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
Finally feeling better..this is the second day where i was out and about. Ate yesterday and today…have to chew forever before I swallow and need a large glass of water to help..the lower part of my throat still hurts but I am pushing through it. I am off the meds completly only using throat lozangers… Good luck everybody.. Ice,ice and more ice.
Had another mc’double for lunch and gonna eat a burrito when it cools. Hurts, but the nurse stated I was doing well and needed to push proteins as older patients heal faster if they do. Kody , I’m sorry — what country are you in? ( I must have missed it 🙂 . ) Kody remember that opiates cause anxiety and depression , so just roll with it and keep your spirits up. That’s why I got off mine– messed with my head. Told the nurse yesterday morning that I was off Lortab on day four– her response was good for you… So the drugs that help the most always come with a price…. Remember that and you will do well…. Currently not taking anything , (even drinking beer has stopped ) . Eating some solids carefully, and most of all—being happy… Stay loose people… 🙂
What day are you on Steve? I am on day 4 and have been eating baby food for the past two days. The oxycodone my doctor prescribed me makes me feel extremely nauseous so i am currently off all medication. Tell me it gets easier after this! This pain in unbearable
MJ, If you’re still feeling extremely nauseous even with food in your stomach, it couldn’t hurt to call your ENT and see if they can give you something else like Loritab. Some people just don’t react well to some pain medicine, and there’s a chance if they can switch the kind of pain medicine you’re on to something else, you may be able to handle the pain without horrible nausea.
MJ I was on lortab Elixir , and I hated it. I quit it on day 4 and went to ibuprofen ( just 400 mg) —– warning — it barely helps the pain , like maybe 1/3 of it. On the plus side my anxiety and depression/seeing things went away almost immediately. My tongue swelling was almost completely gone by the end of day five. Bad side was I didn’t really sleep that night. Due to pain. I’m ex-army and have an extremely high tolerance– and was still miserable. Was not the best plan… But it worked for me… Call your doctor and get a non-opiate and grind thru it. Oh I’m on 9 now. 4 was a bear. 🙂 another movie quote: FOR BARSOOM!!!!!
P.S. Was reading back into last year messages and found where people were using Dentine Ice gum…. They were swearing by it.
Actually was past midnight so day ten. 🙂 soft scrambled eggs with a small amount of salt rocks, and eat cream of chicken soup cold-and chicken broth warm or cold– and creamy peanut butter with room temp water to wash it down. Bananas are ok – also small bites with cold water to wash it down— get jarred peaches and pears in light syrup. I hear oatmeal is good- just didn’t try it…. Potted meat bad…most juices at that stage burn. Aloe Vera juice is ok. Very serious on this one— you stay on opiates , then get a stool softener….. Humidifier is mandatory. GOOD LUCK.
I am in Armenia and over here they do not recommend me to drink once cold liquids. They say drink room temperature. So far I’m on day 4. On day 2 I had two times where it bleed, first time I didn’t go to the hospital but second time I called my doctor and he said rush to the hospital asap. I went it was like 1 AM and snowing outside. I should have went the first time because the late night shift doctor had to clean my whole mouth the inside all the dried up blood and I threw up swallowed blood and the most hurtful part was him stopping the bleeding . He put some kind of liquid medicine on a cotton ball and pressed hard on the bleeding . There was blood everywhere . Not a pretty site but that days finally over. I used to get only pain when I swallowed but now on day 4 it hurts without swallowing and the pain comes with the rhythm of my heart beat. Oh yeah, the doctor gave me two medicines to stop me from bleeding one is in tablet form it’s a Russian medicine I have to take for a week I forgot the name but the other one he gave after I started bleeding its called exacyl I think it’s French and looking it up looks like some kind of acid. Anyways I thought I was going to be drinking and eating cold things but my doctor here doesn’t recomnend it says to eat and drink room temp . But sticking my head out the window feels great ! it’s snowing and -13 Celsius right now. Can someone please help me thank you!!
I’m not super keen on telling someone to go against their doctor, but sucking on ice is what stopped my bleeding, and is what my doctor wanted me to do. All of us here in the US were told to keep the ice water and ice coming as it will take down the swelling, and it constricts your blood vessels and slows bleeding. I know each country has different ideas, but I think you’d be completely safe with ice. Here in the US they want you eating NOTHING crispy. In the UK, Australia and New Zealand they tell you to have crunchy things to keep your scabs thin. I actually did crunchy foods, especially toast, and I healed a bit ahead of the game. As long as you’re not doing something like taking aspirin or working out while healing I think it’s okay to do a little trial and error. Go ahead and try ice. I think you’ll feel better. We do it in the US and we’re doing okay!
So wait, do you recomend eating toast? On what day should I try this? And how much? Anything to help me recover quicker 😀
Kody, if as soon as your up to it, it’s fine. Really, my doctor ordered soft foods for 2 weeks, but I kinda didn’t follow it. A few days in I was eating Wheat Thins, and it was perfectly fine. For the most part, you can eat anything you can handle, as long as you are able to chew it up enough. Granted, it took me about five minutes to eat one cracker for a few days, but still. I’m on day 10 and I’m still experimenting big time on what I can and can’t handle. Granted, my infection didn’t help with things, but still.
Each person seems to be healing way different. I myself have not come close to drinking enough, yet other than Thrush, I haven’t had any complications yet. Others follow everything to a ‘T’ and have all kinds of problems. You just have to find what works for you. 🙂
Yea when it isn’t horribly painful to do it and you can tolerate it. I think I started on day six or so. It’s what they do in the UK and down under, and they seem to have positive results, so I went for it.
Starting day 4 of recovery, and I guess you could call this my worst day. I woke up to take my pain meds last night and for some reason the ones I took at 1:30am seemed to do nothing at all. I’ve never had that happen so it was an annoying 4 hours of trying to sleep, but luckily my next dose took the pain back down. I guess I’m one of the lucky ones because my pain has not yet spiked to seemingly unbearable levels, but perhaps I shouldn’t jinx myself like that…
I do have a question however: has anyone been experiencing lopsided pain in their throat? Since day one, I’ve noticed that the left side of my throat houses all of the pain I feel when I swallow or do anything, and even the ouside of my throat is more tender on that side. I don’t know if there is 0 pain on the right side, but I definately do not notice it at the moment. I’ve checked the scabs and didn’t notice anything incredibly different about the 2 sides, although my stepmom says she feels the left side is a bit more inflamed than the right. Either way, I feel if somehow I could find out what is causing all the pain in my left side I could drasticly reduce the total ammount of pain I’m in.
Also, there is some dispute going on in this household and it appears we’re too lazy to call the doctor, so I’ll ask this here: can I take advil? And is it a good anti-inflamitory? I’ve tried ice and popsicles and just about anything cold on my throat (and mainly my huge uvula) but the swelling does not seem to go down. If not advil, what else could I take? Please and thank you 🙂
Call the doctor and have him prescribe a steroid. I took the first does of prednisons yesterday and the swelling is much better. This is my 4th day of recovery as well.
Advil’s no good as it is a blood thinner. Stick to Tylonol.
…also be sure not to take Tylenol if you’re already on Loratab, only as a replacement drug.
Depending on your main pain medication, ( you prob are already taking acetaminophen added to it –mine was 500 mg) so no, that’s a bad idea…the extra pain on your left side is probably swelling. Either do as M says or call the doctor, ( I didn’t , but I have a extremely high pain tolerance.) , get off your opiate and do as I did— switched to ibuprofen. Do this route and swelling should come down, but the pain cannot be controlled as well. So best bet is call your doctor 1st….
So after reading all this I figured my best option would be just to call my doctor and see what he suggests… but of course their office isn’t open on weekends so there goes that plan. For now I guess I’m just gonna keep going with my normal routine and chalk all this pain up to it being day 4 and assume it’ll only get better from here. According to my dad the doc says I can take 2 percocets if I really need it, so that’s my last resort option right now. Thanks for the advice everyone 🙂
I am on day 7 and I have white puss looking stuff all in the back of my throat !!!! What is this and is this normal ??
I am also on Day 5. My throat hurts to swallow. I have been mixing it up with cool liquids and some mint tea as my wife tells me my breathe is like the smell of dead flesh good thing I don’t really smell it. I have pretty much just had pudding, protein shakes, yogurt, frozen yogurt and ice cream. My doctor prescribed me Tylenol with Codeine and that seems to work. First two days I stuck to a dose every 4 hours. I now am going about every 6 or so. If pain picks up I take 20ml. I tried to eat some chicken soup but the noodles were soft enough so I couldn’t. The chicken hurt to swallow. I do take a shower every night, super hot so that it helps with my throat.
Appreciate it guys, but my warning to you is don’t drink beer…—the scabs didn’t fall off—they dissolved–the beer combined with saliva ate the scabs off…and then I was stupid 🙂 . Ate a mc’double cheeseburger . Was dang good…Good news is it tasted perfect without the scabs…….I quit while I was ahead…..So the doctor was wrong…no beer 🙁 .