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
Has anyone tried tetracaine lollipops or liquid (gargle but don’t swallow)? This is a local anesthetic like lidocaine that you can get from a compounding pharmacy with a doctor’s prescription (follow directions carefully). It isn’t part of the usual repertoire of e.n.t. doctors, (should be), so you’ll have to discuss this with him/her. The ulcers that form after a tonsillectomy are similar to canker sores and are very painful (I used to get them a lot before my dentist told me to stop using toothpaste with sodium laurel sulfate, a foaming agent). When I got canker sores, I used Tanac or Kanka to relieve the pain and it helped tremendously (do NOT use those for your tonsils as it would send you through the roof). This is what made me think LOCAL anesthetic. The tetracaine will really take the edge off and unlike chloraseptic or other mouthwashes, it doesn’t contain alcohol to burn you. Be an advocate for yourself or your loved one if you are experiencing too much pain to tolerate!
Tee Jay and Gareth – I’m sorry you both had to go through bleeding episodes. These are NOT the norm and most stats say a 2% chance it may happen. Those awaiting surgery, as Gareth said – do not let this scare you off! I delayed for 10 YEARS having my tonsillectomy as I was terrified I’d be one of those 2% who have a bleed.
Well, despite throwing up violently the night I came home from surgery (from the anesthesia) I didn’t see a single drop of blood. Also, my ENT told me in over 20 years of doing tonsillectomies, he’s never had anyone who bled require a transfusion.
Remember, if you donate blood you give a full pint in probably 10-15 min. That’s a lot of blood and yet you walk away fine afterwards.
Tee Jay and Gareth – hope your healing goes well and that you are fully on the road now to recovery. Hang in there!
So I had my surgery 6 days ago (10/12/2012)…
On my 5th day (10/17/2012), it was 2 28 in the morning and for some reason I felt that something was a bit off with my mouth, I felt like something was clogging up my airwaves and I thought it was flem so I just swallowed cuz I didn’t want to irritate my throat… well it kept going and this time it was burning uvula, so I decided to spit it out, now I was in the dark so I didn’t see a thing… but for some reason more was coming out, so I decided to finally turn on the light 20 mins after I was spitting a lot out of me, and when I did, the shock in me had me stund, there was a tons of blood, now before I reached panic mode, I went to the bathroom to hawk it up, and a lot more came out, and it wouldn’t stop, all this blood was now freaking me out, I started to cry, I was in just disbelief that this was happening to me, my sister woke up and saw me and now she is freaking out, now she woke up my mother, it is now 4:25 in the morning and I was still bleeding, I started to feel dizzy and sick to my stomach and so I vomited, something that I was trying to avoid, so my mom gave me salt water to gargle and for some reason it was working, well to my knowledge, and suddenly I stop bleeding. I calmed myself down and thought about it and remembered that this was one of the symptoms of recovery “but damn that was a lot of blood”. It was now 6:08am and the bleeding came back with a vengance, this time it flowed thru my mouth so much that this I was pail, by 7:45am I stopped completly, I was in the hospital already, I was passed out, and I woke up with my mom next to me and you can tell she has been crying, I lost 2.4 pints of blood… it was life-threatening,… I’m home now and after several Jello and Icechips, I ate soup and feel asleep.. THAT MY EXPERIENCE!!!
I’ve been suffering with a dry mouth where my tongue feels so sore and I can’t stop thinking about it does anyone else have this at all or am I going crazy? I also used to have bad breath not that anyone said but I could always taste it but since the tonsil stone were removed with my tonsils 3 months today that all went. But I have been getting bad breath now especially in the mornings. No one has told me but I can tell. Does anyone else have any advice or ideas what to do regarding both? Thank you in advance I would be most grateful for some help.
So… horror stories right? Haha.. WELL. I believe it would be day 6 for me after surgery. 1 and two went as expected; couldn’t talk, pain wasn’t UN-bareable but certainly there, and feeling kinda crappy overall. Day 3 comes along and i still feel the same but more pain for sure, even spit up a tiny bit of blood but probably something left over or Un-concerning. Morning of day 4 at 2:00 am i wake up for what i think is a pee break but no… what felt like every scab and clot i had came into my mouth at one with quite possibly the most blood I’ve bled. (Now im not trying to scare anyone… im only 21 so it probably wasn’t alot for some of you) bit i did hemorrhage and needed to be hospitalized ASAP. For 2 days they tried to stop the bleeding via chemical cauterization which BTW starts to be the most pain you’ll ever feel if they don’t freeze you, but still i was leaking. So the decision was made to go under the knife again so to speak. They would remove my clots, clean things up and do things right this time. I had no other choice and was very sick of the taste of my own blood so “do what ya gotta do!” I woke up feeling well… AMAZING. I could talk with my normal voice, wasn’t bleeding, and ate 2 Popsicles and a whole meal! Turns out in the first surgery i had, they left some flesh from my tonsils still in the rosily bed were most of the bleeding seemed to come from so they got rid of that and cleaned the layers of blood from my mouth, tongue and throat. The staff here was great and i owe them dearly. Im so thankfully this is over and i can now appreciate the benefits of being tonsil free. And I certainly will NOT take it for granted. I wasnted to share this as it was a unique experience in my life… not to scare newcomers away from the procedure… get it done it will change your quality of life a tenfold. I was in the unlucky 5% this happens to, but it shows if you do bleed… the doctors know what they’re doing. Get your tonsils out 🙂 thanks guys! -Gareth, 21, BC Canada
Uvula swells big time because they have to clamp it to get to the surgical site as u understand.