Tonsillitis,Tonsil Stones, and Tonsillectomy Recovery
Tonsillectomy recovery can be a long dark tunnel. With all the anxiety leading up to tonsillectomy surgery, and all the challenges of recovering from a tonsillectomy, a patient can easily become overwhelmed. The best weapon a tonsillectomy patient can arm them self with is information. Knowledge is truly power. Going into surgery unprepared is the most common mistake made. Your doctor, while trained in treating tonsil problems like tonsillitis, strep throat, and tonsil stones is an excellent resource. If you and your doctor decide that a tonsillectomy is the right choice, your job is to arm yourself with the best information you can and, perhaps more importantly, tonsillectomy recovery. I’ve maintained a forum for patients recovering from the surgery for several years. Most patients report that their Doctor’s attention quickly wanes after discharge. Many people complain that after their tonsillectomy, their doctor was pretty hard to get a hold of. The key to successful planning is self advocacy. Planning for tonsillectomy must begin weeks before surgery. Get support from your health care provider, your job, your family, your friends, and other tonsillectomy patients. We’ve built an amazing community of adults considering, anticipating and experiencing tonsillectomy recovery.
Tonsillectomy for me was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. After a lifetime of chronic tonsillitis, strep throat, tonsil stones, and sleep apnea, a couple weeks of pain and anxiety were a small price to pay. Three years ago, when I finally made the decision, there wasn’t much support for patients considering a tonsillectomy or recovering from one. The internet was like an ugly landscape of random horror stories and snake oil salesmen with cures for tonsil stones, bad breath, and belly fat. I decided to create a one stop resource for adults considering or recovering from tonsillectomy.
Tonsillectomy Recovery Resources is a place you can research topics relating to tonsils and tonsillectomy. I’ve experienced and researched topics like tonsil stones, tonsillitis, strep throat, tonsillectomy methods, oral thrush, and tonsillectomy recovery time.
I learned a great deal about tonsillectomy as an adult. In particular, I learned that it would have been better to undergo the surgery as a child. Tonsillectomy recovery as an adult is much tougher. There are however numerous tonsillectomy recovery tips that can make the experience a little easier. Simple practices like drinking and drinking and drinking can have profound positive impact upon your tonsillectomy recovery.
Tonsillectomy recovery tips like chewing gum to alleviate referred ear pain are not obvious or intuitively logical, but can make all the difference when nothing else seems to help. I’ve collected, researched and shared many of these morsels of wisdom and published them all here in one place to help others.
Tonsillectomy recovery questions like yours may have already been asked and answered. Try searching the site using the Google search box at the right side of the page. Type in a term like, “tonsil stones, ” or, “tonsils,” and see what you find. Feel free to comment on most of the pages of the site. Open and active communication is what makes this community such a valuable resource for everyone considering tonsillectomy or in the middle of tonsillectomy recovery.
Relax and be yourself. Ask questions, share concerns, and offer support. It’s our community. Thank you for joining us!
-Greg Tooke
From Our Readers
Read what our Facebook friends had for advice to adults preparing for tonsillectomy:
I posted another question for our Face Book friends. This is a group of about 350 adults who have had a tonsillectomy within the past five years. It’s an amazing community of supportive and thoughtful adults without tonsils. 
I wanted to assemble a collection of tips for new patients who are planning tonsillectomy surgery- particularly adults since they have a more difficult recovery, but also because they would typically be the ones doing preparation for themselves or a child.
Tonsillectomy Recovery For Adults – How to Prepare
So here is the question:
If I could recommend one product to someone preparing for tonsillectomy it would be___________.
And here are the responses;
Grace- Water!
Mari Re- A snow cone maker-a must!!
Dayna – Humidifier!
Dee- Do a lot of good deeds before so when ur praying for relief he will help ya. Seriously. Water is great and a humidifier helped me greatly.
Shiva – Coma
Sarah -Ice chips… if morphine isn’t available
Katie-DONT DO IT!!!!!
Shannon – Toradol
Jean – Water, a recliner, and a humidifier.
Meghan- Percocet.
Misty – After pain meds it would be pudding for me.
Donna- water
Kate-Several big flexible ice packs–always keep one in the freezer so it’s ready to go whenever you need one.
Kierstin -If you live in the US sonic crushed ice saved my life ! You can purchase it in a bag like at the grocers, and it’s tiny enough to lodge between the back of your tongue and scabs, and just rough enough when you swallow it, it scratches the back of your throat just delicately enough to semi relieve irritated ears ! Seriously I cried for this ice over a few day period haha
Bethany -My brother-in-law owns an amazing gelato company. He made me the most delicious mango sorbet. Even when my throat hurt bad and I really didn’t want to eat before taking my meds, I could always get excited for some delicious sorbet
Jean -I would agree with the flexible ice packs! Ice was my life saver!
Karen -Cool mist humidifier
Vickie -Straws
Hollie – Liquid medications! Tablets just wouldn’t go down
Doug -water
Kiersten- Instant mashed potatoes! I know….gross but a lifesaver
Kiersten -Lol-I thought pain meds and water was a given!!!!
Jayne-Hard drugs!!
Diana – 2 weeks to recover
Rhiannon – Pop ice and a cool mist humidifier
William -A humidifier
Rosie – Jello, peaches, netflix, and hot bathes.
Christy-After pain meds, the magic mouthwash, mashed potatoes after you can somewhat eat. Go to an urgent care if you are starting to get dehydrated. I lost 14lbs in 7 days.
William -Magic mouthwash?
Tonsillectomy Resources Wow! Great stuff. Thanks everybody!
Brandi – Pain meds and Sonic ice chips – I think I would have died without both!
Chente-Pain meds.
Crista – Ice packs!
Chente -Also- Thought I would pass along something re: magic mouthwash just to make others aware so it doesn’t happen to them. At one point after using the wash and I swallowed to pass saliva, my mouth and throat were numb and the saliva just kinda sat in my throat and I couldn’t pass it and then I choked and started coughing really bad. That isn’t what you want to do after a tonsillectomy. So just be careful and swallow with caution!
Beth Ann – Ensure or Boost drinks
Jina -Humidifier, ice packs, crushed ice with water. Boost drinks in the beginning for energy.
Kitty – An alarm to remind the next med and note pad to write down the meds as taken. It was hard to remember in the middle of the night. Both help to keep meds on board and the pain at bay.
Christina -Ice and pain meds
Chente -Pain med journal!
Rachael – Pain reliever in liquid form.
Wondering when my scabs will come off – it is day 12. They don’t look like they are going anywhere, is this uncommon?
Tonsillectomies really aren’t as bad as people think. But saying that, I had abscesses within my tonsil which were the worst and most uncomfortable pain I have ever felt, so to me a tonsillectomy was totally fine. Tonsillitis is actually worse in my opinion than a tonsillectomy too. First of all, your throat just feels a bit clogged up and odd, it doesn’t feel raw or sore, you can still eat. I ate toast and a cup of tea about an hour after surgery and thoroughly enjoyed both. I’d recommend asking your surgeon for an anti-sickness tablet prior to surgery, as they don’t always administer this and I cant imagine being sick after surgery would be nice. I’d also recommend in the first few days of surgery, eat normal foods, it scrapes off the gunk. After the first 2-3 days, start going onto soft foods, this is because your throat starts to ‘heal’ and ‘scab’, so rough foods could rip off the scabs prematurely, same as if you had one in your arm. If you rip the scabs off prematurely it causes a bleed, which I had. This then formed a clot. So eat rough foods whilst its gunk, then after 2 days go onto soft foods and try not to irritate the throat. I’d strongly recommend NOT having ice water, for me the iciness gave me searing ear pain because it was just too cold for that sensitive area. I just had normal water and hot drinks that were obviously cooled down. Rest, do what they say, as I did sometimes start cracking on with house work and it does make you tired. Don’t feel negative, a negative mind makes you feel worse, just be positive, the pain really isn’t bad. It’s just uncomfortable but bearable. I ate normally and could talk too, I tried not to strain my throat too much however and whispered, etc, but I could. For me it was totally worth having one as I had tonsillitis for roughly 4 months straight, constant penicillin. Then I had abscesses too. The blood clot I got during recovery was from scraping the scab off, I ate muesli, I realised this after checking my throat afterwards. I went to hospital where they gave me this gargle mix to break it away and they gave me antibiotics, they were great and after this I made a really quick recovery (probably the antibiotics) another thing to remember is, don’t mash up your tablets you need to take unless it says you can as this can put a dangerously high dose of tablets into your system, so make sure you double check that. Hope this helps 🙂
PS, I was off pain relief by day 4-5.
Hello, I’ve just had my tonsil removed on 2/10/15 so am now Day 11 and feeling great. I’m from Australia and noticed that the majority of posts online are from people overseas so I’ve written a blog based on my experience if anyone is interested: https://adulttonsillectomyrecoveryaustralia.wordpress.com
Hi folks just a wee update now on day 22 and almost their down to 2 painkillers a day throat just a little raw .energy returned at gym last 2 days fells great that recovery is almost complete keep going folks it will get better
Hi folks now in say 13 of recovery back to work eating great no pain when eating g ,still takes g meds ,throat still sore but managble also do be 1 hrs excersise today hopefully another week and all pain will be gone and hopefully a new life
Glad to hear it Alan! Best of health to you!