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
Has anyone else had excessive mucus in their throat? It seems it’s always there and no matter how much swallowing I try to do, it’s still there. On the plus side, this has allowed me to not have to worry about going too long without fluids and getting the dry mouth. On the other hand, it often obstructs my airway when trying to rest.
I had the same problem and the only thing that helped me was GENTLY gargling with warm salt water. That also helped get the loose scabs out 🙂
Thanks Ashley. I hear some people say gargling with salt water is good and others said it was a no-no. So I have basically stayed away from it. But on this Day 9, I am taking your (and many others) advice. Thanks again.
As long as you are doing it gentle there should be no problem. Let me know how it goes! I felt like that was the only way it felt better with the scabs and mucus. 🙂 I hope it works for you!
Having my tonsils out in about a month and a half and I gotta same, I am terrified. There have been posts online that make me feel ok with it and then there are others that make me want to run and hide and avoid this procedure for yet another 2 years!!! Any thoughts???
This is the only site I found where people with typical recoveries posted. All the other sites are posts by folks who have the nightmare stories and want to make sure everyone knows how evil the world is! The forums here are filled with actual accounts from people who have had unbelievable pain-free recoveries (not the norm), typical recoveries, and nightmares (also not the norm).
Before my tonsillectomy, I read through a good portion of the accounts from each day. It doesn’t take long to see the trend: Days 1-2 not bad, days 3-6 painful, days 7-8 maybe less painful but we start to wonder if it will ever end, days 9+ getting better every day! Once you read the stories here, you’ll see that it is painful, but not as bad as the horror stories you’ve heard elsewhere. Yes, those nightmares happen, and they are retold on this site, but the vast majority of folks make it through without the crazy bleeding and monthlong pain. Just check out the updates from each day and you’ll get a pretty accurate picture of what to expect. Some accounts give great detail and saved me a lot of worry about whether my recovery was normal.
I had my tonsils out 2 months ago and I haven’t had tonsillitis since (it was every six weeks prior), so I’m already seeing benefits.
I was terrified to get my tonsils out also! I’m the type of person who reads everything and trys to get as much info as possible! Most stories were awful and I expected the worst!! I’m at two weeks post op and It was SO much better then I thought it would be!! Biggest thing you need to do is DRINK!!! Set your alarm overnight for water and take pain meds as directed! Use a humidifier, try to eat (I could only eat a tiny bit of mashed potatoes and eggs). Just stay positive and you will do fine! The biggest difference for me (and I know everyone is different) was I was never stuck in bed! I did rest a ton but I felt like I was able to live just in pain LOL! I’m sure you will do great!! Good luck with every thing and if you have any questions we are here to help!
Demi, I am sure the procedure /pain/discomfort will be well worth whatever constant issue you are having. I struggled also before having my surgery 5 days ago. Some people have described it as having a baby without any medicine…!!! That has not been my experience. It is true that after 3 or four days your pain increases, but, as I am hoping, that should only last till day 7 or so. There will be pain, and everyone’s level of pain and coping mechanism, will be different. Just take your medicines on time, EVERY 4 HOURS and sip sip sip.
Hi Demi,
I completely understand. I was supposed to get mine out a year ago and bailed on the day when I was almost about to go to theatre! I had read too much and became very scared about the risks of bleeding, more so than the pain.
I posted a comment on the day 1 recovery section outlining my experience.
Everyone has a different experience and some may be prepared and have an awful experience and some may not be prepared and have a great experience.
The best advice I can give is to be well informed. I work in the medical profession so have the ability to assess medical journal articles and know what’s credible information. The evidence is that the risks are more as you get older, however the are only moderately higher. Estimates range from 2-4% bleed risk and even slightly higher in some articles. The evidence also supports the use of cold steel dissection (basically cutting them out) over diathermy or coblation to reduce the risk of secondary bleeding – but, as always, speak to your doctor about this!
From my perspective, this was about 30% as bad as I thought it would be. I took my pain meds on time, make sure my ENT prescribed enlighten to last 2 weeks, followed all of Greg’s tip (drinking drinking and more drinking, setting alarms overnight, humidifier, ice collar, someone with me day and night)
I also ate a textured diet (not too soft) from day 1 to continually clean the tonsil beds to promote faster healing.
And finally, I accepted that it was going to painful well in advance. Then when the pain came, I just thought, well, you knew this would happen, it sucks, but it’s only temporary. And that absolutely helped.
I also discussed the entire procedure including recovery with my ENT. I asked what method he uses, what his bleed rate is, how to contact him in an emergency, what I should do if I notice bleeding etc etc. Surgeons generally want you in and out of their office but it’s your body and your life so you have to advocate for yourself – don’t be afraid to ask anything you need to know.
I hope this helps and good luck with making your decision.
This was a huge decision for me 13 days later I already feel so much better and would absolutely do it again.
I am day 7 post op. My situation was a little different then most. My dog broke my nose and when my doctor was doing his routine check up he noticed I had an inflamed tonsil that looked like cancer so they had to come out (ended up just being tonsillitis and not cancer). So the first 24 hours were horrible for me. I could not breath out my nose so I had to breath out my mouth which made things very painful. Because I had to get my deviated septum fixed I had a lot of blood run down my throat and a lot of blood in my stomach. I had a bad reaction to that and the sleep meds and maybe the pain meds. Lets just saying vomiting after a tonsillectomy is not pleasurable. My mom had to take me to the ER just to get the pain under control so my first day was horrible. I now take children’s Motrin and Tylenol to keep the pain under control. I was able to eat jello and pudding and ice cream for the first couple of days. Day 4 I broke down because mac and cheese and mashed potatoes where still too painful to eat. I can now eat mac and cheese and ramen as long as the noodles are over cooked. You basically have to eat when the pain is manageable and stuff your face until the pain becomes to much. Sleep is not your friend. I wake up everyday in the middle of night in horrible pain and really you just need to make sure the water is nice and cold. Ice packs are still my best friend even after 7 days I still use it. Another thing I would advise is to make sure anything you eat does not have acidic anything in it. I made popsicles with a smoothie type of juice and the ingredients said lemon juice but we were hoping it wasn’t a lot but we were wrong.
I’m into day 3 post TS and feel like I did a good job listening and researching. I scheduled it between summer and fall classes and I had my mom fly in to take care of me for 10 days (which was a big help with my step daughter being here half time), since my husband is a 4th year med student he has the know how and helps when he can. I take my pain meds right before or at 4 hours instead of 4-6 hours and pre-stocked my freezer, fridge and pantry with smooth frozen fruits, treats, jello, pudding and items to make protein smoothies to get nutrition in. Lots and lots of ice water (always have a plastic venti Starbucks cup full) and blended ice into snow cone (minus the flavoring) with a spoon and homemade moldable ice packs with rubbing alcohol (for the front and back of my neck) and water in zip locks.
What hurts just as much if not more sometimes is my tongue!!! Must have been the clamps they used…but it’s ripped up on both sides and really sore in the back…so Popsicles and the blended ice help a lot. Hoping the rest goes this way or better…good luck fellow tonsillectomers!
I’m on day 19 recovery (but I had a second emergency surgery 11 days ago due to bleeding) – anyone have a bad taste in the back of their mouth? I’m not sure if it is still a scab that I’m tasting or post nasal drip but I don’t like it. I also notice that I still have a sore throat, anyone else? I also find that food still gets stuck in the back of my throat/rough areas of skin where the tonsils were removed. Tonsil stones were my main culprit and I feel so much better they are gone now but I’m afraid that food is still getting stuck back there and thus not smelling nice. TIA.
Hi Liz,
Sorry to hear of your discomfort. I had my surgery 3/2014. To this day, I still have the “food getting stuck” feeling in my throat. My taste buds have not fully returned. I first thought that feeling in my throat was a scab until my ENT confirmed it was not. He diagnosed me with Acid Reflux. Supposedly, that is the feeling I have in the back of my throat. I do not know which is worse……the extra large tonsils or this feeling I now have as a result of my tonsillectomy. Both are uncomfortable. Read up on throat and tonsil issues. That’s what I did and I found an article which actually spoke about many patients after having a tonsillectomy now having acid reflux issues. Good luck 🙂
I feel the same Liz! One of my biggest problems was huge tonsils that I would get food stuck in. Since they were so huge he had to dig deeper into the muscle so now I have HUGE holes in the back of my throat :(. I’m on day 14 so I’m still not eating much since I’m still in pain but I’m worried the food will be getting stuck in the holes back there!! I’m hoping I didn’t just create another problem with this! Tomorrow is my follow up so I will see what he says! Good luck to you!! Let me know if it gets any better!!