Karen,
You'll be okay, but you might really want to consider a bit more leave. I am 7 weeks post-op and life is getting back to normal. I too had a GIANT tonsil-just one side was permanently huge. It didn't really make a 'bigger' hole, so don't worry about that. I do think there has been a little more tension in my throat in the final healing because of it, but not really that painful.
Also, I didn't lose weight until about day 7, and the 6 pounds that I lost came back as 5. I don't think you need to worry about gaining back weight. If anything, this surgery will change your eating habits to some small degree. I've included a post I put up from 3 weeks post-op about my story (esp. trying to not take off too much time from work.). Good luck. You'll do just fine.
"I thought I should put up my 'not deathly scary' tonsillectomy information for those who are scared. I was too. Surgery (coblation for tonsils and adnoids) was 3 weeks ago (May 25, 2007).
I'm 30, I had one enlarged tonsil from many bouts of tonsillitis age 8-20. Once I went back to working indoors, the bouts started up again. The worst one in April w/fever kept me out of work for almost a week. So I saw an ENT, and scheduled surgery.
Outpatient surgery. My boyfriend dropped me off at 11am, and a friend picked me up at 4pm. This was my first surgery ever. Ask a lot of questions, it helped put my mind at ease. Good advice pre-op was to hydrate a lot the two days before, and use chapstick a lot so your lips are not dry. They did put vaseline on mine before surgery.
When I woke up, I was alert enough to recite the phone number for my pick-up ride to the doctor. I was also in the worst pain of the event, but I let the nurse know and they put some demerol in the IV and gave me some crushed ice, then an ice pack for my neck.
When I got home, I had prepared w/ Jello, styrofoam cups, straws, etc. If there's anything you forgot to do, try and do it when you get home--that's the best day for a few days. My mouth was sensitive to sugary things, so not too many popsicles, and I mixed gatorade w/ water to help keep electrolytes up. I thought I had bitten through my tongue because it was SO swollen, but the swelling decreased after a day or two, and I found out the 'cut' was from a clamp they use during surgery.
Keep ahead of the pain is true and it's not so bad. Be prepared to try and eat a little cream of wheat or soup, pudding, or something w/ meds (chicken broth is good). I did have to force it a few times in the middle of the night. Liquid amoxicillin was like a treat because it was cool and creamy when it slid down. (Unless you have someone to do it for you, have your pain med prescrips called in the day before surgery so you have them there when you get home.)
I did end up being one of the 2-3% of people that bleeds. JUST REMEMBER that they can stop it and they can fix it. My scabs healed too quickly and were coming off on day 6 post-op instead of day 10. Heres the thing: I tried to be tough and think my body would just 'heal it.' I bled a bit on day 5 and stopped it w/ some ice water swishing. It happened again on day 6, midday. I went to the doc's office and he did an in-office cautery. Not too painful. Unfortunately, my dry throat made me cough that night, and the cautery didn't stick. I ended up ice-water gargling until 6am when I called the doc. He reserved a spot for me in the ER and met me in between surgeries. I wasn't bleeding then because I had stopped it with 5 hours of ice water. It was a bit crude seeming: he used a tongue depressor and numbed me w/shots of lidocaine and then suctioned out what was there (two clots had formed from my icing) and cauterized. Everything was then numb and dry, but not bleeding, which was all I cared about.
This bleeding bit was the hardest part of my recovery, as I was strung out from not sleeping for two nights and had just been 'zapped' literally.
The thing that helped me best was having little ice packs on hand. They greatly soothed the front and back of my neck, and helped when I had some referred ear pain. I also started mild salt water gargling about day 8, and that helped a lot with morning dry mouth/throat.
At 3 weeks out, I have had a follow up appointment and am not keeping up enough with fluids. I am out of the good day/tired day/good day/tired day cycle. I've been run down about every 3-4 days now, which I take as a good sign that my body is telling me when to rest.
Doc said 2 months for the 'fossa' or tissue in the back of the throat to be done scarring and healing/re-forming.
The other good news was that after 10 days-14 days, I felt like my personality came back. I was able to decrease meds and just felt a less 'numb' disposition.
I took off two weekends and a week in between thinking it would be enough time. My GP said "NO Less than a week!" Well, after the day 6 bleeding, I took off an extra two days and did 4 hour days the rest of that week. Week 3 post-op I was able to last 6-7 hours/day and then finally back to normal in week 4. My body literally needed the extra sleep. I could feel better/healing sensations when I took time for a nap in week 2 and 3.
Everyone I've polled who had 'em out around 30 has said they were never sick in the same way again, so I hope to have the same outcome.
It's no bed of roses those first 10 days--painful even, but you do get over it and eventually block the bad stuff out. If a tonsillectomy will help you medically, do not hesitate to highly consider it."
You'll be okay, but you might really want to consider a bit more leave. I am 7 weeks post-op and life is getting back to normal. I too had a GIANT tonsil-just one side was permanently huge. It didn't really make a 'bigger' hole, so don't worry about that. I do think there has been a little more tension in my throat in the final healing because of it, but not really that painful.
Also, I didn't lose weight until about day 7, and the 6 pounds that I lost came back as 5. I don't think you need to worry about gaining back weight. If anything, this surgery will change your eating habits to some small degree. I've included a post I put up from 3 weeks post-op about my story (esp. trying to not take off too much time from work.). Good luck. You'll do just fine.
"I thought I should put up my 'not deathly scary' tonsillectomy information for those who are scared. I was too. Surgery (coblation for tonsils and adnoids) was 3 weeks ago (May 25, 2007).
I'm 30, I had one enlarged tonsil from many bouts of tonsillitis age 8-20. Once I went back to working indoors, the bouts started up again. The worst one in April w/fever kept me out of work for almost a week. So I saw an ENT, and scheduled surgery.
Outpatient surgery. My boyfriend dropped me off at 11am, and a friend picked me up at 4pm. This was my first surgery ever. Ask a lot of questions, it helped put my mind at ease. Good advice pre-op was to hydrate a lot the two days before, and use chapstick a lot so your lips are not dry. They did put vaseline on mine before surgery.
When I woke up, I was alert enough to recite the phone number for my pick-up ride to the doctor. I was also in the worst pain of the event, but I let the nurse know and they put some demerol in the IV and gave me some crushed ice, then an ice pack for my neck.
When I got home, I had prepared w/ Jello, styrofoam cups, straws, etc. If there's anything you forgot to do, try and do it when you get home--that's the best day for a few days. My mouth was sensitive to sugary things, so not too many popsicles, and I mixed gatorade w/ water to help keep electrolytes up. I thought I had bitten through my tongue because it was SO swollen, but the swelling decreased after a day or two, and I found out the 'cut' was from a clamp they use during surgery.
Keep ahead of the pain is true and it's not so bad. Be prepared to try and eat a little cream of wheat or soup, pudding, or something w/ meds (chicken broth is good). I did have to force it a few times in the middle of the night. Liquid amoxicillin was like a treat because it was cool and creamy when it slid down. (Unless you have someone to do it for you, have your pain med prescrips called in the day before surgery so you have them there when you get home.)
I did end up being one of the 2-3% of people that bleeds. JUST REMEMBER that they can stop it and they can fix it. My scabs healed too quickly and were coming off on day 6 post-op instead of day 10. Heres the thing: I tried to be tough and think my body would just 'heal it.' I bled a bit on day 5 and stopped it w/ some ice water swishing. It happened again on day 6, midday. I went to the doc's office and he did an in-office cautery. Not too painful. Unfortunately, my dry throat made me cough that night, and the cautery didn't stick. I ended up ice-water gargling until 6am when I called the doc. He reserved a spot for me in the ER and met me in between surgeries. I wasn't bleeding then because I had stopped it with 5 hours of ice water. It was a bit crude seeming: he used a tongue depressor and numbed me w/shots of lidocaine and then suctioned out what was there (two clots had formed from my icing) and cauterized. Everything was then numb and dry, but not bleeding, which was all I cared about.
This bleeding bit was the hardest part of my recovery, as I was strung out from not sleeping for two nights and had just been 'zapped' literally.
The thing that helped me best was having little ice packs on hand. They greatly soothed the front and back of my neck, and helped when I had some referred ear pain. I also started mild salt water gargling about day 8, and that helped a lot with morning dry mouth/throat.
At 3 weeks out, I have had a follow up appointment and am not keeping up enough with fluids. I am out of the good day/tired day/good day/tired day cycle. I've been run down about every 3-4 days now, which I take as a good sign that my body is telling me when to rest.
Doc said 2 months for the 'fossa' or tissue in the back of the throat to be done scarring and healing/re-forming.
The other good news was that after 10 days-14 days, I felt like my personality came back. I was able to decrease meds and just felt a less 'numb' disposition.
I took off two weekends and a week in between thinking it would be enough time. My GP said "NO Less than a week!" Well, after the day 6 bleeding, I took off an extra two days and did 4 hour days the rest of that week. Week 3 post-op I was able to last 6-7 hours/day and then finally back to normal in week 4. My body literally needed the extra sleep. I could feel better/healing sensations when I took time for a nap in week 2 and 3.
Everyone I've polled who had 'em out around 30 has said they were never sick in the same way again, so I hope to have the same outcome.
It's no bed of roses those first 10 days--painful even, but you do get over it and eventually block the bad stuff out. If a tonsillectomy will help you medically, do not hesitate to highly consider it."
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Day 3 and I feel ok, a little more pain than the previous 2 days. Starting to feel jaw pain and teeth pain. Thinking this may be post-op.
I got out of bed at noon, only because I didnt want to get up and do the whole pill swallowing, jelly eating, thing all over again. Just wish I was better already!! It took me 40 mins to swallow my 2 panadeines this morning (I cut it up into quarters). I feel a bit zonked out atm because I had panadeine forte just before o.O
Yeah so overall I dont feel any severe pain unless I talk and swallow and I have being trying to do those two things as much as possible as have been told by doc that if I dont, a blood clot is easier to form which results in more pain! >:(
I'm already getting sick of jelly, just the thought of it makes me wanna barf... what can i eat??? mum made me mashed banana before but it itched my throat and made it irritable. I need to try and eat something!
o.O o.O o.O o.O
I got out of bed at noon, only because I didnt want to get up and do the whole pill swallowing, jelly eating, thing all over again. Just wish I was better already!! It took me 40 mins to swallow my 2 panadeines this morning (I cut it up into quarters). I feel a bit zonked out atm because I had panadeine forte just before o.O
Yeah so overall I dont feel any severe pain unless I talk and swallow and I have being trying to do those two things as much as possible as have been told by doc that if I dont, a blood clot is easier to form which results in more pain! >:(
I'm already getting sick of jelly, just the thought of it makes me wanna barf... what can i eat??? mum made me mashed banana before but it itched my throat and made it irritable. I need to try and eat something!
o.O o.O o.O o.O
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Karen,
I've been out of work a few days. Hang in there. I am guessing you found a few things to eat by now. My favorite were cream of wheat and plain chicken broth soup. The chicken broth was salty, which was also soothing and made the meds easier. I also found that cold custard (more jello-like than ice-cream-like) went down pretty well.
Good luck!
I've been out of work a few days. Hang in there. I am guessing you found a few things to eat by now. My favorite were cream of wheat and plain chicken broth soup. The chicken broth was salty, which was also soothing and made the meds easier. I also found that cold custard (more jello-like than ice-cream-like) went down pretty well.
Good luck!
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hehehe yeah I've managed to eat since..I had kfc last night, it took me an hour to eat it all but it was hell worth it XD I haven't been to the toilet to do number 2 in 6 days :$ is this normal? I am figuring its prob the lack of solids and the codeine in the pain killers thats making me constipated... I have just eaten a bowl of prunes o.O
Doc has given me till friday off now, so I have the weekend to recover. Will be back at work on Monday which will be day 12 so hopefully I will be ready to get back into work as its going to be end of month and busy as anything (I work in accounts) %-)
Doc has given me till friday off now, so I have the weekend to recover. Will be back at work on Monday which will be day 12 so hopefully I will be ready to get back into work as its going to be end of month and busy as anything (I work in accounts) %-)
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So i had mine done on Friday, the doctor gave absolutly no clue to me that it was going to be this painful, i'm going to be 16 soon my birthday in in 2 weeks and its practicly unbearable, they gave me these mouth melt tabelts,tamadol drops witch are absolutly DISGUSTING and Dafalgan forte(tylenol for the americans out there), and it only touches the pain for about 30 minutes to 45 minutes then the pain bounces back and its extreemly painful i'm on Day 5 and feel like hel and i'm not trying to scare any one off lol, i would reccomend that you get it done if you have a great deal of problems with your tonsils like me.
For the first 3 days i was perfectly fine, wel not perfectly, i went into surgery around 10:30 i think i was 3rd inline, i think there were 2 younger kids infront of me, now my little brother had like done about a year ago andi thought this was gunna be a breeze, within 2 days he was eating fries and pizza...Dear christ i woundt dream of eating anything right now, thinking of food makes me shudder, just the thought of trying to swallow it, now i had a very bad reaction to the anthestic, after i came out of the recovery room i have no idea what time it wasmy parents were waiting for me, i hardly remeber of it, the whole day was in and out of sleep they tried to feed me water but i vomited everytime i even tried, before i slept they gave me some kind of medicine to settle my stomach because i wa stil throwing up but all the blood from surgury was gone and there was nothing left to through up.so... i didn't eat for over 24 hours i managed tyo keep my first bit of water down around noon the next day. After that they gave me bread and a yoghurt, fizzyless cola, cold chocolatemilk and buter, i managed to eat one slice of bread that was slathered both sides in butter, and one spoonful of the cold pudding, the bread was for the scabs after that i slept a little more. i stil felt nausous after eating the food but it stayed down after that around 3 i god an early dinner it was carrot-mashed potato's ice cream and an extra soft madeline, i managed half the carrotmash and the ice cream and a quater of the madeline, that as the good day.
I can't wait til it starts getting better because, this morning i actully cried from the pain its painful to swallow the tablets to drink the dafalgan and the yukkie drops, and the taramol or whatever makes me really sleepy and te dafalgan makes me nausous, i just can't wait to get it over with, its summer i should be at the beach, but no i'm stuck in my insomnia lol
I heard that after9 days the scabs start to loosen and it feels better i sure hope so because i've had ENOUGH of this sometimes i just feel like having a temper tantrum like a toddler
enough from me anyway i wish everyone who is going or has had their tonsils out a speedy recovery andfor myself aswell T_T
byebye now
For the first 3 days i was perfectly fine, wel not perfectly, i went into surgery around 10:30 i think i was 3rd inline, i think there were 2 younger kids infront of me, now my little brother had like done about a year ago andi thought this was gunna be a breeze, within 2 days he was eating fries and pizza...Dear christ i woundt dream of eating anything right now, thinking of food makes me shudder, just the thought of trying to swallow it, now i had a very bad reaction to the anthestic, after i came out of the recovery room i have no idea what time it wasmy parents were waiting for me, i hardly remeber of it, the whole day was in and out of sleep they tried to feed me water but i vomited everytime i even tried, before i slept they gave me some kind of medicine to settle my stomach because i wa stil throwing up but all the blood from surgury was gone and there was nothing left to through up.so... i didn't eat for over 24 hours i managed tyo keep my first bit of water down around noon the next day. After that they gave me bread and a yoghurt, fizzyless cola, cold chocolatemilk and buter, i managed to eat one slice of bread that was slathered both sides in butter, and one spoonful of the cold pudding, the bread was for the scabs after that i slept a little more. i stil felt nausous after eating the food but it stayed down after that around 3 i god an early dinner it was carrot-mashed potato's ice cream and an extra soft madeline, i managed half the carrotmash and the ice cream and a quater of the madeline, that as the good day.
I can't wait til it starts getting better because, this morning i actully cried from the pain its painful to swallow the tablets to drink the dafalgan and the yukkie drops, and the taramol or whatever makes me really sleepy and te dafalgan makes me nausous, i just can't wait to get it over with, its summer i should be at the beach, but no i'm stuck in my insomnia lol
I heard that after9 days the scabs start to loosen and it feels better i sure hope so because i've had ENOUGH of this sometimes i just feel like having a temper tantrum like a toddler
enough from me anyway i wish everyone who is going or has had their tonsils out a speedy recovery andfor myself aswell T_T
byebye now
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I am a 28 year old male. Had tonsillectomy on 7/24 so counting the day of surgery, the lights are about out on day 10 of my "recovery". I put recovery in quotation marks because as I understand the definition of the word, it means to get better. I suppose that's a bit over-dramatic. I do seem tobe getting better, just not at the rate I had expected.
Day one, had the lovely "relaxing drug" in my room before being wheeled off to the OR. It was every bit as great as I remembered from my knee surgery. Next thing I remember was the nurse giving me a medicine cup and said drink this, it will help with the pain. Tipped up the cup and tried to swallow, wouldn't work. Tried again, wouldn't work again. The Doc who did my surgery peeked in about that time and said it was no big deal as they had used some local anestetic that probably had not worn off yet, swallow what you can and try again in a few minutes. Shortly thereafter, I could, albeit very painfully, swallow. About an hour later my wife drove me home and we stopped at the pharmacy on the way to get some liquid Vicotin as well as Antibiotic the Dr. had perscribed. Got home and all was pretty good for the rest of the day. Lots of pain, but truthfully, not as bad as I had expected.
Day 2-3 were OK. Soft mushy foods like the doc said. Even had a little maccaroni on day 2. I took the max dose of pain meds every 3 hours as allowed by my perscription.
Day 4. Hell. I got a severe headache (could have been a migrane, don't know, never had one before). Didn't sleep well that night. I would sleep for about 20 minutes, then pace around the house holding my head. Called the doctors office as soon as they opened and they called me in a perscription for some migrane meds. That seemed to stop the headache. That was the last time I took the perscription pain meds. The doctors office thought the codine may have caused the headache. I switched t extra strength tylenol (liquid of course) and still took the max dose. Not the max dose on the bottle, the max dose my parmicist said I could take, accounting my age/weight and all that.
Days 5-10 not terrible, but not much noted improvement, with the exception of my personality seemed to come back a little.
As day 10 is pretty much gone (it's midnight!!!) I still have not seen any signs of scabs coming off, and there is still quite a bit of pain swallowing food, although water is pretty easy now. When I eat (even soft mushy foods) I get very sore after and have to take it easy for a while until the pain subsides. My line of work is very safey-sensitive so needless to say, I have not been back to work yet.
Good luck to all of you currently recovering and those of you with an upcoming tonsillectomy. For me it has not been as bad as everyone has told me. Just remember, the people that are working on you and advising you what to do are PROFESSIONALS! They are very well trained in what they do. Listen to what they tell you to do and you will be fine.
God Bless
kev_in_TX
Day one, had the lovely "relaxing drug" in my room before being wheeled off to the OR. It was every bit as great as I remembered from my knee surgery. Next thing I remember was the nurse giving me a medicine cup and said drink this, it will help with the pain. Tipped up the cup and tried to swallow, wouldn't work. Tried again, wouldn't work again. The Doc who did my surgery peeked in about that time and said it was no big deal as they had used some local anestetic that probably had not worn off yet, swallow what you can and try again in a few minutes. Shortly thereafter, I could, albeit very painfully, swallow. About an hour later my wife drove me home and we stopped at the pharmacy on the way to get some liquid Vicotin as well as Antibiotic the Dr. had perscribed. Got home and all was pretty good for the rest of the day. Lots of pain, but truthfully, not as bad as I had expected.
Day 2-3 were OK. Soft mushy foods like the doc said. Even had a little maccaroni on day 2. I took the max dose of pain meds every 3 hours as allowed by my perscription.
Day 4. Hell. I got a severe headache (could have been a migrane, don't know, never had one before). Didn't sleep well that night. I would sleep for about 20 minutes, then pace around the house holding my head. Called the doctors office as soon as they opened and they called me in a perscription for some migrane meds. That seemed to stop the headache. That was the last time I took the perscription pain meds. The doctors office thought the codine may have caused the headache. I switched t extra strength tylenol (liquid of course) and still took the max dose. Not the max dose on the bottle, the max dose my parmicist said I could take, accounting my age/weight and all that.
Days 5-10 not terrible, but not much noted improvement, with the exception of my personality seemed to come back a little.
As day 10 is pretty much gone (it's midnight!!!) I still have not seen any signs of scabs coming off, and there is still quite a bit of pain swallowing food, although water is pretty easy now. When I eat (even soft mushy foods) I get very sore after and have to take it easy for a while until the pain subsides. My line of work is very safey-sensitive so needless to say, I have not been back to work yet.
Good luck to all of you currently recovering and those of you with an upcoming tonsillectomy. For me it has not been as bad as everyone has told me. Just remember, the people that are working on you and advising you what to do are PROFESSIONALS! They are very well trained in what they do. Listen to what they tell you to do and you will be fine.
God Bless
kev_in_TX
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I just had my surgery on July 30th and I keep going up and down with pain vs. no pain. I know this may seem like a stupid question, but since the surgery my voice is higher because of my throat, but my voice will go back to normal right?
Also, something that may be of help to people just starting the recovery or about to get the surgery is that Juice it Up/Jamba Juice is a great way to fill up your stomach/coat it when using meds and it soothes your throat quite nicely. It may get a bit expensive, but trust me, it is well worth it to feel hydrated and full and not sick and miserable.
I am so sick of soups and mashed potatoes and hoping I can eat solids pretty soon because a nice juicy steak sounds delicious!
Mainly im posting because I cant go out and I want to know if anyone knows anything about my voice changing back?
Also, something that may be of help to people just starting the recovery or about to get the surgery is that Juice it Up/Jamba Juice is a great way to fill up your stomach/coat it when using meds and it soothes your throat quite nicely. It may get a bit expensive, but trust me, it is well worth it to feel hydrated and full and not sick and miserable.
I am so sick of soups and mashed potatoes and hoping I can eat solids pretty soon because a nice juicy steak sounds delicious!
Mainly im posting because I cant go out and I want to know if anyone knows anything about my voice changing back?
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how old are you? AS an adult my voice did not change. When my son had his out his did change and did not change back.
-Randall
-Randall
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I am 23 years old and my voice sounds a bit muffled, but it is also a bit higher as well...so I was just checking to see if this was normal.
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Just a quick update on my tonsillectomy, hope it helps.
As day 12 comes to a close, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am finally able to swallow without cringing. I woke up this morning with a little bit of a sore throat, but that quickly faded to a dull pain that I hardly noticed. I still get a bit sore after a meal (soft foods still, for the most part). No sign of scabs coming off like others have reported, but that may just be from the surgery method that was used, I am not sure. I also have noticed that over the past 2 days my energy level seems to be returning. I can see the light! Come on 100% I am ready!
kev_in_TX
As day 12 comes to a close, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am finally able to swallow without cringing. I woke up this morning with a little bit of a sore throat, but that quickly faded to a dull pain that I hardly noticed. I still get a bit sore after a meal (soft foods still, for the most part). No sign of scabs coming off like others have reported, but that may just be from the surgery method that was used, I am not sure. I also have noticed that over the past 2 days my energy level seems to be returning. I can see the light! Come on 100% I am ready!
kev_in_TX
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im 21 and had my tonsils out on friday and its now day 5 and im still in alot of pain eating and swallowing ive been taking my tablets and using mouthwash. i was just wondering how long its going to take for the pain to stop and when i will be able to eat again because at the momnet i just want to cry cause of the pain im in
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Howdy,
I understand your pain. Pain is the only thing you will be left with for a few days after tonsillectomy. I had mine removed on the 1st if august. The pain was really severe, especally on swallowing. First post-operative day - I was on a full liquid diet. What really helped was eating plenty of ice cream and yogurt - they really soothe your throat and ease the pain. The other thing that helped a lot was a combination of anti-inflammatory agents and tylenol/codeine. I prefer the former as most of the post-op pain is attributed to inflammation arising from the tissue trauma - again it depends on what kind of technique your surgeon used - electrocautery typically causes more pain than the ultrasonic scalpel method - they used the latter on me. I also think studies have shown that laser tends to produce the same pain as electrocautery. Ultrasonic scalpel causes less bleeding post-op as it used low energy vibrations and does not causes as much tissue damage. Either ways, for an adult, expect post-op pain to last for atleast 3 weeks, with a range of 10 days to 3 weeks. Every person is different when it comes to healing. The things that really help, in what I've seen are-taking antiinflammatory medicaitons such as motrin/diclofenac three times a day with food (check with your MD reg. doses/frequency) with or without codeine. Antibiotics may also help with the pain as a component of the pain could be caused by underlying infection. I've been taking antibiotics for the last 10 days. Cant say it helped or not, but certainly helps with any underlying post-op infection. My pain was very bad for the first 2 days, then eased down as I started eating semi-solids and yes, solids on day 3. Also managed to gulp down some beer on day 3! The sooner you brave solids, the sooner you will experience recovery from pain. Avoid sharp foods and spicy foods, as they causes disruption of the scab and eventually bleeding/burning in your throat.I'm on day 10 today. I did take a week off from work as the pain worsened whenever i talked or ate a lot of solids. Again, if in doubt, mix your food with yogurt where appropriate - it REALLY helps! I'm on post-op day 11. The pain is usually worse in the mornings when I wake up due to less secretions in the mouth when you sleep but eases as I take tea/coffee/yogurt. Foods such as mashed potatoes, pasta, ground rice also help. It would also help to buy a blender to mix up the foods. When it comes to juices, avoid acidic foods such as lime, tomatoes and orange as they burn! As for the scabs, they are 90% gone and some rawness remaining in the tonsillar fossa, manifest by some redness. U may also try some cepacol lozenges and topical local anesthetic spray for relief.
Disclaimer - none of this is professional medical advice and these observations are based on my own post-op recovery course. Check with your licensed MD if you have any questions/concerns
I understand your pain. Pain is the only thing you will be left with for a few days after tonsillectomy. I had mine removed on the 1st if august. The pain was really severe, especally on swallowing. First post-operative day - I was on a full liquid diet. What really helped was eating plenty of ice cream and yogurt - they really soothe your throat and ease the pain. The other thing that helped a lot was a combination of anti-inflammatory agents and tylenol/codeine. I prefer the former as most of the post-op pain is attributed to inflammation arising from the tissue trauma - again it depends on what kind of technique your surgeon used - electrocautery typically causes more pain than the ultrasonic scalpel method - they used the latter on me. I also think studies have shown that laser tends to produce the same pain as electrocautery. Ultrasonic scalpel causes less bleeding post-op as it used low energy vibrations and does not causes as much tissue damage. Either ways, for an adult, expect post-op pain to last for atleast 3 weeks, with a range of 10 days to 3 weeks. Every person is different when it comes to healing. The things that really help, in what I've seen are-taking antiinflammatory medicaitons such as motrin/diclofenac three times a day with food (check with your MD reg. doses/frequency) with or without codeine. Antibiotics may also help with the pain as a component of the pain could be caused by underlying infection. I've been taking antibiotics for the last 10 days. Cant say it helped or not, but certainly helps with any underlying post-op infection. My pain was very bad for the first 2 days, then eased down as I started eating semi-solids and yes, solids on day 3. Also managed to gulp down some beer on day 3! The sooner you brave solids, the sooner you will experience recovery from pain. Avoid sharp foods and spicy foods, as they causes disruption of the scab and eventually bleeding/burning in your throat.I'm on day 10 today. I did take a week off from work as the pain worsened whenever i talked or ate a lot of solids. Again, if in doubt, mix your food with yogurt where appropriate - it REALLY helps! I'm on post-op day 11. The pain is usually worse in the mornings when I wake up due to less secretions in the mouth when you sleep but eases as I take tea/coffee/yogurt. Foods such as mashed potatoes, pasta, ground rice also help. It would also help to buy a blender to mix up the foods. When it comes to juices, avoid acidic foods such as lime, tomatoes and orange as they burn! As for the scabs, they are 90% gone and some rawness remaining in the tonsillar fossa, manifest by some redness. U may also try some cepacol lozenges and topical local anesthetic spray for relief.
Disclaimer - none of this is professional medical advice and these observations are based on my own post-op recovery course. Check with your licensed MD if you have any questions/concerns
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I would just like to offer my encouragement to any adult out there considering a tonsilectomy, i spent a the week b4 mine reading these posts and 2 be honest nearly bottled out!!. Well here i am day 3 and yes throat can be very uncomfatable and painful but keeping on top of my medicaion so far seems to of spared my any of this horrific pain (touch wood for now). Another young girl opposite me in hospital has had roughly the same recovery pair of us were eating toast night after surgery and every day since!! can only really manage soup cereals etc but had a few buscuits with a cup of tea last night. The worst part has got to be the swollen bit in the back of your mouth feels like you are choking on it at times !!! But please this aint as bad as these posts make out. I believe these horror stories are the worst case scenario. Dont hesitate to have this op if you need it. By the way mouth stinks and my neck has been very stiff!!!
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It really isnt that bad. I had mine taken out 5 months ago. The surgery wasnt painful at all. Woke up, no pain what-so-ever. They gave me a lil more pain medicine and sent me home. Got home, no real pain. Started having really bad stomach cramps then woke up and I was in the ER. Rather than stitch me they tied my blood vessels shut (quicker recovery and less pain than using stitches) and one had come loose so I had bled into my stomach all day and well it wound up coming up and I blacked out from the blood loss. That was a pretty horrific experience but def an isolated one. They took away all my pain medicine in the ER and told me id have to just deal with it. Everyone says its easy with the pain medicine, I did not have that luxury and it was easy. Your not in pain, your uncomfortable. And believe me, by the 3rd day the pain doesnt matter, you just wanna eat. The only real pain i experienced was on the 6-8th day which is when the nerve endings grow back. I went in scared just like everyone else and when i look back now it was a piece of cake. After the experience i had for me to be able to say that it couldnt have been to bad.
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I am 37 years old and this site was helpful with some of my concerns. I had my surgery 4 days ago and my doctor said that my tonsils were in such horrible condition that he also liquefied the skin layers on my adenoids. They do put a tube down your throat in surgery and in recovery I had a large amount of phlegm that I thought I was going to choke to death (maybe cause I have asthma they gave me extra medication when they put me under). The only pain was trying to swallow and since it was intense, they gave me Demerol which only put me to sleep as I wake up drooling and still had intense pain trying to swallow. I could not breath through my nose until the second day so have a towel for drooling especially when you are trying to sleep. My pain meds is Tylenol with codeine which I take every 3-4 hours. The first 2 days of liquid meds is hard to swallow but you can dilute with drinks. I find sugar juices harder to swallow than Aquafina or Fruit2Os. Popsicles in the plastic tubes like when were kids are the easiest to swallow down-Hawaiian Punch brand worked best. The whole fruit popsicles were hard to eat until the 3 rd day after. Ice packs on throat help with swelling but I found room temp things like Campbell's chicken noodle soup and oatmeal soothing to eat and swallow. As everyone states, hydration is the key. Sip, sip and sip all day makes a huge difference. On third day, I lost taste and can taste/smell the wounds in my mouth. I do brush teeth and keep my head down so nothing gets back there-it helps. Sleeping with your head more face down over the edge of the pillow into a cloth lets you sleep with your mouth shut which helps from your throat drying out so fast. I got a humidifier and I also use my CPAP machine with the humidifier. Sleep is poor for the first few days but I watched a lot of movies and rested! Today I can barely talk again-I barely spoke after the surgery as it was-throat hurts much more but I feel better. I tried putting off pain meds yesterday for several hours past my time to see where the pain is and that was helpful.
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