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 am a 37 year old female, had my tonsils removed 5/6/13 which means I am at day 17. First week was brutal! First 3 days I lived on ice chips and water (sip every hour to keep throat from drying – even during the night), and I believe the ‘ice collar’ helped keep swelling down. I had trouble tolerating ANY food as it felt like it stuck in the back of my throat, so I’ve lost 10 pounds and am extremely weak. After a tonsillectomy, do not plan to feel a little better each day…doesn’t work that way! I am currently gaining energy, but am surprised that my throat has begun feeling scratchy, a little sore to swallow and the ‘scabs’ which seemed to subside around days 13, 14 have returned along with an ongoing splotchy redness – (no fever, don’t think it’s an infection)is this normal??? How much longer until my throat does returns to normal? What should I expect from day 17 forward?
I am a 23 year old and I am on day 7 of recovery. I had tonsillitis frequently (during nearly every time of stress/weakened immune system), was prescribed antibiotics nearly every other month, and my ENT thought the tonsillectomy was without doubt the right option.
Like you’ll hear from countless others, the first 3 days are not bad (and it remains a mystery to me as to why). I took the painkillers, but the pain was not at all horrible – just felt like a bad case of tonsillitis I was so accustomed to. I was eating soft foods – pudding, mac and cheese, jello, mashed potatoes, soups. I stocked up on ice cream before the surgery, but I found that ice cream made the pain much worse. Heavy dairy products produce mucus, and mucus makes things more painful and difficult to swallow. The worst food for me was anything with citrus acid. I had a fruit smoothie one day with a bit of orange juice, and the burning was horrible briefly.
By day 5, the pain got worse. It’s hard for me to call any of this absolutely miserable because I know I’ve had it better than most people on this site (at least based on the “hell on earth” stories I’ve read and heard repeatedly). I stopped taking the Rx painkillers because they were making me nauseous and I did NOT want to vomit. I cannot even imagine what it feels like to vomit after the tonsillectomy, so use the heavier stuff only if you absolutely need them (and they will really knock you out). I’m sticking to the OTC medication from here on out. At this point on day 7, every day has its ups and downs. Mornings are painful, drinking water makes everything feel better, and food makes things hurt more. On day 3 I thought I was beginning to get better, but you’ll find that things get worse and drag on for reasons I cannot explain.
At the end of the day, yes this recovery is difficult. I’m not expecting to feel myself for probably another week. But remember – this is an investment. The people who say they regret the decision likely forget (in the moment) the reason they signed up for the tonsillectomy in the first place. My recurring tonsillitis was horrible and I knew I couldn’t tolerate it much longer. You need to consider risk/reward. No one can 100% guarantee that the tonsillectomy will solve your problems, but in my case, I’ll take the odds. Don’t make any plans for 7-10 days and prepare for a tough time. A big piece of advice is to maintain conservative expectations – by the end of day 3 I thought the worst was behind me, and I was very wrong. The body responds to the tonsillectomy in a way I can’t quite understand, but it just seems that things take longer to heal than you would expect. Remember that you’ll have difficulty swallowing, sleeping, you’ll lose weight, your body will have a rough adjustment, and you’ll be pretty down and out for at least a week. In the worst moments of pain, I think about the potential rewards of this procedure and carry on. If the nonstop sore throats, trips to the doctor, and antibiotics are diminished, then this would be well worth it. Good luck.
Nicely written recovery123 🙂 Glad to hear you’re in a positive mindset, I bet that makes a big difference. I hope I can keep my spirits up like you are when I get my surgery, I still have to wait another month or so. Can’t wait for it all to be over!
It sounds like you might have an infection.
My comment was for avdk, just to be clear.
I am on post-op day 14th with little to no pain, still very weak, stopped all medication and back to work yesterday…
I don’t think your subsided scabs can re-formed unless something else has factored in… may be underlying infection??? You should highly consider a trip to your doctor to do a proper root cause analysis……. and help yourself…
Remember… no sharp food like … potato chips, hard shell tacos…….
Hope you feel better….
Noble-
Hi everybody – I went to schedule my tonsillectomy today and the only day they have open is 16 days before I’m going to London (from the United States) on vacation. Do you think 16 days to recover will be enough, to feel good and active on my vacation? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
My personal opinion is no. I had mine out May 25th. Took 3 weeks off work. This week I feel better but still am not at 100% strength-wise and end up extremely tired at the end of the day.
I meant April 25th. Sorry! 🙂
Thanks for the input, I decided to wait till after vacation.
Hi everyone.
I’m a 25 year old male from Scotland and I have been suffering from tonsil stones for over 10 years.
During the first few years I was always getting big chunks of tonsil stones stuck in my left tonsil. In 2009 I got a really bad bout of tonsillitis and I was given penicillin for the infection. The penicillin seemed to also have helped with my tonsil stones as I now rarely get chunks of tonsil stones. I still get the odd little bit but nothing that ever bothered.
The other week I stupidly watched a video on Youtube of someone removing their tonsil stones by pressing on their tonsil and I decided to give it a try. Who knew your tonsil had so many holes in it! I got quite a few small tonsil stones popping out of my left tonsil and I now have to do this every 6-7 hours to keep the crypts clear. I think my breath stinks although my partner says he smells nothing. It’s driving me up the wall.
But I’m not sure whether to have a tonsillectomy or not. What would you guys do if you were in my position? I don’t have throat problems and I was quite happy until I discovered the tonsil crypts which have made me completely paranoid.
Since antibiotics seemed to have helped before, why not try that again first? My ENT recommended that for me, I was on antibiotics for 1 month which he said could totally cure me of the problem. For me it didn’t work, but it sounds like it might work for you based on your previous experience. Also, if you don’t get any noticeable symptoms (ear pain, swelling, etc), then maybe your tonsil stones really aren’t that bad or smelly. I bet if your breath was as bad as you think it is, your partner would be wanting you to fix it! So I bet they are telling the truth 🙂
Hi I am also in Scotland!
I had this same problem for years and would stand by the mirror and pull as many as I could get out and even put a tooth pick into them to get them out. Then later on they would be back. I would make my throat bleed. I got the the stage where I couldn’t bare this for the rest of my life (I’m in my 20’s and it’s not fun).
Last June I went ahead and had the tonsillectomy. At the time I asked myself ‘what have I done?’ But I would do it again if it meant getting rid of the stones so I would advise you to do it.
Also I didn’t have bouts of tonsillitis like most people who get this done.
Hope you get it sorted soon.
ElizabethW-P – What did you say to your doctor to convince them to give you the surgery?
The last couple of doctors I’ve seen have just told me not to eat anything after 9pm. So I haven’t had much luck with even having it correctly diagnosed.
Only a doctor at A&E during my tonsillitis bout noticed what was going on and gave me penicillin.
Which part of Scotland are you?
I suffer from ME so I have lots of health problems and this was getting me down on top of everything else. I think the main thing to do is keep going back to your GP and telling them how bad it makes you feel, how aware of it you are and how you take them out and they are back. I was told gargle fizzy water but when you have these crypts nothing will help.
Keep at them I went for a long time before they took it seriously. Mine got so deep though and nothing would stop them even if I got them all out before bed when I woke up they were there.
Hope you get it sorted it’s not nice:(
I’m in Glasgow.
To be honest, the crypts on the front of my tonsils are tiny as are my tonsil stones. Like tiny little dots. I’ve not had a big tonsil stone in months.
I think what is upsetting me the most is that my tongue also smells like tonsil stones. Not as bad but I get a whiff of it if I touch my tongue and smell my finger. And I do smell it on my breath.
I know what you mean. It was the taste that drove me crazy and the smell of them. I was so aware but my husband always said he couldn’t smell it. I wanted a truthful answer too because it didn’t matter if it hurt my feelings I needed to know. I don’t miss them one little bit. Horrible things and I did go from time to time where I didn’t any for ages but they never go completely.I also got referred to an ENT which sorted it out for me because he could see the stress it was causing.
Good luck.
I think I’m going to go ahead with the surgery. I woke up this morning with the usual gross feeling in my mouth. Had a wee poke in my mouth with the back of my toothbrush but bigger chunks popped out.
I can’t be bothered doing this for the rest of my life!
Hi now i am 3 week 4 days in tonsillectomy recovery.all are good for me now without of sense of teste..how i can enjoy the food!!
Hi everybody,am kanchon,now my tonsillectomy recovery during 3week over not 4 week.now my that horrible days was over but not end all.now i have a problem the “sense of teste”.anybody know about that?Alyssa where are you?are you back normal?my preveous username was chayan.anybody interest to contact me then mail to me kanchonboruah@gmail.com