I was recently asked by a person a few days out from surgery if panic attacks after tonsillectomy were common. She had had one, but never had before. She wondered if perhaps the pain medicines had caused the panic attack.
It got me thinking. After reading thousands of stories from people recovering from tonsillectomy surgery, I know that panic attacks are not unusual. I always assumed that they happened to people with a history of anxiety and/or panic attacks. But here was someone with no history of such.
I dug around a little and really did not find any compelling evidence of a link between common pain medicines and panic attacks or increased anxiety, though there certainly are anecdotal cases.
My next step was to go to my readers. a few hundred veteran tonsillectomy patients follow my Face Book page, MyBigFatTonsillectomy. These people have been an extremely valuable resource for questions like this. I asked the question: Did you have a panic attack(s) while recovering? Had you had them before?
Here’s what people had to say:
Panic Attacks After Tonsillectomy?
Tonsillectomy Resources
2 hours ago
Did you have a panic attack(s) while recovering? Had you had them before?
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April and Chente like this.
Ashley I didn’t have panic attacks while recovering and I’ve had them before. But I have woken up in the middle of the night worried that my monster tonsils grew back!
2 hours ago · Like · 2
Christy I just felt like this must be what starving to death feels like…unable to eat, drink water, horrible unrelenting pain until about day 8 or 9
2 hours ago via mobile · Like
Brandi Yes, I had gotten sick a couple of times and then felt like I could not breath from the swelling. Called my doctor and he said it was a panic attack. After I calmed down, I was much better. Scary stuff though!
2 hours ago · Like
Maja I didn’t have them before but I experienced 2 or 3 during my recovery period. I was surprised how intensive and scary it was, I felt like jumping out of my skin from fear, pain and over-excitement. This operation is really a nasty one.
2 hours ago via mobile · Like · 1
Lucy I had a panic attack & in doing so somehow made my tongue swell. It was so bad I could hardly breath, I couldn’t swallow so I couldn’t take any pain killers & was just dribbling constantly. I went to the Dr’s but he couldn’t see anything wrong so went home, lay down & concentrated on my breathing & after 20 mins was fine again!
about an hour ago · Like
Sarah I had a panic attack in the ER on day 3 post-op… I went to the ER for fluids because I hadn’t been able to drink anything since the surgery due to the pain. Even the IV morphine didn’t help the pain all that much! The nurse who put the IV line in my …See More
about an hour ago via mobile · Like
Nicole No panic attacks but the narcotics gave me a lot of weird dreams and I’d wake up kinda freaking out, my cat would sleep with me a lot and I’d wake up and think she was dead so I’d wake her up too, poor kitty. And no haven’t had them before. And I kept …See More
about an hour ago via mobile · Like
Chente The pain meds helped not to have them but after I had to go back into the hospital due to bleeding and stayed 1.5 days I began to have them so I asked for klonopin.
about an hour ago via mobile · Like
April Had my first real panic attack during this surgery when I woke up and couldn’t “feel” myself breathe or swallow. I wasn’t able to use the liquid lidocaine afterward for this reason. I would have rather dealt with the pain than then feeling of numbness in my throat…
about an hour ago via mobile · Like
Amber I already have huge issues with anxiety and panic attacks, but while I was waiting to be taken back, I nearly had one and it took two doses of anxiety meds to get me calmed down before they took me back.
Also, I had some during my recovery, especially one day when I used throat numbing suckers and physically couldn’t swallow so I was too terrified to sleep because I was sure I was going to aspirate during the night.
30 minutes ago · Like · 1
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I’ll continue to research this topic and add information as I find it. I’m interested in how common panic attacks are in tonsillectomy patients and also the causes.
Do you have experience with panic attacks after tonsillectomy surgery? Please help others by sharing in the comments section. Thank you.
-Greg My short bio
Hi Greg,
I know this is an old post but it popped up when I googled panic attacks after tonsillectomy and wanted to share my story. I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s experienced this, whether it’s official in the medical lit or not.
I’ve had anxiety and depression for a long time and finally started treating it 6 months ago with lexapro, klonopin, and counseling. I’ve been great and stable for awhile now. I also have narcolepsy which complicates things a little. I can’t take klonopin during the day because it makes me fall asleep. However, I am on provigil which is fantastic and has actually improved my anxiety and depression.
Anyway, i had my tonsillectomy about a week ago and took a week off work. Physically it’s been painful, exhausting, all that fun stuff. But mentally I felt so great all week and really enjoyed having time to rest and not have to think about work. Well, I’ve starting weaning off my hycet and last night I had my first panic attack in months after a minor squabble from my husband. Today I’ve been crying and anxious most if the day and I feel like I’m 2 hairs away from a full-blown panic attack. But, I just called a pharmacist and a nurse to ask if I should be worried about the meds being the cause of this. They said it’s normal for our bodies to metabolize medications differently when we’re in recovery mode. I am also stressed about returning to work and grad school and getting back into the grind.
When it’s all said and done, I’m not surprised a major and extremely painful surgery wouldn’t cause anxiety in people, or aggravate it in those of us who have anxiety disorders. Just realizing that is helping me calm down. I’m relaxing on my couch watching funny shows and doing my breathing. Tonight I’ll take a klonopin before I go to sleep (it can cause hypotension when taken with Hycet, so people just be careful when you mix those). I’m going to mention this experience to my doctor. There should be a lot more warning and preparation about anxiety for people undergoing medical procedures. Good luck everyone and know it’s going to be ok!!
Hi Julia- I’m so sorry I couldn’t respond sooner! I saw your post last night but my phone wouldn’t let me comment! I too have suffered from panic attacks- no fun. For me, it was situational. I didn’t realize it at the time but I was very stressed out. WHen my life calmed back down, they went away. Is it possible that the job is stressing you out? It sounds like getting away from it helped, and returning is not. Just a thought.
I’m a patient like you. I don’t have medical training so I try to avoid giving medical advice. In my experience pharmacists are the best resource for drug interaction and effectiveness informations.
If you’d like, feel free to contact me directly through Facebook message.
Best of health to you!
I just got mine out today. Wow did I underestimate the pain! And this is the only the “honey moon” phase :/
I guess while under anesthesia while the dr pulled the breathing tube out I bit my tongue pretty bad causing even more swelling to the tongue. When I woke up I immediately had a giant panic attack. It was so scary cuz it felt like I couldn’t breath at all. It took me a 5 hours for the panic to go away completely. Not the best time to hyperventilate!
I have an anxiety disorder and take medication for it everyday anyone. Also I have xanax if I do get a really bad one. My dr said it was ok to take it with the pain meds.
I had a tonsillectomy at age 42 in April of this year. The surgery was uneventful and following the hints and advice on this website I made it through a sucessful 2 1/2 weeks of recovery. The problems began in late June when I began to feel like I had something “stuck” in my throat. The whole inside of my mouth and throat feels so “different” than before. I ended up in ER with chest pain, stomach issues and now they are treating me for acid reflux (GERD), which I never had before. The have done an EGD to look down my throat into my esophagus-no findings. They have tested for gall baldder-all ok. I can’t eat the foods I used to, I have this constant dry throat, and everything seems different than before the surgery. All of which creates great anxiety and panic because I can’t believe this is never going to get better. I swallowed around enlarged tonsils for a VERY long time but never had these problems until my tonsils were removed removed. The ENT who performed my surgery assured me that things are ok, and my local doctor seems to be at the end of things to try. I know I needed them out, but this whole post op expierience had led me to be so anxious and very frustrated!
How are you now?
a few hrs after getting home from the hospital the back of my tongue swelled up, my voice changed and my heart started racing. I felt calm but my heart racing felt like a panic attack. I went back to the ED for steroids to shrink swelling and different pain meds, and they kept me till the next day.
I was only 9 when I had my tonsillectomy. Panic attacks weren’t even a recognized phenom that’s so long ago. I doubt if I had one anyway.