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
First I want to thank you for this website. I’m 42 and hopefully at the end of the road. It has helped me read that I’m not alone. I have to admit reading a few things on the internet before my tonsillectomy last monday 8/26 and I thought it was over reaction and thought surely it wouldn’t hurt that bad. I had a breast reduction 7 months ago and was off the narcotics and on ibuprofen the day following surgery. eek, my mistake. I have been woefully unprepared. Day 1-5 were really not that bad. I was off the narcotics by day 4 on to ibuprofen and had scrambled eggs Friday for dinner. Then felt like I was gagging on something and spit up some scabs (someone on here described wet charcoal) and gray mucus. Had a decent night sleep. Felt fine the morning of Day 6, enough to go out, pick up some meds and get a hair cut. Then somewhere that afternoon a hell mouth opened in my living room and I was sucked inside. It’s 4 am on Day 8 and I had to take the hydrocodone/tylenol elixir combo an hour early because I fell asleep and my humidifier ran out of juice and I woke to a white hot corkscrew grinding out my eustachian tube on the right side. I hope there’s a light at the end of this tunnel soon.
Some lessons from me
1. You can’t be too prepared. There’s no such thing
2. I prefer a vaporizer to a cool mist, they are easier to keep clean. The steam is just boiling water, not as much to worry about not getting it clean enough and spitting fungus in the air
3. Steer clear of the dairy
4. If you can get steroids, get them. They reduce the swelling. They gave me some in the IV at the hospital but none to go home. It would have helped with the tissues swelling and the problems breathing out through the nose.
5. Don’t talk, not even if you feel good. You’ll pay for it later and certainly never call out loudly
6. Don’t spit, don’t spit, don’t spit, don’t spit
7 Drink water, there’s not enough water on the planet, drink as much as you can. It will help healing and keep the tissues moist. Keeping the tissues moist will help in pain management.
8. Stay on top of the pain medication, don’t be afraid to take it if you need it. This is by far way worse than my other surgery. It’s been a nightmare of incredible pain the past two days but I am not regretting the surgery.
Two more
9. You can’t have too many ice packs
10. Do not use straws, the suction created can loosen and pull off scabs before they are ready.
Ok, I am at 48 hours post-surgery. I think some adenoid was taken out too. I am 43 in 2 days. I was scared until the morning of, and then I was totally calm, it was very easy and pleasant at the hospital, actually. Sure, I was nauseated after I woke up (that took a while), and in some pain, but just taking my hydrocodone regularly (actually, not the full amount each time) and all is well. I sleep beautifully in short bouts, hit the computer, wreak havoc on Facebook, sleep, repeat. Actually, I feel happier than I have in a while! I can drink and eat liquid stuff pretty easily. Of course swallowing hurts but it isn’t undoable. At rest, I don’t feel much. The new snoring thing last night was annoying, but is going away. I have been able to talk since I woke up out of surgery, and felt kinda punky even and tried to yell at the people down the hall making too much noise in a recovery room. Hey fish-story man (some non-stop yakking visitor), save the family reunion for later, at Applebees!! Haha, my sense of humor was back. Maybe the drugs lifted my depression, another topic.
The white scabby stuff started coming off last night. Again, not that bad, and this seems early for that process. No bleeding.
I am wondering if I am delusional in thinking this isn’t going to be horrible in the next few days….but things do seem to be going rather well. My surgeon is young and fresh, maybe that helped. He seems to be a VERY tidy person, and the work in there looks good. He mentioned the cauterizing.
Has anyone else had such early scab shedding, or is that something else? Did I luck out? I went in in good overall health, and don’t smoke.
Anyone scared of the surgery itself, don’t waste your time. That part was a non-event. I wasted all week prior freaking out.
oh, as for food, i highly recommend mushy soft-boiled eggs, which are softer than scrambled….and homemade chicken broth, with pieces of chicken blended up like mush! I felt a lot better after eating, I don’t do the no food thing, THAT is misery!
I’m glad you are feeling good but seriously, don’t over do it. It’s great you feel so good and I hope you have a really smooth recovery but don’t take it for granted and stick to drinking plenty of fluids, resting and recovering. Day 1-5 was not bad for me. Don’t freak out about it and worry, just stay prepared and take it easy.
Thanks. It is still going OK…things did get worse days 5-7….day 8 now, and I don’t take many meds, just still feel very tired, headaches, weak, expected pain. I ate during those days, I can’t handle not eating. It hurt, but it made me feel better. Mostly mushy and liquid stuff. My mom is amazing and creative with a blender, like homemade meat soups with low salt, blended. I really did fell decent after eating something real, so I did by day 3, even if it hurt a lot. I’m lucky she was here to prepare things, that has been the most helpful part. I did stay in bed pretty much the whole time and slept like crazy. That is my remedy for everything, sleep.
Overall, I’d say that yes so far the schedule of recovery is about what people say, but my pain was not unbearably horrific as it is for some. Granted, it was a difficult time, but I didn’t want to die or anything. Obviously, good meds helped (hydrocodone) and I took them regularly as suggested, but they were also the source of mental stress….my breathing was so shallow, heart raced…felt all around whacked out and freaked a bit.
I didn’t go nuts with taking all the advice, just drank what I could, took meds on time. Slept. I think the worst part is the nasty taste of dying junk in the mouth. Yuck.
I thought it would be good to post something average to keep things realistic here, as average is not the usual poster for any kind of review.
Anyone reading, I still say, don’t waste any energy being afraid of the surgery. When the time came, I just drove myself to the hospital, and actually had a very pleasant time! And I have high anxiety about most things. It was early in the morning so I was tired and relaxed everyone was nice, I napped while waiting to be moved to surgery and everyone was really pleasant and soothing. And they kinda trick you a little when you get knocked out, It comes sooner than you expect, so you don’t have time to freak. Boom you wake up. And then, sleep some more, i had to sleep a while afterward. Seems both my mom and i are slow to come out of anesthesia. Which is good, except for the nausea. But that is ok, I felt like blissfully sleeping when I got home! That part was great. Day one- I rate as reasonably pleasant.
I had my surgery on August 15, 2013. After reading forum after forum about tonsillectomy recoveries, I was pretty scared. I am a 21 year old girl and though I have a pretty high tolerance for pain, I was dreading the long recovery that everyone spoke of. Waking up right after surgery I was in pain, thirsty, and slightly delirious. Nothing too serious and after they fed me some pain killers I was pretty set to go. I was in and out of the hospital in about 4.5 hours total. that first afternoon want too bad. I was able to have warm Campbell’s soup to go (which was a life saver) and about a million cups of ice chips. Talking was near impossible at that point but as long as I took my medicine diligently, the pain was manageable. the first night I made the mistake of uninterrupted sleep. When I woke up, my throat was dry and extremely painful but once I got my medicine and some ice chip in me, the rest of the day was fine. I found that the richer the food was the more difficult it was to swallow. Broth and noodles were good, pudding was bad; but everyone is different here so just experiment. The next day was similar to the previous except I woke myself up every four hours to drink water and take my medicine which helped in the mornings.
The worst days for me were days three and four. I could consume nothing except ice chips and maybe a Popsicle or two but It was very hard. The pain I felt was easily the worst pain I have ever dealt with but I knew there would be a light at the end of the tunnel. I felt surprisingly better on the fifth day and was able to eat slightly more solid foods (scrambled eggs and macaroni and cheese). HOWEVER I made the big mistake of running an errand with my father. Though I felt fine, the second I was in the car, nausea hit me hard. The strong pain medication really messed with my stomach and because I spent days essentially stationary, I didn’t realize how much motion effected me. As soon as he got me home I vomited which caused me more pain than anything I felt on my worst days. worst mistake I could have made. Day six showed even greater improvement. I started weening myself off the strong painkillers and by day seven I felt pretty normal. On day eight I was able to eat solid foods. And Today, which is day nine, I hardly feel it at all. I get a little pain when I yawn or sneeze but I was pleasantly surprised at how fast I have recovered. And interestingly, my voice sounds different. Its not dramatic, just a bit higher and a lost clearer. My biggest suggestion is to make sure you have enough ice, stock up on a lot of movies, make sure someone is around to help you the first few days at least, and make sure you stay on top of your medication.
I had my surgery on 3rd August 2013. I’m a 26 y.o female. Must say, it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. After reading up on experiences posted by different people, I was dreading it. It was so bad, I suffered a big panic attack before they knocked me out with sleeping gas.
The good thing about the surgery, is that they start Pain Control during the Op and it’s a coblation procedure. 3 hours after surgery, and I was already on the ice cream (5 portions in one day) and had absolutely no pain. Was released from hospital the next day with antibiotics and painkillers, 2 weeks sick leave from work, and advice not to eat anything that could scrape the back of my throat (I.e. toast/bread, crisps) and absolutely no fizzy drinks. First few days were uncomfortable (but no pain, so didn’t need the painkillers) and still managed to get a good nights sleep every night, only waking up once or twice to drink. Was stuck on the apple sauce and popsicles for the first few days, drank lots of water and apple juice and was just very cranky just because I couldn’t eat properly. Bless my mum, she put up with my tears. By the 4th day, I was able to eat scrambled eggs, fried rice and anything I could throw into the blender.
Never suffered any pain except for 1 or 2 days when I had about 4 or 5 mouth ulcers which were awful (think this was around the 6th day – was told this was probably just due to stress and because my immune system was low). That was the only time I took painkillers. After 7 days, had a check up with the Doctor, was given Vitamin B complex to boost my immune system and Acidophilus tablets. I stopped the antibiotics and by day 9/10, was back to eating normally and the ulcers were gone. Had another check up with the Doctor on day 14. All seemed good. I was just advised not to drink fizzy drinks until the end of this year. I can live with that.
It’s Day 19: Everything is back to normal. I don’t know why I was so worried before the operation.
Why no fizzy drinks? I never heard that before.
Hey everyone, tomorrow morning I will be having a tonsillectomy+adenoidectomy. I’m 20 yrs old and have had a few harsh surgeries in the past ( appendectomy, myringotomy, and all 4 wisdom teeth ), and have also experienced some pretty nasty tonsilitis+strep throat and ear infections which cause my ears to be sensitive. Last month I had strep throat/tonsilitis so bad I can’t even think of a way to explain the pain because it would be an understatement. It became so bad that my tonsils swelled my throat completely shut and swelled my uvula, so I was unable to swallow, and had a difficult time breathing- which landed me with heavy prednisone and a shot in the butt! Swallowing while I was sick with this was unbearable, especially when I woke up. The pain would shoot through my tonsils to my ears and down to my glands and the back of my neck. It was a burning-stabbing pain like i swallowed the tsar bomb. Because I’m so nervous, I’m asking for some tips while recovering and if anyone could maybe explain how bad the pain is so I can prepare myself… If possible. It would be much appreciated. Thanks!
My story sounds a lot like yours, I also ended up in the ER with such bad strep that my throat closed and I couldn’t swallow and was gasping for air. I remember that pain like it was yesterday! Even though it was years ago. I can tell you one thing, the tonsillectomy was NOT nearly that painful! I was very happily surprised that I had worse pain with my tonsils, than getting them out. If you follow the hospital instructions very seriously, you will be just fine, and the pain should not get that bad. Ice on the neck does wonders. Good luck 🙂