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
Use cough drops! I’ve gone through two packs of ricolas in the past two days, and whenever I wake up during the night with horrible throat pain, I just suck on one of those Cēpacol numbing drops. I cannot stress how much it helps. I’m on day 10 of recovery and I feel sooo much better.
Great tip Kara- Thanks!
I’m four days post op, and I’ve got to say, my ENT was not kidding when he said this woul be a killer.
I have found that when I can stay hydrated, I am definitely much better. That being said, it’s so very difficult to stay hydrated. I do the ice pops, and ice water, jello and try to stay away from anything dairy, because I find I choke more on those. My oxy/Tylenol meds are also causing me a great deal of nausea, and I’m not so sure I can keep up on it. Just gagging kills me, but actually vomiting would probably be much worse. I’m on zofran for the nausea, but that doesn’t always seem to help.
Has anyone started losing bits of their tongue? As in the top layer peeling off? My tongue is swollen and dis colored, but just today started having a couple of strips peel off….
Oh, I’m a 23 year old female in the US, by the way.
First I would like to say this site has been extremely useful! Thanks Greg.
I am a 30 year old male and had my tonsillectomy on 11-15. Before leaving the hospital I recommend asking for Demorol into your IV . They wanted to send me packing and the pain was still around an 8, I received 2 doses about 30 min apart. When I left my pain was about a 2.
I am currently on day 11 of my recovery and I must say that yesterday and today are the 2 worst days of pain so far.
Days 1-4 were not so bad, then day by day it got worse.
I had to call in to my doctor to get a refill of Roxicet and she was kind enough to do so. (Because it was the weekend I could not get ahold of my ENT, my doctor did not want to prescribe me anything, but it was the weekend and she could tell I was in pain)
I have lost 13 lbs since the day before my surgery. I am sticking to Pedialite popsicles (children’s pops, great source of electrolytes), pudding, and the occasional blended smoothie I make with spinach, almond milk and coconut milk sorbet.
My uvula is extremely swollen currently. It goes in waves of being swelled and not.
I see that a lot of people on here seem to be getting better at this stage. Has anybody else experienced this much pain at day 11?
Luckily where I work one of the employees has had a tonsillectomy and they were perfectly okay with giving me 3 weeks off.
Yesterday was the first day experiencing ear pain.
Has anybody used the Tetracaine pops? The Roxicet doesnt work that well, they still do not want me on any anti-inflamatories for another 3-4 days. I just am looking for ways to subside the pain without taking 15ml of roxicet in which they said I can do every now and again when it gets really bad.
Thats enough rambling for now 🙂
Thank you so much for this blog. After reading this I bought the cool mist humidifier and other things listed! This site is a life saver. Currently on day 3 of post tonsillectomy. Had to stop taking narcotics due to being way too sensitive to them. Now just working with liquid adult Tylenol. Throat really does not hurt at all. Went to a friend’s wedding yesterday. Don’t recommend doing that lol My uvula is very swollen today but not painful. Today was worse than the others due to a migraine most likely caused by the narcotics or lack of caffeine. My throat really hurt the day of surgery but I forced myself to eat and drink cool liquids. Day 2 and Day 3 my throat does not hurt very bad at all. Good luck to all of you thinking about doing it. I expected way more pain than this. To me it feels like my worse case of Tonsilitis. Really not bad at all 🙂
THANK YOU Greg for your site and tips! What would I have done without you?
And Hello to everyone out there!
If you have yet to get your tonsils out, you can totally do this and will be SO glad you did! Find a great doc that you trust and go for it! (and by no means let him use a blade! Laser only)
Here are some tips that really helped me through it.
I had to be at an event two days after, and so was on a mission to heal super fast. (I made the event, by miracle was able to dress up, arrive, and smile (but that’s it). And thankfully for everyone I did not drive)
1. Enlist family members and friends to help (i.e., pray, love, and cook.) I also received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick two days before (formerly known as Extreme Unction or Last Rites).
2. Post-op, Avoid Sugar, Casein (milk products), Gluten (Wheat) and Yeast.
all of these can inhibit recovery and if you prep well it’s easy to replace these with almost-as-good treats. Smoothies can be great!, and you’ll have plenty of time to perfect them (almond milk, frozen fruit and stevia, etc.)
3. Try brown-rice sweetened Menthol cough drops (ie., without artificial sweeteners)
I went through bags of ZAND Menthol Herbalozenges in the first two days. In later days, I experimented with Brown-rice sweetened Vitamin C drops (but these might have a sting in the beginning).
4. Detox baths are fabulous (IF you hydrate well with cups of Ice and cold water in hand)
Buying Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) in bulk, I put about 1/2 cup in each bath, at times mixing in a tiny bit of Baking Soda, Ginger Powder, Mustard Powder, et. al. The bulk Vitamin C powder did wonders. Just remember to keep very well hydrated and have lots of ice nearby.
5. Make sure to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate…and Eat!
Stevia/Almond milk smoothies, unsweetened apple sauce, (not too thick) hummus, etc…
Words of Love to you from my Italian grandmother: “You’ve eaten nothing! You need to eat!!”
6. Things to have ready at home when you arrive:
By the Bed:
*If at all possible, your dear Mother!*
Humidifier running constantly
Ice water, Ice, coasters
Meds from the doc with note-pad to record progress and times / Doctors orders and prep sheets from his office (these are good reminders on post-op care)
DVDs, documentaries, booklets/magazines
Multiple Bags of Zand Menthol drops
NUUN sugar-free Electrolyte tablets (may sting in the early recovery days, or simply add more water).
In freezer:
frozen bananas (the frozen bananas give the smoothies an ice-cream texture)
frozen berries
bags of Ice
In fridge:
Applesauce, unsweetened
Almond Milk, and/or Coconut Milk, Flax Milk, et al., all unsweetened
hummus
Pureed food or appetizing baby food, always eaten cold
On kitchen counter:
Vitamix or blender
Stevia powder
PS. If you don’t have Mother or family members around, consider hiring a high school or college student to stay with you for two days. They can study or watch movies while living in another part of the house, and you can text them what you want or need..
Best wishes to everyone! Congratulations on your Courage!
xoxoxo
Welcome Eliza, and thank you! Those are some great tips. Take care and stay in touch!