Was the tonsillectomy really worth it?

Yes, it was worth it. In my case, my doctor was actually worried I had cancer and a tumor because he and a few other ENTs said they had never seen anything as bizarre as my tonsils. I had 18 outbreaks of tonsilitis in less then a year, all of which put me out for more then a week and in the past month my outbreaks became resistant to most anti-botics. I had to go to the ER on one occasion because part of my tonsil literally fell off and exposed a blood vessel, I randomly began profusely bleeding from my mouth and it didnt stop for 4 days.
I am now on my sixth day Post Surgery and I must say this is one of the worst things I have ever gone through, even though I am 19 I have gone through many surgeries and painful procedures and this tops them. THe first day is the best, right after surgery, but I had some kind of problem with a nerve on my left side, and the pain was so bad I was on the verge of blacking out. I lost 10 pounds already, but today i am finally feeling a bit better. I think it will be at least another week till I can eat even a partial range of foods, and I have been taking 15-20 Vicodin daily for the past 5 days, I actually needed to cold water extract the tylenol out of the vicodin so i wouldnt get liver failure. However, even now while I am still in immense pain, I can already tell it was worth it. I already can feel a positive change in my body from this surgery and i havent even recovered yet. And the point is, if you have a bacteria that has not died in the last 6 months in your tonsils, wether it be strep or something else, it will NOT GO AWAY, it will only get worse and can possibly lead to very serious complications, therefore it is def. worth the pain for two weeks to save the serious medical issues that can result in the upcoming years. Thats my take, oh and other then all the normal things people tell you do after a tonsillectomy (ice chips, pudding, etc) here are the key points to getting through it: If you cannot drink water, chew gum to keep your mouth hydrated, this will stimulated your muscles and help you recover quickly also. Try to eat as much as possible, and plan it around your painkiller intake. Remember you need to keep your throat muscles moving to recover, and get some oxycodone if possible.[/b

In my case, yes. I read all the scary posting about traumatic tonsillectomies before my surgery and got pretty freaked out. But I have come to the conclusion that for some reason none of the good experiences get talked about on the internet. So here's mine: For the past 2 years I would get a tonsil infection every month or two. I couldnt talk or swallow and the worst part was the fever that accompanied the infection- during my last bout of tonsilitis if got past 105 degress! So eventhough I wasnt looking forward to the surgery, i knew it would be better in the long run. The actual surgery was very quick and it felt extremely weird to wake up and be able to feel with my tongue two holes in the back of my throat. Eating was not a problem. After getting home from the hospital, I was so hungry I ate a large mcdonalds fry and a bag of cheetos. I know, not the best choices. But they tasted so good. I was constantly eating posicles for the next week and a half but other than that, my eating was normal. I did not have any pain when the scabs came off. In fact, i never felt them at all. I was on Vicoden for a week and a half then transistioned to tylenol. I think the pain meds were the worst part- they made me sleepy and nauseous. I am now a month and a half post-op and I have zero pain or side effects (except the lack of tonsilitis anymore!)

I had a UP3, or a Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty. They take out tonsels, uvula, soft palat, adnoids and reduce the base of your tongue. Im on my 8th day and the pain only gets worse. I went through 90 percocet the first week, then started taking ibuprofen.. HUGE mistake. although it helped for the pain, My ENT told me that you can actually die if you take that during the post op.

Im doubting if its really worth it. havent slept over 2 hours since i had it done. the pain is equal to swallowing a handful of double edged razor blades.

Dont do it! My 16 year old sister almost hemraged to death! She lost 3 pints of blood and had blood clots the size of baseballs. She almost choked to death. She had blood transvusions and was in the Hospital for 5 days! This all happend 6 days post opp!

I had a tonsillectomy 7 days ago now, I was prescribed volterol as an anti-inflammatory and some kind of codiene. the meds prescribed to me made me very sick on day 2 so i decided to stop taking them and went without pain killers for about a day and a half, by this point the pain become unbearable and so took paracodol, an over the counter codiene. I found this very effective but it put me to sleep and the implications of codiene are that its highly addictive. I have been eating solid food such as chips, porridge and toast and have found it goes down ok with water, but i think water really is the key. This was like torture to me until i started drinking lots, the water almost acted as a painkiller. Im not taking any pain relief now and havent been for 2 days now, i keep water handy. I think its important people are aware of the effects of codiene, although i only used it for 3 days, i had diarohea when i stopped, codiene causes constipation and thus the opposite when withdrawn. I found that alternating between codiene or my iburprofen each time i needed pain relief helped.

well, tomorrow morning is my surgery i've officially been scared now, but i get the feeling im tougher than the people who complain about it so much... if you think about it, you only end up here If there's a problem.. im sure 95% of people who have the procedure, while of course in pain, do not experience any of these things to the degree mentioned. so im just gonna keep positive and not worry bout it.. at worst ill be in pain for a couple of weeks.. the tonsillitis was bad enough cant see how this could be much worse, and im gonna force myself to drink a ton of water, only problem is no smoking, god that's gonna be a pain in the ass

i read a thousand horror stories online beforehand, so was VERY prepared for huge constant agonizing pain.

it was fine! there's so much misinformation out there.

i think of myself as a complete weakling (everything hurts) but i was totally on top of it. the other girls in the ward were in pain though, all for different reasons (bleeding, dry throat, anaesthetic). i just had a hard time swallowing water, my entire body curled up each time.

just remember, when things go well, people don't tend to look/comment online...

the second day i was eating a full proper meal (mash, veggies, burgers etc) it did take like 7 hours to eat (cold!) but it was doable. didn't have much appetite, had to take tiny bites and chew chew chew, lots of water. normally i eat very well but i threw that out the window for convenience. instant noodles were my best friend, along with pear water-ice creams. oh and did i mention paracetomal?!

ice pack around neck (with 2 reserves in the freezer), lots of ice trays, ice lollies, instant noodles sans spice, apple sauce, STRAWS (one aside, in deep, you can really hit the spot), and a paracetomal gargle- every time i felt pain i would dissolve a few paracetomal in a bit of water and swill in my mouth for a few mins... this really helped get through those few days... i only drank water the whole time. oh and an extra pillow. it's nice if someone can look after you the first few days, but i could have done it alone.

the worst things for me were waking in pain (when the drugs had worn off- as they do!) and the painful swollen tongue. i had no ear pain, no blood, no bad smell, no dry throat.

please, do not be put off by the prospect of pain!! it might not hurt you that much, and what's a bit of pain for a week for a better quality of life??? it is the best thing i have ever done for myself!

after the operation i woke to a clean, tasteless throat, through which i could breathe deeply like never before. there's so much room back there now! and no more simply rotten constant bad taste in my throat, no more tonsil stones, no more paranoia of stinking or avoiding human contact, no more constant colds, throwing up often and feeling ill constantly with ear pressure problems. post nasal drip?? where? i thought i just had bad allergies!!!

seriously- do it. do you want to deal with tonsil stones and paranoia for the rest of your life? do you want to put your doomed faith in an industry that is designed to make money from you, giving you no cure, rinse this, spray that?

just get them out and get on with your life!

:-S

Wow. Think of how many tonsillectomies are performed every year, how many of them do you think posted on how horrible theirs was? Probably thousands are performed each year, in your state alone. Out of those thousands, maybe 10 percent had a really rough time. The key is in how well you heal, and how you react to the anesthesia and medications. And remember there are many, many different pain medications. If you have a bad reaction or poor results from one medication, call your Doctor. They want you to be feeling better. I had my tonsils removed 4 years ago at 28 years old. It wasn't fun, but it didn't kill me. I haven't had a significant sore throat since, so I think it was worth it. Then again, I heal fairly quickly and don't have bad reactions to medications or anesthesia.

I had a tonsillectomy on Dec. 22 so I am 10 days out. I was expecting the worst from it since that is what I read on EVERY message board around the Internet. Everyone that I talked to who had experienced a tonsillectomy said the same--that it was horrible. I got Strep Throat about 2 times a year and it was bad Strep Throat. It would be so bad that I would spit out my spit rather than swallow, so I have experienced the worst when it comes to throat pain. The day of the surgery I was contemplating cancelling because I was quite terrified. However, it ended up being a breeze! I went into surgery at 9:15, was out and awake by 10:00. At first you don't feel any pain because your throat is completely numb. I immediately asked for ice water right away. This felt amazing. The first and second days were pretty easy. I pretty much only drank water and had some chicken broth. I slowly started having sherbet ice cream towards the end of the second day. I also put cold pears in a blender (which pretty much turned them into baby food) but that felt amazing! The worst days for me were actually the third and fourth days. Which, for me happend to be Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Bummer right? The anesthesia is leaving your body around day 3 and all of the medicine just sitting in my stomach made me get really nauseous. I threw up once and that was pretty painful. After day four I did not experience much more nauseousness, or near as intense nauseousness anyways. I kept ice around my neck at all times, as well as ran a humidifier. I felt like these two things were key, along with drinking tons of water (even through the night). I also made sure that I took my medicine on the dot. Especially during the first week. If you are trying to decide to do the surgery or not, my advice to you is DO IT! You will be very thankful in the end, and not everyone has a horrible experience. I'm so glad I did.

I personally would not expect to have a nice, painless recovery like a few people were so lucky to have. That is going to be very rare, or some people are lying because they want others to suffer what they have, lol.

After surgery, you will feel like you are swallowing sharp glass every time you swallow. This is what it felt like to me when I had them removed as a 12 year old child. I heard it is worse for adults as well. All the promises of eating ala the ice cream I wanted was a joke. I could not swallow ice cream, or anything else. I could barely get tiny sips of water to slide down my throat, because the throat was clogged and swollen. I lost like 20-25 lbs. I was in constant terrible pain for a month. For about 4 months, my throat was weak. I played clarinet in band at the time, and I couldn't play the rest of the school year. That year was a crucial one, and I wasn't able to play that year, and got behind. I would try to blow into the clarinet, but the throat muscles wouldn't work right, and I wasn't able to play. So all in all, it took me several months to recover. And don't let anyone tell you that you will never have a sore throat again, because that is not true. You can even get strep throat again as well, mono, and other things. And yes, the sore throats will be as bad as before, they are not less painful because your tonsils are gone, that is a myth.

 

I would not recommend the surgery to anyone, it's not worth it. Save yourself the pain. Now if you are wanting to lose several pounds, and don't mind feeling like someone forced you to swallow large shards of glass, go right ahead.

Day 6 pre op. It is painful. Really. I'm 20 and have gotten tonsillitis twice a month for three years. This is hands down the worst, most excruciating pain I've ever felt. It really does feel like you're swallowing glass. All I do is cry and keep myself from throwing up the painkillers. I was put on norco and immediately got a prescription for OxyContin. Both make me sick but the oxy is so much better. All these threads say to drink water, which I haven't done much of because of the pain, but do it. Popsicles and ice hardly work on me as just the thought of wanting to swallow makes me tear up. It hurts to yawn and hiccup. I don't know if anything is working. Maybe I've gotten used to the pain and that's why it doesn't seem as bad as day 1-5 which were HELL. Especially day 4-5. Have someone watch you. All the time. and cuddle. Physical touch makes it so that you are not alone in this pain and relaxing is easier. I realized how much I tense my mouth in this recovery process and how that stress helped bring on my tonsillitis. Stay away from icecream. The best thing I've had so far was buttery mashed potatoes day 4. I'm already dreaming about when I'll be able to eat pancakes again.

Applesauce, Popsicles, Italian ice, mashed potatoes, butter, Gatorade, and ENSURE** drinks are everything you need.

Are you feeling better now? Did your perspective change?