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
Well I’m into the night of trying 3 hour cycles. It goes okay as long as I don’t sleep for more than 1 hour, or my mouth dries and the pain slider resets to maximum. Managed great earlier but then slept an entire 3 hour window and boy oh boy did it hurt again. Lots of sips and talking and I’ve almost got back to a tolerable level, with the next cycle starting in 20 minutes (ibuprofen this time, so I need to eat soon too).
After realising a cold compress works a lot better than warm, believe it or not I’ve found smearing my neck and throat in Vicks menthol works pretty well. This has also allowed me to save the diclofenac gel as the ‘last straw’ as opposed to using it often.
So this is day 2 and it has been even better than day 1. I have not needed to use my pain medication very much and was able to sleep quite a bit. Before I took a nap, I went to the store and bought some soup, yoghurt, hummus and instant noodles. A lady hit on me in the check out line. Must have been the T3’s. I am finding it hard to believe that it will get worse. Much worse as I have been reading from other peoples experiences. I guess it will though. I hope not, but I guess it will.
I’m glad I found this website. I’m on the 7th day of recovery from my operation and the back of my throat is just agonizing. I saw my surgeon today. He looked down my throat and said “hmm what a mess, but you are about to turn a corner.” Don’t think I can take much more of this. The oxycodone helps. I didn’t think it would be this bad.
Hi Ben. I’ve not posted for a while I had mine out same day same hospital as Bob. Try gargling with cold water or sucking on ice to stop the bleed. If it doesn’t stop or you get more than a teaspoon full you must go straight to hospital. Some people may delay hospital as they are not sure but if this is the case for you, you will need to see a doctor immediately. In most cases the ice and cold water does stop the bleeding. Take care of yourself.
Hi Guys, I 30years of age and from South Africa. I took out my tonsils on the 24th of jan 2013. To be honest it has been the worst pain of my life.. I thought the pain would be settling by now but as I heard day 5 to 7 the worst… I’m not looking foward.. My cousin a paramedic ands been giving me Voltaren injections which works so well, it almost eliminates the pain completely, I get a good nite sleep from 9 to about 3 then the unbearable pain starts again, it feels as thou my ear wama explode.. My doc tells me pain can’t kill me but medication can.. I’m stressing abit that I might be taking too much voltaren injections but I don’t think I can survive without it.. I told my wife this morning that the pain getting worst and it might mean that my throat getting infected.. She actually found this site and told me to read peoples experiences.. It has been such a great motivator reading stories that now I’m convinced that my throat not infected and The pain does get worst from day 6… I’ve been booked off from work for 2 weeks.. I hope that’s enough time because I really don’t want to have pain when I’m back at work.. The one thing I have not neen doing is drinking enough water. I don’t even think I drink a glass for the day. So thanks 4 that tip. I’m gona start drinking even thou its painful…I just hope the easy days can come soon… Thanks for sharing experiences..
Woohoo a fellow southern africaner! – I’m Namibian! Finally, somebody with the same drug possibilities HAHA… what have they given you? I’m practically worrying myself sick about possible medications and how I’ll get through everything (My op scheduled for 27 Feb) (apart from the voltaren injections..) I was given a form of cortisone for the swelling before my throat closed up on me, while i was going through the worst possible case of tonsilitis in medical history (ok, I may be overexaggerating, but it was bad for me!)
Heh no problemo with that Amber, Mucus production is another reason then, I just know they advised me to try and lay off dairy, didn’t specify exactly why.
The stuff about it making sickness worse was myself and myself and my family’s, should have clarified that a bit better.
When I was heaving up allover the place in the majority of the first week, the butter or anything else like that just made me feel more nauseous and sick as soon as it hit my stomach, not because of it directly having a reaction with the meds themselves, but through feeling sick already because of them (and my uvula), the COMBINATION of that and the dairy made that slightly worse. I’ve always found drier foods that soak up the bile to be better in those circumstances.
I found it was better with the dry toast for it if my throat could manage. It’s all up to the individual to find what’s best for them though of course, what works for one may not work for another.
Fine with you clarifying that, I certainly wouldn’t want anyone misreading (or me not being clear enough enough) and being paranoid of trying things because of the meds. We seem to use a lot of different meds based on the country anyways, the US seems to do things a bit differently than the UK in regards to them so nothing is going to be a one size fits all with that, everyone should hopefully find what’s best for them. 🙂
Oh, okay. If you were running any of a fever, that could be another reason things weren’t going so well with the dairy. This is gross, but why you’re supposed to avoid dairy when you’re having a bad problem with nausea, vomiting, if you’re about to go out in the heat for a period of time, or if you’re about to exercise is because if you don’t, it’ll most likely curdle in your stomach and make you more sick. That’s something I learned in marching band back in high school. They warned us, and if someone didn’t believe, they generally found out the hard way a short while later. 🙄
But yes, dry toast, if you can get it down, is great with nausea because it helps absorb extra stomach acid and settle your stomach. (P.S: If you have a problem with getting car or motion sick, this trick, whether toast, bread, or things of the like help!)
Yes, it seems different countries do different things med-wise, and that just things more confusing! Why can’t everyone do the same thing?! Haha but I did find out some of the meds taken between the countries are actually the same thing, just called something else. I got tired of not knowing what paracetamol was, so I finally looked it up and saw that it’s just acetaminophen, or what we call Tylenol. Yay learning! 😀