tonsillectomy; worst pain ever

Im 25 years old and got my tonsils out on the 14th. I read pretty much all of these postings about a week before my scheduled surgery and I barely got to sleep that night. The morning of my surgery came and I had to wait for about two hours with an IV in my hand, which made my anxiety about this whole thing that much worse. I also remembered back to my ENT doctor who told me that I would probably hate him after this because of the pain...so that was good to remember. The guy who would give me the drugs to put me to sleep even said it would hurt and not to punch him for it when i wake up....so my heart was racing when they wheeled me into the operating room. Next thing I remember is waking up to having a swollen throat, with some pain but not as much as i would have thought in the recovery room. I was able to talk enough to ask the nurse questions she could understand. I then sat in recovery for about an hour...i was very sleepy but I did manage to eat two cups of crushed ice and a full glass of water without any real issues. The only thing that sucked was when i tried to drink too much at first, my throat was so swollen that some of the water came out through my nose. I was able to leave soon after and went home to rest. I tried sleeping but kept waking up every 15 minutes, not because of pain..just restlessness. I ate ice chips and drank as much water as i could, it helped with the swallowing discomfort. I got a liquid medicine that knocked me out and would numb the throat, i also was given a long lasting injection in my throat that was to last for 24hrs which was nice. I was able to talk OK for the first two days, an even do a few errands. When night 3,4,5 came, that was a bit different. My throat was more sore and talking was more difficult. i pretty much had soup and mashed potatoes for the first 5-6 days. I took advice from a few people i read from here and it was very helpful. I set my alarm at night every two hours and tried to drink as much as possible and take my pain meds. I also used a spray bottle with water so when i woke up id spray water in my throat right away before trying to swallow since your throat dries out at night. I only vomited once, but that was about 4 hours after i came home...i ate too much sherbet on an empty stomach. After that i never really felt nausea again. Today is day 8 after my surgery and Im doing much better, im going back to work tonight. I ate a chicken breast and some potatoes with no issues. There still is a little bit of pain when i swallow but not enough to take any pain medicine for, more of an annoyance than anything. Overall, Id have to say the experience wasnt nearly as bad as i expected...maybe i was lucky compared to others stories here. Im sure Ill be happy with the end result though...I already sleep better and Im looking forward to not getting tonsilitis again. My advice is to stay on top of the pain meds, dont wait for the pain to start in order to take it again. Also drink as much as ya can, i know drinking water all day will get old but it helped me out a lot. The hardest part was seeing everyone around me eat good food while i lived on chicken soup and jello. Good luck to anyone who read this and is getting the procedure!

Day 6 was somewhat better, I was feeling fairly good once I got the dryness in my morning through moistened. The evening was no different, with swelling increasing along with pain. Day 7 was a totally different type of pain, I had trouble swallowing my saliva, and I increased my pain med intake. My diet consisted of jello, pudding, ramen noodles, and ensure. I actually tried some past this day and had to stop because of the pain. Day 8 was a lesser degree of Day 7, I was in pain, however drinking fluids became easier once again. I ate minimal food, with a bowl of ramen being the biggest meal. Day 9 has been the best day so far. I am still sore, and my throat feels very raw, however, with the exception of waking up at 5am in some dry throat pain, I am okay. Im going to try and eat a little more softer foods today, and hopefully the corner has been turned. I must say, drinking fluids is the number one treatment post op.

I had my tonsils taken out on the 24th. Worse pain ever on day 5. I dont know what is worse my ears or my throat. Cant eat drink hurts like a son of a B when i drink cant talk. IM HUNGRY!!! Only thing that helps is the vicodin but i have to crush it into powder and put it in pudding. Cant take the liquid it makes me sick. I just want to get better and soon.

Well, got my tonsil revision and adenoid revision and also first time removal of my lingual tonsils. I am on day 2 and good so far. Yesterday after surgery I was talking and a bit swollen but ok. Last night it burned some and I ate some ice cream and slept restlessly but not painfully. I am having a bit of mucus which is annoying but pain not too bad yet. Doc told me saturday and sunday ( day4-5 ) should be the worst. I am on antibiotics, lortab elixir and also prednisone. That may help with swelling ad pain I guess. I had a lump inside the side of my neck below my jaw on the left and realized it is gone- never knew what it was- but now wonder if it was the huge lingual tonsil - it didin't stick out but I felt it and always thought maybe it was a lymph node. For the first time today thought I wasn't coughing strings and bits of crud so that is really good!! Little bit of mucusy blood but told that was normal.

Hey I had mine out on the 19th and its now the 23rd/24th.

Pain - Between about 11am and 11 pm I am not too bad - In between these times its pretty bad! I try and take the meds (Cocodamol) but i find they do little to help at night (well better than nothing)

An extremely good tip is to use DIFFLAM spray or mouthwash - google it, they did a medical trial specifically for post-tonsilectomy pain management and found it to be helpful! - It is an anti-inflammatory which numbs pain a little as well :-)

Plus i must correct something alot of people are saying here. Liquid diet is NOT ok. As advised by all the doctors, nurses, consultants and even alot of info on the web - YOU MUST CARRY ON A NORMAL DIET AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

At first it may be scary but if you are actually medicated up youll find it not too bad at all! In fact eating has caused me no extra pain! And I have been eating ALOT!! But remember dont be eating no Happy meal or that rubbish - lots of fruit and veg! Also drink lots of FIZZY drinks, the nurses could not stress this enough.

Overall - as people say it is going to be worth it in the end! - but when i read these posts they are way more dramatic than they should be -just remember

-the main pain is only really gonna be at night. Wake up regularly to take meds.

- EAT full diet from day of coming out - recovery time will shorten significantly + your stomach wont be as shredded from the meds!

- And althugh 14 days seems like a long time (it does to me I have only done 5 days :-( - It will be worth it in the end :-D

- Do not go to public places or see many people etc. - Especially not a concert - whoever posted that i believe is a liar! The main fear about this surgery is that your are extremely prone to infection after surgery! So stay away from any public places and even family members with Cold or cough!

Thanks to all that have posted their after surgery stories regarding tonsils. My surger is scheduled for October 4th 2007 and I am scared. I keep thinking about how I won't ever have to miss work or go to the doctors ever again for my tonsils but it isn't helping any.

I am going to drink so much water its going to be silly!! That is the one thing that everyone seems to be talking about. I already did my pre op appointment and that really freaked me out. Did anyone get anything to take before coming into the hospital to help them relax? My pulse was 101 at the pre op vist...nice huh. I'm 28, you think I could handle it but apparently not.

Hey Lynsey I had my adenoids and tonsils taken out on the 4th too. How is it going for you so far?

I felt great right after the surgery, left almost immediately, and was talking until about 10pm. For awhile I was having fun checking out my uvula in the mirror, it was so big and sad looking.

Well that's all over. It turned out that the uvula never stopped swelling, and now it's draped on my tongue like a big loogie that shoots pain all the way through my ears whenever I try swallowing.

I'm forcing down the pain pills every 4 hours, but it's hard to sleep so I'm passing the time reading about how much worse this is going to get.

My tonsils came out in less than half an hour, my ENT must love her job!! The liquid Lortab made me so sick and it was such a pain to wake up every 4 hours to take meds. By the time I got to sleep and was resting I had to wake up again.

The only thing that saved me for the first few days was ice bags. No one mentioned the ear pain they had. It felt like someone drilled holes in my ears and poured acid down my throat!

I did enjoy looking at my throat in the mirro, its been very interesting watching the healing process. Black, then white, then pink and white, now its pink white and red.

The swelling wasn't in my uvula but my tounge!! I had to get Celebrex which my lovely insurance didn't cover and it cost 87 bucks but so so worth it. If you are in pain call your doctor, they have the drugs to get you through.

I'm so weak now and I'm starting to eat soft food but nothing tastes good so for now I'm just eating to get by. Water doesn't even taste good. I've been having Frosties from Wendys and that has been the best so far. My Mom bought me 6 and I put them in the freezer, they are perfect.

I had my tonsils out on 30th Oct, exactly one week ago today. I tried to avoid all the horror stories about recovery before I went in as this was the 3rd time I've been to hospital in 18months. As for the pain, I won't lie and say there was none but it's been more in my ears than my throat. My throat has been no sorer than a bout of tonsilitis. The biggest tip I would give is to chew gum regularly. It helps with the post op jaw soreness (they've got to prop you open to get to the little suckers) and keeps your mouth wet. I'm fascinated by the holes I'm left with now. I haven't seen the ENT so don't know how big they were but I'm assuming they were quite large.

Oh dear,
I Just got mine on the 22nd of November and its my 4th day
I can literally say its the worst pain I've ever felt in my life
I'm also a teenager so i've had my share of painful things.
The first day wasn't bad but then it got worse.
Stay away from things to cause mucus because if you go to caugh and mucous comes up its seriously painful and its difficult to deal with.
I got perks and tylenol with codein for mine because i also got my adnoides out.
So when im on some of the meds I'm fine and can talk a little but when i'm not i'm crying in pain.
I don't mean to scare you but, its a horrible experience I wish I never got it.

Well, I got a tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, septoplasty, and turbinate resection on the 7th, and my what a ride it's been so far.

Immediately after surgery: Not too bad. I had some pain, and it was uncomfortable to talk, but the nurse in recovery gave me morphine for the pain and started me on the Vicodin (tablets!) I was prescribed for healing at home. It didn't hurt worse than some bad throat infections I had had before.

Days 1-4: Pretty much the same. I forced myself to drink LOTS of water. The first day, I would suck on a popsicle first, to help with the swelling of the throat, and then I would try eating. Soups, mashed potatoes, creamy pasta. I even ate a chicken sandwich on the second day and a turkey toasted-bread sandwich on the third... mostly I forced these items down, though, and dealt with a slight increase in pain for about a half-hour afterward.

Day 5: On this day, I woke up in the early morning (middle of the night) with an extremely dry mouth, severely swollen throat, and excruciating pain that seemed different from the pain I had experienced before. The pain also seemed to at last be radiating to my ears a little bit. I took the Vicodin, but it didn't seem to help, so I tried suffering it out for the day. I tried eating some things that I had been eating on days before, but this just made me the sorriest I had been since surgery. Terrible pain that made me tear up (and I'm pretty accustomed to pain, I like to think).

Eventually it got so bad that I had to double the dose to 2 tablets, and that helped with the pain immensely. I had read that the 5th day is the worst, and from my experience, I'd say that claim is justified. I just woke up from fairly restless sleep from 1:30am - 3:30am with pretty awful pain, drank some water, and took my Vicodin, and now I feel okay, but man! I hope it gets better from here on out.

At least I can take some solace in reading other people's pain stories and take some sympathy. It's also nice to get some hope from reading that the 5th day is the worst and that it gets better after that. Thanks, everyone, who has posted here or anywhere with tips and timelines, as they do help (if only psychologically). haha!

Even though yesterday was the worst pain I've felt in my life, I still would go through it again if it means I'll be able to breathe better and not have those stupid tonsil infections anymore! My doctor told me when I decided to have the surgery done (and I love my ENT: I think he's the greatest): "You're going to hate me for about 2 weeks after this surgery. But I wouldn't have you hate me for 2 weeks, if I didn't think you were going to love me after that."

So if you're thinking of having a tonsillectomy done... do it! Sure it's pretty painful for a couple weeks, but after just 5-1/2 days I can tell that it's going to be so much better. Even with a swollen throat, I can breathe better and feel better. :-)

Thanks to everyone who's posted on here. I think it helped me to have a better perspective going through this experience. I thought I'd share my experience as well.

I'm 32 years old and on Nov. 27, 2007 I got both of my tonsils out. My ENT used the regular old knife method. However, my recovery wasn't as bad as many I've read on here.

Day 1 - I was really scared after reading many horror stories. I work up from the operation feeling wonderfully sleepy. I felt no pain, but I could tell my throat was weird. I was fed ice chips and told not to clear my throat by coughing. They made me get dressed and shoved me out the door in a wheelchair to the car. Even after I got home, I didn't have any throat pain. My tongue and uvula were pretty swollen which made it hard to lie flat because they'd impede my breathing. I had to sit in my recliner with my head tilted to one side. I didn't feel like eating, but I drank an Ensure before taking my Hydrocodone Bitartrate & Acetaminophen solution which is just generic Vicodin + Tylenol. It made me feel a little dizzy, but that's better than pain! I drank water constantly, and gatorade too. I chewed some sugar free gum since people on here said that was a good idea.

Day 2 - Still no throat pain. I ate a lot of jello, gatorade, slushy, and a bottle of Ensure every 6 hours just before taking my meds. I took my meds religiously, 6am, 3pm, 6pm, 3am. I was so afraid of feeling the pain everyone was talking about. I continued to drink water all the time.

Day 3 & 4- I felt a bit of throat pain, kind of achy. My ears felt achy as well. I could feel more pain towards the end of my 6 hour med cycle. The worst thing though was my tongue. Since it was swollen I would sleep with my jaws kinda open, but mouth closed. I guess my tongue lied on my teeth funny and so got really irritated. I had canker sores on the top and bottom, and they were killing me. That prevented me from eating more than anything else. I read artificial sweeteners could also irritate the tongue, so maybe I shouldn't have chewed that gum. I still could drink my 4 Ensures a day before taking pain meds. (BTW, by drinking 4 a day, I lost practically NO weight. I was kinda bummed about that. haha)

Day 5 & 6 - I would feel pretty sore around 5 hours after taking my pain meds. However, the pain was not very bad. I got some canker sore numbing stuff called "Kanka" which helped my tongue. My doctor also recommended taking Lysine vitamins to help with the canker sores. I never got them though, the pain went away before I got around to buying them. I ate some chicken noodle soup, w/o the chicken. It went down fine. I was still pretty lazy and only truly wanted to drink Ensure.

Day 7 & 8 - One of the white scabs near my uvula came off, and I saw some blood. I got scared and put ice on my throat and sucked on ice chips like my doc recommended. The bleeding never became serious. A dark red colored blob replaced the white scab that was there. It looked pretty delicate so I stopped trying to eat new foods and stuck to liquids for a couple days. I still take my meds regularly and feel sore about 4 hours after taking them. I think they don't work quite as well as they used to. The pain isn't bad tho,
and I refrain from taking more meds, because I don't want to become addicted.

Day 9 - 11 - Slowly the white scabbies are coming off. Occasionally I see a tiny bit of blood, but nothing more than that. My mood for food is increasing and I eat noodles, rice, and bread being sure to chew it to death before swallowing. I even went to an Andrea Bocelli concert on day 9! I tried to drink a smoothy while there, but it was too acidic and burned my throat. I couldn't eat the pizza we had before the concert, I was pretty sore.

Day 11 - 16 - On day 11 I started taking less meds. By day 13 I think I only took a little bit in the morning and some at night. My tongue didn't hurt anymore and my swelling was nearly gone. My throat still looked white. Each day a little bit more would come off. I never noticed it coming off, I would just see that some was gone. hehe

At my 3 week follow up appointment I was eating anything I wanted. I felt fine, but would notice my tonsils were weird when I lied a certain way. No pain. The doctor said my tonsils were 90% healed. Everything had gone just fine. My sense of taste was still kinda weird, be he said that would pass.

Now it's been about 7 weeks since the surgery. My taste has been normal for a long time now. Very occasionally my throat feels weird when lying on my side, but doesn't hurt. That's it! Hope your experience is as good or nicer than mine!

WOW. All i can say is that this has been hell. I remember looking on here before my surgery and seeing all the different results and responces. Everyones pain tolerance is different but i must agree that since i am only 20 years old and have yet to give birth, this is most definately the very most painful thing i have ever been through. Day one was awsome, very little pain, day 2 i was careful to keep on top of taking my pain medication (T3s) every 3 hours so that wasnt too bad. I made the mistake of going to sleep the 2nd night, woke up 5 1/2 hours later in EXCRUCIATING pain because the pain killers had completely worn off. (NOTE TO ANYONE< DO NOT SLEEP MORE THEN 3 HOURS FOR THE FIRST WEEK. TAKE YOUR MEDS REGULARILY) I was admitted back into emerge at the hospital the morning of day 3 because i was in so much pain that when i tried to take my medication i just threw up. My stomach was completely empty, water wasnt staying down, i was dehydrating and all i wanted to do was cry. They gave me a shot of gravol in the butt and that helped me because i didnt have to swallow it, then they gave me a ginger-ail mixed with water that wasnt REAL cold just a bit colder then room temperature, and some liquid codeine. Once that kicked in i felt better.. and they let me come home. Since then i have just been trying to drink ginger-ale/water mix (its a bit easier on the throat when the fizziness is watered down) i have been putting the mixture in a water bottle and leaving it in the freezer for 45 mins and then shaking it so its like a slush, this feels REALLY nice on my throat. Popsciles and water are all that i have managed to eat.. Ice cream is a bad idea as the dairy makes your saliva very thick and gooey and hard to swallow, its also kind of hard on my stomach as im pretty sensitive and the T3s already make me feel nautious. They have me on Zantac for acid reflux because i keep getting hiccups which lead to me throwing up or feeling really terrible. I can tell by the way my throat feels that it is healing, it feels like it is scabbing up and i am genuinely worried about the pain the is going to occur in the next few days. Im only off work for another week and a half or so but i think im going to quite possibly need more time. Talking isnt too bad, its just the swallowing, and i really miss my full night sleeps.... My best advice to anyone is wake up and take your meds regularily, that was my biggest most painful mistake. If anyone has advice for the day 6 and onward recovery let me know... Food is still out of the question, mind you i have managed to eat a few soft french fries and some bread, it gets stuck in the holes and makes me gag so i just try to stick with liquids for now, I think ill try this Ensure stuff.... mind you i have a feeling it will be a lot like dairy so ill have to dilute it with water to avoid choking.. GOOD LUCK TO ANYONE who is about to go through it. Im just trying to remind myself that i wont get Recurring tonsilitis anymore after this.....

Hang in there!!!! I am 31 years old. and yes this surgery SUCKS!!!!
The pain medicine won't take away "ALL" of your pain...but it should take away the worst of it. If your pain medicine isn't working at all...Call your Dr. Ask for something else. If your throat hurst really bad ask for some lidocaine. Also ask for some Magic Mouthwash. Magic mouthwash is a mouthwash that you swish around and swallow. It has...Hydrocodone/Doxycicline/Benadrfyl/Natamycin/ and Lidocaine in it....it is very soothing!!
1. Have a drink in your hand ALL THE TIME. The more you drink the LESS it hurts.
2. Put an ice ack on your neck.....keep it on for the next couple of days. It helps. Make sure you use a towel or something (don't FREEZE your skin...lol
3. Schedule your pain medicine for evry 4 hours...set an alarn. Take it whether you need it or not.
4. It is ok if you haven't eaten. As long as you are drinking TONS of fluids!! Also try soup BROTH, also Sherbet has helped me a lot.

NO MILK/Dairy products it will make things WORSE!

Hang in there!!!!!

This is day two of my recovery, still can't talk nor swallow, PAIN is bad. But not as bad as 1st day, either I'm used to the pain or it's a litle less now.