Tonsillectomy Recovery Day 11 and Beyond

Tonsillectomy Recovery after Day Eleven

 

At some point I hope to add pages for day 12, day 13, day 14, day 15, day 16, and another page for days 17,18,19, and 20.  For now, please share your tonsillectomy recovery experiences here.  I wish you the very best of health!



  1. ty
    Hey. Its me again. Had the surgery last week and OMG! The worst days of my life. I will make it but geeze!! This sucks bad. I had to read your comments again because I began to get depressed, lol. Im driving my husband and doctor crazy by keep asking them how long will this last. Its good hearing from someone that understands the process and pain. Your experiences are helping me through girl. Thanks again:)

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    1. Kate
      Horrible flashbacks reading your message Ty! I have just returned from a business trip, meeting lots of new people, and I didn’t have to worry about my breath: so liberating and confidence building. I discovered that one of my colleagues had her tonsils removed 2 years ago – when I happened to mention that I was just a few weeks on from my operation, she gave me a big bear hug because she could empathise with my more recent experience. You WILL eat, sleep and enjoy life again – I promise! Stay positive: you made the right decision.

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  2. Kate
    I am now four weeks post surgery (in the UK), and life is good! I had a tonsillectomy due to tonsil stones (I had small, pitted tonsils, and was unable to remove the stones myself, whatever method I tried) – private medical insurance and a past history of throat infections helped get me the surgery. I knew it was a drastic option, but I was prepared to do ANYTHING to solve my bad breath problems. I did nearly cancel when I read this forum the day before surgery though! But I didn’t, and I survived, and my tonsil stones and bad breath are finally GONE!Having found this forum so much help during the dark days post-surgery, I wanted to share my experience/what helped me. If you are about to have surgery, or are still in recovery, I can promise you it will get SO much better in a few days – hang in there!1. Don’t plan ANYTHING for the two weeks post surgery – and make sure you book at least two weeks off work. Days 5 – 8 were the worst for me, although in total I had about 10 days of constant pain/medication and sleep deprivation.
    2. I cried A LOT on day one – a mixture of the anesthesia/trauma, relief at getting through surgery, and pain! I had one night in hospital.
    3. Sucking on crushed ice helps a lot – make sure you have some in stock. I did not use a humidifier – we didn’t want to pump damp air into our bedroom!
    4. Take as much pain medication as you can – I used Tramadol, ibuprofen and paracetamol – you will not get addicted, and you WILL need them. But keep a drug diary so you can recall what drugs you took and when – you will not remember!
    5. Sleeping with my face/throat on a hot water bottle helped me a lot in days 5+: your throat muscles tighten up in response to the surgery, and I think this helped relax me a little
    6. The nights were the worst, as I would wake up in a lot of pain and then struggle to swallow more medication/get back to sleep. Listening to the radio really helped get me through the dark, lonely hours. My husband moved into the spare bed for the first 10 days, to ensure he could get some sleep and I could thrash around the bed as much as I needed to get comfortable!
    7. In the UK we are advised to eat rough food e.g. toast when we can. I did manage this a couple of times, but I mostly lived on soup (no bread!), fish in sauce (you can buy this frozen in handy microwaveable pouches), yogurt, porridge and hot chocolate. I tried making smoothies but the fruit was too acidic and hurt my throat. There were a couple of days when I could not face eating anything due to the pain. I did not get constipated, and I did not lose much weight – because I spent two weeks resting, and most of what I DID eat was high calorie!
    8. You will be too tired to read much – have a good set of DVDs on standby
    9. I did not have any bleeding. I felt so ill that completely resting in the first week was an easy option – and I made sure I had someone on call in the first few days, just in case
    10. I was able to speak on all days, although about half an hour of conversation was enough
    11. I went for my first short walk one week after surgery. Four weeks on, I am now exercising as normal – running, swimming and pilates.
    12. I stopped regular pain relief on about day 15, having gradually cut down on what I was taking.
    13. I gradually re-introduced different types of food after two weeks. I still have a sticky feeling in the back of my throat, which I expect to disappear over the coming weeks.My tonsillectomy recovery was the worst 10 days of my life. But ridding myself of tonsil stones is one of the best things I ever did!

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    1. Ty
      Thank you for sharing. I also have tonsil stones and thought I may be going to far getting surgery to remove them. I’m a married woman and nothing’s is more damaging to a marriage than insecurity. TMI, I know just wanted to say thanks for sharing your experience. I’m going forwadr with the surgery.

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      1. Kate
        I am also married (and 47 – forgot that bit!) and would not even discuss the problem with my husband. So I feel your insecurity! It will hurt a lot – stay focused on the goal and remember that in a few days you will be much better, and also liberated!

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  3. Ellen Howard
    Day 9 of my recovery.I’m not sure how relevant this will be to anyone because I’m not entirely sure how common it is. I’m just turned 18 and have been having a lot of problems with my tonsils for the best part of three years. One thing I always found when digging out those god awful tonsil stones was that my tonsils were extremely prone to bleeding – something my ENT surgeon also found out on the day of the op!He said no one in his experience had bled that much in a tonsillectomy procedure in years. I had to be stitched right up on my right side and let me tell you, we all know how sore recovery is without stitches right? Imagine being wheeled out of theatre with those bad boys in you. It’s been sore, for the first few days it was the actual space at the top of the back of my throat that was painful and white and scabby. I was throwing up old blood so frequently (and a lot of it might I add) that I couldnt keep anything down; not food, not painkillers. It was awful.But I powered through and ate as much as I could, despite the pain, because I thought ‘you know what I’ve put up with enough sh*t from my tonsils this time I’m gonna show ‘em what I’m made of!’ And after about day three or four the pain subsided from my tonsil bed area and is now a horrible stingy/achy feeling further down my throat, which apparently is due to the whole stitching procedure, I guess a lot of tubes were bumped around in this process and it’s seriously bruised me inside. I find the pain really hits me at night and I’m starting to get severe earaches to accompany that, which is nice! My co-codamol painkillers ran out days ago so I’m going strong on paracetamol and Diclofenac.

    I hope everyone else is managing to power through! Just think of all the tonsillitus and nasty tonsil stones that you’re gonna get to avoid for the rest of your life! Remember, at most this recovery process is going to take 17-20 days, which in perspective, is more than worth it to be tonsil free!

    Stay safe xxx

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  4. Lindsey
    I am a 24 year old female, I had my tonsils removed on July 23. I had my tonsils removed due to horrid tonsil stones. Let me start off by saying DRINK WATER NO MATTER HOW BAD IT HURTS!!!! Day 1: after procedure you’re so loopy from meds it flys by. I was offered a blue slushing and teddy Graham’s. 8 bags of teddy Graham’s later I am ready to keave!! After surgery I even had McDonald’s I don’t even remember eating it. Throat was numb all day long. I received percocet 5mg. All you will want to do is sleep. Have someone wake you up to drink and take meds!!Day 2: pain was still tolerable I started taking the pain medication every 4 hours so the pain doesn’t get out of control. I was eating mash potatoes ( the pre made bob Evans kind was the smoothest), I noticed ice cold water stung my throat so room temperature worked. I was drinking every 20 mins to keep the throat moist. Sleeping was horrible, I ended up sleeping on couch so my head would be propped up. Waking up every 45 mins to sip water, you get no sleep at all. I didn’t want my throat to dry out because it is so painful. I set my alarm every 4 hours so I would take my medicine.Day 3,4,5: Worst days ever! Extreme pain 10/10, that pain medicine didn’t help! Ear pain started kicking in. I had ice constantly on my throat to keep swelling down. Scabs were formed in back of throat very thick. Drinking water was a task. Everytime I swallowed felt like razorblades. I had to force myself to eat. Ended up getting a blood clot on my left tonsil on day5 and started bleeding. On call dr told me to drink ice cold water and it helped. Woke up after and blood clot resolved on its own. I was having mini hot flashes all day.Day 6: I felt like a new person. Pain was a 6/10. I was eating drinking taking my neds around the clock

    Day 7,8,9: scabs started falling off day 7. It feels like something is caught in back of throat when them fall off. Throat is very sensitive after they fall off that any liquid or food stings the throat. I have bumped my meds down to 1 pill every 4 hours instead of 2 pills. Sleeping longer through the night.

    Day 10 and on: pain has started to be controlled with Motrin. I feel 100% better!! I am starting to eat solid foods. I had PBJ sandwhich and it was easy to go down. I feel back to my normal self. Throat still hurts but just like it would as a sore throat.

    I think keeping myself hydrated non stopped helped with my speedy recovery. I go back to wk in a few days and feel comfortable going back. I still have to drink water so throat doesn’t get dry. My scabs are 75% gone. I’ve had someone with me the whole time and you DO need that. Milk never seemed to cause the phlegm in my throat as others posted. It soothed the burning. I lived off mash potatoes and chick n star soup mix for the first days. Keep taking medication when it’s due so pain stays under control!! Take the full two weeks off dr reccomends because you will need it. I would do this surgery again knowing it is going to cure my tonsil stones and stinky breath! Sorry this blog is all over the place my mind is going crazy! I hope everyone as a good recovery as well as I’ve had!

Check out our new tonsillectomy recovery video- Caution: Not always pretty

A collection of various experiences of adult tonsillectomy patients after their tenth day of tonsillectomy recovery
From thousands of post comments to the tonsillectomy recovery forum, I am assembling a sampling of various accounts and impressions of tonsillectomy recovery for each day. Below I share comments about tonsillectomy recovery after day 11. These comments are from tonsillectomy patients who were kind enough to share their experiences to help others as they navigate the bumpy road of tonsillectomy recovery.

 

Many will experience depression toward the end of of their tonsillectomy recovery.

Depression after tonsillectomy
Depression After Tonsillectomy?

-Greg Tooke 

343 comments

  1. 43 year old woman. Just went through ten days of misery. Reading your stories gave me ideas to help with the pain and made me feel less alone. No one in my circle understood what I was going through. Their child did just fine. Why was I going to Er on day 8?! It was a lonely and horrible ordeal. This blog helped me feel like there were people out there who understood and gave me hope! Thank you so much for sharing.

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  2. I’m 52 and had my tonsils removed due to a ‘lesion’ associated with my right, enlarged tonsil. I’ve never suffered tonsillitis or tonsil stones. Because of this, the surgeon took only 2 minutes to remove both tonsils and the lesion and said it was refreshingly easy because I didn’t have the scarring of most other people. Short surgery but just as much pain as everyone else by the sounds of it. I was observed after surgery for 6 hours then sent home. I’m at the end of day 8. I still have to sleep upright or I choke. I have managed to sleep for 5 hours straight – once. Eating is painful but I’m eating small amounts of vegies and meat, soft cereals etc. Icecream creates too much mucous which means more swallowing which equals pain. Acidic foods and fruits; forget them as they sting like hell. I was taking Panadeine Forte (codeine) for the first two days post surgery but ditched them as they made me feel gaga and didn’t do a lot for the pain so switched down to plain old paracetamol since then. I think they were also causing my really bad headache that stopped when I stopped the codeine. My pharmacist said I could crush them up and mix them with my water instead of trying to get big pills down my throat. That worked a treat. You surely know it if you go over your 4 hours between doses. Had a couple of occasions of 10/10 pain and held ice in my mouth. Don’t bother with big icecubes – smash them up in a plastic bag with a mallet, the smaller the better. The ice burns like crazy to start with but in a short time, it puts out the fire. I find that water that is only just cool is more soothing than icy water. What I have found is that Ibuprofen works really well but my surgeon advised that should be used very sparingly. Also, I found at the pharmacy a throat lozenge that is antibacterial and contains an anaesthetic. These were surprisingly effective. What I am finding annoying at the moment is that my tongue feels weird. I only had very minor ear pain and blocking for a couple of days. Still get a really sore throat if I talk for too long much to my husband’s delight. I have an Etcher Sketcher for such occasions so I can still nag at him in writing. hehe. All in all, it’s important to remember, you will get better and that there are many people going through far worse scenarios. 🙂

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  3. I’m 20 years old and I’m on day 11 today. I had my tonsils and adenoids removed due to extremely large tonsils that were causing me too many health issues.
    DAY 1-5:
    Day 1 & 2 were fairly painfree. I stayed in the hospital overnight and felt quite sick due to pain killers on an empty stomach! MAKE SURE YOU EAT BEFORE TAKING THEM!! Day 3 & 4 I slept a lot during the day. I felt like I was swallowing razor blades every time I swallowed, but the pain wasn’t as bad as I had thought (due to reading a lot of posts on these type of websites, I was expecting a lot worse). My surgeon told me to eat whatever I like after surgery, as it helps with the healing process. After surgery I didn’t eat much because I felt sick. On day 2 I ate some vegan lasagna and it hurt, but I could tolerate it. I lived off that and hashbrowns from McDonalds, they felt amazing on my throat!!! I also had quick oats but i had someone put them through the blender for me so they kind of become a thick batter. I also tried to have a smoothie and that was a mistake… burnt my throat like hell. Day 1-4 I experienced a lot of silva in my mouth that wouldn’t seem to go away. It was quite gross and annoying.
    Day 1-5 I stayed in bed all day. I slept a lot and always slept with my head elevated. The most PAINFUL EXPERIENCE was when I had to have my medication. I had to take four tablets, three times a day and these were HUGE. They would get stuck in my throat and I would cry. It felt like someone was dragging a knife across the back of my throat. (A helpful tip, try get liquid instead of capsules if possible!!!)
    DAY 6: I got out of bed for the first time and stayed in the lounge and was the first day I didn’t nap. I ate pizza this day and thought that was great. Night 6 was my worse. I woke up in a lot of pain and scabs were starting to form. It was a different pain, before it was throbbing and this was a very dry / rough pain.
    Day 7,8&9: I felt my worse. I was in a lot of pain and still couldn’t talk much. I felt nauseous and threw up, which didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. I was feeling so weak and drained due to lack of nutrition. Also my tongue started killing me on day 8!!!! It was a horrible pain and one of the worse I felt during this experience.
    Day 10 was my turning day. Off the painkillers and felt I had a bit more energy and starting to feel myself again. Of course I still have a sore throat though. I introduced new foods to my diet.. hot chips and risotto. Both went down amazing and hardly any pain. Only severe pain I get is when I talk and my voice is very high pitched… hoping it returns to normal soon.
    Day 11 is today and my right side of my mouth is hurting a bit more today but I am feeling the best I’ve felt.
    TIPS: eat as much as you can and stay hydrated even if these processes hurt, it’ll help so much in the long run!!
    Take your painkillers before you start feeling severe pain.
    Have someone with you to get you fresh water and food. My mum took time off work and my girlfriend was there for the first week. Seriously, you’ll need it.
    Have a lot of tv shows / movies to watch. You won’t feel like reading a book.
    Even though this was one of the worst experiences in my life, I am glad I have done it. Would I do it again though? I am not sure haha.

    (Also, I never got any ear pain!!!)

    Good luck everyone!!! Remember you’re not alone and it’ll get better soon!!! At the end of the day, it’s for the best.. right?!

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  4. Omg i am 40 years old and im on day 12 post surgery. This has hands down had to be the most painful thing ive endured and for quite a few days I’ve been wondering when this god awful pain will subside. The pain is definitely constant not even sleep will save you. The pain in the ears and back of throat is horrible. Whoever has this surgery just take the pain meds regularly and if you run out call the doctor. I ran out a 8 days in and called the doctor and they gave me more. Today on day 12 is the first day i didnt wake up on excruciating pain so i guess thats a good sign. As for eating i couldnt do anything hot or sweet or salty without pain. The thing i could eat waa jello and ice chips. Hang in there though i finally see a light at the end of the tunnel so it does get better.

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  5. I am 20 years old and I am day 9 post op. During the day my pain is well controlled with Motrin. I’m waking up at night every two hours to drink water/take meds. I was just wondering when I would be able to sleep through the night again? :/

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