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.
Oh My goodness – If I read this before my op I wouldn’t have done it. Today is Day 6 Post Op- I turned 31 last Monday and surgery on the Tuesday. It is one of the most painful things I have ever done.
I Cried tonight trying to eat it hurt so bad and this was mashed pumpkin. My throat feels like blades its so bad. I know I will be glad once its over and no more Tonsillitis I just think I was not prepared and expecting awesome Ice cream and custard — Big fail.
Good luck with any one going through it. Pain med plan is a must — Take the pain tablets every four hours and panadol in between even if no pain as once you miss a dosage of pain killers you will know about it. No point trying to be tough.. It’s not worth it..
test for reply
How are you doing now?
I am almost 4 weeks out from my tonsillectomy. I am a 59 year old women.
I appreciate all the advice from this post, it helped me be more prepared but it also terrified me! You can do this! Recovery wasn’t fun but I did it with out the heavy duty pain medication. I had it on hand in case I needed but thankfully I made it through using Tylenol and Ibuprofen.
As others said use a humidifier, drink a lot of water even though it hurts, use Cepacol, warm herbal tea and a heating pad when your scabs start coming off. I would pop in a Cepacol and then swish some water in my mouth and swallow it. Then I would hold a heating pad on my ears until the pain wasn’t as bad. I also believe in the power of prayer and felt the prayers of my family and friends during my recovery.
My husband made me pancakes which he thinned out to look like a crepe. I used peach syrup and mashed it to eat, he also made me a poached egg with a little cheese on it which we also mashed. I ate that every morning for 2 1/2 weeks. Two of my neighbors brought over soups (homemade chicken noodle and a broccoli cheese that we pureed in the blender that I lived on for several days. A friend brought over mashed potatoes, mixed veggies and meatloaf that tasted amazing and could be mashed as well.
I started feeling pretty good by 3 weeks but still tired easily. At 4 weeks I feel like I am starting to get caught up on the lack of sleep. Already I can feel the difference. Good bye tonsil stones, bad breath, and chronic cough!
Thank you for writing this! I had the same issues that you mentioned, I’m 5 days into recovery and today was by far the worst day. I have an 11 month old daughter and it’s killing me to not be able to play or even talk to her. I do have a good support system with my husband, mother, sister and friends! I don’t know what I’d do without them. I know this is shortlived and I’ll get better soon.
Lauren, I’m so glad you have a good support system, that helps so much! You are almost to day 10 -12 when hopefully things will start to look up. That has to be hard having a little one who doesn’t understand. Hang in there, soon you will see the light at the end of the tunnel :)!!!
This Forum has helped me to get mentally prepared. I’m 42. I go tomorrow, March 30. I’m sure I’ll be posting something about my experience in a couple weeks. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful advice.
Tina- I hope your surgery went well! I am scheduled for my tonsillectomy next week. I’m a 30 year old female, multiple tonsil problems since my late teens. My situation is a bit more complicated as I have obstructive sleep apnea so my surgery may leave me inpatient for a few days :(. I’ve of course been reading forums about adult tonsillectomies and I also work in a hospital so I immediately jump to the worst conclusions. I also have a terrible reaction to pain meds (vomiting) so this is a concerns post-op. It’s been helpful to read what to have at home for after the surgery and what foods are the easiest to eat. Hoping everything goes well!!
Tina,
Hoping all went well with your surgery. I am a 58 year old female and I had my surgery about 1 month ago. The posts did help me to realize that what I was feeling was perfectly normal. It was not as bad as I had anticipated. I believe that the worry that I had leading up to the surgery was almost worse than the surgery itself. I do not like to take pain medication so I asked for the liquid and it was easy to decrease the dose. Take one day at a time and this will be behind you in no time! Good luck!
Barb
How you getting on Tina?
Healing hugs
Hoping your feeling better!
Hi Jody,
I’m scheduled for surgery April 14th and I believe that Jesus will heal. I’ve had several surgeries and He always brought me through. My church family and children has walked with everything with me. The truth is while no surgery is easy, preparation is the key. Thanks for your courage and making prayer my focal comfort and assurance.
Good luck Val! I admire your faith and I know prayer works! I agree that preparation can make a huge difference.
So grateful to everyone who have posted. This has helped a lot of people:)
Would you suggest having blended foods the 5th day? How did you get the nutrition you needed while not being able to eat? It’s that just as important or is it that you are not allow to eat that sort of food?
Vee, I mashed and blended my food to make it easier to swallow. I actually only lost 5 pounds. I have hypoglycemia and was very careful not to let my blood sugar drop too low. I didn’t like the feel of little bits of food in my throat. It is my understanding that you can eat whatever you want, (except sharp types of foods), if you can. I know others did, but that was not the case with me. I chose to mash and blend because it hurt to swallow and that made it easier. I also drank chocolate almond milk with my pain medication (Tylenol and Ibuprofen.) I also chose not to use the heavy duty pain medication which can make you nauseous. I hope this helps.:)
I’m so glad to hear I can get through this. Tomorrow makes a week post op and I have been in such pain the past two days, the tears just roll down my face it hurts so bad. I stopped my Tylenol with codeine liquid meds because it made me feel so bad. I’m popping extra strength Tylenol and just trying to make it through. I’m forcing myself to eat protein. Did a little too much on Wednesday and ate a chicken tender! BIG mistake! I think it may have set me back. I am eating scrambled eggs with cheese, pancakes warmed in microwave, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and tried some noodle soup today all these at to temperature. I managed to eat a plain fish filet from McDonald’s tonight with no problem. I sure hope the worst is over but I’m afraid it’s not after reading the horrible pain your in when the scabs start to come off. Any suggestions on how to deal with that part in this process? Just want to be pain free again and right now feeling like I just made worst mistake in my life by having this done at age 49.
Dreema, one thing that helped me was to take a few sucks on a Cepacol lozenge, then put water in my mouth and hold it for a few seconds, then swallow the “Cepacol water”. I would do that a few times and then hold a heating pad on my ear/jaw. Lukewarm herbal tea helped me too. And as hard as it is to drink… keep drinking water.
I also alternated Tylenol and Ibuprofen every four hours faithfully with chocolate almond milk, and jello (to protect my stomach). Hang in there your almost there!
A few things that helped me were: to suck on a Cepacol lozenge for a few seconds, then I would take some water in my mouth and hold both the Cepacol and water in my mouth for a few seconds. Then I would swallow the “Cepacol water”, and repeat a few times. After that I would hold a heating pad on my ear/jaw. Lukewarm herbal tea helped during this stage too.
I also alternated Tylenol and Ibuprofen every 4 hours faithfully. I would take it with chocolate almond milk and jello to prevent stomach upset. As hard as it is… keep drinking. It hurts worse when you slack off:) Good luck, your almost there:)
Thank you for sharing this! I’m scheduled for surgery in a couple of days ??
Good luck Meredith!
Hello!! i’m a 16 year old girl , and i got my tonsils removed on Feb 3. i wanted to provide a little help and some tips for people going through or about to get the surgery. i wish i would have had something like this to look at. i’m currently on Day 10 post Op , day one i thought it was the easiest thing no pain but that’s a true lie. Try to avoid icecream and milkshakes though my doctor told me it was a good thing to have they built up a film in the back of my throat and it tasted rotten. i didn’t start having super severe pain until day 5-8 these were for sure unbearable. you will need a humidifier it’s a must. i made sure my whole fridge was packed with cold water bottles. it made it a lot better to chew on ice chips to num my throat. also keeping an ice pack in front of my throat and on my neck in the back was EXTREMLY helpful. don’t even try to think about food then i made the stupid mistake of trying to eat a meatball because i was so hungry. Also try to get down atleast a few bites of applesauce or something before taking your pain medication because you will throw up. throwing up did cause my throat to bleed badly so i did have to go back to the ER. luckily it had stopped and i wasn’t given fluids and given pain meds through IV this helped a lot. nights are going to be your enemy. try to wake up and sip water every 30 minutes. If your throat drys out you will regret it. For me the healing has gone GREAT! it’s day 10 and i’ve eaten a hamburger and a pizza. i got so weak and lost 16 pounds through this. but the pain does get better. staying hydrated will make everything easier also. instead of milkshakes try to drink slushies! even though this is gross i also bought red solo cups to “spit” in because the nasty stuff in your throat does come up trust me. i’ve already lost both of my scabs a few days ago. the worst pain currently is my tounge and uvula. but the spit cup is also a must it’s very gross. but it will help. and also that nasty rotten taste from the scabs goes away when they come up! make sure to. brush teeth very well because your throat is so nasty it makes you feel a bit better to be clean. also make sure you have lots of movies and shows. i ran out of tv and i thought my life was over. if anybody needs any tips or any help with anything. just message me! also yes there is ear pain and yes you are supposed to have it just try to stay calm with that nothing to help it!
Hi, my names paige and jeez I could use some help as your not much younger nor older then me, you seem to be the best person to talk to I’m 17 and had the operation on the 9th of March seriously not long ago, I’ve had good day and bad days, this pain is just unbearable I’m wanting to cry every 2 seconds, I can’t sleep nor eat and taking my medication is hard as hell too, I’ve got a bowl to spit it because this nasty taste in my mouth is just awful, I can’t seem to get comfy or anything anymore please please please what would be your best advise
Thank you so much for sharing this!! ??
I’m a 23-year-old male and got my tonsils removed Jan. 11, 2017 (17 days ago). Growing up, I always had large tonsils but didn’t get enough throat infections to warrant a removal. For reference, my right tonsil was constantly touching my uvula. As I got older, they got bigger, and with every sinus infection or even minor cold they would swell up and effectively close my throat. This went on multiple times a year for several years until I couldn’t take the pain, spitting into a cup because I couldn’t swallow, not being able to eat, drink, talk, or move my tongue, etc. for several days.
There was so much scar tissue back there from the years of issues that the surgeon had to cauterize more than usual and therefore he used a lot of local anesthesia.
Because of that, Day 1 went great and the Percocet were really not even necessary. I was able to eat small pasta in chicken broth and spinach with olive oil. The spinach and olive oil felt the best going down and was the easiest and most soothing to eat. Drinking water with crushed ice was absolutely essential in reducing the swelling of my uvula, keeping me hydrated, and helping with the pain. I must have gone through 15-20 large cups of ice water each day. It wasn’t always easy to swallow, sometimes I would hold it in my mouth for a while and let it go down little by little, but it’s necessary.
Day 2 started to get rough because the local anesthesia wore off. I was able to eat oatmeal for breakfast but only after the Percocet kicked in. I continued eating the pasta with chicken broth and spinach whenever I felt the least in pain. I ate an Italian Ice, but the sugar content was so high that it caused a ton of mucus and phlegm problems and I was up coughing all night, nervous I would damage the healing process. Stay away from sugary things as much as possible. The blander, the better.
Day 3 was basically the same.
Day 4 I was able to sleep in bed as opposed to reclined on the couch in a pretty much sitting up position, which is what I had been doing. I still had to set alarms to take Percocet in the middle of the night. I continued eating basically the same foods.
Days 5 and 6 weren’t that bad with pain. I started taking one Percocet and extra strength Tylenol instead of two because I felt pretty loopy and dizzy with two.
Days 7-12 sucked pretty bad. As the scabs started to heal it was a different kind of pain, not really worse swallowing pain, more like constant throbbing. Mornings were always the worst, things just don’t go well back there while you sleep. I would cough up a few blood clots when I got up (doctor said to expect that) and gargle with warm salt water to try and clear it out. I started drinking hot tea in the morning and that helped as well, but avoid hot things for the first week. Still drank a lot of ice water, too. I started to introduce new foods little by little, chewing was still an issue and moving my tongue hurt more than I thought it would. With the Percocet gone by day 10 I moved onto alternating 3 Tylenol and 3 Advil every four or five hours. Yawning is terribly painful.
Day 13, I realized as I started eating normal foods that they all tasted weird, like all the flavor was sucked out and I was eating paper. Turns out that when they clamp your tongue down during surgery they damage a few layers of taste buds, which regenerate with time. It’s not every food that tastes bad, but most are gross.
Day 17, I’m down to only a few pain killers a day with just a minor sore throat. Eating whatever I want and suffering through the bad tastes for now (only supposed to last for another week or so).
Summary: Pain was basically the same as my worst throat infection with swollen tonsils/closed throat, so I’d say it was definitely worth it. That being said, I was used to excruciating pain and had a pretty high tolerance for throat issues. Physically it was what I expected, mentally it was worse – not doing anything for two weeks, craving good food, being really tired all the time and constantly uncomfortable, not being able to talk much. DRINK ICE WATER AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Don’t over-exert yourself. I feel extremely relieved to have it over with after all those years.
Ah sorry, forgot to include the really bad, shooting ear pain. Started around day 5 and had it until about day 12. Apparently it has something to do with the nerves so the Percocet didn’t help much with that. Ice packs in the under-ear/rear throat region helped a little.
Thank you for all the good info!
Hey, I’m an 18 year old female a little over 1 week post op tonsillectomy surgery. I feel like I’ve been reading through so many of these forums so I’m going to share my experience and tips I’ve picked thus far to see if it will benefit anyone in the future because this sucks.
Days 1-3 are tolerable. I was on acetaminophen with codeine which helped these days, but by day four it made me sick so I stopped taking it. This also made me very tired so I slept most of the day. I was also taking children’s liquid Advil because my throat was too swollen to swallow pills yet. Honestly the tongue pain was the worst part in this stage. I definitely recommend eating cold things like smoothies, protein shakes, yogurt, and ice pops. Also try to avoid sugar because it creates a thick mucus in your mouth which is very inconvenient to swallow or spit out. The taste that develops in your mouth is absolutely disgusting but I guess I can say you get used to it because there is really nothing you can do about that.
Days 4-6 are the downfall. I was just on Advil, but I’d rather do that instead of going through the process of vomiting from the pain meds again. My doctor warned me that it gets worse in the middle and he was right. This is when I developed that ear pain that felt like someone was either punching me or slicing me from my jaw up into my ear. Just a burning pain, especially with movement. It was very difficult to swallow anything, even water. But PUSH THROUGH because that water is going to really help your recovery and you can’t get dehydrated when your body is going through something like this. On these days I ate chicken noodle soup and ramen, and tried to get down some mashed potatoes but even those were a little too thick. Sleeping with an ice pack really helped me get through the nights because it numbs that pain a little.
Days 7-9 are when my scabs came off. Basically my day consisted of feeling horrible right when I woke up. I’ve noticed that mornings are when I had my most pain because my throat got so dry from sleeping. I learned that taking a hot shower helps loosen things up and gets some moisture in your mouth. Once you get out of the shower, gargle warm salt water and you’ll be amazed at what comes out. After the shower that morning pain becomes less severe and helps get you to feel able to eat something. I had protein shakes every morning. The 1-3 hours after I woke up on these days consisted of constantly coughing up mucus and bits of those scabs. I don’t know if a lot of people cough them up more than they swallow them but I for sure did. They’re nasty so I think I was more grossed out to swallow them anyways. I kept a cup next to me where I would just spit everything out. I had slight bleeding in my saliva and a couple small clots, but I called and that was normal and went away after about 15 minutes. Throughout the day though I felt pretty good, just occasional ear pain and a “strep feel” type of sore throat, so bearable. I do not recommend cold anything on these days though when the scabs are coming off. The fresh tissue is exposed and drinking cold water will bring a burning sensation directly to that area, and it kills. I kept on having the soups and always adding extra broth to help when I swallowed the noodles. I recommend drinking hot tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and definitely having warm water instead of cold to stay hydrated.
I think I am on the road to recovery and only have a couple more days feeling like this. I’m craving so many kinds of normal food haha I can’t wait. I hope this could help someone and hang in there! The recovery definitely sucks but the benefits will make it all worth it!
Thanks Nikki for your sharing your experience. I’m preparing for removal of tonsils and adenoids plus intranasal operation on my sinuses including reconstruction of nasal septum on 25 January, so your advice about food and drinks is very helpful. I know I’m going to go through a lot of discomfort but keep telling myself that it will all be worth it and my health will improve and your last comment tells me this is indeed true.
Nikki, I’m on day 7 post tonsillectomy. One tonsil bed has gone red and bloody, but not actively bleeding. Is this what yours was like when the scab started coming off? I know post op bleeding is the big thing to look out for, so thought I might ask before I work myself into a panick! I have contacted my surgeon who has me monitoring it for now.