Tonsillectomy Recovery Time
After a lifetime of tonsillitis, it was time. I made the appointment. Was I scared? Yes. Was I prepared for tonsillectomy recovery? NO. Can you be? YES!
Planning for and recovering from a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy procedure, (often referred to as T & A Surgery), can be daunting experiences. The days leading up to your surgery can be frightening. If you haven’t read up yet, you can find information on tonsillectomy methods, risks, costs, adult tonsillectomy, sleep apnea, and numerous tips for tonsillectomy recovery on the other pages of this site. I’ve even added pictures of a post tonsillectomy throat by each day. Study, talk with your doctor and consult with your friends about the decision to undergo tonsillectomy and adenoid surgery. Explore the pages created here to aid in your journey.
If you should decide to have tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, let us help you through the entire process. Whether due to problems with sleep apnea, chronic tonsillitis and strep throat, tonsil stones, trouble swallowing, or a combination thereof, you can benefit from the experience of others. My own experience taught me that, as patients, we need to advocate for ourselves. Ear, nose, and throat doctors are, by and large, extremely talented individuals. However, very few of them have experienced an adult tonsillectomy, and the subsequent recovery. I have. Many others have too. We share our experiences here at the adult tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy recovery resource center. As you’ll read in the tonsillectomy recovery forum, everyone’s experience is unique. There are many factors that influence the level of pain you experience, as well as the length of time required during recovery. The method, and skill of your surgeon can have an affect, but there are also many things within your control that will reduce pain and recovery time. I’ve tried to include as many helpful tips as possible within the pages of this online resource. Tonsillectomy recovery can be pretty rough, especially if you are unlucky enough to be an adult! It takes longer for an adult to recover from most things. Tonsillectomy is no exception. There are many things you can do to make it go more smoothly. I’ve published numerous tips here on various pages. I encourage you to read up BEFORE you are in the throws of tonsillectomy recovery.
Talk with your doctor, friends, family, and work as you prepare. You are not alone in this. Like you and like me, many others are facing or have faced a tonsillectomy recovery. I created this forum for you. The community of adults or parents of patients will amaze you and warm your heart. I read these comments every day and every day I am humbled by everyone’s story and their compassion for others in the midst of recovery, or the anxiety that often precedes a tonsillectomy. Please join in. Hundreds of other people, perhaps in your same situation, have shared their wisdom, concerns, tips, and questions about tonsillectomy, as well as their tonsillectomy recovery.
-Greg My short bio
Kieran, it seems like some people do experience the medicine stinging. I did not. I think it’s a very individual thing. I would not give up on it. Take whichever is giving your relief. I would think the stinging stops a few minutes after you take it, correct? If not, try some chloraseptic spray (if ok’d by your doctor) before you take the liquid pain meds – maybe that’ll do the trick. Or see, below for a tip I mention to Dee Dee.
Susan and Kieran, the pain is not going to improve too noticeably, usually, until after day 9 or 10. Your thoat will continue to look gunky for a while. Mine still had some whitish areas on it at my 2 week post op, though they were very small areas and they finally disappeared and everything was all pink very shortly after that. My throat had that whitish look to it for most of the recovery then gradually some pink started to show through as the ‘scabs’ sloughed off. I never felt it happening, it just got pinker by the day. I know it’s very discouraging to be in pain like this all the time. 🙁 Try to hang in there…..it DOES get better, it just takes time to heal. You WILL see that light at the end of the tunnel, it is there and you are getting better every day despite how the pain feels. It is the healing process and the pain is an indicator of that. If you try to see it as pain=healing, it is a more positive spin to put on it. I was there, I really understand. I reached my most frustrating point around day 9 but it got quickly better after that.
Sherri, as for the burning, I would strongly suggest nothing with acid or a lot of sugar. No tomato sauce, OJ, or even high sugar content foods. I remember eating chocolate around day 10 and it stung my throat really badly. Anything that is acidic in any way will sting. And you will still have some discomfort swallowing (stinging or feeling like things get stuck) probably until the end of week 2 or so. I remember being able to eat whatever I wanted by the end of week 3. The stinging is just the sensitive skin being newly healed (or still healing) and we are trying to put foods down there that may irritate that skin. There’s no rushing it, the stinging just eventually stops when the healing is ‘enough’.
Dee Dee I would do everything you can to put off the classwork if you can. You just need to rest and heal and if you are not taking pain killers, and taking care of little ones, that’s enough of a drain. Maybe you can get an extension on your classwork if you provide a letter from your doctor stating you are healing from surgery? It’s a tough time to have to be going out to classes when you need to rest.
As for the pain meds and nausea, have you been prescribed anti-nausea meds? These can be a true life saver for some. There is Zofran and also Compazine…not sure which you would be prescribed. It would ask for these so that you can take the Lortab. I know a lot of people have stinging with these liquid meds. One thing that worked for a girl on here a few months ago was putting the liquid pain med in just a few ounces of warm liquid – water, tea, whatever. She said it completely did the trick and she was able to swallow the pain meds that way without the terrible stinging.
Susan (from Wyoming, correct Susan?) mentioned this and I highly recommend it too. No matter how bad my mouth hurt I brushed my teeth and tongue every day, twice a day. Kept that awful taste at bay and it helped to give my mouth a work out. It hurt, believe me, but it was worth the clean feeling and getting that taste out of my mouth. My tongue KILLED for about a week after surgery due to whatever they clamp it down with to keep it out of the way. That pain rivaled or even surpassed the tonsil area pain. It was awful. But I think using the toothbrush, rinsing and scrubbing really helped my mouth heal better. Just a thought. Believe me, I know all these things SUCK to do but it’s mind over matter. Sometimes you just need to do it and deal with the pain.
I hope everyone has a better week. You will get there, hang in there!! 🙂
The stinging hasn’t stopped at all now, I took the paracetamol almost 4 hours ago, even water is stinging as I drink it now. Could it be a piece of scab has fallen off without me knowing and anything that comes into contact with the skin underneath is causing it to sting badly? It’s almost the end of day 4 of recovery so I’m assuming I should already have started forming scabs anyway?
Is it normal for some medication to cause a stinging sensation on the surgery site?
I’ve been taking soluble paracetamol since I had my surgery and I noticed the last couple of times I have taken it, it has really caused my right tonsil ‘hole’ to sting every time I take it, then the sensation disappears after about 15 minutes. The stinging sensation seems to be getting worse each time I take it though, is this just because the whole pain is getting worse anyway or should I try and lay off the paracetamol and just try and cope with the codeine?
Well its day 4 post op…WOW..the pain is so much worse than i thought it would be i have a fairly good pain threshold but this is terrible!!!! i have tried to eat toast and things that are not soft but i just cannot do it…. ice pops, soup, jelly and mashed potato is my limit…oh well i can afford to loose a bit of weight…… Regular painkillers and cold drinks do help, but i cannot wait to feel better, i feel very emotional does anyone else or is it just me feeling sorry for myself!!!! thank you for all the support that is on this website its amazing …xxx
I feel your pain Susan! I’ve also just started day 4 of recovery and it’s really getting me down, my throat hasn’t seemed to change at all, I was hoping it would start looking more white or a bit better at least but it’s still just as nasty as it always has been, although I think a bit might have fallen off because it looks like there’s a part where it had bled a little but has stopped now.
I’m just trying to think of all the benefits when it’s all over and done with and all of the amazing food I can eat again when it’s done!
I’m at Day 11, and I am feeling like I will never be pain free. Like everyone else, I was a nervous wreck going into surgery but It wasn’t bad at all.Day 3 was rough,and day 9 was the roughest of them all. Jello Jello Jello is the one thing I can suggest. That was the only thing I seemed to be able to eat for the first week. Tried so baby food Day 8..Don’t laugh, 🙂 Chicken and Apples Stage Two Gerber was pretty good. 🙂 I had the last of my meds yesterday & can’t get comfortable enough to sleep.Trying Tylenol but doesn’t seem to help. Everything seems to burn. Any suggestions? I have my ENT appt on Wednesday.
Deedee, I know it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you’re only on day 4. It’s there and you need to do everything possible to get there sooner. I know it hurts to drink water but it will hurt more if you don’t. Try numbing your throat with chloraseptic if you need to. I hope you are sitting next to a humidifier as much as possible. Ice your neck as well as chewing on ice chips. Last but not least… Do not sleep more than 2 hours at a time. Suck on ice chips every 2 hours if you are unable to drink water every 2 hours. . If you sleep all night, you will pay for it when you’re awake. It’s not worth it! I hope this helps. Good luck!