus started forming on the back of my throat. At times it began to be difficult to swallow, but just keep with the ice water and eventually it'll go down. I also allowed myself to cough a little bit as needed (mainly while trying to sleep).

That night I slept with the TV on and basically went through a waking sleep all night long. I'd wake up every 10 minutes or so and be up a few minutes and then keep falling back to sleep. I'd also make it a point to drink water whenever I was salivating or in pain or do my mild coughing routine. I "slept" for 12 hours and felt pretty rested afterwards with weird dreams.

Day 4 - Much the same as day 3, with a mild fever, but throat is better with fully formed mucus back there. I'm eating less than day one or two, but I'm thinking that tomorrow feels like soup day. I'm avoiding all scratchy foods so as not to induce any bleeding.

On day 2, I coughed and noticed a little dot of blood that went away when I chewed on some ice.

So, I'm still on my pain medicine, but am weening down a bit, from 2 Tbsps to about 1.25. I'm thinking tomorrow night I'll work down to under one and see how it goes.

So far, no ear pain, and mild sore throat considering. The mucus layer has also seemed to reduce the actual throat pain as well. No swollen uvula either, so we'll see.

Worst part now is the mild fever, but hopefully that'll stop soon I'm not taking any antibiotics due to allergy issues.

So far, the surgery hasn't been horrible and certainly not worse than I thought it would. We'll see how that changes in the coming days and I'll let you know....

Im 24 and a female. I had my tonsils out 12 days ago. My voice is very nasal and when I look in my throat my uvula is slightly curved. Has anyone else had any lingering speech issues? It was never that way before and it still hurts sooooo badly to yawn or sneeze. Its like the skin is too tight. Also still having trouble breathing and swallowing. Most food is still painful, I have to water down gatorade because even that burns. I ran out of pain meds several days ago but extra strength tylenol has been great with none of the foggy feeling that the perscribed meds cause. Ive been very lucky not to have any bleeding or vomiting the entire time but im really concerned that Im gonna have permanent changes to my voice.

Hi, I'm 15 and had my tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy done 5-27-09. Oh my, it was pure torture! After the first day home I was really regretting ever getting it done. I'm sixth day post op and right now I'm doing pretty good. My mouth won't open very far without being in severe pain, Anyone else have this problem? I also have to be careful when I try to chew things because the sides of my tongue still hurt and they still have the indent from the clamps lol. I quit taking the pain meds that they prescribed 2 days ago. For some reason the guy decided to give me pills when i asked for liquid, but anyways my mom had to crush them up for me and mix them with water and let me tell you that was NASTY. I gagged everytime I tried to swallow the stuff. My ears have been hurting quite frequently too. A few of my scabs have started to fall off and to be honest, it hasn't been as bad as some peoples' has, but that could be because I've been stocked up on fluids like it's my job. There is something that I would like to share with all of you and that is that my doctor and many other people made it seem like you wouldn't be able to eat anything solid or hard for that matter without it causing bleeding or severe pain, and contrare to that thought I've found out that as long as you can chew ok you can pretty much eat whatever you want just chew it up good and take small bites. My own personal experience is that pop tastes alot better than juice at this point, it doesn't burn like juice did. But I think that's all the information I have for now, but thanks for posting I have to admit at first I was scared to death because of everyones' horror stories. Hope everyone has a fast and successful recovery!! :-D

Lol i dont know bout u folks, but i just had a Tonsillectomy, and i still managed to destroy some pancakes. Yes, by god, be careful, but if all u think about is the pain in ur noggen, dam rights itll ruin ur day.

I'm on day five after my tonsillectomy. Reading through this forum would have convinced me to never get my tonsils out. Some of the stories you all are sharing are pretty scary, albeit far fetched.

I'm a 27 y/o male. My doctor told me prior to the procedure that healing was like a bell curve. Things would seem to get progressively worse before they got better and I should start to see improvement by 7 days and later. I'm on day 5 after the surgery and yes I am in the most pain today that I have been yet. The pain is manageable however. I'm taking percocets regularly every 4 hours and as needed. Without the meds, the pain seems to flat out throb and is very uncomfortable. With the meds, it's not that bad.

I generally eat soup, pudding, applesauce, yogurt, cereal, cream of wheat. However I did eat buffalo chicken strips and french fries on day 3 (slowly, and with water to chase it down). I'm drinking a ton of water to the point where I'm urinating so frequently it's annoying. I only find myself in the most discomfort at around 4am when the meds where off and I wake up in pain. 30 minutes later though the meds kick in and I'm sleeping again.

I'm looking forward for this to all be over, but it's not as bad as some of you are making it out to be.

I'm glad to hear that the procedure went well for you but do bear in mind that it's difficult for some other people based on other complicating factors so I wouldn't say that it's far fetched. I'm glad that it went well though! Can you give us an update on how you're doing?

Hey hey..

I think I have read 2883307 + posts from various people, prior my tonsillectomy and during my recovery (I'm on Day 10 post op). Some helped (good info/advice/ success stories)- some didn't (horrible recoveries, bleeding, complications etc), lol. So I thought I'll write a post on my experience and hope it can help others in a positive way!

Days 1-3 of post op were very very deceiving- meaning that I 'assumes' that the first few days are the worst and that things will/can only get better from there - WRONG!! I stayed in hospital for the night. I found that after I woke up I actually felt ok, sure I felt sleepy/out of it from coming to from the op and anaesthetic etc. But after op at the hospital for dinner I had baked pasta and pinepple juice and diced fresh fruit- I couldnt believe it. The next day for brekkie I also had some solid food but it was a bit painful- I left the hopsital thinking that getting my wisdom teeth out was a more painful recovery. Oh and I drank water like there was no tomorrow during my hospital stay too.
I felt that the next few days I had to slow down on solid as it became more painful to swallow- but I was still trying to eat them and forcing them down as my doctor said try to eat as normal as possible and drink ALOT of water all the time.

Days 4-6 of post op was not easy- my throat and wounds where my tonsills used to be were very very sore- I had alot of mucus building up- swallowing this mucus/spit was so hard and expelling it i.e.getting it out of my throat/sinus was EVEN harder/more painful. I kept expelling yellowy/greenish sometimes even brownish phlegm, so I got a bit paranoid, thought that I might have an infection, but I was taking my 7 day anti-biotic course religiously. So I thought I'll stick it through, stop being paranoid and ignore that a bit, atleast until my follow up appointment with my surgeon, if that didnt decrease/go away. I had a bit of a temperature every now and then, it was hard to eat- so I stuck to soups, jelly and water.

Days 7-9- OH MY GOD! These days were almost unbearable- I took more pain killers these days then I did at any other stage. My throat was killing me. I think this is when the scabs were coming off. But all I know is that, I was in tears many times during this time. I could not eat at all- water, water, water, water...uhmmmm did I say water?? Soup which was left to cool down to just below temperature was something I also 'ate'/drank. To best describe what my throat felt like would be; imagine u have glass right? You smash it into 298347 tiny pieces, then you try to swallow them in one big gulp and it all gets stuck in your throat and your tonsil sockets for days! I'm getting scared just thinking about it now. Everything I drank or tried to eat was extremely painful. I felt as though I would choke several times. But towards the end of day 9- things started to feel better- I could actually feel scabs coming loose and off through out the day and the less white scabs there were left the less pain I realised.

Day 10- Which is today, it's nearly midnight now, so almost day 11. But this morning I woke up- looked at my throat and no more white scabs at all- they are all gone, my throat is red but a bit sore- feels as though I have a bit of a sore throat. I have stopped my pain meds as I feel i dont need them any more. I can drink normally and eat pretty much anything. Sure some things require more chewing, taking down with water, but I'm in heaven compared to the last three days. I saw my surgeon earlier today, he had a look and said that everything looks great, that he's impressed with my recover and that I've been a good patient (not sure what that means), hahaha.He also mentioned that a tonsillectomy is easily one of the painful surgeries- I can whole heartedly agree with that!

At the moment, I feel pretty good and Im confident that I'll recovery will only get better from here, I don't feel as though I'll have another pain equipped suprise few days or anything like that. I can speak, eat, drink. I am a bit tired though- not suprised I was waking up each night to drink water or cause of the pain, so my body is a bit tired, so I need a nap every now and then. I'm also due to go back to work in 3 days, so I'm trying to sleep/rest as much as possible!

So, my over all suggestion is- take your anti-biotic course religiously until the course is finished- so you can prevent infection/more bacteria. I did, not only because I feel that it helped me, but also to avoid thinking if an infection came on later 'damn, I could have prevented that if I took my anti-biotics'. Take the pain meds when necessary- don't over dose i.e. take too many for no reason/become dependent on them, take them when YOU need them. I found myself thinking/feeling some pretty weird things when I was on them, lol- but they did help- especially before eating. Also, when ever you eat or drink something other then water- I brushed my teeth straight after and gargled salt water (wanted to keep the area clean regardless of how painful it was to gargel the salt water).

I'm not going to lie during days 7-9 of my recovery, I honestly thought 'what on earth have I gotten myself into? This is SO not worth it!' But now that I've overcome that, I feel as though it was the right thing to do- remembering that I didnt want to get them out for fun- I'm sick of tonsilitis too many times per year and it hindering my life in so many aspects. I'm like 173cm and weighed 63kg and I think I've lost like 5kgs, so I'm like 58kg now- but I'm sure I will put it all if not more back on soon, cause I am a BIG BIG eater and I've been craving for too many things to even mention, lol.

1- Drink water religiously- as though tomorrow you will not get a glass of water. The more the better!!! It helps with healing/pain so so much.
2- Try to eat as normal as possible- the food scraping the throat/scabs will help with healing.
3- Keep area clean- i.e. brush after food and gargel salt water- it may hurt, but it's positive pain i.e. cleans the area.
4- Finish your course of anti-biotics/take pain meds when necessary- different people, different level of pain tolerance.
5- Oh and 'You get to eat alot of ICE CREAM to help with recover'- biggest BS I have ever heard, lool, Ice cream is disgusting during recovering- gooey in the throat, too thick, painful cause it was a bit too cold and as you know your breath won't be the best after the surgery so it made the breath even worse as it's dairy! =S. So stick with ice blocks- water based ice- not dairy.

SO SO SORRY that this post is SO SO LONG- but I thought I'll do my bit for the tonsillectomy community, lol, tell of my experience, advice, views. So if it can help or give at least 1 person a bit of info, piece of mind, I'll be happy =D.....

All the best for those who will have it done or who are recovering, won't lie it will be painful- but I think it'll be worth it! Mind over matter and try to stay positive ;-)!

N

I had mine tonsils and adenoids removed yesterday. my doctor told me that it was fine to have soda, btw. but, i am also an 18 year old female. i am having little to no problems with recovering. i am eating mashed potatoes, popcicles, puddings, applesauce, jello, gatorade, and soda already. my advice which is what my doctor told me, the sooner you start eating foods closer to solid foods....the easier and faster you'll be up and about.

I am 23 years old and I had my tonsils taken out a week ago....The pain is unbearable....expecially at night and in the morning. I haven't eaten in like 6 days....and I have lost 12 pounds. If you can't handle pain that well then i sugest that you do NOT have this done....I cry everynight and every morning. Now I can handle pain ok....I had a c-section and that was fine and my gallbladder taken out and that was a breeze and then my wisdom teeth too and that is on the other end of the spectrum comparred to this. Please....if I can save anyone the pain for this than i would be happy.

I am 26 years old with sleep apnea and ridiculously large tonsils. I had a tonsillectomy on 4/12/11, just over a week ago, and I am now in minimal pain and the scabs are nearly gone. Everyone had told me that I was going to be in a good deal of pain with what seemed like a high likelihood of bleeding, however, the whole thing really wasn't that bad. I had a great surgeon who used a harmonic scalpel to do the procedure which she said really minimizes the amount of damage done to surrounding tissue therefore it makes recovery significantly less painful. I had minimal pain because of the meds immediately post op so I was able to get home and get a good amount of water down along with a bowl of soup. 

I had my tonsillectomy on July 19th 5 days later.. I have been eating solid food since day 3. It is not bad at all. I mean to be honest the pain with the pain meds IS NOT THAT BAD. It is "uncomfortable" if anything. From eating bread and other whole foods my scabs have almost entirely came off. Last night at 2 am there was the most pain since the whole thing started, I had some bleeding and the majority of my scabs fell off during my sleep. Overall this experience has not been bad. I have ate a ton of popsicles. My secret*** or my sisters who nursed me to health was primarily making mixing about 8 ounces of gatorade with a  ton of ice and blending it up. I pretty much had ice in my mouth the whole time which kept mt throat nice and moist and reduced swelling. The other uncomfortable thing was my uvula became so swollen it was sitting on the back of my tounge and made me feel as if i was gagging. Overall just remember your not gonna feel great but do not feel apprehensive it is literally the fastest couple days of your life. Just pick out some good shows on netflix or hulu and watch some new series :) bet of luck

The absolute best part about my tonsillectomy is that I am having vivid dreams again. My tonsils were blocking my air during my sleep and preventing deep sleep. I literally forgot what it was like to dream and love sleep and feel refreshed. Getting your tonsils out is the best decision you will ever make!!!