Tongue pain after tonsillectomy

Im on day 8 the beutt of this site is wer all in,agony together but Im sorry to to tell,you it gets a sh*t load worse this has to be the worst proceudure every ny tongue has just. Started hurting and that,is worse than my throat pain

Amen to,that if this forum wernt here id of been so worried about What is happening to me the doctors tell,u alot pre op about the symptoms and side effects but they,dont tell,you some thigs for example horrible tongue pain wich i Started exoeriencing last night so,thank you everyone this is a horrific proceudure and is Not nice at all but if your son needs. It doing he needs it doing by Not letting him do it u could be causing him alot of pain in years to come.

I'm 5 days post surgery and still in so much pain. They've changed my meds twice and nothing has made me comfortable. I thought I was feeling pretty good today so I ran 1 (30 min) errand with my sister and felt exhausted. I got sick outside the store and 6 times throughout the day at home. Has anyone else gotten sick like this? I can't hold anything down (including pain meds) so my throat and tongue are in extreme pain. Help..?

I was advised not to take alieve, or anything else that could thin my blood. Their reasoning was that this could result uncontrollable bleeding form the back of the mouth. I would demand a liquid medication, and avoid taking alieve all together. I'm not in terrible pain on day one, but I most defiantly could not swallow any sort of pill.

I'm day 3 post surgery and in addition to my tongue being really sore I have cuts on my mouth from the surgery. Strangely what has really helped is chewing chewing gum. The saliva production seems to ease the swelling and help with my sore jaw and blocked ears.

It's been 12 days for me and the my tongue is what bothers me the most! I can't drink water and it feels like a really bad unbearable burn it's so bad it shoots stabbing pain in my ear! Please somebody tell me how long will this pain last I've lost 15 lbs and starving

Hi, I am 34 years old and I am on day 11.

I have my Tonsils removed and also a UPPP which is the soft palate at the back of your mouth taken up to open up my passageway.

Just want to give everyone a quick idea of what its been like so far....

Day 1.
Surgery went fine, being put under general anaesthetic was the best part, I haven't felt that calm and relaxed in a long time. I woke up expecting to be in sheer agony after what the doctors had been telling me but I felt rather fine, I managed to eat a ham sandwich and drink a few glasses of water before I was discharged.

At this point I was talking liquid Codeine Phosphate, dis-solvable Paracetamol, liquid Ibruprofen every 2 hours and a mouth wash to go with it.I went to sleep pretty much as soon as I got home.

Day 2. Woke up very early in agony, the one thing you read is people saying keep on top of your meds, forget that keep ahead of your meds!! I wish for the first week I set my alarm every 2 hours to keep up with my meds because waking up in the morning with pain killers and anti inflammatory meds worn off is the worst feeling ever.

Anyway that morning I woke up early, in sever pain, went to the bathroom and was spitting up blood clothes and some old nasty looking blood that had been in my throat for a while by the looks of it. Not sure if this happened in my sleep or from surgery but no fresh blood came out that morning.

I managed to eat a ham sandwich again and have a small amount of water that day. My tongue was aching and starting to burn from the liquid medicines I was given.

Day 3.
Terrible sleep, waking up every 30 minutes, really dry mouth, in pain, feeling sorry for myself just wishing the world would end. Trying to sip water but I just couldn't. Tried to eat half a slice of toast but only managed half of that. Was starting to be in a dream like state whilst awake im not sure if from the drugs or from the lack of sleep or dehydration. By this stage my tongue was probably causing me more pain than anything. Every sip of water or drop of medicine felt like I was pouring acid all over my tongue. It was blotchy, red and half of it was a whiteish yellow colour.

Day 4
Same again, unable to eat, unable to drink barely anything and woke up today after coughing and spat out some blood. I have been going to the toilet constantly throughout to spit out whatever builds up in my mouth. Usually its a white foam but a lot of the time its greenish or yellowish sometimes brown from blood.

Towards the end of the night I felt a bit better and managed to get some water.

Day 5.
Woke up feeling sore and terrible, decided to leave the liquid ibruprofen and buy nurofen melts instead, I mixed these with a little water and drank that instead, my tongue thanked me for it thats for sure. Unable to eat still managed to drink some water today, spent most of the day in bed dozing off due to constantly waking up during the night. My biggest problem was being more scared to eat, drink and take meds due to the pain rather than just suffer for a small while and just do it. Towards the end of day 5 I thought the worst part had passed I was able to "swig" when I drank no more need for sips now, I was so happy. I went to bed hydrated for the first time still had not eaten though.

Day 6.
Woke up in the morning in absolute agony, bleeding throat for a few minutes but struggling to take any meds or drink any water. Now it felt like when I drank any fluids at the side of my tongue it would just burn like crazy.
This day I thought it was never going to end and I wish I had never done it knowing how bad it was now and I felt it would be like this forever. I got to the doctors and managed to get liquid antibiotics as I had been bleeding a few times other than that she said it looked fine back there.

Day 7
Throughout the night I decided to set my alarm every 2 hours and take meds and drink a little water. It worked, I woke up feeling a lot less painful and my throat wasnt so raw due to me drinking a little at night. I managed to drink a bit more during the day and I stuck to the strict med schedule that day and at night.

Day 8 Today was the first day where I felt the same as I did before I went to sleep which wasnt too bad. I could drink water a lot easier now but I still couldn't eat. I felt a lot better in myself, I could talk a bit more and was feeling less down.

Day 9
Felt much better this morning, woke up feeling in less pain and rather quite hungry. Went and bought a huge cake that I had been craving over, had about 2 mouthfuls and then the burning feeling kicked in on my tongue. This feeling seemed to be getting worse now and it was connected to like the side or my ear, when I would drink I would get a sharp pain there for about 10 seconds before it would subside.

Day 10
Woke up feeling a lot better and happier. Still had this vile sharp pain at the side of my mouth/head/tongue so no idea what is causing that. Managed to eat a bit of mash potato and fish and asparagus today, not a large amount but it just felt good. Drank loads of fluids but everytime I do this that pain at the side of my head has me in agony.

Day 11
Nearly slept the whole night through, didnt bother taking any pain killers today just some nurofen and feel fine. Still hurts to swallow and my tongue is still delicate but this pain at the side of my head is still hurting especially when I drink. It feels like there is a nerve ending just exposed there.

I managed a 3rd of a cottage pie and then half a small bar of chocolate and this filled me up. I am unsure how much weight I have lost but I wish I done a before and after.

Just remember to keep on top of your meds, its better to have a lack of sleep and be out of pain trust me. You can always catch up those hours here and there during the day time when you're off work. Try if you can to drink as much water as you can as long as you're hydrated so is the wound. If you can eat do it, I didn't bother for most of it but when you feel like you can you should as apparently this helps remove the old scab from your tonsils.

Nice warm baths help, peace and quiet and definitely stay away from large crowds or pets if you have allergies. I sneezed once in the 11 days I have had so far and the pain was horrible and I bled after this too.

I'm on day 7.. everyday feels like it's taking forever, ear, jaw, mouth, tounge pain is still there plus terrible stomach pain. I really do regret this surgery. The pain is one you just can't explain.

I had one removed a week ago and allergic to pain meds. The throat is improving, but the side of my tongue is ridiculously painful. I feel like my entire mouth is under attack. The top on tongue is also white. Docs should really provide more info on the end result besides just the throat pain. Hang in there.

I just had my tonsils removed today, and the same thing happened with a liquid pain medication. It spewed out as if my nose was bleeding.. And the doctor that was there pre-IV also messed up and caused my hand to bleed a little on her glove, the floor, her shoe, and my sock. But I was okay with that. She did it while putting the medication for the IV in.

I know what you mean about let's hope that we feel better! I'm on day 9 and my tongue is killing me on and off plus it's hard to swallow without taking pain medication all the time still. I think the feeling of thing's stuck in the back of your throat might be normal, I feel like when I eat I have to pretty much force it down with water after and then I'm in a lot of pain after eating. So I'm hoping it's just norm from swelling and soreness maybe. Hopefully this helps but sorry to say I can only agree and say this is happening and what the hell lol. Good luck I hope you get feeling back to normal soon. I keep freaking out after reading some people take over a month to feel completely normal but I'm hoping that's just some people and not me!

I'm on day 14 after the day of my surgery and haven't been on the strong stuff since day 10 Tylenol definitly helps but still trying to stick to that soft food diet My tounge and behind my tounge is still very very sore I woke up in middle of night on day 6/7 with severe bleeding and clotting but if this happens to you don't panic just start rinsing out with cold water and it will subside. It may be a bloody mess in your bathroom but that's fine definitly buy a vaporizer and have this going from the second you get home because dry air will cause fur bleeding episodes to occur I feel from
The adnoid removal scabs/clotting discharges if the bleeding doesn't stop after 5 min I would call 9-11 at that point again try not to panic and rinse with cold water try not to swallow the blood you may feel like your in the movie saw but your not it's just the body going through its healing also the white puss all in your white tonsil removed pockets will be there past day 15 so don't even bother trying to get smart and scrape out your throat otherwise you can cause infection. The soft scabs will come out on there own after day 4-5. Have multiple icepscks at all times. A vaporizer and put the strong med bottle away after day 11 I would say so you don't get hooked. Swallowing still kills after day 14-15 and tounge pain at a level 5-6 out of Ten still. Also ny day 12-14 your throayband saliava glands will start making everything very sappy get a water bottle to spit out a lot don't bother going to Taco Bell until day 10 and if your gonna do that just get a mexi melt nothing hard again do not attempt prior to day 10

Hi, I'm a 24 year old female and today is my Day 5 after my surgery and honestly, the worst part about this entire process for me has been the tongue pain. I have a geographical tongue, the back of my tongue feels like I have a canker sore on it..it's extremely painful, even when I just drink water. It makes the whole "eating" think incredibly painful..more like a chore! I didn't realize it would be this bad with my tongue. I have experienced mild ear and jaw pain and count on having a sore back and neck from sleeping upright. I'm so ready for this to be over already. The days are actually going by pretty fast, hopefully I will see the light at the end of the tunnel soon. Good luck everyone!
Foods that have been helpful: mashed potatoes, oatmeal, slim fast protein drinks, jello, chicken broth, ice chips and WATER!

To the guy who mentioned having eaten ham sandwiches as soon as the day of surgery, you are a brave soul and I was shocked to see that!! My doc told me not to even try soft semi solid foods until toward the end of a week and I'm having a hard enough time swallowing things like runny mashed potatoes so I don't even know how a sandwich would be possible.

So anyway. Yes I just had my tonsils out at 33 years old. Yes everyone I came in contact with up until surgery told me it would be horrificly painful. But for me, it doesn't compare to the pain from injuries after I was hit by a drunk driver so I do not feel as dramatic about it. I do agree with everyone else that the docs don't warn you about a lot of the things that you could have used a heads up on.

I find drinking water is impossible, but gently sucking on crushed ice is doable and helps alleviate pain in the throat and the back of the tongue. If you have trouble swallowing things like applesauce or mashed potatoes all the way, try following a small bite of that with gently sucking a little crushed ice and the melting ice washes the food down very well without adding pain.

I cannot drink anything. I feel like I'm drowning or choking, it's like falling into a swimming pool unprepared and my nose burns afterward. If I want some juice or Gatorade I can put it in the blender with my ice when crushing the ice.

Almost nothing tastes right and sweeter flavors are pretty awful.

The phlegm in the back of the throat can be pretty awful and no one warned me about that at any time. Sleeping propped up high helps keep it down. I find that medicine and any food make it a little worse. If you can gently scrape your teeth against your tongue from back to front and get it out of your mouth that way it seems effective. If you insert a napkin etc to wipe it out with that makes it worse. You will not be able to completely shake the sensation while healing, so when it becomes tolerable just stop pointlessly trying to swallow. Cuz swallowing hurts anyway.

Your ears and lower jaw lines may hurt. Ice packs for the jaw lines and jaw joints will help with this.

If you don't take in some calories those liquid pain meds are totally going to jack you up. Dizziness, nausea, and potentially vomiting which would be horrible at a time like this. Do what you can to get some calories in there, the more you can handle the less awful the meds will make you feel. no one expects you to eat the whole pot of mashed potatoes. Try getting down a half a protein shake or a cup of applesauce and take it from there.

If you think you're getting too nauseated but not vomiting yet you can try putting an ice pack on your stomach.

I don't think seeing my throat would be helpful so my husband looks at it multiple times a day and lets me know how it's looking. He initially told me that it looked like the black hole of death at which time I decided that it hurt enough without knowing how awful it looked in there.

Pain med tip- I am on liquid hydrocodone and can take 10-15ml every 4 hours. I take 10ml every 4 hours and when needed I take up to 5ml about an hour before I get to the 4 hr mark. It depends on what I have been doing as to whether or not I can make it the full 4 hours for another dose. Taking the full 15ml at once did not last any longer either, it just made me feel more sedated after taking it.

Good luck to everyone who has to have this done. It isn't fun but it isn't the end of the world either. There are risks as with any surgery so if you start bleeding etc call the doctor right away.

Hello everyone, my name is Blessyn. I'll be 38 in couple of days, but I was 37 when I had my tonsils removed. I was supposed to have my tonsils removed since i was a kid from constantly having tonsillitis and strep. I've had over 16 surgeries from colon/cervical cancer, and other health issues but nothing prepared me for the journey of having tonsillectomy as an adult. I'm at day 13 right now and the pain seems to be getting worse. The left side seems to be worse. At times it feels like a bone or something caught in throat and everytime u breathe it swallow it pokes and burns badly. At times it feels like ur throat is swelling downward to chest, then it becomes hard to breathe and then I start getting sharp pains on either side of head at either side on top and it moves to different parts of head while my ear is being stabbed with stabbing pain. It's horrible. And it's almost 2weeks but it's worst than it started. Pain meds really don't help. But if it helps u to sleep that's a plus. I've lost over 20lbs since right before surgery bc I had pneumonia days before surgery. I'm miserable. I'll reply once get better. Sorry but truth ain't pretty.