Jenna’s Tonsillectomy Tips

This site has been so helpful during my recovery. Thanks to Greg and everyone for sharing your journey. I’m going to share mine in hopes of helping others like you’ve all helped me.

I’m 35 years old and live in NYC. Had my tonsils out 6 days ago.

Overall the pain is akin to the worst bout of tonsillitis I’ve ever had (I had to get Percocet to help with the pain from that bout to put it in perspective) but the difference between that and the tonsillectomy is that it is on both sides of my throat, my tongue and whereas a typical case of tonsillitis (for me) would go away after a couple of days with steroids this extremely sore throat just keeps kicking. So it’s essentially groundhogs day with the worst sore throat of your life.

For me, I can get the pain under control with extra strength Tylenol. It doesn’t go away but makes it manageable…until I start to think I’m feeling better and listen to my grumbly tummy and try to eat. Then I just wake the dragon and all hell breaks loose. My throat swells, feels on fire and I have searing shooting pain in both ears. As soon as this happens I’ve been taking a Percocet, waiting a bit for it to kick in then give eating another shot.

I’m only eating soft foods, mashed sweet potatoes have been my favorite, and find that cold water or iced tea seem to be the most tolerable drinks.

Things that have helped me:

– Ice packs on neck. I got one that wraps around (supposed to be for the back) and I put it over my whole neck/chin/jawline. It helps SO much.

– Drinking everything with ice. This seems to really help.

– Concentrating on swallowing down the middle of my tongue/throat really helps avoid extra pain.

– Hot baths.

– Relaxing my throat muscles. This was a huge help. I read it on this site and boy was it a life saver.

Overall I feel I was unprepared for the duration of this thing and underestimated my recovery time. I thought I’d be back at work in a week. Ha! Make sure to give yourself plenty of time to heal.

Good luck everyone!