POST TONSILLECTOMY SURGERY AND ACUTE EAR ACHES

i am on day 8, and on a scale of 1-10 i am at an 8.5 right now, yesterday and the day befor i was at a 10, it was unbearable, i cried and i refused to eat anything cus everything hurt, and even water hurt, i was hospitalized last night cus i kept throwin up all day and i was throwin up stmache acid and blood, oh it was aweful, honestly i regret it, id rather have strep throat every other week than this, this feals like giving birht out of your mouth. today is much better cus i was on Iv fluids till about 2am and i have been eating (well drinkin) turkey and chick broth, i find that is easy to eat, do not eat cold or hot food, room temp or luke warm is the best, i find that jello and fruit hurt really bad, and milk and icecream isnt good cus it causes nausia and i was eating pudding for the first 4 days but i read on another post board that causes nausia too so i stopped. i keep having vivid dreams about cheeseburgers and pizza, and its soo real i can taste it in my dream, but it sucks cus its only a dream. i do think days 5-8 (maybe 9 i havent got there yet) are the worst, day one i was absolulty pain free and day 2 was fine too, its so weird how this works. i find it hard to eat ramen noodles so i stopped. and i think tylonol 3 codeine works pretty good, i was on loratab and that didnt work and then i tried demoral and that made me act crazy and sleep walk and sleep talk so i got off that. but my advice to u is eat chicken broth and drink room temperture drinks like water and glaceau vitaman water is good too. for some reason i have had NO problems with my ears, ive read most ppl do, guess i got lucky. i had my antonoids (sp?) out too but idk where those are and idk if they hurt, i just know my throat hurts like hell.

hi
its 3 weeks after my op now

i am eating proper food

just taking paracetamol for pain, which is in my ear, i been to drs and she said it is prob a viral thing, from me tubes they may be blocked...........

it hurts when i swallow still on my right side mainly, which causes me ear to kill.

i am hoping to go back to work on monday, but this pain depends i just want it to go
i still cant yawn, and me tongue still hurts underneath(right side)

cazi xx

Hi Everyone, I am going on day 3 now after my tonsillectomy, and I am not in severe pain yet. I take medicine every 4 hours, and when it comes close to the 4 hour mark I feel pain in swallowing, but otherwise I am OK. I can eat mashed potatoes, etc, and I am wondering when the big pain will hit. Is it coming soon? So far, I only feel a bit of weirdness in my ears, and I am drinking a lot of water.

I am a 51-yr-old female and had tonsillectomy on 1/2/07. Yesterday, I had to go to the ER with swollen neck lymph nodes. I had them on shoulders, neck, back of head, etc. It was very painful. They did bloodwork and CT scan of neck and saw nothing but swollen nodes. Found no infection, but did put me on antibiotics and prednisone as a precaution. I go to primary doctor Monday. Anyone else experienced anything like this?

im almost 21 and i had mine out last monday, and my throat is fine but my ears are so so SO painfull i feel like if i cut them off i would be in less pain child birth was easyer than this.. i cant eat caz it still hurts even if i try eat mush because ever time i swallow my ears kill me i want the pain to stop SO bad im always wanting drinks i feel so dehydrated but if i drink once again my ears kill :-( and i dont no which one is worse needing a drink so bad that i could pass out or having the sharp pain for hrs after one mouth full all the pain killers the doc's have given me dont work. i have been given lots of sh*t for my ears but nothing is working - how long did everyones ears hurt for??

If you drink lots of water and eat all soft foods that are luke warm then you should be fine. Im going on day 6 tommarow and my pain is about a 3 out of 10. I went out and did a bunch of easy stuff today and feel fine. im def waiting 2 weeks before i try and run or do anything more intense. I hope i dont have this random pain that comes back after a week, But i think i will live through. if you want to have the surgery done, dont let all these people scare you away. If you have a good healthy body, youll recover fine and quick.

I wish doctors were more detailed in describing the pain. i am 28 and had my tonsils removed on the 25th and have been in agony each and every day. I would say the pain has gotten a bit worse each day. It hurts more at night and i dont sleep more than 2 hours at a time no matter how tired i am. i wake up with a super dry mouth. its 445 am and i cant swallow. Water, tea, soup, ices help for a few minutes. I have been taking percocets every 3-3.5 hours. Over past few days i have switched to tylenol extra strengh during the day.

My ears hurt a bit, but not as bad (or not as bad yet) as i have read. My tongue is swollen which makes it harder to swallow. i have started to cough up some mucus, small amounts of blood and what looks like tiny chunks of scab.

My doctor told me that i should expect discomfort for around a week, but i think it will last for at least 15 days...SUCKS

I had huge tonsils and a deviated septum (fixed at same time as tonsillectimy) and i feel more room to breathe in throat despite the swelling. So that is good. i am also optimistic because there will be a time when we all feel better and will be thankful we had this done...im so tired...

Hey Guys,
Im 21 years old, female, and had my tonsils out on the 24th January! The first 4 days were fine. Admittedly i felt swollen and spoke like i had a gob stopper in my mouth, but apart from that it was fine! However, the 5th day i woke up in agony! The surgeon had warned me it would get worse before it gets better, and my god, he wasn't joking! o.O

The severe pain carried on like this until about the 10th day. However, im sure it would have been much worse had i not been talking regular analgesics! I was talking paracetamol and codiene about half an hour before food, which helps, and taking diclofenac (volterol) after food. I found this worked well! I was prescribed anti biotics (amoxicillin) for 7 days as a prophylaxis, which i have read, can also help relieve pain (dont know how- just read it in a study).

I have been lucky enough to not have post operative bleeding yet...but its still possible, even much later on apparently, even if rare :-( However, on the 8th day onwards, i started to get really bad ear ache, when i yawn, talk, swallow, or sometimes it comes on spontaneously! Apparently this is quite normal also, due to all the nerves being connected between ears and throat!

One thing i will say is, no matter how painful, MAKE YOURSELF drink plenty of water! My surgeon was excellent, and explained that not eating for a few days wouldnt hurt, however, being dehydrated not only causes more pain, but prolonges the swelling! So keep drinking guys, it will make you feel better trust me!

Hope this helps someone

Vicky B

P.S AVOID - chocolate, hot drinks, anything dry (like crumbly bread-i found it sticks) and NOTHING ACIDIC! It will sting!

P.P.S A heat pack over the jaw and ear is nice when you get acute ear ache, and regular pain killers is wise, my advise is, dont not take the pain killers because you think its better, because the chances are, when the pain killer wears off, the pain control is harder to get back on top of!

And remember it will be worth it...no more nasty tonsils guys!! x :-D

Maybe the pain is measurable by the age of individual, because my daughter is 8 years old and is 4 days post-op and is fine. She has been eating and drinking a lot since she got home from her surgery which was same day in and out. She went into surgery at 11:20am and we left to come home the same day at 2pm. Some times are harder than others to swallow, particularly in the morning due to dry mouth, but overall she is absolutely herself, eating, talking, playing and fighting with her 4 year old sister. We don't know what to expect when the scabs start falling off; however, we were prepared for the worst and have seen a pleasant recovery since the surgery. :-D

Hi all,

I had my tonsil's out and my submandibular gland (saliva gland) operated on 12 February I went in for surgery at 9.40 in the morning and was coming round at about 12.30. I woke up a little bit queesy %-) but after a little while I was on the way back to the ward and feeling a little bit more with it!! When I got back to the ward I then slept for a couple of hours and woke up properly about 15.30. Didn't feel sick or anything just a bit weird.

As well as my tonsillectomy I had my submandibular gland operated to take out an obstruction and make the duct bigger so I had three stitches in this. I felt that my tongue was swolen as well as the hangy thing at the back of the mouth (between the tonsils) this was absolutly massive, it kept on touching the back of my tongue which made a strange sound when breathing.

The nurses said that as long as I eat something I could go home, so when the lady came round unfortunately she had no soup left only jelly, I ate half of this and they said that that would be ok to go home with. I was picked up at around 19.30 and went straight home. At home went to bed at about 22.30, having the anti-biotics and the soluble co-codramol. awoke at about 2.30am and then again at 4.30, had some more pain killers and went back to sleep.

All in all not too bad, I would say, try not to sleep too much during the day as night time sleep is valuable, and take the pain killers as they say half an hour before food and just before you go to sleep. Eat with your front teeth, don't yawn.

I know that some people have said that after the 6th day it gets worse but at the moment don't feel too bad, still having pain killers for the pain in my ears, and being very careful with the way I eat and also still sound like a id**t when I speak but all in all not too bad.

About smoking, the nurses said not to smoke for two weeks, the doctor said two days! I left it five days even though for the first four didn't feel like one anyway. If you do start smoking so soon again like I have just be careful to do it slowly as doing this too quickly can apparently make you bleed.

Also just so you know it is usual for the jaw and teeth to be painful. Try to eat at least one hard thing a day (eg. toast), I have just had a bit of pizza and it feels painful but soooooo worth it!!!

Reading this website prepared me for a horror story, so if you are reading the website thinking about pulling out, remember that everyone is different.

Good luck

Caroline

XD

Please Help me, I'm 17 years old and just had Tonsil, Adenoid, and Septum surgery 10 days ago. The first few days were very easy but now I am suffering a severe spike in pain. It is now day 10 and I am in ridiculous pain. It is unbearable to the point where I had to call the doctors and upgrade my pain medication. When I take the pain medication I'm fine as long as I don't swallow..... but when I do swallow I go into severe pain. Even if I drink water I go into severe pain. It feels like anytime I swallow there is a piece of glass carving away at my throat. Is this amount of pain normal? If so what's the recovery time after surgery? Is this spike of pain going to go away soon? And does anyone have any tips to help eat better and drink more water.

I haven't seen anyone ask this or have a similar circumstance:

I had my tonsils out 3 months ago (age 40). It was a breeze mainly because I was sick with strep the entire year prior to the surgery.
However, the ear pain was bad one month after, not immediately after.
I also had cuts on my tongue from the retractors and either the cuts have been infected or have grown scabs that really gag me all the time.

I have been to the ONT twice and am going back in a week but it is driving me crazy. My tongue is always dry and painful on one side. I know I am not imagining this all.

In between doctors visits I have had a terrible sinus infection and my ears pop all the time. I am on Liquibid for the congestion and Clindamyacin for the infection. This morning, nose bleeds!!!

Aaarghh. I would rather put up with the strep!

...waiting for the worst to kick in. I'm a 32 yr. old female - had my tonsils out 2/26, so I'm winding down on the 3rd day. It hasn't been too bad thus far. I had a bit of an upset stomach from the pain meds mixing with the leftover anesthesia and couldn't keep anything but water down the first day (but because I was drinking water like a fish it didn't hurt too much when I threw up). Yesterday I was ok with luke-warm watery and soft foods (mashed potatoes, rice, soup). Same today, including some deliciously ripe pears (fruit w/o the citrus pain - yay!) and small noodle pasta. I'm on two meds now: Acetaminophen w/Codeine (Tylenol generic) and Propoxyphene-N 100 (Darvocet generic), staggered at 3 hour intervals (6 hours between dosages). They keep most of the pain away except for when I swallow. The swallowing pain varies between "dear God, kill me now" and "..eh..". The last couple of hours have also brought on a low-grade fever and a slight ear-ache. But if it means never having another bout of tonsillitis again, it's worth it (so far... o.O ).

The best pieces of advice I have are as follows:

Drink water! Drink more water!! Drink water until your kidneys float!!! It really, really helps. The way I see it is I'm going to have a sore throat anyway... it's going to hurt some no matter what, so I may as well help my body out with the healing process and drink as much water as possible. After the first few sips, it doesn't hurt as much. Keep a water bottle by you at all times at night. Whenever you wake up, take a few sips. Dehydration is to be avoided at all costs.

Stagger your medication so that you're not waiting until the pain is back in full force before you take the next pill (check with your doctor to see if this is feasible first, obviously).

Get a humidifier if you don't already have one. Dry air will increase whatever throat pain you're having a 100 times (this was another problem I had in the hospital). I prefer a cool mist humidifier, but they have warm mist ones as well.

When you're ready for soft foods, try the boxed max & cheese w/o the cheese (or just buy the small noodle pasta). Slathered with butter it goes down easy and tastes good too (presuming you like pasta that is). Also, if you like fruit, try a nicely ripe, chilled pear. The cool juices are heavenly.

Lastly, I found that sleeping sitting up helped both with the pain and being able to stay asleep for more than 1/2 hour. Which is a good thing. :-)

Hang in there!

I am 18 years old and i am on day 6 im not going to lie the pain is unbearable at times all you feel you want to do is cry. The nights are the absolute worst. Cause you are not eating for drinking and your throat is so dry. I can deffinatly agree with some of you when you say that you only have 3-4 good hours durning the day. It seems to be from 3:00-7:00. It seems to be when you have rested enough to get up at this point you are starving with hunger and try to get anything down you can in that time frame. Chicken Brooth and water seem to be the easiest things for me to get down. Some times i can get down other suff like ceral if it has been in the milk for a few minute first.

The first day (the day of the surgery) was actually the easiest part i thought if that was going to be the recovery i would be fine...Wrong.... That night the pain really started to come out at this point they had be on liquid codiene every 4-6 hours so i started to take it every 4 hours but as the time went on the pain was getting worse and the meds werent working as well. So i went back to the doctors office and they put me on Morfenne. This seemed to help till about day 5 and then it didnt work anymore as the pain was just getting stronger and stronger at this point i went to the doctors and they put me on pills that i had to crush into what ever. Perkaset of some sort not to sure they exact name. The first time i tried it i was amazed the pain cleared within 2 minutes and i had a some mashed pot and stuff it was good. As of right now i can feel the pain is only getting stronger cause that one pill isnt doing as well as it did last night. I really really hope this isnt going to last for very much longer cause i dont think i can do this much longer.

Anyway hope everyone above has recovered fully i see they were posted awhile ago so i hope it healed well and things are back to normal love to hear from someone who has recovered fully to see exactly how long it took.

My ENT surgeon warned me before the surgery that this would be REALLY REALLY bad - I was so frightened in the three weeks leading up to the surgery!

I am now on Day 8 of recovery and still not seeing great results - my liquid hydrocodone has been great and my doctor extended my prescription thankfully.

However, the ear aches kicked in two days ago and they are unbearable until the meds start working. Also, my throat feels raw starting on Day 7 and even the medicine stings when going down and makes my ears hurt.

I have found that Ensure chocolate drink has been good and has given me some energy and nutrients. Also, lots of ice cream. I haven't been able to eat anything acidic, even applesauce, b/c of the stinging feeling. Any suggestions for otehr good foods?

Also, I have lost almost ten lbs in the last week and I am worried my metabolism is so slow that I will gain the weight back quickly - any tips on how to manage my weight as i gain back normal eating habits? Especially is evercise is not encouraged?