After tonsillectomy surgery, patients have plenty of unpleasant side effects to deal with. Swelling of the uvula, tongue, and throat are usually the first hurdle adults have to deal with post tonsillectomy. Swallowing and breathing can be difficult. This isn’t too surprising, especially considering all that the throat has been through. Icing and gargling with ice water can help reduce this swelling, as can a steroidal treatment. The next problem after tonsillectomy, usually a day or so post-op, is pain in the throat area. Again, no big surprise. Icing is also a good way to treat, as are narcotic pain killers and/or over the counter pain medications. Topical analgesics like throat sprays can also offer some relief.
What surprises many is a phenomena occurring several days into their tonsillectomy recovery- ear pain.
Post Tonsillectomy Ear Pain – Cause and Treatment
Cause
Literally thousands of patients sharing their experiences on this website have commented that their ears hurt after tonsillectomy. Ear pain after tonsillectomy is probably the second or third most common side effect that patients experience- second only to pain and swelling. But why does this happen? There was no scalpel or hot knife near the ears, so why should they feel like they’re being stabbed? The cause of ear pain post tonsillectomy starts at the throat and radiates to the ears. This is called a referred pain. Take a look at the attached diagram and note the lingual nerve. It’s directly connected to the ears and throat.
Treatments and Home Remedies
This referred pain can be quite severe. Often prescribed pain medications do not seem to relieve the ear pain that many experience after tonsillectomy. In addition to the pain medicines patients are taking, there are two home remedies that usually can provide some relief. The first of which is chewing gum. In light of the unpleasant side effect of have sugary residue in and around the throat, most tonsillectomy patients prefer a sugar -free gum. A mint flavor can also feel cooling. Exactly why chewing gum relieves ear pain is hard to say. Certainly activating the muscles around the ears and jaw may help, but more likely, like yawning, gum chewing releases pressure from the ear area.
The second remedy for ear pain after tonsillectomy is applying a heating pad or warm compress to the affected area. Again, the reason for its effectiveness is not entirely clear but most patients describe a relaxing comfort from applying a wet, warm towel or electric heating pad to the affected area. To reduce inflammation, alternate between warm and cold compresses.
-Greg My short bio
Have you found a trick for taking the edge off of ear pain, especially after tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy? Please share it in the comments section below. Thank you!
Its been a crazy roller coast for me post tonsilectomy. My parents decided it was a good idea to go on vacation 4 days after my surgery. Being in the car has been rough. No access to popsicles and I have to spit all that disgusting spit up stuff into a cup and it starts to smell like no other. And the nausea was worse thrown in with the car sickness. The meds were making me act too weird so we decided to switch to over the counter Tylenol which SUCKED trying to switch from being stoned out of my mind from the meds to something that didn’t help nearly as much. I’ve had a few mental breakdowns from the frustration of not being able to eat because I am passionate about food and even soft things such as mashed potatoes or refried beans hurt my ears pretty bad. I’d say one of the worst things I’ve experienced is the terrible taste in my mouth because it makes me nauseous and when I puked it just makes me have more of the terrible taste in my mouth.
I am sorry you are away from home. That is awful! I couldn’t do it!
Day 1 woke up from op and first thing I noticed is that my jaw is in agony!! No pain in throat just the jaw.. back on ward managed to eat toast. Morphine every hour slept through the night with medication every hour.
Day 2 slight pain in throat. Managed more toast and a cup of tea and biscuits. Told I can go home so stop at macdonalds on the way and have a mc chicken sandwich meal managed it no problem. Get home sleep until morning.
Day 3 wake up in PAIN!! Quickly take medication that hospital gave me.. still in pain 3hours later so phone doctors and got an emergency appointment. Home with antibiotics as I have an infection.. I smoke so doctor thinks that’s what cause it ? In agony the rest of day and night sleeping on and off.
Day 4 PAIN PAIN PAIN!!! Now regretting getting my tonsils removed have never felt pain like this before!!
Day 5 Excatly the same as day 4!! But now I have ear ache ?
Day 6 Still in agonising pain. Hurts even to swallow water. Read on a previous post here to try hot water and honey.. try it and instant relief ? First time I’ve not wanted to scream in pain all week!! Relief only lasted a hour so I have another every hour until I fall asleep.
Day 7 woke up not in as much pain as I have been with most of the scabs off.
Now on day 8 and I have came off the strong medication completely just having paracetamols. The first week was the worst I have ever experienced in my life.. I tried everything from iced water, Ice chips, ice packs, heat packs! Nothing seemed to help except the honey water wish i had known about this from day 1. Yes I smoke and this probably caused me more pain but it was the one thing that gave me joy in the whole week! I got my tonsils removed due to having bad glandular fever which cause holes in my tonsils resulting in tonsils stones. Right now i wish I never got them removed but by next week I think it will be a different story. Also a lot of my pain was on the right side the left side didn’t bother me so much did anyone else notice this?
Had my tonsils out on the 22nd of may. It has been the worst week of my life!! uvula was so swollen it was going down my throat! Throat pain was hell!! Ear pain brings me to tears. Have been living on ice and scrambled eggs for a week and still managed to put weight on ?
I had surgery December 31st 2015 and my ear pain continues. I don’t know if it’s normal but it won’t go away. Pain killers don’t do anything. I might have to go in for surgery on my ears now (great ?) just know that you might be like me and a year and a half later the pain continues
Hi Mercedes, my 11 year old daughter has ear pain still, continuing from her surgery March 2017. What type of surgery do they think may relieve it?
I’m an adult in 30’s and had my tonsilectomy on 8th May 2017.
The main reason i need to go for the procedure because there was a big growth on one side of my tonsil. It was totally discomfort as if there was some kind of food stuck in the throat. In worst case, at any point of time if I were to vomit, I will get choked and the vomitus which has bigger particles are not able to come out resulting that I have to forcefuly swallow it back.
My surgery went really well under GA so i dont feel anything during the procedure. However, the nightmare started right after I woke up till now, the 7th day after the surgery.
Day 1: unable to eat and talk properly
Day 2-6: • unable to eat but hungry
• saliva taste bitter
• throat swell badly in the morning after awake
from sleep
Day 7: all of the above + earpain!!!
This is the most suffering period in my life but on the bright side, i’ve lost 6kg over a week. lol
I’m gonna visit my GP real soon to check if i need other medical attention prior to the damn painful earache!
I’m going through the same as you. I did tonsillectomy on the 8th May as well. The reason I did it was they were sick.
I’m on my 8th day recovery and the mornings are the worse! I’m waking up in pain every day with ear pain and swallowing. Can’t talk properly too. I’m taking 2 different types of pain killers and panadols.
I went to my GP yesterday and he was happy how ‘quickly’ I recovered but he couldn’t tell me anything about ear pain too :'(.
I’ve lost 5kgs.
Wishing you a speedy recovery. I know what you’re feeling :).