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.
Im 32and just went through my tonsillectomy on April 17. It has not been a fun ride. The first few days were ok with minimal pain meds but then on day 4 all hell broke loose. When the scabs started coming off I got the most horrific reffered ear pain that hasnt gone away. I have been able to swallow and have been drinking water like crazy. I am on tylenol3s…they make me feel aweful. Now i have weird tightening spasms in the bsck of my throat, has anyone else had this? I am soooooo ready to be well.
Thought I’d take a trip back to this forum since it was very helpful when I had my tonsils out last year. I also feel the need to come back and share my story, because I had a very easy experience compared to many, and I feel like sometimes only people who have horror stories feel compelled to share.
First of all, I’m 34 years old and I had my tonsils out due to the fact that I kept getting SEVERE strep throat (I was once hospitalized with a fever of 106 and couldn’t eat for a week… so strep was not kind to me). Also had tonsil stones – yuck. Anyway, before I got them out, I did lots of research on how to ease my recovery.
I decided to follow the “European” recommendations that I’ve read where you should try to eat soft but somewhat scratchy foods from Day 1 to help speed recovery. From the research I’ve done, it seems like docs here in the US tend to recommend soft foods only.
About 30 minutes after taking my meds, when my pain was the lowest, I would eat some Ritz crackers, applesauce, and mac and cheese. I also drank a TON of ice water constantly, and based on recommendations of people here I set an alarm at night to wake up, drink ice water, and take my meds every few hours in the middle of the night. The one night I forgot to do this was the only time I was in significant pain.
I took the 2 full recommended weeks off of work, but I was fine after the first week. On Day 5 I went out to dinner with my husband and managed to have a full, but slow, seafood dinner with wine (had stopped taking prescription meds at that point).
Like I said, I just wanted to point out that it’s not all doom and gloom. Having my tonsils out was about 1/10 as painful as my last bout of strep throat. I am so thankful every day that I did it. It’s funny, I was just commenting to my husband the other day that I can’t believe I waited so long.
So hang in there! DRINK YOUR WATER! take your meds! Be sure to eat frequently when your pain is at its lowest. Oh yeah, and one of the things that helped the most was gargling with mouthwash (obviously needs to be alcohol-free). I forget what day it was… maybe day 4 or so, but when the scabs started coming it started to get pretty uncomfortable. I was terrified to even try gargling, because everything was so tender and I thought it would hurt, but I did it and it felt soooooo good. Just do it VERY gently.
I am 24 yr old female. Going in for my SECOND Tonsillectomy on Friday. My first was done in 96 when i was a kid, now i have infected tonsil tags. I remember the pain as a child was pretty nasty. I am also having a deviated septum fixed, same time. Other than pushing fluis pretty much consistantly and keeping on pain med schedule are there any other tips to help with recovery as an adult? I would like to be back to work ASAP and appreciate Any advice for handling this now as an adult!!
What’s the point of a community of help when you receive no help haha? Good idea Greg, don’t bite off more than you can chew.
Hi Ky. I encourage you to read through this site- over 50 pages of advice. Also join us on Facebook. Lots of cool people there. (Unlike me)
I’m a 20 year old male who just got my tonsils out a few hours ago. The pain so far is bearable but I have so much mucus/phlegm I feel like I’m choking. In the hospital they told me not to clear my throat and try to get it up. Can anyone recommend something?
Drink LOTS of water or other clear fluids! This will clear up mucus and make it more managable.
At what point is it ok to start clearing your throat. I know I’m only on day 3 but it’s just such a reflex
Hi everyone,
I’m a 26 yr old female, and had my tonsillectomy 6 days ago. I’m shocked to hear that some people had minimal pain and could still speak in the first couple of days following their surgeries – I felt like a truck hit me as soon as I woke up from surgery.
My surgeon said that while my tonsils were small/average sized, they appeared to have suffered a lot of infections over the years and were swollen and very cryptic. She warned me that my chances of post-op bleeding are slightly higher since the blood vessels in the tonsil bed area were a bit more swollen than some others.
Perhaps that bit of info above is why my recovery hasn’t been as up and down as most. Unfortunately for me it’s been mostly down. I’ve slept a lot this past week, and had to cut down on my pain meds right away due to nausea and constipation. I’ve never been constipated before in my life – and let me say to all you chronic sufferers out there – I’m SOOOO sorry for your discomfort! This experience has been awful!
I’ve lost about 10 – 12 lbs so far, but I was heavy set to begin with so I’m sure that contributes to the proportion of weight loss. I haven’t been able to eat much of anything. On day 2 or 3 I was able to eat some mushy mac and cheese and some oatmeal, and thought I would be ok. But ever since, it’s been worse and I haven’t been able to even eat soup without my throat burning or aching (note that the soup was room temperature, not hot). Today I’ve only been able to drink some water, diluted apple juice (to mix my crushed pain meds into), and maybe half a cup of ichyband noodles. I tried to eat some mashed potatoes, mashed yams, and mashed squash tonight – but just made me nauseous and stung my throat.
I’m seriously contemplating going to the hospital tomorrow and asking for IV fluids, since I know I haven’t been drinking as much as I should.
Aside from the expected throat and ear pain, my tongue is really messed up. It’s numb all the time and continues to be swollen. I feel like perhaps my teeth are clamping down on it all the time, so I make a conscious effort to keep my teeth away from my tongue, but yet it continues….anyone else have this problem?
I feel generally discouraged that my eating habits, and discomfort haven’t improved any…I have a number of events coming up in the next few weeks and I’m really worried I won’t be healed in time. In a week and half, we have reservations to go to a dinner/theatre venue to celebrate my birthday, and three weeks from now I’m supposed to be singing in my Christmas choir concert (and I have a solo to sing!).
I keep praying and hoping this will subside soon and that I’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel, but only time will tell.
I’m worried about the scabs coming off since my surgeon warned of the risk of bleeding. 🙁 Please, oh please, do not let me hemmorrage and delay my healing further.
To top things off, I’m supposed to be back to work in 2 days. I knew I wouldn’t be fully recovered in a week, but figured if I could stick to emailing and such at work (office position), that I could get by with minimal talking, etc. I can barely keep the nausea away without frequent naps/lying down, and my focus is completely off while on these meds and fighting the pain…not sure yet what I’ll do. I had things that needed to get done when I went back to work, that unfortunately others cannot help me with if I take more time off. Yikes – talk about stress!
Thanks for commenting Chantal, Sorry you’re having a rough time. IV fluids might be a great idea. Keep us posted. Take care!