Tongue pain after tonsillectomy

This is completely normal.

I had my tonsils removed as well and the doctors accidentally cut my tongue slightly as well.

It goes away naturally as the tongue is a fast healer when it comes to cuts and abrasions.

In the mean time, I highly recommend freezing cold drinks with as little sugar as possible. Highly recommended is some frozen pop sticks (icey-poles) during this healing time.

Lol... Wow I feel your pain brother! I too had my tonsils removed about 5 days ago. and I can honestly say that I've never felt pain like this before. The first 3 days I thought I was going mad due to the intense pain in my throat , jaw and ears now on day 5 I've finishe my antibiotic and now just popping pain relief tabs. The really bad taste in my mouth from that yellow stuff on my tongue which are now right at the back where I cant reach with a tongue scrapper. I'm hoping this madness ends very soon as I'm soooooo f**king hungry I'm craving chicken and steak!!! Lol





Peace

Greetings from London....

Hello everyone! Thanks for posting your experience. I had my tonsils out on the 19th of this month, so I am on day 6 if you count the surgery day. What a mess! The first few days were horrible because my throat and tongue were swollen up so much that I kept feeling like I was choking on everything. I actually felt like my airway was getting smaller too and I could not sleep because I would wake up when I started snoring and gagging after about 30 sec. So, I went to the Dr. 2 days ago and they gave me a cortisone injection to take the swelling down. It has helped that a LOT, but I am still have so much pain at the back of my tongue where it connects to my jaw. I had sores all over the sides of my tongue that are just now starting to heal, but this area is not really getting better at all! I know that my scabs are falling off because I see them in my tissue and I have this intense burning feeling at various places in my throat and on my tongue. Can someone please tell me what to eat? I was doing good with popsicles, but now they even burn like crazy. I had a couple of good days where I tried to gag down some salty/rough stuff as they recommended, but that is TOTALLY out of the question now....I can barely swallow my water at times.  I've also had the ear pain and popping in my right ear since the day of surgery. I know that this has to get better soon. All I can say is....Lord Help Me!!!! Any advice anyone???? 

Thank you for telling us of your noodles stuck delemma, its now happened to us with a big piece of penne. I quickly reminded my daughter of poor you and we had a laugh,,its still in there,,but at least were not alone :)

Your a ridiculous person, freedom of speech and maybe you should be supervising your kid a little better.
People are sharing their experiences, I doubt this forum got started just so when ur son went looking he would find it and refuse surgery.. Are u crazy?!

defiantly the swallowing and liquids going up your nose. I am 16 and had mine removed yesterday, so mine are still bright red. Also, I am spitting out black junk? this might be from pepto-bismal, which I read causes a black tongue. As for things going up your nose. I have found that it is easier to swallow if your whole body is leaning back with a sip f something that about matches the volume of your mouth, not too much.

I found these post helpful, actually. I am sorry your son read these post and is apparently allowed full access to the computer, yet not mature enough to realize that every surgery has it's side effects. I feel for your son, I do, but these post helped me a lot, by telling me if my symptoms were normal or not.

tell your son to grow some balls

I agree momma...I am on day 9 and if I would have read these posts I would have left running as well. My experience was similar but knowing that all is well and meant for my total health. Sometimes people we just need to man up and do what it takes. My ENT was up front and honest with me all the way through. I knew I needed it so I had to made a educated decision to do it. Here on day 9 I stopped taking pain meds last night at 9 pm and I have not needed it anymore. I am still on soft foods but everything is coming out just the way I had expected. I thank Dr. Blythe and others that encouraged me to get this done. I can already tell that my life will not be the same. Since the surgery I have not need nor have I wanted to use my cpap machine anymore either.

I am 29 year old Female and just had my tonsils out 3 days ago. What is shocking is that my tongue hurts more than the tonsils!! Of course the tonsils hurt when I swallow but what ever my doctor used to grasp my tongue to keep it out of the way really has it in pain on both sides with almost blister looking scars. I heard the worst is yet to come and I am in the honeymoon stage of pain (first few days) I am dreading what is to come! But best advice is to stay on top of your pain meds every 4 hours.. and keep a pillow under your chin when you sleep so you don't sleep with your mouth open - that makes it very dry. Try breathing through your nose way better! AND DRINK DRINK DRINK water, apple juice whatever it really helps!!!

it isnt just how we feel, its what is happening to us over and over again. im 52 and i had to have mine out due to tumors growing on my tonsils. but the doctors do not tell u or warn u of the tounge and pain in the side effects this has on a person. so yell at the doctors, not us.

This is hardly our fault, we're just stating the facts of the recovery process

I am glad all of you had similar problems! I am 20 years old ad had my tonsils taken out this morning. I have basically been in bed all day and have been surviving by the liquid medicine they gave me and by Popsicles. One thing I didn't even think nor hear about before the surgery was my tongue. Now, about 8 hours after surgery, my throat doesn't hurt as bad as I would have imagined, but my tongue feels as if someone forcefully pulled it as far out of my mouth as possible then stuffed it back in. It's horrible! I recently had to take another dose of painkillers not because of my throat but because of my tongue! It is extremely fat and swollen and has 2 or 3 lacerations on it. I know I am still early in this recovery process, but so far my tongue has been a bigger issue than my throat. Hope everyone who reads this has a speedy recovery!

I am 23 y.o. and am on day 5 of post-op. I read multiple threads about tonsillectomies and even watched a few youtube videos before going into surgery. I had myself freaked out for a few days but then came to the realization that if it was going to help my health then I could endure the pain for a week or so. I luckily was scheduled for surgery at 7AM so that I didn't have to wait all day on an empty stomach which was such a life saver! I do pretty well with anesthesia so I didn't have any nausea coming out of surgery which I am very thankful for. I made sure to have some jello and a couple cups of water before leaving recovery just to make sure that I wasn't going to be sick. My pain was kept extremely minimal in recovery due to the anesthesia that had been injected into the surgery sites and the pain killers they had me on. Once I got home I took some of my prescribed pain meds (hydrocodone) as well as ibuprofen (to help with the swelling) and was able to eat some applesauce. The first couple days I felt normal with minimal pain, I was even able to go out shopping for a couple hours on the second day. The third and fourth day were when the pain set in. In my opinion I never had horrible pain in my throat, but I think that is because when I get sick my tonsils usually would swell up and block off my throat. Knowing that kind of pain EVERY time you get sick makes the tonsillectomy pain not too bad, I must have a higher pain tolerance because of this? The pain on the third and fourth days was from my ears and on the underside of the back of my tongue. There were some nights that I would wake up in horrible pain and have to guzzle down my medicine to get it to stop. Today I am doing much better and hope to continue this upward trend! Here are some tips that I have found in my experience:

*DRINK LOTS OF FLUIDS (every post you read will say this but it is so so important!)

*Try to eat food whenever you can, especially before you have your medicine. I have been living off of applesauce, gatorade (for the electrolytes, etc), water, Carnation Instant Breakfast (these will help you so much! they make you feel full and you won't have trouble swallowing them, plus they have many vitamins and minerals), soy/almond milk (I read that dairy creates a lot of mucus in your throat so I have been sticking to soy and almond milk and it has been awesome! this is what I mix my Carnation IB with!), pudding/jello, cup of noodles (when I'm really desperate but AFTER I've taken my meds), popsicles, sorbet.

*Ask your Dr ahead of time for liquid pain meds (as they will go down easier) and for anti-nausea pills (in case your meds make you sick, these are a lifesaver!)

*Ask your Dr if you are able to take ibuprofen with your pain meds, this helps with the swelling that you will experience. 

*Keep an ice-pack handy as they take away a lot of the tongue/ear pain

*If you are experiencing tongue/ear pain do NOT sleep on your side, it will only make it worse. Lie on your back and try to create a little nook for your head with pillows so that when you do go to sleep your head won't fall to either side. I don't know why this helps but you won't wake up in intense pain!

*Consider getting a netflix acct or have lots of movies on hand as it is so helpful to have something to keep your mind off of the pain

*Brush your teeth & tongue after every meal, it will help with the smell

 

Good luck to anyone who is going to get this procedure! It isn't a walk in the park but it definitely wasn't as bad as I had thought it was going to be. Stay positive and know that you have tons of resources to reach out to if you feel that something isn't right. Keep telling yourself that it will be so worth it when you are healthy and don't get sick as often! Good luck :)

I never had pain in my tongue after my surgery but I have a numb tongue.....had my surgery 9 days ago. I asked my doctor about it an didn't really get an answer. Wondering if anyone else had the same issue an if so will the feeling come back. Its only one side that's numb kinda weird I guess.