tonsilectomy recovery time

i am a 26 year old female. I had a tonsilectomy. I am on my 9th day of recovery.
During middle school is when I started having problems with my tonsils. I remember being sick and sleepy in class. And I struggled to get through the day and pay attention to my teachers by the end of the day I had no energy to complete my assignments. My grades dropped tremedously from being a A B student I started failing my classes. My mother thought I had become lazy and a disgrace to the family. Later I was diagnosed and needed to have surgery after antibiotics failed to remedy my problem.
My parents had no insurance and the surgery was not performed at that time. I continued to struggle through school. For years after I had problem with really bad breath and finally I decided to have them taken out.

I lost about 9 pounds and now that I've started eating Ive gaine about 1/2 of that back. I am really glad I had the surgery and I looking forward to a full recovery. I cant wait til I am all healed up. I still have a difficult time eating but I get so hungry I just force it down with water....which I noticed if I drink at the same rate of speed water comes out my nose. So I hope that's just temporary.

My best advice is just to keep drinking fluids your body will take care of the rest and dont worry about weight loss your body is designed to retrieve nutrients from your fat storage as long as you stay hydrated.

I am 15 and had my tonsils removed yesterday (10/19) and I am quiet nervous about the dreaded 5th day of recovery, aside from being kinda hungry, Im feeling alright as far as pain goes, It could be worse.

Your awesome, you made me feel alot better because im still trying to recove on my 4th day out *******



edited by moderator***emails not allowed

I'm 36 years old and on day 9 of my adult tonsillectomy recovery. I stayed in bed for the first 5 days in a row. The first week was not as painful as I anticipated, because the liquid vicadin was very effective. I was really exhausted and found walking up the stairs to be a chore (meanwhile, I had just finished a fast marathon a week earlier). I was able to get down plenty of liquids (they actually make you feel so much better) and I ate cream of rice cereal for b'fast. Ensure shakes were a god send. I got bold on day 6 and ate some pasta and started talking (not a good idea). I found that talking for more than 10 minutes really wore me out. I'm now in the 9th day and today was one of the most painful days that I have had.

I notice that I seem to have a good day followed by a bad day and that has been going on since day 5. I keep thinking that I'm ready to be healthy and my cabin fever gets the better of me. But I think it's so important to allow yourself time to heal. I have to just allow my body to rest. People will keep saying "it's just a tonsillectomy...you must be able to talk by now!! When can you go back to work?" But don't feel pressured...this surgery is really tough. But I hear from everyone that it is worth it. I am hoping that by 12-14 days I will feel pretty much back to normal. I can't wait to eat.

im a 19 year old girl and after suffering 6 years of tonsilitas and glandular fever i was glad to know i was having them out! i wish i never had them out now, i have never been in so much pain in all of my life and i am not exagerating! this is my 6th day and i have eating about 1 meal in the whole of 6 days, i have bled twice on the 5th day and i am currently on co-codamol and dicloflex and now antibiotics - amoxicilin as i have an infection where the tonsils used to be!! i find drinking water hurts more now than any of the other days!!
as i woke up from the anasthetic i thought i was out clubbing and told the nurse to get away from me, as i come around a bit better i had a panic attack cause i didnt know where i was so i had a shot of morphine then 6 shots of pain killers, that knocked me out completely and as i got back to the ward they expected me to eat beef casserole, potato's, peas and carrots 2 hours after surgery! the whole time i was in hosp 2 days 1 night, i didnt eat nothing at all, i lied to the nurse and said i ate toast. all they want you to eat is rough stuff so on the 5th day i ate toast, bad idea, started bleeding! went back to hosp and the doctor said not to eat toast but to eat soft stuff, a bit confused so in the evening i was drinking soup and what do you know, i bled again, went back to the hosp cause there was quite a few clots and very scary cause you cant breath properly! and the doctor said i should eat tepid things! in the end i had to ask for a list of things that would be good to eat!!
i also find that if i swallow it hurts REAL bad so i block my ears when swallowing and when im going to bed i put cotton wool in my ears, helps a lil bit!!

I'm a 24 y/o male and I am on Day 8. I should note that I am a pretty pain-resistant guy. I have had oral procedures done on only minor anesthesia that most needed to be put to sleep.

Starting in early August 2006, I had 3 recurring paratonsillar abcesses, which is almost unheard in medical literature. I had my tonsils out 11/06 - my ENT doctor said I was a "rockstar" in the O.R.: there was no bleeding, I awoke fairly quickly after the 20 minute surgery and hung around the hospital for maybe an hour afterwards and went home.

I was pretty energetic upon arriving home - I wasn't in terrible pain at all. I had a very healthy appetite - I was eating chicken w/ rice soup, tomato soup, applesauce, apple juice, chocolate pudding, ice cream, cranberry juice, miso soup.

Days 2 and 3 were a little more painful - my body hurt like hell and I was dizzy. I realized that this was a side effect of my painkiller (hydrocodone) so I started taking a couple of aspirin every few hours and I was back to normal. Sure, my mouth hurt a bit but I was doing well, all things considered. I was still eating the same food and my condition was stable.

By Day 4, my breath starting smelling like sh*t - my friend called it "Death Rot". This is a side effect, so no kissing for a few days :) I started to get cabin fever so I went for a car ride with my friend for an hour but was pretty damn tired afterwards. Still, the pain wasn't terrible. In the evening, I finally started eating solid foods - wheat bread and bacon. The bacon sort of hurt but was tolerable.

I went shopping and to the movies on Day 5 - I tried drinking soda but it didn't taste that good and the carbonation stung a bit. I tried eating some licorice as well but it was still pretty hard to chew. Again, keep taking your tylenol, antibiotics and painkillers and you'll be good to go.

I was pretty tired on Day 6 - just ate the same ol' food, had some more bacon, bread and a poached egg as well. Finally getting some solid food in me.

Day 7 was pretty rotten but I think that may be because: A) I ate crunchy, sharp foods (tortilla chips) with some nasty salsa and, B) Was on an Amtrak train for 5 hours and I tend to get motion sickness. My mouth started bleeding and I went into the bathroom on the train and cried my eyes out. By the time I returned home, I was still spitting up some blood so I drank 32oz of water and took my meds and went to bed.

I woke up today - Day 8 - feeling fine. My mouth had healed for the most part, not much blood in my saliva. I was still a little nauseated from lack of nutrition but went back to work. I'm not talking much for fear of opening the wounds again - but it looks like the grey membrane is starting to turn to scabs now. I'm drinking seltzer water all day, having soup and bread - all in all, I'm doing fine.

I would also like to comment on dehydration, which is one of the most critical post-op risks.

I didn't have trouble drinking but if you do, I would recommend you buy Pedialyte. It is a children's juice drink that replinishes your body with vitamins and elektrolytes, it is designed solely to help you prevent dehyrdation. This will do much more per ounce in preventing dehydration than water.

im a 19 year old female and had my tonsils out 8 days ago. if i had a choice to have them out again i wouldnt!! the pain is horrible!! when i woke from the anasthetic i thought i was out drinking and shouted at the nurse to leave me alone so i could drink and then when i came around my throat hurt like hell!! i then had to have morphine and about 8 shots of pain killer to calm me down cause i wa in agony!! i went into theatre at 1.30 and returned to the ward at 3.40! i was out of it then for the day! they tried giving me beef caserole, peas, carrots and potatos! i couldnt eat nothing! they sent me home the next day without having eaten anything! they told me to eat as much hard stuff as possible so i did and then i haemorraghed, i then had to go on antibiotics as i had an infection! i also had an allergic reaction to one of the painkillers i was on so had to swap painkillers. i havent been able to eat hardly anything which is not good cause i love my food and have lost quite a bit of weight!

17 y.o female.i had a tonsilectomy a week ago. so far its been alright. painful but bearable. just started eating noodles and biscuits and stuff. this is a question to anyone whoes had their tonsilectomy awhile ago.
how long does the retarded voice last?

Im a 23 year old male from Australia, I had my tonsils out 6 days ago.

I woke up from the surgery coughing a bit, throat was quite sore, pethadine did the trick but paracetemol did not. Was spitting brownish blood, the surgeon warned me of that and said it was only a problem if the blood was red/fresh.
The surgeon encouraged me to eat a normal diet, saying that it would actually lower the chance of bleeding. The night after the operation I had crumbed chicken which was quite rough.
The pain was not horrific, but very annoying, pretty much like one of my worst sore throats. It seemed to be worse after waking up. I also think I suffered a bit from dehydration, for me it was very tough to drink water, probably harder than food. But when I read on the internet that keeping yourself hydrated would reduce the pain so I tried to drink a little bit more.
I tried quite alot of things to null the pain, panedeine forte, nurofen, vicks on the throat (works for me for sore throats, dont think it worked for tonsilectomy), and an anti bacterial mouth wash, which a pharmacist said was OK but I never got the OK from my surgeon so don't quote me on this one. Ice cream was alright, but water ice/funny faces/icypoles seemed to be alot better.
Last night while rinsing my mouth out I noticed some blood, I was spitting in a bucket for a little while before it seemed to clear up, so I went to bed.
Though this morning when I woke up I could taste the blood in my mouth, I went to the bathroom and vomited very dark looking blood, and continued to spit fresh/red blood. The bleeding isnt as bad anymore, but still there, its currently 8:20am so Im just waiting for the surgeon to goto work so I can give him a call to make sure everything is ok, I was told that there could be some bleeding after 7-10 days as the white slough seperated from my throat.

The pain is a little less today though still a bit of a sore throat and ear ache.

I am a 37 year old male who decided after years of chronic sore throat flare ups and the formation of small "crips" that were forming on my tonsils that were collecting food particles (which can cause some pretty severe chronic hallitosis a.ka. bad breath), that I needed to have my tonsils removed. I consulted many journals and an ENT surgeon who explained the risks of having the surgery at such an older age. Well the horror stories are true.

Immediately following the surgery I was given some anti-inflamitories (Celebrex), a liquid pain killer (Oxicodone) and a liquid medication to fight infection (Amoxicillin). I can't imagine recovering from a tonsilectomy on Tylenol 3 with codeine like so many people I talk with who had the surgery. I needed something much stronger for that pain I was having. Even taking the Oxicodone I was in extreme pain. Sometimes I felt like it would be much easier to die than to deal with the agony of my throat pain and this is no joke. I had an adverse allergic reaction to my Celebrex which resulted in intestinal bleeding and I had to be rushed to the emergency room. It's not always fun to find out you are allergic to a medication until you take it, but that was my case.

2 weeks after the surgery I woke up with my mouth full of blood clots, scabs that had fallen off of the tosil removal points, and flem. I know this sounds disgusting, but once I the scabs fell off and I spit them out, I was able to swallow with minimal pain.

I am on my 3rd week of recovery from my tonsilectomy and I am still a little tender in my throat. I wake up with irritation and dryness, but that soons goes away after I am up. I am sure in a few weeks I will be back to my "old self" and this will all be behind me. I just wanted to let you all know about my experience at age 37.

PAW

Hi everyone, I am a 23 year old female who is on day 8 of recovery. Well lets see the first week has been extremely painful. Without loratab every 3 - 4 hours my pain is at at 9.5. With the medicine it is much less. I have found using an ice pack on my throat and ears to be my savior. Ice pops are great too but only the ones that don't sting. When I first came home from the hospital I was able to drink apple juice but once the initial meds wore off it hurt too much. I then switched to sprite. The first few days i really only drank sprite, soup with thin tiny noodles and tea. I can now eat some scrambled eggs, ice cream, cream of wheat, and mashed veggies. Although ice cream tastes good, my doc advised against it to avoid extra flem. It's been a long 8 days. Especially sleeping, i can now sleep 3 or 4 hours at a time at night. The pain is always bad when you wake up, even if its only from a short nap. I am looking foward to getting better... good luck everyone

Hi everyone, I'm 18 years old and just got out of my surgery like, two days ago. I thought the pain would be less than this but I can't even hardly drink anything, I've been coughing up some phlegm and tried eating some pudding earlier, and I just spit it back up. They kept me in the hospital for 4 hours after surgery, I woke up whimpering, crying and wanting my mother [That's who I've always yelled for] They took me to my room, I curled up, wasn't feeling TOO bad, was asking for drink after drink, because i wanted to try different things, see what was best for me, I tried a Capri Sun, water, gatorade [was nasty, it was a weird type of gatorade] and apple juice. Water was good, and the Capri Sun was actually quite nice. About an hour after I got out of the hospital we went to KFC and I ate some mashed potatoes and a couple biscuits. Didn't hurt TOO bad. Today was horrible, I know I'm supposed to be drinking alot, but I can hardly swallow and trying to eat anything is almost impossible. My mom swears that if it gets worse that she's going to take me back to the hospital because I might get dehydrated. Any tips would be welcome.

I am a 21 yr old female who never had a single problem regarding my tonsils until my 20's. I just had my tonsils taken out 3 days ago, and though I am in an immense amount of pain, my experience was by no means horrifying as some of these tales seem to be. The procedure took three times as long as usual, and I was under general anesthesia. I guess I had incredibly large tonsils! Anyhow, it is not fun to be on a liquid diet for two weeks, but I think the pain and starvation is worth it in the end. Who wants to get tonsilitis every 2 weeks for the rest of their life? Make sure you ask your surgeon ALL the questions you may be nervous about. Most doctors are VERY upfront about the pain and the side effects that result following the procedure.

I just had my tonsills out on Tuesday the 10th of Jan 2007.The operation went fine and i only stayed over night in hospital for observation.You will most likely be given Tramadol(opiate) a few hours after the operation and then Ibuuprofen and paracetemol therafter.I was eating sandwiches 2 hours after my op and although it hurt a little to swallow its not as bad as some folk are making out and drinking plenty of water afterwards helped as well.The best thing to eat actually is toast as this scrapes(not as bad as it sounds) away old tissue and helps prevent infection.If you suffer from tonsilitis i can assure you the discomfort you feel after the operation is a lot less than actually having tonsilitis.