A collection of various experiences of adult tonsillectomy patients on their first day of recovery
From thousands of post comments to the tonsillectomy recovery forum, I have assembled a sampling of various accounts and impressions of tonsillectomy recovery for each day. We shall start with tonsillectomy day 1. These comments are taken from tonsillectomy patients who were kind enough to share their experiences to help others as they navigate the bumpy road of tonsillectomy recovery.
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Please feel free to add your own experience with tonsillectomy day 1.
-Greg Tooke My short bio
Tonsillectomy Day 1
Tonsillectomy Day 1: This is not too bad. Pussies on the forum!
Tonsillectomy Day 1:(surgery day): Thank God I woke up! Whoa – drugs.
Tonsillectomy Day 1: I had a freezie when I got home and lots of water. I watched some television and took the amoxicillin that I was prescribed to prevent infection. I decided to try to swallow the capsules because they looked small enough…BIG MISTAKE! After the first one, it felt like it was stuck in my throat, but I tried to take the second one…even bigger mistake. So I start getting anxious because I feel like the pills are stuck in my throat and not going down – even with loads of water. It turns out they did go down, but because my throat was swollen, they felt like they were just sitting there. I was prescribed liquid codeine and told to buy liquid Tylenol. However, the only liquid Tylenol my mom could find was for children, so instead, she decided to buy Tylenol caplets that melt in your mouth – which turned out to be for children as well. The first night I only took Tylenol because I wasn’t in that much pain at first. Needless to say, I was in pain during the night and slept maybe 1-2 hours in total.
Tonsillectomy Day 1: i had the surgery at 3:20 pm ( they were over an hour behind schedule).I woke up feeling like crap and the nurse had to give me lots of morphine through the IV drip. I spent the night in a hospital and it was the worst night ever. My throat was in pain all night even though they gave me the liquid codeine. There was only 2 of us in the “day surgery” ward ( where they keep the overnight patients) but the other lady was snoring all through the night! which made things even worse haha. I only got about 4 hours of on and off sleep. My mom picked me up at 6am and i went home and slept for a bit.
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : My surgery was at 9:30am ET this morning and I was home by 1:30pm which included a 20 minute drive home. I had a tonsillectomy and he just trimmed a little of my extremely long uvula. I woke right up from the surgery with no problems at all. The pain I had was a 1or 2 on a scale of 10. hardly any pain after the surgery and I was able to eat apple sauce, ice and water immediately after waking. No side effects from the surgery med’s. They did give me some anti-nausea drugs. I still feel like I have just a mild sore throat.
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : Days 1&2 were definitely the honeymoon phase. All was grand in tonsil land
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : I just had it done this morning, massively consming water, pain meds every 4 hours, popsicles, little apple sauce and trying to maintain a healthy probiotic regimine. Its weird because it feels like a bad case of strep throat….so far. But I do feel instant relief with my breathing.
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : Well i just got home from surgery. I had my tonsils removed, deviated septum fixed, uvula removed and turbinates (nasal wall tissue) reduced. I have no recall of surgery, only remember maybe a minute of being in the operating room, then waking up in the recovery center.
Pain is not what i expected it to be. I think i have worse pain from strep throat
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : Post op eight hours……everything feels fine but I’m scared for the horrible days ahead. Sandra you developed ear pain at 3rd day? That makes me nervous
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : (Day of surgery) I actually felt pretty darn good, was able to eat a little, but I wish someone would have told me that I needed to re-learn how to swallow. VERY SMALL sips is the key.
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : Slept only about 2 hours due to still being very restless and fidgety from the effects of the anesthesia. Stayed on a steady dose every 4 hours of pain med’s which seemed to edge my pain. Still in a great deal of pain all day. I ate more Popsicle and jello and applesauce and was able to eat some luke warm soup which tasted great and drank 2 ensure shakes and a yogurt shake. The anesthesia effects seemed to finally wear off sometime in the early evening making me a bit more comfortable. Still in a good deal of pain. My entire mouth now hurts along with the throat and I am having jaw pain and slight ear pain and tongue pain from the clamps they used during the surgery.
Hello fellow people!!! I would like to share insight for people who are getting a tonsillectomy or just had one. I’m a 17 year d female, I decided to get a tonsillectomy due to constant tonsil stones. I’ve had surgery on different parts of my body before and they all went well. I prepared myself for the worst but hoped for the best but damn this recovery has been a real b****. Surgery day , great day if you can stay the night choose to stay, I did not but wish I did, no pain at all really get some rest because you’re gonna need it. When you get home make sure you have everything in order like soemone to take care of you, bags of ice, soft foods and a humidifier also get your prescriptions filled asap bc ur gonna need them when u get home. I honestly don’t think it’s possible for you to mentally prepare yourself for what is going to come. I can take pain like a champ but these have been the worst days of my life (on day 8) swallowing never gets easier as days 3-6 come along the pain goes to you’re ears, jaw, head, tongue, throat. stay on top of your medicine, nights are the worst u can’t let ur mouth dry out and u have to set alarm for meds because if u don’t u will wake up and be a f’ing wreck! I read all the stories just like you are and thought it can’t be that bad but boy was I wrong and around day 5 I lost it because I was so hungry. Also I days 1 and 2 I had soft foods but then I couldn’t do it anymore so I ended up having steak fries hamburger etc. but I chewed very well and probably only ate a few bites because r hurt to bad to open my mouth and chew and swallow. Day 5 I thought I was turning the corner , WRONG slept terrible day 6 on scale of one to ten , 6. I feel fine with iubeprofen they perscriped during the day but if I try and eat then everything gets irritated and starts to hurt. Also I only took oxy before bed every night. Rest as much as you can , have a spit cup for first couple days, suck on ice, put ice pack on your neck, don’t cry because crying works your mind and body up and nothing good comes out of ur but a headache, you will get through it it sucks but I’m glad to have only 2 weeks of pain in exchange for a lifetime of no tonsil stones and less risk of being sick!!!!!! don’t fall behind on your medicine!!! Switch prescriptions every 6 hours!!!! get some nice clean sheets to come home too because you should spend a lot of time in bed!!!! You will live I know it hurts like hell but I hope I helped with my tips!!!!
I just finished day 7. I have not had that bad of an expierence overall. I’ll tell you how I did it, and hopefully you can too. Keep in mind that there were a few points where I was in quite a bit of pain, and only once where it was excruciating, but my experience hadn’t been like any of these horror stories I’ve been reading about over and over again. Oh and I’m 23 years old, male, and I got my Palantine Tonils removed, because of those pesky tonsil stones. ? Okay so here’s a play by play of how I’ve been able to survive this with only moderate to little discomfort. Take notes.
After my surgery I received 5/325mg of Percocet, I was told to take two every four hours, so I set 6 alarms on my phone. One for 12PM, 4PM, 8PM, 12AM, 4AM, and 8AM. Then I put those on repeat for every day. I keep my pill close so when they go off I can take them right away. I Usually break them in half, only because they feel like they get stuck in my throats and then cause acid reflux ? Okay So I was told NO HARD FOODS. In the first 5 days I stuck to Applesauce and ice cream only. I tried pudding, but it puts a very uncomfortable covering over the scabs, and I hate it. You will too. I keep cold water by me at all times and I’m constantly spitting. I threw up on day 1 a few times, but that was the anasthesia. My advice, take your pain pills, eat some applesauce and then go right to bed. If you’re up walking around you’ll puke, I promise. The first day is probably the easiest out of the first six days. Still take it easy. When you wake up in the night to take your meds is the most pain you’ll experience during this whole ordeal, or at least that’s how it was for me. It will be dry, it will burn, it will feel like there’s a hot iron shoved down your throat. The only thing you can do is drink cold water and wait. Take your meds and go back to sleep. Day two was worse than day 1, but it was manageable for sure. Stay hydrated and stay home. Make sure to eat soft foods as well. And brush your teeth, but don’t do it before bed, ever, do it in the morning, otherwise it dries your throat out at night. Day 3 was pretty much the same thing, I did leave the house to say goodbye to one of my friends who was deploying, im in the Air Force btw ??But yeah, it wasn’t too bad, I survived, and took a nap when I got home. Blah blah blah the rest of day three was just resting and eating soft foods when the pain meds kicked in and watching movies with my wife and playing Xbox. Day 4, same thing. However as the days go by it gets harder to swallow and the scabs or all the way formed and start to flake off kind of, it’s gross and the only way you can tell is you feel it. And btw, at NO POINT did I ever gargle anything. I let it come off naturally and on it’s own. Day 5 was different because I tried to make love to my wife and mid way through I started bleeding out of my throat really bad ??? it wasn’t going to happen anyways though ? But yeah when that happened I just drank some really cold water and it stopped eventually. I had some bleeding over the other few days, but nothing major, just spots here and there. Day six was the worst day so far, and that was at 4 am when I woke up for my pills my throat was on fire. It was so bad. I was paralyzed with pain, and my wife like bumped me and that knocked me out of my trance and I literally ran downstairs to the freezer grabbed some ice cubes and started crunching them right then and there. Luckily I had ice cold water in the fridge so I started guzzling that, and it really hurt, but it helped the burn. After that all you can do is wait, and I haven’t woken up like that again, however after that I started to elevate my head when I sleep, like i have three pillows under my back and head so I’m kind of just leaning back. Try to sleep with your mouth closed too, so it stays moist. And today was day seven, it wasn’t bad at all, still taking my meds, scabs haven’t fallen off yet. I woke up in pain, like every day, but no where near day six, that was the most pain I’ve ever felt in my life, hands down, but I survived, today I felt good enough to eat two packets of top ramen, after I was really feeling the meds though, no problems, and it was nice to get something sort of solid into my stomach. After all of this time I haven’t pooped, which bothers me, but I’ll justtown a gallon of apple juice tomorrow and if that doesn’t work then nothing will, I’ll just live my life without pooping. It’ll be tough to adapt too, but I’ll just have to deal with it. ? So day 7 went by good, I feel like I kind almost see a glow, from the light at the end of the tunnel. So throughout all of these days I did feel pain, every time I swallow, I yawned once, that sucked, and waking up isn’t pretty, but 90% of the stuff I’ve read on here makes it sound like they’re dying, and I really didn’t have that. Everyone goes through things differently, but I figured maybe I did something kind of right and wanted to share it with you all. I wish you a speedy recovery, and remember to hydrate and take the medication!! ✌???I hope this helps!
Heat Pads! On ears on day 3. Those are the life savers. Ice on a neck, heat on ears. When u do that u will feel that the nerve pain slowly steps back. I am on day 7, i was able to pull it off without painkiller today thanks to heating my ears
I’m on day 16, had a real rough time with alot of blood loss during my op and then an infection throughout recovery. To say recovery has been hell is an understatement and im still nowhere near better but I just had a few random tips that I havent seen when researching during my recovery so just incase these are of help to anyone, the following are really getting me through:
– Anaesthetic throat spray, from Boots its called ‘Anaesthetic Sore Throat Relief’ but if you dont have a Boots pharmacy its 2% w/v spray Lidocaine Hydrochloride. It is a savour, i used it before eating or taking pain meds…or when the pain was just so unbearable nothing else would take the edge off. Im not recommending exceeding dosage but I took it as often as I needed because I was desperate. Hospital gave me a throat spray but it is nowhere near this good.
– Hot wheat bag. I have a neck one so its curvy so I can put it over each of my ears and round my neck. When you take that first swallow of water and the sharp pain hits you, just wrap your head in it and apply pressure…its amazing. I use mine whilst I sleep and pretty much all day long and its a saviour.
– Dry Mouth Lozenges (I use The Breath Co. Mouth Wetting Dry Mouth Lozenges). I use them at night when I sleep because the worst is the dry mouth at night scenario. I usually tuck it under my gum at the side or put it on the roof of my mouth and it stays there at night. Can cause sticky dribble but honestly, its really helped me. At night Ive also been putting an eye mask over my mouth, sounds bizzare but it stops me breathing through my mouth.
– Food. I am now well and truly sick of jelly (jello), custard, yoghurt or anything liquid. I constantly crave just normal good food and I discovered yesterday that toddler food works like a dream…im not talking the pureed stuff, i mean the ready meals you can microwave but everything is super soft and in tiny pieces. The one I found (Annabel Karmel) is also full of veggies and vitamins so its an added bonus!! Also, side note…as dairy is a no-go for recovery, try dairy free stuff…its a bit trial and error on taste but i really like the soy icecream and custard.
– Probiotics. Check with your pharmacy or docs on the right ones to take but taking this many pain meds is not good for your stomach…I had a couple of days of bad stomach pains and trust me, you do not want to have to deal with anything additional ontop of what you already are!
Hang in there guys. Every bad day is one less bad day x
Had thermal welding tonsillectomy this morning 9:15am. She had to cauterize a tiny area due to blood but otherwise a-ok. Woke up in recovery, chatted with sweet nurse, ate jello, a Popsicle, drank water. By time I got home it was 1pm. I kept asking them to up the pain meds after surgery bc it hurt – also live about an hour away. I felt pain but a few things saved me (aside from pain meds) – sucking on small ice cubes nonstop, blue jello, applesauce, and harmless harvest coconut water (no pulp.) I have a Zoku slushee cup and would put the coconut water in there – YUM. Also used icy coconut water to swallow pills. I am now too scared to go to sleep for fear throat will dry out. The Oxy helps but pain still there big time. Overall, day not too bad. A little scared for days 2-4!!!
Hello fellow people!!! I would like to share insight for people who are getting a tonsillectomy or just had one. I’m a 17 year d female, I decided to get a tonsillectomy due to constant tonsil stones. I’ve had surgery on different parts of my body before and they all went well. I prepared myself for the worst but hoped for the best but damn this recovery has been a real b****. Surgery day , great day if you can stay the night choose to stay, I did not but wish I did, no pain at all really get some rest because you’re gonna need it. When you get home make sure you have everything in order like soemone to take care of you, bags of ice, soft foods and a humidifier also get your prescriptions filled asap bc ur gonna need them when u get home. I honestly don’t think it’s possible for you to mentally prepare yourself for what is going to come. I can take pain like a champ but these have been the worst days of my life (on day 8) swallowing never gets easier as days 3-6 come along the pain goes to you’re ears, jaw, head, tongue, throat. stay on top of your medicine, nights are the worst u can’t let ur mouth dry out and u have to set alarm for meds because if u don’t u will wake up and be a f’ing wreck! I read all the stories just like you are and thought it can’t be that bad but boy was I wrong and around day 5 I lost it because I was so hungry. Also I days 1 and 2 I had soft foods but then I couldn’t do it anymore so I ended up having steak fries hamburger etc. but I chewed very well and probably only ate a few bites because r hurt to bad to open my mouth and chew and swallow. Day 5 I thought I was turning the corner , WRONG slept terrible day 6 on scale of one to ten , 6. I feel fine with iubeprofen they perscriped during the day but if I try and eat then everything gets irritated and starts to hurt. Also I only took oxy before bed every night. Rest as much as you can , have a spit cup for first couple days, suck on ice, put ice pack on your neck, don’t cry because crying works your mind and body up and nothing good comes out of ur but a headache, you will get through it it sucks but I’m glad to have only 2 weeks of pain in exchange for a lifetime of no tonsil stones and less risk of being sick!!!!!! don’t fall behind on your medicine!!! Switch prescriptions every 6 hours!!!! get some nice clean sheets to come home too because you should spend a lot of time in bed!!!! You will live I know it hurts like hell but I hope I helped with my tips!!!!
I just finished day 7. I have not had that bad of an expierence overall. I’ll tell you how I did it, and hopefully you can too. Keep in mind that there were a few points where I was in quite a bit of pain, and only once where it was excruciating, but my experience hadn’t been like any of these horror stories I’ve been reading about over and over again. Oh and I’m 23 years old, male, and I got my Palantine Tonils removed, because of those pesky tonsil stones. ? Okay so here’s a play by play of how I’ve been able to survive this with only moderate to little discomfort. Take notes.
After my surgery I received 5/325mg of Percocet, I was told to take two every four hours, so I set 6 alarms on my phone. One for 12PM, 4PM, 8PM, 12AM, 4AM, and 8AM. Then I put those on repeat for every day. I keep my pill close so when they go off I can take them right away. I Usually break them in half, only because they feel like they get stuck in my throats and then cause acid reflux ? Okay So I was told NO HARD FOODS. In the first 5 days I stuck to Applesauce and ice cream only. I tried pudding, but it puts a very uncomfortable covering over the scabs, and I hate it. You will too. I keep cold water by me at all times and I’m constantly spitting. I threw up on day 1 a few times, but that was the anasthesia. My advice, take your pain pills, eat some applesauce and then go right to bed. If you’re up walking around you’ll puke, I promise. The first day is probably the easiest out of the first six days. Still take it easy. When you wake up in the night to take your meds is the most pain you’ll experience during this whole ordeal, or at least that’s how it was for me. It will be dry, it will burn, it will feel like there’s a hot iron shoved down your throat. The only thing you can do is drink cold water and wait. Take your meds and go back to sleep. Day two was worse than day 1, but it was manageable for sure. Stay hydrated and stay home. Make sure to eat soft foods as well. And brush your teeth, but don’t do it before bed, ever, do it in the morning, otherwise it dries your throat out at night. Day 3 was pretty much the same thing, I did leave the house to say goodbye to one of my friends who was deploying, im in the Air Force btw ??But yeah, it wasn’t too bad, I survived, and took a nap when I got home. Blah blah blah the rest of day three was just resting and eating soft foods when the pain meds kicked in and watching movies with my wife and playing Xbox. Day 4, same thing. However as the days go by it gets harder to swallow and the scabs or all the way formed and start to flake off kind of, it’s gross and the only way you can tell is you feel it. And btw, at NO POINT did I ever gargle anything. I let it come off naturally and on it’s own. Day 5 was different because I tried to make love to my wife and mid way through I started bleeding out of my throat really bad ??? it wasn’t going to happen anyways though ? But yeah when that happened I just drank some really cold water and it stopped eventually. I had some bleeding over the other few days, but nothing major, just spots here and there. Day six was the worst day so far, and that was at 4 am when I woke up for my pills my throat was on fire. It was so bad. I was paralyzed with pain, and my wife like bumped me and that knocked me out of my trance and I literally ran downstairs to the freezer grabbed some ice cubes and started crunching them right then and there. Luckily I had ice cold water in the fridge so I started guzzling that, and it really hurt, but it helped the burn. After that all you can do is wait, and I haven’t woken up like that again, however after that I started to elevate my head when I sleep, like i have three pillows under my back and head so I’m kind of just leaning back. Try to sleep with your mouth closed too, so it stays moist. And today was day seven, it wasn’t bad at all, still taking my meds, scabs haven’t fallen off yet. I woke up in pain, like every day, but no where near day six, that was the most pain I’ve ever felt in my life, hands down, but I survived, today I felt good enough to eat two packets of top ramen, after I was really feeling the meds though, no problems, and it was nice to get something sort of solid into my stomach. After all of this time I haven’t pooped, which bothers me, but I’ll justtown a gallon of apple juice tomorrow and if that doesn’t work then nothing will, I’ll just live my life without pooping. It’ll be tough to adapt too, but I’ll just have to deal with it. ? So day 7 went by good, I feel like I kind almost see a glow, from the light at the end of the tunnel. So throughout all of these days I did feel pain, every time I swallow, I yawned once, that sucked, and waking up isn’t pretty, but 90% of the stuff I’ve read on here makes it sound like they’re dying, and I really didn’t have that. Everyone goes through things differently, but I figured maybe I did something kind of right and wanted to share it with you all. I wish you a speedy recovery, and remember to hydrate and take the medication!! ✌???I hope this helps!
P.S. prepare to have HORRID breath!!
Heat Pads! On ears on day 3. Those are the life savers. Ice on a neck, heat on ears. When u do that u will feel that the nerve pain slowly steps back. I am on day 7, i was able to pull it off without painkiller today thanks to heating my ears
I’m on day 16, had a real rough time with alot of blood loss during my op and then an infection throughout recovery. To say recovery has been hell is an understatement and im still nowhere near better but I just had a few random tips that I havent seen when researching during my recovery so just incase these are of help to anyone, the following are really getting me through:
– Anaesthetic throat spray, from Boots its called ‘Anaesthetic Sore Throat Relief’ but if you dont have a Boots pharmacy its 2% w/v spray Lidocaine Hydrochloride. It is a savour, i used it before eating or taking pain meds…or when the pain was just so unbearable nothing else would take the edge off. Im not recommending exceeding dosage but I took it as often as I needed because I was desperate. Hospital gave me a throat spray but it is nowhere near this good.
– Hot wheat bag. I have a neck one so its curvy so I can put it over each of my ears and round my neck. When you take that first swallow of water and the sharp pain hits you, just wrap your head in it and apply pressure…its amazing. I use mine whilst I sleep and pretty much all day long and its a saviour.
– Dry Mouth Lozenges (I use The Breath Co. Mouth Wetting Dry Mouth Lozenges). I use them at night when I sleep because the worst is the dry mouth at night scenario. I usually tuck it under my gum at the side or put it on the roof of my mouth and it stays there at night. Can cause sticky dribble but honestly, its really helped me. At night Ive also been putting an eye mask over my mouth, sounds bizzare but it stops me breathing through my mouth.
– Food. I am now well and truly sick of jelly (jello), custard, yoghurt or anything liquid. I constantly crave just normal good food and I discovered yesterday that toddler food works like a dream…im not talking the pureed stuff, i mean the ready meals you can microwave but everything is super soft and in tiny pieces. The one I found (Annabel Karmel) is also full of veggies and vitamins so its an added bonus!! Also, side note…as dairy is a no-go for recovery, try dairy free stuff…its a bit trial and error on taste but i really like the soy icecream and custard.
– Probiotics. Check with your pharmacy or docs on the right ones to take but taking this many pain meds is not good for your stomach…I had a couple of days of bad stomach pains and trust me, you do not want to have to deal with anything additional ontop of what you already are!
Hang in there guys. Every bad day is one less bad day x
Had thermal welding tonsillectomy this morning 9:15am. She had to cauterize a tiny area due to blood but otherwise a-ok. Woke up in recovery, chatted with sweet nurse, ate jello, a Popsicle, drank water. By time I got home it was 1pm. I kept asking them to up the pain meds after surgery bc it hurt – also live about an hour away. I felt pain but a few things saved me (aside from pain meds) – sucking on small ice cubes nonstop, blue jello, applesauce, and harmless harvest coconut water (no pulp.) I have a Zoku slushee cup and would put the coconut water in there – YUM. Also used icy coconut water to swallow pills. I am now too scared to go to sleep for fear throat will dry out. The Oxy helps but pain still there big time. Overall, day not too bad. A little scared for days 2-4!!!