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
I seem to have taken a step backward with the pain, but I think I was exposed to something that’s giving me cold like symptoms…ugh. Anywho, went to the doctor yesterday about the swelling in my legs and he checked me out over all and how my healing was doing. He said I’m progressing nicely and that my healing was right where it should be. He looked at my legs and is convinced it is not a blood clot, but doesn’t know what’s causing it. He thinks maybe either a reaction to the anesthesia or the surgery triggered an underlying issue I already had. He asked me to call my primary care doctor (GP) to ask him to check me over for possible causes.
My primary doesn’t seem all that interested in seeing me though. According to the gal I spoke to at his office, I’m supposed to just elevate my legs and eliminate salt from my diet. I had already been elevating my legs and since I’m so restricted on what I can eat because of the surgery, if I cut out salt I cut out almost everything I can finally eat. The gal says well there’s your problem right there you need to eat less salt. I said that doesn’t help with what has caused the swelling in the first place. I was swollen like this as soon as I was aware what was what in the recovery room, before I’d had anything tho eat and I wasn’t swollen at all before the surgery. So something else must be causing it. She was exasperated with me, but finally got me an appointment with a nurse practioner next Wednesday.
Oh and btw, today is my birthday! 🙂
Happy birthday Amy. Sorry to hear you’re a little worse for wear 🙁
I have to say the attitude of this person you spoke to seems shocking. Is she a doctor/nurse? Personally I’d probably investigate a complaints procedure against being spoken to (and more importantly, ignored) the way you describe. On top of that I’ve never in my life heard a medical professional suggesting the complete elimination of salt from ones diet. The human body simply can’t function without it. Perplexing.
The gal I spoke to is a nurse, but she usually just takes down what the problem is and then runs to ask the doctor. Once she has the answer she calls you back. All that she told me was after speaking with the doctor. Though my doctor did tell me that if I ran into a problem with any of his staff to let him know. I did that once before and everyone at the front desk had been replaced by the time I got back there a few weeks later.
Well I don’t think you can take the salt completely anyway, as salt occurs naturally (as does sugar) in many things. But I think an American diet is unusually soaked in salt and fat, so they mean to say cut back on salty things and go back to eating natural things like fruits, vegies, meat…. unfortunately, I can swallow any of that stuff unless I go back to baby food. But that is why it’s one of the first things medical professionals here say for swelling, to cut salt out of the diet.
First of all, Happy birthday, Amy! 😀
Second of all, since you’ve been having that problem since you woke up, I *seriously* doubt it’s due to sodium retention. But it wouldn’t hurt to cut *back*, not out, your sodium intake. If nothing else, it’ll prove that’s what it isn’t. You wouldn’t necessarily have to go back to baby foods. You can eat bananas, just squish them up with a fork or spoon first, or cut it up small. There’s eggs that are scrambled with no extra salt, those instant breakfast shakes, low sodium soups, watermelon if you can get it, and things like that. It may not necessarily be what sounds the best, but it’s a way you can eat without going back to baby food.
And I’ll be honest, I never did baby food after mine came out. I just started with soup, moved to mashed potatoes and overcooked mac and cheese (one box lasted me 3 days), and just worked my way up to real food.
Hope some of those suggestions work for you! 🙂
Going into day 4 now and it goes in waves. Sometimes I’ll be hating on life due to the discomfort of the whole thing then other times it doesn’t bother me so much. I think what gets me the most is my appetite, I want to eat sooo much more food but I can’t handle it! Luckily I don’t get nauseous from anything so it’s just my stomach rumbling! Different from tonsillitis because when I have that I don’t want to eat anyway! Don’t know which is worse haha
Anyway, pain hasn’t been too unbearable, have just been taking panadol and the prescribed anti-inflammatorys unless it gets more severe in which i take panadeine forte given by the doctor. This is usually about when the comments have said it starts to get more painful so heres hoping it doesn’t get too bad 🙂 Wish me luck!
Hi James, I was having the same issue (and still am mostly), you can only eat certain things because it’s what your throat can swallow. But it never seems enough and you’re still hungry. I drank lots of warm tea which not only relax the muscles around my throat but it also made my stomach feel there was something substantial there. What kinds of things are you able to eat now?
Tea is definitely the way forward, especially green. I ate some Chinese last night and while I could eat it, after 7 days of liquids only my stomach didn’t take kindly to rich food 🙂
Very happy to write a positive post today. Day 7 and finally on top of things. The new drus are kicking tail. Managed some solid food (well, noodles, but still) last night and got a proper nights sleep too. Swallowing is still incredibly painful and I absolutely must use my cpap machine to sleep, but the constant ‘humming’ pain from the infection is long gone.
The light at the end of the tunnel is very visible. One thing I must change up though is hydration. Apparently tramadol causes dehydration in some cases (and definitely me). This morning was the first time I’d been able to urinate since starting the tramadol two days ago. Commencing more tea and more water!
I had my op on Monday and so am now approaching day 5. Was very nervous but hospital staff put me at ease throughout. My op happened just before lunch. I was given an injection of something to steady my nerves before the anesthetic. Can.t remember anything after that. Woke up back in ward a few hours later. Had been given morphine. Was sick and brought up some blood i had swallowed during procedure but it was fine. Was given codeine and paracetamol to take at same time at regular intervals with ibuprofen in between. Was given plenty to take home and have another prescription for same from my own g p . Pain is bearable, if you prepare yourself for what to expect. Feel pretty energy less but again to be expected. Eating proper food since day 1 although it is not the best to swallow. Prepare yourself and do your research on what to expect and you.ll be fine.
Day 4 and I have not experienced any change in my condition. I am still feeling relatively little pain, and am eating normally, even if the food is bland and boring. Unfortunately, day 4 is one day closer to day 5 which is when the surgeon said that I should expect a significant increase in pain. Yikes!