tonsilectomy recovery time

I had a tonsilectomy almost 2 weeks ago. I am a 34 year old female, mother of three small children under 5 (including a 6 month old). I had 4 strep infections in two months time. It was recommended I have my tonsils and adenoids removed. The surgery was outpatient, took only 45 minutes, but I was kept in the surgery center a few more hours until the anesthesia wore off. The pain is something that I was not prepared for. At first, it wasn't too bad. Then by the third or fourth day it was worse. I also did get tired of a liquid diet. You will have pain swallowing for at least 2 weeks. I am still in pain and on a mostly soft diet. Rest is essential, but with my children, it is hard to get. I was able to have help the first week, but am unable so much the second week. My husband took a few days off from work, as much as he could. Half of my throat is still in pain, it is still hard to talk or read books to my kids. Sometimes I really regret the surgery. Also, thin liquids like water come through my nose when I drink quickly (or like I normally would!). So, I assume there is still swelling. I have my check up in a few days. Also, be prepared for ear pain, it is sort of a phantom pain, i am told. My right ear still hurts. Hopefully it will all be over soon. Do not take this surgery lightly. You will not be back to work for at least 2 weeks (and there are lifting precautions too due to stitches).
Hope this helps.

Im 16 and have just gotten my tonsils out last thursday, Im now on day 6 of the recovery and it hurts like hell.
On day 2 I had an allergic reaction to the painkillers and had to be readmitted to hospital for another 4 days. I was throwing up and dehydrated.

My throat is still very sore and I have trouble swallowing my own saliva let alone water or food. I’ve lost 5 kilos so far and havent eaten since the operation, Im starving hungry and it feels like the new painkillers they subscribed dont work although I dont want to stop taking them to find out how much it would hurt with out them. I also have a numbing mouth wash which helps a little bit for about an hour.

At the moment Im regretting getting my tonsils out, if you dont get them out when your young the recovery process is a lot longer and a lot more painful so in conclusion if your thinking about getting your tonsils out and your over the age of 14, dont.

Hopefully I will make a full recovery soon and it will be worth it and I wont get any more sore throats.

Although Im a bit concerned because I've been reading about other people's experiences and they have all been able to eat reasonably quickly whereas it is excruciating for me to swallow even little bits of mashed/ soft/ cold foods.

Is there something wrong with my recovery and will I be able to eat something soon?

I'd be happy just to be able to eat some soup with out it hurting, can someone please tell me if what Im going through is normal?

I had my tonsils taken out on Janurary 11th and I am 13 days post-op and still in a lot of pain. I am 28 years old and I must admit that I haven't been eating a "normal" diet. I called my ENT yesterday and spoke with his M.A. and she said that I shouldn't be in pain anymore and the the scabs should have been sloughed off if I was eating a normal diet. Needless to say I still have the scabs in the back of my throat. This is the worst pain that I have been through in my entire life. I've been in car accidents where I have broken both sides of my pelvis and another car accident where I broke my foot, I have had 2 c-sections, my gallbladder removed, and I have had several oral surgeries...with that said I would gladly go through the pain of ALL of those if it meant I didn't have to deal with this pain anymore.

I had my tonsils taken out yesterday the 31st of January 2007. The reason why I had them out was because of tonsil stones which are the most ridicolous things I have ever lived with. For some odd reason I suffered through those miserable things for two years. I'm a 25 year old male and I'm currently having pain about a 7 on a scale of 1-10. I'm able to mumble words but carefully. Today I have eaten popsicles, yogurt, jello, mashed potatoes and gravy, and most important lots of water. You must drink a lot of water so you do not get dehydrated. The swallowing pain is similar to that of having strept throat, it sucks buy you are able to do so. the pain is what you make of it. I was given liquid loritab which is alright but not the strongest pain killer they prescribe. So far for me I have remained mentally positive, which I feel is helping me out a lot. I would say my tonsils were atleast the size of golfballs if not bigger. Where my tonsils once were is now all white with some black spots as well. I hope to be back to work on monday Feb.5, I know it is not going to be easy but once again I stress drinking a lot of water and staying mentally positive. If anyone is suffering from tonsill stones like I was, which also means that you have the breath of a dead dog, suck it up and get this operation done. If you are living in the portland oregon area my doctor was a providence doctor, His name was Dr. Michael Flaming and he was a very nice and good doctor. Good luck to anyone who has to go through with this procedure and once again if you do DRINK WATER AND STAY POSITIVE. I hope this post will help

four days ago i had my tonsils removed. im 18 years old and had them removed due to recurrent infections. at first i was happy because swolen tonsils were really getting on my nerves, they would get to the point where i couldnt eat and i constantly had sore throats.

so im at the hospital, and start to get very nervous ( i have never had surgery, never even really been to the hospital besides checkups)
shots have scared me since i was a little kid, but i can handle them- but when it came time to put the IV in i started freaking out. it didnt feel nice at all to me and i admit i started crying:(

after a while of my dad talking to me i relaxed, the anatesiologsist (
they rolled me to the surgery room and this is when i really started to freak out. it was freezing in there, and i kept thinking to myself "why did i ever come here, i shouldve just never said i wanted my tonsils out!" i was seriously considering asking them to let me free!! lol. i was scared as you can see. then they told me they were putting the medicine in my IV. i kept praying and thinking why did i do this.

next thing i know i woke up in the recovery room. the pain wasnt too bad. but i felt extremely tired but i couldnt sleep. they moved me back to my room and i felt sick to my stomach. i vomited about 3 times. of course they gave me the medicine that was supposed to help my stomach settle, but that didnt help.

the next day i woke up and my throat was killling me. every day after that is worse. now its the 4th day of my recovery and i can sometimes barely swallow my own saliva. and when i do swallow its painful. the medicine helps somewhat but overall the experiance really sucks.

the sides of my lips are slightly cut and i had a few cuts on my tongue. everything is very sore and its hard for me to open my mouth wide.

the worst part is eating. i love food soo much and now all i can eat is jello, water and popsicles. i really hate it. i just hope in the end its worth it. but right now im wishing i never got them removed.

oh and i can barely whisper. everyone says i sound like micheal jackson- ew!

I am 40 yrs old and had a Tonsillectomy and uvalectomy 1 month ago. The doctor was right, I had severe pain for 2 wks if not 3. Not sure which procedure causing the most pain, the ear shares the same nerve so my ear really!!!!! hurt, I do have a "weird" feeling in my throat(scar tissue) I wasnt able to eat anything, no ice cream, ice chips for 2 weeks It hurt to bad, lost 15 pounds. Morning was the worst, due to dry mouth. I would put water in my mouth "swish" it around and spit it out in the sink,it hurt sooo bad to swallow, I given birth 2 times and the tonsillectomy was far more painful., but this still beats having streph throat 10 times in 1 year! That was the reason "I" reqeusted the surgery.

I am a 37 yo male and I had my Tonsils & Adenoids removed on Tuesday, today is Thursday. There has been pain, however it has been managable. I started drinking Gatorade as soon as i returned from the hospital and i have gone through almost a case. I have been eating pudding, ice cream, scrambled eggs, mashed potatos, cheesecake and macaroni & cheese. I have gained 4 pounds since Tuesday. You just need to work through it.

im a 38 year old male , and i had my tonsils take out 4 days ago. Yes it has been a very painful experience. My doctor has been great, he told me almost day for day what to expect and what to do in certain situations. He also told me it would take about two weeks for a recovery. The secret is managing the pain. I mix my pain medicine with yogurt or pudding it does not taste as good but it works. Then I was down what ever is left in my mouth with shaved ice. I have even frozen ice tea the shave in the blender....this allows for water to get in your system. It works everyone should try it.....

Hey everyone I'm 17 and just had tonsil,adenoid, and deviated septum surgery 10 days ago. I was wondering if it is normal to be still be in extreme pain after 10 days of surgery I found the first 5 or 6 days pretty easy but now I have had a huge spike in pain in both the back of my throat and my ears, is that normal? Also anytime I wake up in the morning I begin my day's now with severe pain. The worst part is trying to eat I'm losing wait like crazy because anytime I try to eat or drink it feels like there is a large piece of glass cutting away at my throat. Has anyone ever experienced pain like this after surgery? And if anyone has any tips to help me I would be very grateful.

I live in Scotland and had my tonsils out on 19 Feb after numerous throat infections and a disgusting experience with a quinsy. I started eating soup two hours after surgery and 6 hours after surgery they brought me some beef stew, boiled potates and peas!!(Scottish hospitals!). Pain relief has been solpadol and diclofenic sodium which has been not bad. The pain was defintely not as bad as the doses of tonsillitis I've had in the past with severe referred ear pain. Mornings have been the worst as it takes a while for the painkillers to kick back in the throat to lubricate again. Haven't had any bleeding, biggest problem has actually been the tiredness after the anaesthetic. So if you are suffering from recurrent tonsillitis which is affecting your quality of life then go for it!!

I am a 28 year old female and got my tonsils out last week (it has been 7 days) and the pain is now getting worse.
I can't eat or drink and swallowing my saliva is very painful. Is it normal or should I go back to my doctor?

this surgery is the worst. i thought the first few days were bad but i was at least eating loads of pudding and gatorade. i actually gained like 5 pounds. now its seven days later and i can't eat or drink. water even hurts. i'm probably dehydrated but i figure there's enough saliva in my throat that i can't swallow to keep it all moist. The pain is in my throat and in my ears. i try to swallow as little as possible. doesn't feel like glass feels like swallowing jacks. just poking all the way down. the liquids sting going down and for a minute after.

Hi, i had my tonsils out 6 weeks ago im 35 yrs old. The operation was very painfull and i was in hospital for 1 week before they let me go home. i stayed home for one week and went back to work the next week, that was a mistake. The weight loss i suffered wasnt two bad, about 2 stone, but i wasnt carrying much to begin with and im finding it hard to put that back on.
Also i seem to be catching any bug thats going so my immune system is virtually non-existent ! im constantly tired and still have no energy even though im taking pharmaton, ginsing, omega oils, tonics etc ... nothing seems to be working. To top it off i got a bout of larengitus last week that really knocked me for six, back on augmentin and cefex antibiotics, immune system back ro zero.
What ill say to any adults getting this operation is this ... be prepared for a long slow recovery, theres no other ways about it. I see the light at the end of the tunnel but havent enough energy to get to it ! when i do(hit the light) ill bring my son to the football pitch which he loves and play ball with him, i havent done that since the op.

I am 41 years old, and grateful for this message board. I had surgery one week ago, and the adeonid area is worse now than it was. Despite the fact that I am on IV Cipro antibiotic and bactroban irrigtion and antifungal irrigation. My adenoid was infected for a year but the doctors didnt know it and I had 2 sinus surgeries although nothing was wrong with my sinuses, and the 2nd surgery damaged and infected my trigeminal nerve, which is permanent. Finally found an excellent ent who saw that my adenoid was grossly infected. I have had mrsa among other bacteria there, so I am scared now that the adenoid void area has some kind of infection again, that Cipro doesnt cover, namely.mrsa.
Does anyone with an adenoidectomy have severe side of neck muscle pain, post surgery. I hope that goes away and this is just recovery pain. From reading all of your posts, I am feeling a little better that this might just be recovery pain. This has been an unbelievable experience for me.

I am a 40 y.o. female. I just got my tonsils out 7 days ago and yes, it hurts a lot. Some things that have been working for me that I'd like to suggest are: #1) using sore throat spray relief (it numbs the mouth and moistens it at the same time) #2) sucking on cough drops or life savers #3) rubbing vix all over my throat #4) sleep/resting #5) prop your head up on a couple of soft pillows this way it keeps the swelling down and also less fluid to swallow in your throat #6) eat the instant mashed potatoes, they are very smooth and thinner than regular with a creamy soup or gravy (not too hot though) or pears cut up with cottage cheese or graham crackers soaked in milk. And to drink: gatoraid (it helps keep you hydrated and feels good on the throat with crushed ice.)
For nausea/vomitting: don't take any meds on an empty stomach and SIP drinks slowly, DO NOT drink large amounts at once and try sucking on/eating bites of crackers. Good luck to everyone, I'll be SOOOO glad when this is over and hope it'll be worth it and I'm eating steaks and burgers again! =)