Tonsillectomy Tips
As I’ve written, there was much that I did not know as I planned, experienced, and recovered from my own tonsillectomy. My Ear Nose and Throat doctor, (ENT), and his nurse gave me some general information about the surgery. We talked about how tonsillectomy surgery was performed, what the risks were, and what to expect after my adult tonsillectomy surgery.
In addition to this information, I tried to arm myself with as much information from other sources as I could. The internet is filled with medical information and advice. Some of it related to tonsillectomy. Some of it is accurate. Some of it is valuable to a person considering or recovering from tonsillectomy surgery. Most of it is not. Some of the scariest information I got was from my family and friends. Everyone seemed to have some horror story about an adult dying from tonsillectomy, or having a near-death experience from bleeding or anesthesia. As if I wasn’t nervous enough! Fear and anxiety are usually born of uncertainty The more we know about what to expect, the better we are able to execute a task without irrational fears.
I’ve read thousands and thousands of comments on the various pages of this website. One message is expressed again and a gain: Knowing what to expect helps enormously! This is your chance to do others a great service. Take your wisdom, born of personal experience, and help others. When you shine a light for others, you also light your own path.
For a live discussion about tonsillectomy and tonsillectomy recovery, join us in the Tonsillectomy Recovery Forum
The doctors, nurses, bloggers, publishers, family and friends all helped shape my expectations about what to expect before, during and after my tonsillectomy. None of it compares to the value of actually experiencing it. I learned more in the weeks before and after my adult tonsillectomy than I could have learned from years of research. This website is filled with over 50 pages of that wisdom.
If you are reading this, you probably have some experience yourself. How would you like to help someone who is trying to decide whether to have a tonsillectomy? Help someone planning or recovering from tonsillectomy surgery? By answering this one question, you may be able to save someone from a struggle you had:
IF I WAS PLANNING MY TONSILLECTOMY TODAY, THIS IS WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY…
Hello I’m 21 years old and I just got my tonsils out about three weeks ago. I would suggest that you drink as much fluids as you can to stay hydrated! It’s really important and will help you with the healing process. I would suggest staying away from any type of dairy fluids so that way there’s so build up in the back of your throat. Tired it one of the days, and it wasnt so pleasant. Spend a while in the bathroom trying to mouth wash everything out. I would suggest getting multi vitamins & the juice form of ensure. It helps me a lot to keep my health up. I’m normally about 115 pounds and very small, and I lost about 15 pounds. So I would suggest trying to eat little bits of roman noodles, and try eating mashed potatoes, jello, get lots of rest! Chicken noodle soup at a room temperature I was able to eat and tomato soup at a room temp so it would burn doing done was good. ANYTHING I could eat was good. Hope this helps you!
I am 45 and had my tonsils out on the 16th August. I bought some ‘Manuka’ Honey which is honey that comes from a certain area in New Zealand. It has been prooven to have great healing qualities. I have been taking about half a teaspoon 2 to 3 times a day. Just letting it coat the back of my throat and tonsils. I think this has really helped and I feel like it directly helps the healing of the tonsils.
It is not cheap, and you will most likely find it at a health food store or Chemist. Try and get some with a high active ingredient UMF18 or so.
Another thing i think helped was recommended by a natropath is called Traumeel’s – It’s a homeopathic Natural Anti-Inflammatory tablet for temporay relief of Soft tissue trauma. You just pop one under your tongue and let it disolve for about 10 minutes. I would suggest googling both these for more information.
I hope this is helpful for some of you.
I am here to post a few of my “tips” I learned, each case may be different but I have come across unique ways to help that I haven’t read online. First off I am 20 years old, I live alone so I endured most of this alone. Something I did to make taking medicine easier (All liquids for me) I pre-measured and put them in dixie cups and wrapped the top of them, easy to grab and go when I wasn’t feeling well, also worry free on dishes. I suggest applesauce, it has diffrent flavors/sugar levels, plus it is great frozen. I also had a form of pain killer that was chewable, I smashed it and put it in the applesauce. I avoided all dairy. I also really enjoyed having “Puffcorn by Frito Lays” it litterally melts in your mouth so it doesnt hurt a bit swallowing. I tried soup, mac n cheese, and mashed potatoes. The mashed went alright, but for noodles I had a problem with them sticking to the back of my throat, and they took forever to get unstuck. I am going on day 6, and I am still in a ton of pain. Hope this helps.
Hi Kelly, I had my tonsils out 2 weeks and 4 days ago and I felt so rough up until about 10 days after. I’m still suffering with ear ache and yawning is very painful but I’m doing ok. Chin up it does get better quicker after the first 10 days, I know it hurts and eating is tough but its so important.
I am 19 years old and I had my tonsils and adenoids removed on August 2nd, so that makes today day 12. Since day 10, I haven’t felt too much pain and I’ve been happy with my surgery and my recovery. The first five days were not very tough in terms of pain. The pain only came when I was swallowing on these days, so I stuck to liquids i.e. water, soup broth, and vitamin water. I also was able to eat chicken noodle soup and this was an absolute god-send.
So first tip, buy a lot of chicken noodle soup! It’s very soft, not rough on the tonsil bed, and the protein and salts help a great deal. Second tip, when people tell you to drink ice water every waking hour or even more often, do it. The first few days are crucial in getting nutrients and fluids, as the real pain hasn’t started yet.
Days 6-8 were the worst days in terms of pain. This is when the tonsils begin “sloughing” off, and the pain gets worse. The worst time for pain is waking in the mornings after a long sleep. I’ve found that tip three: buy a humidifier works a great deal. Although I had a humidifier running while I was asleep, the water ran out by a few hours before I woke up. This meant a dry throat, and thus a painful throat. This brings me to tip 4, and in my mind, the most important: When you wake in the mornings and are in a great deal of pain, relax. Don’t move, don’t pout, and don’t swallow your pain pills just yet. Just sit in your bed for a few minutes and endure the pain. You’ll notice that your mouth and throat will moisten and the pain eventually subsides enough to take some sips of water and your pain pills. On days 6 and 7, I employed this strategy and I found the pain was pretty manageable, which brings me to tip 5: Don’t panic, you can manage the pain if you act smart. Keep in mind, I didn’t once use any of the 15mg oxycontin I was prescribed, I just stuck to Tylenol 500mg.
According to many articles and stories I’ve read, days 8-10 are when post-operative bleeding can occur, and that can set you back days in terms of pain, food intake, and ultimately recovery. So take it easy on these days, even though you may feel if you can take on the world with the decreased pain you are feeling. Don’t go back to your normal diet just yet. Keep with the softer foods.
Another tip: Don’t talk too much. I’ve found that it caused a lot more pain and made me able to smell my own breath, which is absolutely gross.
I’ve also read that the manner in which the surgery is performed can change the amount of pain. My surgeon used the harmonic scalpel technique which uses a machine that vibrates 55 kHz, which means it vibrates back and forth 5,000 times a second. This apparently causes less trauma on the tonsil bed than the more widely used electrocautery method, which burns the wounds closed. Just a thought to look into when you still haven’t had the surgery.
Just remember you’re going to get through this in a couple days and think of all the fun you’ll have without your tonsils. Also, read this forum and compare yourself to some of the horror stories people have experienced on the same day as you. Understand that they’re still alive and survived their horrors, and that you can too.
I am 23 and had my tonsils and adenoids taken out on July 20, so tomorrow I will bw 2 weeks post op. I still have some soreness when I swollow. It feels like a mild case of strep throat. My biggest tip would probably be the same as most everyone else’s and that is to drink plenty of water. Force yourselft to drink, even when you think you cant. It will really help. Also, set alarms to go off periodically during night so that you wake up todrink water/catch up on pain pills. If you dont, you will regret it the next morning when you wake up and your mouth is dry and you are in a lot of pain. I fould that when I did wake up in the morning in pain, a hot shower helped because I was breathing in the steam from the shower. Also, I did eat a lot of Macaroni and Cheese. I would suggest that, unless your doctor says otherwise, dont eat solid foods until you are absolutely ready. i made the mistake of eating solid foods before i was ready, and I regretted it. I didnt have any medical problems because of it, but it just hurt a lot. I also ate A LOT of Italian Ice. It was pretty much my savior. Luigi’s is the best in my opinion. I also had different people coming over every day during the first week to me with me, so that one person didn’t get too annoyed with me. It was also nice to see all of my friends that week. Good luck to people who are going through this now and in the future! It was a long 2 weeks, and im still in pain, but I know that in the end it will be worth it when I am not having strep throat and ear infections anymore.