Pain after tonsillectomy is inevitable. Tips for easier tonsillectomy recovery from patients who have been through it. What to eat, dealing with scabs and bleeding, managing pain, and shortening recovery time.
Tonsillectomy and its subsequent recovery is no picnic, especially for an adult. Welcome to Tonsillectomy Recovery Resources. Whether you’re considering, planning, or recovering from the procedure, you’ll find all the information you will need to make the best decision about tonsil surgery. You’ll also learn how to get the best care after tonsillectomy. I’ll also help you prepare for your tonsillectomy by laying out simple steps that will make the day of surgery easier and help you to be more comfortable as you recover.
Together we are stronger. Share your experience. Read about why I got my tonsils out and what I learned
Top 10 Tonsillectomy Recovery Tips
Though I’ve added to the initial 10, these are my top tips for anyone preparing for, or recovering from tonsillectomy surgery:
- Drink cold fluids
- Continue to drink cold fluids
- Drink more cold fluids! This is perhaps the single most important tip to make life easier while speeding up your recovery period.
- Get a good cool air humidifier and run it all the time in the room you’re in. Consider having more than one for the primary rooms you’ll be spending time in. To monitor humidity levels pick up one of these. Enter the code: TONSIL for a 25% discount! Humidity Station
- Don’t worry about sleep. Forget the normal time convention. Sleep for short intervals, preferably in a recliner. Sleep can be your worst enemy. Sleeping a few hours in a bed usually results in a dry throat that hurts like crazy. It can take almost an hour to get the pain back under control.
- Keep a written log of your medications as you take them. It’s easy to forget what you’ve taken and when. If you would have problems that require help from the doctor, it can come in handy.
- Read about others’ experiences and share your own. (Check out the tonsillectomy forum)
- Plan ahead! Stock up on items you’ll need ahead of time.
- Take something with your pain medicine. Carnation Instant Breakfast or Ensure will at least provide a base in your stomach and reduce nausea.
- Drink ice cold liquids!
A few bonus tips- read on>>>>
A few bonus tips for a better recovery:
- Plan some minor events. Even a simple event like a walk or a bath can take your mind off the discomfort and help your mindset during tonsillectomy recovery
- Chew sugarless gum. When pain gets referred to the ears, and it often does, chewing gum can ease the ear pain. It also keeps the swallowing process active, which many believe aids in tonsillectomy recovery. A warm compress on the area can also relieve ear pain.
- Ice! Whether it’s a high-tech ice bag or a bag of frozen peas, applying ice directly to the throat and neck is a great way to reduce inflammation and take the edge off of break-through pain. (thanks Kate!)
- Those are my top tonsillectomy tips. For a detailed daily checklist, check out my upcoming book.
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 General Store.
Some Extra Tips – After Tonsils are Removed:
- It’s REALLY important that you drink. I know it’s almost impossible at times, but you must. A trick I used was to use Cloraseptic (sp?) numbing spray. (There’s also a lollipop your doc or pharmacist might know of)- to numb the throat a bit. Then I’d take the medicine. Once the meds kicked in (1/2 hour?), then I’d try to eat. My favorite foods at first were Jell-o and creamed soups. (sweet potato or broccoli by V-8 were good)
- You must keep drinking. It helps your throat heal and keeps you hydrated. One reader, a nurse, said she went to an emergency room and demanded IV fluids. Wow! Maybe not such a bad idea!
About the author
My name is Greg Tooke and I’m a tonsillectomy patient myself. For most of my life I lived with huge tonsils with craters that the Ear Nose and Throat doctor called, “cryptic.” I got tonsillitis and strep throat several times every year. I snored at night and woke suddenly, catching my breath. Like many people, I had sleep apnea and didn’t even know it. Speaking of breath, tonsil stones were making my breath smell awful at times. I’d heard horror stories about adult tonsillectomy , tonsils that grow back, bleeding, excruciating pain, and even death. I was afraid.
Finally, with the advice of my doctor and a resolve to improve the quality of my life, I scheduled my tonsillectomy for the day after Thanksgiving. (a last meal??) You can read all about my tonsillectomy story in the pages that follow.
Greg
Just had mine removed on 7/8. I’ve only been able to stomach a few ice chips and max 2 Popsicles a day. I tried chicken broth but the belching and pain isn’t worth it. I’m constantly nauseated but I’m finally able to whisper a little. Thanks for the information I’ve given up on the notion of sleep and nod off whenever possible… like now! Lol 🙂
I wanted to start out by saying, thank you so much for starting this site. I got my tonsils removed last Tuesday, July 1st. I heard a lot of horror stories and thank god I have yet to experience any post-surgery bleeding. However, I have already lost ten lbs, as eating is extremely difficult. The usual food choices that people recommended burned the heck out of me. Popsicles, pudding, yogurt, everything burned. The only two things I can really eat is eggs and applesauce. I was wondering how long it took you to recover? I am assuming it’s Going to take me the entire 14 days at this point, if not longer. I am not really finding a difference using the cool air humidifier. I am drinking water constantly and it never seems to be enough! I hope this will all be worth it.
Hi De Anna! Glad that you’ve found the site helpful. 14 days seems a reasonable recovery time estimate. I went back to work after 11 but wasn’t really much good there. It was hard to talk and I still felt very tired.
Best of luck to you.
I just wanted to post how helpful this website has been. Thank you for all of the advice.
I am 37 and had my tonsils taken out 9 days ago. They were the big kind that all doctors offices would say – wow, look at these things! I was supposed to have them out 32 years ago…but, my mom cancelled due to lame advice from my allergist.
I’ve been lucky and went off pain meds after the 2nd day post surgery. I made sure to drink lost of Gatorade, Flavor Ice, and Ensure, along with a multi-vitamin. I slept with a warm humidifier and woke up every 45 minutes at night for the first night post surgery to drink water.
The scabs hurt a bit because one side had more removed than the other. Mornings were usually the roughest because my throat was sorta dry from sleeping.
Most of my scabs are gone after 9 days. I’ll take it easy eating this week, but it looks like things went OK.
Best wishes to everyone.
Hi! I’m 18 years old and am on day 15 after my tonsillectomy. It has honestly been the worst experience of my life. I have been struggling with strep and tonsillitis all my life and decided since it’s summer I should get them removed before heading off to college. Of course the days after surgery were tough but they were definitely doable with pain medication. At day 8 I went to the hospital after spitting up a significant amount of blood. I sat in the emergency room for a few hours until the bleeding stopped on it’s own and then was sent home. Once again I began spitting up blood Saturday night but I gargled some ice water and went to bed trusting that it was just another small bleed. I woke up around 6 am throwing up large amounts of blood and was rushed to the hospital. Because of the vomiting I ripped open the scabs and lost a lot of blood. I had to get a second tonsillectomy and get my stomach pumped. The procedures they wanted to do to attempt to stop the bleeding before going in the operating room were close to unbearable. I’m now starting recovery all over again. I hope it was worth it. I haven’t had a solid meal in so long and am beginning to become very weak.
Oh my goodness Emma! You poor thing! I’m only on day 3 of recovery, had my tonsillectomy on Thursday. I’m in the UK. I’m really struggling with the pain – I’ve been given tablets – and with not being able to swallow. I really hope you start to feel better soon. What a huge ordeal for you ((((hugs))))
Did anyone ever get thrush in your mouth… Or on the back of your tongue? My daughter is 31 and is having a rough time here on day 9 …she is really not eating… And she’s very thin any way… Any thoughts? Her mother…
I tried yogurt with probiotics and it brought my pain down by about 75%. The yogurt must say “Live probiotics” or “Active pro biopics” look for this in the label Lactobacillus Acidophilus. I did the yogurt because i was taking antibiotics so any probiotic in pill form would have been useless i think .
All i did was get about half a cup go yogurt and grab a spoon full and leave it in my mouth. It would take me about half an hour to eat half a cup but it worked for me. I also washed with Organic Apple cider vinegar unfiltered as that too has active probiotics that help fight the yeast growing in the mouth. That thrush is a yeast infection (Candida). Hope this helps.
https://tonsillectomyrecovery.com/oral-thrush-candida/