Guerrilla Tactics – Adult Tonsillectomy Tips
So you’ve read my top 10 tonsillectomy tips. Good. Those will get you through. But some of us like to operate outside of the conventional. The top ten are solid pearls of wisdom that anyone can benefit from, regardless of their personality. Let’s face it- not everyone is comfortable making demands on their doctor, pharmacist, employer, or family. For those of you who are though, I offer the following guerrilla tactic adult tonsillectomy tips.
Advocating for Yourself
The cornerstone of these tips is self advocacy. By researching the internet and finding this site, you’re already ahead of the masses. Like me a few years ago, most adults go into tonsillectomy surgery like sheep. They take the information from their doctor and perhaps nurse and press forward without questioning. Sometimes this works out fine. Some ENT doc’s and their staff do a great job of preparing their patients for tonsillectomy surgery and its subsequent recovery period. Some don’t. Some employers respect their employee’s judgement of what their needs are in regard to recovering from adult tonsillectomy. Some don’t. It’s up to us to make sure that we get what we need. Take those first 10 tips and you’ll be ahead of the pack. Take a few of these and lead it.
Work- Taking Time Off
I’ve researched the time required for adult tonsillectomy recovery. I can tell you that ten days is about the minimum. I would tell your boss that two weeks is the minimum. You may need two full weeks. You may not though. If not, you’ll look tough as nails as you come back to work ahead of schedule! If the boss gives you grief about two full weeks, refer him or her to this website. Let them read about the experiences people have. It will open their eyes the way it has yours.
Your Family- Asking for Help
This is a tough one. Most people struggle when it comes to asking for help. Get over it. You are going to be worthless for at least a week. Don’t spread yourself thin. You don’t want anyone counting on you. Have a heart to heart talk with your spouse, mother, brother- whoever might pick up the slack for you. You might be surprised. I was recently divorced with four children when I had my surgery. My ex wife and I were not on good terms. It was a jagged pill to swallow, but I asked for her help. She covered the kids for a full week and even took a nice video of a holiday concert I had to miss. Be direct. Be specific. Ask for help.
Your Doctor- Be Assertive
Here are few adult tonsillectomy tips that you won’t find in the literature in your doctor’s waiting room. They just might make your life a lot better though.
Medications:
- Ask for a steroid. I’m not giving medical advice here. I’m not a doctor. When you talk to your doctor, ask for a steroid. The first challenge most adults face after tonsillectomy is a hugely swollen uvula. No kidding- that thing can swell up so much that it’s hard to swallow and breath. Icing can help, so can gargling with ice cold water, but a steroid will do even more. Just ask.
- Ask for a stool softener. Narcotic pain medicines will constipate you. Many people go for over a week without a bowel movement.
- Ask for an anti nausea drug. Those pain killers that help so much can really do a number on your system. You won’t be eating much, so nausea is a pretty likely side effect.
- Get an order for ENOUGH PAIN MEDICINE TO LAST THROUGH RECOVERY. This one makes me furious. My doctor wrote an order for enough hydrocodone to last about four days. If you’ve read enough accounts, you know that that’s about the time the pain gets worst. I ran out in the middle of the night. I had to wait until morning to ask for a refill. The staff acted like I was some drug seeking junkie. Don’t accept this. I finally walked into the ER. The doctor there understood completely and thought my ENT was a jerk. He wrote a prescription to cover the next week. I did not become a drug addict.
- Ask for your pain medicine prescription to NOT include Acetaminophen. This is a tricky one. Most narcotic pain med’s contain Acetaminophen. That’s fine if it’s the only thing you’re taking. But at some point, you’ll want to ween off the heavy pain killers in favor of an over the counter pain medicine like Tylenol. (Acetaminophen) Suppose you try this and BAM- not cutting it. You’ll want to go back to the narcotic pain medicine. But wait, how much Acetaminophen do you have on board? Too much can be very dangerous. Keeping the two separate allows you to monitor this more easily.
- Ask for IV fluids. Yes, why not? A nurse on the forum suggested this and I thought it was brilliant. So many people become dehydrated while recovering from adult tonsillectomy because swallowing is so difficult. Knowing that she was seriously dehydrated, this brave and smart woman walked into an emergency room and asked for a bag of IV fluid. She got it and was no longer dehydrated. You might have a conversation with your doctor about this in advance.
- TETRACAINE MEDICATED LOLLIPOPS -I never got them but people rave about the relief they give. Ask your Doctor.
Well there you have it- the insider’s guide to adult tonsillectomy recovery. You may feel like a pain asking for these things. You may feel less pain because you do. I wish you well.
Do you have a Jedi mind trick or ninja tactic for getting the upper hand in tonsillectomy recovery? Please share in the comment section. Thanks, -Greg
Great Site, Greg!
I am an Ear Nose and Thorat Doctor, practicing in Massachusetts. In over thirty years of practice and thousands of tonsillectomies , I have been searching for ways to make the admittedly difficult experience of tonsillectomy easier for patients.
Your Guerilla tactic tips are great….I’d like to make some amplifying comments and useful additions:
Being your best advocate- this is really great advice. Preparation is key. Having all the pain meds in sufficient quantities, having all the soft foods, having a place to sleep in a recliner with head elevated near a humidifier….All this is great. As a professional, I will also make the controversial comment that tonsillectomy by cautery technique results in needlessly prolonged recovery. I studied this question early in my career, and published the results in Laryngoscope, one of our professional journals. We took one tonsil out with cautery, and the other with scissors. at one week, the pain was almost always worse on the cauterized side. One look in the mouth also told the story: The cauterized side always had more delayed healing, thicker more extensive “scabs.” Aside from scissors removal, other techniques have been developed in an attempt to decrease the pain of tonsillectomy, including coblation and Harmonic scalpel and ligasure all of which are comparable to scissors dissection, and superior to cautery. ADVOCATE THIS: IF YOUR ENT INSISTS ON USING CAUTERY or LASER FOR THE REMOVAL OF THE TONSIL, CONSIDER FINDING ANOTHER SURGEON.
Taking time off from work: I tell my patients that they can do non physical work in a week (physical work after 10 days), and that works for most all of them. Fast healing requires hydration, which requires drinking, which requires pain and nausea control. I have found the use of spray LIDOCAINE very helpful in getting patients to eat and drink. I invented the TONSIL FIRE EXTINGUISHER. It is a spray bottle that your doctor can purchase and fill for you with lidocaine. Using this alternative allows less use of narcotics, and better hydration, therefore less nausea, We have done this for our older children and adults, and they have found it helpful to give them 20 minutes without pain to drink or eat or fall back to sleep. You can see their testimonials on YouTube https://youtu.be/HpTyQKcYkeE. If you take my advice above, you will get to work sooner than 2 weeks. ADVOCACY TIP: Ask your doctor to provide you with one of these. Doctors can order the TONSIL FIRE EXTINGUISHER AT http://www.tonsil-fire-extinguisher.com.
Asking the family for help: Perfect!. And if your kid is having tonsillectomy, you or your spouse must be there every recovery day and night.
Regarding your medicine recommendations: These are very good. The page written by the pharmacist is very helpful as well. Taking the ibuprofen liquid every 6 hours round the clock is key…it is worth the trouble to wake up and take the dose; DO NOT fall behind on the acetaminophen and/or ibuprofen. Avoid the narcotics if you can. The Tonsil Fire Extinguisher can help with that. ONLY disagreement: Chloraseptic. The active ingredient in this medication is Phenol, and organic acid that numbs by burning the tissue. This would slow recovery and should not be placed on a healing wound.
Finally, If you’re having trouble, CALL YOUR DOCTOR. We all have answering services during off hours and expect you to call us if there’s a problem. Hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised by having the benefit of your doctor’s experience and expertise.
Keep up the great work, Greg!!
I had surgey on 3/17. Most says have been bearable until today. I am in agonizing pain, the liquid hydro/aceto mix with Advil in between is barely touching it . No matter what I eat or drink I am in horrible pain. Throat, jaw and ears are pounding non stop. I have messaged the doctor asking for a better pain medication . But as it is Sunday clearly I have another day on the same non working medicine. Any ideas please help!!!!!!
I had surgery the same day as you and it totally sucks! I went back to work yesterday 4/1 for like four hours and needed to come home and told my boss I can’t work the rest of the week. How are you feeling now? I can’t wait to be back to normal. I still have pain and I am only on advil and steroids plus I am so tired and keep crying for some reason? I know it’s going to get better but this was a harder than I expected. I hope you are getting better and making progress.
Lisa- I am so sorry to hear that, sounds like you had it a bit worse than I did! I am feeling pretty good except for the fact that I am still suffering with some withdrawl from pain meds. I am not really sleeping more than 4 hours per night. The night sweats are horrific. Things are a bit better when I am awake. But I just dread sleeping now. My throat feels pretty good and the pain is totally controlled with advil. I am back to eating most foods, but still shying away from super crunchy items. Hopefully you pain tapers off soon, I know exactly how miserable it is.
I forgot to mention not long after posting that message I did go to the ER and it was the best decision I could have made. They put me on steroids, antibiotics and IV. They kept me over night to get the pain back under control. After i was discharged the next day the recovery was smooth sailing.
I am going through the same thing with the pain med withdrawals. I was on dilaudid every 3-4 hours for two weeks. I stopped them on Tuesday and I have the worst night sweats too! I didn’t realize it was withdrawals until this morning when I started googling it. I am eating pretty good at least but it is hard to deal with the pain without the pain meds. At least we are both moving forward and getting better, even if it takes time 🙂 Keep me posted on your progress!
I ended up in the ER my sixth day since the scabs fell off and I was bleeding a lot. Luckily, the bleeding stopped and I didn’t have to have the surgery. They kept me for a night and luckily I didn’t have any bleeding again.
I just discovered something. I’m having constant ear pain. Covering the ears really helps. I’ve never been a person to wear ear coverings, but it works. I’m wearing those that look like a headband. They make them for men, too. The fleece ones seem to be the best.
Interesting. Have you tried chewing gum?
Yeah, G., but the gum I have is spearmint and the whitening kind. That cooling sensation hurts like I just got my wisdom teeth out. I need to try a different flavor/kind.
I did get some “sweet oil” and it’s helping some. When will the ear pain subside? Today is Day 15.
Sorry to hear this Flo- 15 days seems like a long time ou – I’ll bet you’ll see improvement soon. People lso report that a warm compress on the jaw helps. Can you find gum that is less….caustic??
Hang in there!!
I’ll look for that gum. The ear pain isn’t unbearable compared to the throat and ear pain combined of days 3-10. It’s more annoying than anything, but, this too shall pass. I’m looking forward to it.
Thanks for your care.
See if this will help you from Day 4 on:
Steam became my friend. Fill your favorite mug 1/3 full and microwave it for 1-1 1/2 min. Inhale the steam opening your mouth as wide as you can inhaling deeply. Continue doing this until you feel relief. Sometimes, I had to reheat the cup of water a couple of times more.
Even water began to burn my throat. I found tepid/lukewarm (don’t make it hot—–could bring on bleeding)plain decaffeinated tea was a soothing lifesaver. The fancy flavored teas that I love had spices which burned. Insomnia is already a problem. Be sure to use decaffeinated. I would chase water with the tea, so that I could continue to stay hydrated when my scabs screamed.
When ice doesn’t soothe anymore, turn your surgery ice pack bag into a hot water bottle. This is to soothe that resonating ear pain.
Chicken noodle soup with a heavy broth thoroughly coated my throat. If you live where you have a Hy-Vee grocery store, have someone pick up their brand of chicken noodle soup. It tastes homemade and works wonders. Campbell’s is okay, but the broth is thicker with the Hy-Vee brand. You might could use the Campbell’s and add chicken broth to it.
Acid and bacteria will build up in your mouth making you feel like you have hundreds of ulcers. Gargle with 1 tsp. of salt to 2 cups (500 ml) warm water 30 seconds for each sip twice a day (thank you to the person that noted that on this site).
Starting @ Day 7, my scabs begged for a change. Foods that I lived on:
scrambled eggs with no pepper and little salt, oatmeal, & chicken noodle soup (I added chopped up pasta).
I was so bummed to have to give up the foods I had especially purchased for this surgery. I could no longer eat orange sherbert, popsicles, applesauce, jello nor drink orange juice. Anything acidic or cold hurt.
Okay, Everyone. It’s day 8. I only discovered WONDERFUL Greg’s site yesterday. Now, I have the ammunition for attack on THE SCABS!! LOVE IT!!
Here’s something I thought of during my all-nighter last night. With the Polar Vortex here now, it’s not easy to ask someone to jump out there and go get a vaporizer/humidifier.
So, my memory reminded me of a cold/sore throat ritual my aunt used to do. She’d boil some water or make chicken noodle soup, set it on the table. Then, she’d grab a towel and put it over her head and make a tent over herself while she inhaled the steam.
Well, I don’t like the trouble of the tent thing. That was “back-n-the-day”.
Get your most cherished mug. Fill it 1/3 full or water. Place in the microwave for a min. to a min. & 20 sec. You can sit at the table and inhale the steam or sit on the couch, in your recliner, or carry it around with you from room to room inhaling all the while.
This has made ALL the difference in the world to help keep those scabs moist as well as give soothing swallowing relief so you can swallow.
*****This is not a guerrilla tactic substitute for skipping drinking water. You know you’ve got to stay hydrated. You must still drink your water.
I hope this helps anyone who is suffering more than they have to.