Tonsillectomy Adult – What to Expect
Tonsillectomy as an adult is quite different than tonsillectomy for children. The methods employed for tonsillectomy in adults and children are generally the same, (See Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy Methods page), and the risks for adults are similar to the risks for children, (See The Tonsillectomy Risks
Tonsillectomy – Adult Recovery and Risks
Most studies indicate a two to four percent risk of delayed hemorrhage [severe bleeding]. Where tonsillectomy in adults differs most from tonsillectomy in children is in the recovery. Recovery from childhood tonsillectomy generally takes five to seven days. Recovery from tonsillectomy in adults usually requires at least ten days and more often two weeks.
Before deciding to get an adult tonsillectomy, it’s important to choose a time frame in which you have the time and the support. Recovering over your favorite Holiday might be a good choice in terms of time, (eg holiday leave from work or school), but it may not be a time that people will be available to help you.
The pain associated with adult tonsillectomy recovery, by almost all accounts, is more intense than that experienced by children. Some theorize that children haven’t had as much time without pain as adults and thus their frame of reference is different than adult tonsillectomy patients. Others assume that children may be less able to articulate their discomfort. Having read the accounts of THOUSANDS of adult tonsillectomies in the forum,(See Tonsillectomy Forum page), I can say with some confidence that generally, the younger the patient, the easier the tonsillectomy recovery. There are of course exceptions. I’ve read from many middle aged adults who had a fairly smooth recovery. Perhaps they read up on this website and prepared well. Perhaps they had good genes. In any case, many time an adult tonsillectomy recovery is better than the horror stories we hear about.
“If I could recommend one item to buy before tonsillectomy, it would be a humidifier. My readers know how important moist air is to a healing throat. I bought one of these years ago and still use it daily” -Greg
I’d like to take a moment here to make a suggestion. As you read through the people’s accounts in the various chat rooms, message boards, and adult tonsillectomy forums, consider this: People having a harder time, may be more prone to seek out information and share their experience in these venues. Adults experiencing milder tonsillectomy recoveries, might be less apt to be posting. I don’t want to drag Richard Nixon into my website, but this silent majority may be quietly recovering and you’ll never hear from them.
My advice is to research as much as you can, talk with your doctor, talk with your family and friends, and talk with your employer before scheduling your adult tonsillectomy. I wish you all the best.
I’ve put together a collection of items that I think would be helpful, if not essential, to making tonsillectomy recovery a little more pleasant. Check out the Tonsillectomy General Store.
Just had tonsillectomy march 25. 36 hours into recovery. Was going much better than I was expecting until this evening. Had pain in throat and jaw that was manageable with Percocet (oxycodone) and Tylenol 3s every 4 hrs. Tonight, my jaw started stiffening more and it has become more difficult for me to open my mouth. As well, there seems to be a gland noticeably popping out under my right jaw, which is the side I’m noticing more pain.
I’ve stayed hydrated since surgery, drinking ice water, sticking to jello, Popsicles, and scrambled eggs. Thank god my parents have been here to help me for the week. I wouldn’t have managed well on my own. I’m just wondering if this slight increase in pain discomfort is a sign of things to come over the next few days, as a part of the ‘gets worse before it gets better’ cycle so apparently common in tonsillectomy recoveries.
Will post with an update on how next few days go. So far, it hasn’t been as bad as I was expecting, but I’m now seeing signs that make me somewhat worried I have fallen into the trap of a false sense of security.
Seems like we had ours removed around the same time. I also felt normal right after surgery, my scabs formed right away, and have even partially fell off, I think it’s from all the water I’m drinking. As bad as it hurts I’m chugging as much water as I can, I’m barley about to go on day 2, and actually don’t feel that bad. It’s 2:45am, and I still haven’t been able to sleep since I was released from surgery. I turned off all the fans and turned on the humidifier and vaporizer which helps a ton to prevent dry throat. Also putting ice packs on your neck helps too. Just drink, drink, and drink water no matter how uncomfortable it gets. Let me know how your days are getting (better, or worse). I’m preparing myself for day 3-7… Hopefully it won’t be that bad. Lets hang in there!
I wish I was doing that well, I just had surgery yesterday and have the horrible taste in my mouth, my neck, throat and mouth are killing me and everytime i try to drink anything water or anything it feels like it isnt going down, I do not have pain meds in liquid form but have tried everything I know. Just getting a drink of water, I have to hold a paper towel under my mouth and chin because it does not go down, just tiny amounts do. I tried the ice cream yesterday and woke up very sick last nite, so today i ate a total of 2 teaspoons of pudding. I have no idea what is goign on with me but it seems this slobbering thing is really a nuisance and is now trying to get better except when sleeping or trying to drink fluids. thnk you for sharing i am going to try some of your ideas 🙂
Hi everyone,
I’m 21 and have had acute tonsillitis for the last 9 years and I get tonsillitis over 4 times a year. I’m due to have my op in the next few weeks and I’m pretty scared!
Some of the posts put me at ease and some freak me out!
I’m currently living with my partner but he works away so after the op he won’t be able to look after me. After reading some posts i was hoping that after the operation I would be well enough to endure the 3 hour drive back to my mums (not driving) I’ve heard that the symptoms aren’t too horrendous just after surgery; if anyone could share some light on this I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks all, good luck x
Hi, I’m a 20 yr old female and I’ve had a tonsillectomy done today. After surgery I felt fine, just uncomfortable. When I arrived home I drank a lot if ice water, and I even ate small macaroni and chewed my food down very well, it’s now 8:04pm and I have taken an he nap, and I feel my throat a lot more uncomfortable but not unbearable pain, I’m forcing myself to drink lots of water and that is helping me. Hope this helps(:
Don’t be nervous, I was given meds in my IV before the operation to calm me down and I don’t even remember falling asleep.
Also Beth, don’t let the horror stories scare you! I was absolutely terrified of having my tonsils removed… I’ve read of unbearable pain, emergency room visits due to pain and bleeding. You’ll be fine on the first day. I just take my meds on time, as far as drinking water it gets more uncomfortable throughout the day, but force yourself to drink it. It’ll help you heal faster, eat baby food, yogurt, smoothies etc. I’m trying to stay away from dairy, so I’m eating popsicles! Which I don’t mind. Don’t be scared. This is only my day 1, same day. Ill keep posting on my recovery, I just wanted to put a positive response for someone.(:
Hello, I am 33y female who is on my 5th day post op. before my tonsillectomy this site helped prepare me for what I could expect after surgery, so I would like to thank everyone who has shared their stories of recovery on here.
my own recovery was going well, day 1 and 2 pain was controlled by regular meds and iced water. I found eating buttered toast helped me more than sticking to soft foods as it seemed to relieve the scratchy pain in my throat for a few minutes. on day 3 everything was going as normal with pain meds etc, pain had only very slightly increased, but I was expecting that so decided to try and sleep through it if I could. I lay down at about 10:30am and at about 10:50 I woke with a mouth full of blood. I ran to the bathroom and kept my head over the sink as blood literally flowed out of my mouth. my boyfriend called for an ambulance and by the time it arrived a few minutes later, my bathroom sink was nearly full of my own blood. I got to hospital and the blood kept flowing, I lost over 3 pints of blood in about an hour. the maddest thing was, the pain disappeared! anyway, thanks to this site, I didn’t panic, the drs tried some hydrogen peroxide which I had to gargle, it foamed up in my mouth but didn’t stop the haemorrhage, then they tried packing the back of my throat with gauze but that just made me gag. in the end, they had to rush me to theatre to put me back out and cauterize the wound. apparently it was due to a burst blood vessel near old tonsillitis scar tissue on the lining of my throat! Anyway, after spending 2 nights on high dependency ward, I managed to get myself home. my throat doesn’t look as bad as it did before the bleed, I cant see any scabs, just red and swollen with maybe a thin white coating. maybe its because my ent surgeons keep telling me to eat regular food not soft stuff. Has Any one else experienced a haemorrhage? if so, please tell me if after the surgery to fix it, the recovery timescale goes back to day 1 or does it carry on as normal? im only asking this as its day 5 for me and pain is still not too bad. I am absolutely terrified of having another bleed though.
I was actually told not to eat toast…. Since your incisions are still great and thin, and very sensitive. I know it might help the scabs go down, but let them fall on their own time. It’s my first day from surgery, and I ate very soft macaroni and it still made my throat bleed slightly. Not enough to call an ambulance though. I am a medical assistant, and not a dr, but soft foods is my advice if you want to give it a try?
Me, again. Sorry to be making so many individual posts, but when I try to reply to my original comment, nothing happens.
Anyway, I just wanted to check back in now that I’ve made it through Day # 3.
Friday was Day # 2 for me, and it went relatively well. I actually slept okay Thursday evening after making my initial post on here. 🙂 I got up at 3:00 AM and again at 7:00 AM to keep up with the pain medicine. When I decided to get up and out of bed, the pain was no more or less than it was on Thursday. I ate one soft-scrambled egg along with two servings of that Gerber rice cereal for breakfast. Lunch was a bowl of homemade chicken and wild rice soup — I cut it with about a cup of water so it wouldn’t be as “heavy.” For dinner, I had more of the watered-down mashed potatoes I had such success with the evening before along with two more servings of the Gerber rice cereal and two pieces of white bread. I snacked on Rice Krispies and applesauce throughout the day. I again drank many bottles of Gatorade and many glasses of water. I couldn’t even tell you how much I drunk, I just know it was between 16-20 oz. per hour.
My pain medicine schedule is every four hours, so I was again up at 3:00 AM and 7:00 AM this morning to keep up with that. I slept relatively well again last night — no issues. I’ve had the humidifier going on high whenever I’m in bed, so that might be helping. Each time I get up in the middle of the night to take medicine, I eat a cup of applesauce and also drink two glasses of water. I slept in a little longer this morning just because I could. When I got up for good, I did notice my throat was a little more sore than it was Friday morning. It wasn’t anything horrible, though. I haven’t experienced a completely dry throat in the mornings when I wake up (and I’m doing everything I can to avoid that). I again had one soft-scrambled egg and two servings of Gerber rice cereal for breakfast.
I can’t quite put my finger on what was bothering me today, but I felt a little off once I got up and moving. I think my body is just finally catching up to what actually happened to it. It’s funny because one of my friends had a Tonsillectomy on the same day I did, and he’s been more uncomfortable and not able to eat as much as I have. Anyway, I haven’t really experienced any of the horrific things some other people have described. Sure, my uvula is swollen still, and my throat is a little sore, but it isn’t anything that’s unmanageable. My ears don’t hurt, but my head does feel a little stuffy. I’ve been popping my ears on and off all day long. At any rate, I think the loopy feeling the pain medicine leaves me with is worse right now than anything else. If I didn’t know any better, I’d just think I had a head cold/sore throat.
I had that Lipton noodle soup along with some watered-down mashed potatoes for a late-lunch/early-dinner. I followed that with two servings of diced peaches, a bowl of Rice Krispies, and another two servings of Gerber rice cereal. My diet isn’t all too exciting, but it’s working for me. I snacked on popsicles and Italian ice cups throughout the day. Today was another heavy Gatorade and water day as well. Anytime I’m just sitting, I try to make it a point to sip on something. I think the liquid-intake has been helping as well.
Anyway, that’s about it. Still a long ways to go, but hopefully, this will encourage those who are worried about having their tonsils out. Just keep up with your pain medicine and liquids. The surgery itself is nothing at all.
I’ll check in again in a few more days. I’m going to try to start adding some other soft foods to my diet in the coming days. I’m hungry!
Take care, everyone. 🙂
Diane Keeler, in response to your concern over weight loss, being a naturally-small person, I have the same concern (especially after losing so much weight as a result of chronic Tonsillitis issues). I stocked up on all sorts of different foods, not knowing what will really work best. Here’s some of what I bought:
– Gerber Rice Cereal for Babies (See my original post for more information about this. Buy this!)
– Oatmeal
– Cream of Wheat
– Gerber “Graduates” Diced Apples
– Applesauce
– Diced Peaches
– White Rice
– Pasta, the SMALLEST pasta pieces I could get (Barilla Brand “Ditalini”). I plan on cooking it very soft.
– White Bread – I plan on soaking it in Chicken Broth.
– Eggs for Soft-Scrambled Eggs
– Popsicles! I also bought some Italian Ice cups (non-citrus), Minute Made Juice Bars, and a lot of those frozen push-pops. I don’t like ice cream and most cold dairy products, so that along with pudding, yogurt, Ensure, milk shakes, malts, etc., is right out.
– Instant Mashed Potatoes – I added twice as much water as it calls for in order to make it more soupy.
– Gatorade – The “higher calorie” types.
– Fruit Juices (No citrus!)
I literally just had my Tonsillectomy Thursday morning, so I’m still feeling pretty good from the Operating Room drugs! I’ll let you know what else I discover that’s post-op. friendly but not completely devoid of calories.
I hope this helps you some. 🙂