Planning and Recovering From Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy
Let’s start with my own tonsillectomy recovery story. I wasn’t always this healthy. As a kid I ingested more penicillin than a corporate-raised chicken. I was in the doctor’s office several times each year with a sore throat. As the doctor or nurse peered into my mouth, the reaction was always the same: “Whoa, those are some big tonsils!” The diagnosis was usually tonsillitis, or strep throat. As the doctor wrote the prescription, he’d explain that years ago, tonsils like mine would have been removed, but, “these days,” we try to hang onto them. “These days,” were the 1970’s. I guess the tonsillectomy pendulum had swung back from the days when kids got their tonsils out because their brother was getting his out.
Aunt Kate’s reassurance helped, but I still wrote out some just-in-case instructions for my brother and hid them in my closet. I sheepishly told him where they were, just in case.
“This is temporary. You WILL feel better. Hang in there and stay hydrated!” -Greg Tooke
As an adult I continued to suffer from frequent bouts of tonsillitis. It seemed that I caught every bug that passed through my house or workplace. I guess those big ugly tonsils were a nice home for those nasties. It wasn’t until my 40’s that I also became aware that I suffered from something called, Obstructive Sleep Apnea -a condition in which a person stops breathing while asleep. I snored often and would awake abruptly, gulping in big breaths. I felt tired most days. After raising four babies, I had come to accept fatigue as a normal part of life! One day at a routine physical my doctor remarked about the number of episodes of strep throat and tonsillitis I’d had. We also talked about the sleep problems. While he didn’t formally diagnose obstructive sleep apnea, he suspected that I had it. He recommended a tonsillectomy, because of all the tonsil problems I’d had. As a bonus, I might find relief from the sleep apnea as well. If not, I’d undergo a sleep study. Forty four years old and father of four boys and a doctor finally said it: Those tonsils are doing you more harm than good! As much as I hated those tonsils, I was terrified at the thought of going under the knife. I started reading about tonsillectomy recovery on the internet and talking to friends. That didn’t help. “My cousin knew a guy who got a tonsillectomy and bled to death.” “At your age, tonsillectomy is dangerous.” When I met with the ear, nose and throat specialist, (an otolaryngologist), he told me that the risks are the same for an adult undergoing tonsillectomy surgery as for a child, but tonsillectomy recovery is longer and more painful. He was right about that!
Deciding to get a Tonsillectomy
I scheduled the surgery for the day after Thanksgiving. A traditional day of feasting in the United States. If it was to be my last meal, I planned to make it a good one! As it turned out, I was so nervous and scared that I could hardly eat on that day. I was recently divorced and had shared placement of my four boys. So many people counted on me that I began to question my decision. What if I died on the table? How reckless to leave behind a family, simply to avoid frequent tonsillitis? My aunt, a registered nurse reassured me about how simple the surgery was, and how far anesthesiology had come. I had nothing to worry about. Aunt Kate’s reassurance helped, but I still wrote out some just-in-case instructions for my brother and hid them in my closet. I sheepishly told him where they were, just in case
“My tonsils were like a 400 pound gorilla on my back. I don’t miss them at all. Ever.” -from the forum ________________________________________________________________________________
I took a week off from work, asked my ex wife to take care of the boys that week, and asked my uncle to drive me to and from the hospital. (a requirement with anesthesia) That was about all the tonsillectomy recovery preparation I did. I was about to learn a lot! Surgery went fine. I awoke in recovery with a serving of Jell-o in front of me. (“Jelly,” to my British friends) The nurse said that I had to finish it before I could check out. I swallowed it with great relish. It was divine! I called my uncle and we were out of there. I felt ok. I told him thanks and not to worry. I’d be fine. I believed this. Aside from a couple visits, I spent the next ten days alone in misery. The pain set in after about 24 hours. Streaming movies and television shows were my friends. Sleeping became my worst enemy. I’d wake up with my mouth dried out and my throat on fire. Oh my God. I was not prepared for this! I ran out of Popsicle’s on day three. I ran out of pain medicine on day five. The pain peaked on day seven. I broke down and cried in front of my brother on day eight- a combination of pain, drug induced depression, and sleep deprivation. Since then, I’ve read thousands of similar accounts on the tonsillectomy forum I created. It didn’t have to be so hard. If I’d known what I do now, I could have done so much to make my tonsillectomy recovery better. I hope to reach as many people as I can to help guide them through the tunnel. It has been my passion and taught me more about compassion and the amazing strength of the human spirit than any other life experience. When you shine a light for others, you also light your own path.
In the pages at follow, I’ll share tonsillectomy recovery tips with you that I learned from my tonsillectomy experience and years of coaching others through tonsillectomy and recovery.
Hi im here to help some people after Tonsillectomy. Im 24 and after suffering 2years from tonsillitis got yellow stones every 3+/- days then i have to poke them out. So the Dr finally says i must get Tonsillectomy. Well it was very sore when i woke up and couldn’t really speak.
Dr said i could go home because it wasn’t bleeding. My bf bought me jelly, plain yougart, plain rice. Avode any thing with salt, pepper, any thing with spices that will burn the living hell out of you. On week 2 i started eating chicken pie it was really soft so that worked for me. You can drink ice water, apple juice, grape juice, dont try juices like orange,mango. When eating drink water after it will make it feel better and feels like your food doesn’t sit in your throat.
When your jaw is starting to hurt use a warm bean bag and place it on your jaw.
Before bed make sure you have water or apple juice next to you, you will wake up in the nights and your throat will be very dry.
Im now on my 3rd week and so far its going good. Dont take anymore pain pills, the only thing im struggling to do is, i can brush my teeth and only the tip of my tongue cant brush the middle or back of my tongue. When i place the tooth brush on the middle of my tongue its like you wanna gag. I still cant eat to spicy food or any hot foods, but can eat everything else. Prepare to be in alot of pain and take 2weeks off work. The 3 days it will be difficult to speak its gonna hurt alot.
I had my tonsillectomy approximately 2 months ago and had a fantastic recovery! I’m 23, female, and had tonsillitis/strep about 9 times for the 2 plus years before getting them removed. I was well prepared for it after reading on forums like this one what I should expect/have on hand to make the process easier.
I was completely healed in 10 days, including the complete absence of any scabs—they started slowly disintegrating after about 5 days or so. I ate mostly what I wanted, just made sure to chew it a lot and drink with it. I took my pain medicine regularly, including waking up in the middle of the night every 4 hours, for 7 days. That was all I needed. I had some ear pain throughout. I also made sure to take anti nausea medicine—ask your doctor for this is you’ve had issues with pain medicine making you sick. I tried my pain med without this anti nausea medication and threw up about 10 seconds after the first time.
Some things that I think really helped: throwing up on my drive home from the hospital. It was a substantial amount and came out black and flakey. I threw up a lot of the coating on my tonsils that the doctor used to seal up the holes/where my tonsils were. I think this ultimately helped me heal faster because my body didn’t have to discard it. I created my own scabs quicker than most people because of this. (The anesthetic made me sick, which is why I threw up.) A humidifier. I laid down for the 7 days straight and just slept as much as my body wanted (sometimes 15 plus hours a day). I took a full two weeks off work to be safe. Numbing lollipops were also a huge lifesaver. I highly recommend asking your doctor if that’s available for you, especially if you don’t like taking pain medicine. I also drank a ton of fluids and am sure that helped to keep my throat comfortable.
A lot of the time I didn’t feel good enough to even have the tv on but I wasn’t in very much pain at all. I attribute those to the pain medicine. I’m so happy I did it and wish I would’ve gotten them out sooner as I had tonsil stones seemingly constantly and was missing lots of work/social events from being sick. I’ve had higher energy levels and haven’t needed quite as much sleep after having them out which is great. I would do it again in a heartbeat!
p.s. I forgot to add my scabs never “fell off” like most peoples. They really just disappeared, closing in on themselves from the outside in into nothingness.
i can see my scabs thinning from the edges and kind of just disappearing. not chunks or anything yet anyways Im only day 5 ,especially from the top near the uvula and from the back molars first
I’m a 45 year old woman that is totally regretting the decision to have a tonsillectomy. I’m not one to sit on the computer and write on these types of forums, but I have to tell you, I HAVE to. it’s 1:20 a.m. And I’m laying in my overstuffed chair as miserable as can be. Considering the time, I am now starting day 8 and I don’t think I can take this pain much longer. I can’t got to sleep because my scabs are in the process of falling off and I can feel a good hunk of it dangling down my right side into my throat. I’ve been gaging on and off and drinking water but it just doesn’t seem to want to come off. I’m also being very gentle because I don’t want to disturb anything back there that may cause it to bleed; which is my biggest fear. I was getting by (5 out of 10) in terms of pain but on day 7 OMG!!!! I too was one of those people that thought maybe I would be a lucky one, boy was I wrong. I’ve been staying on top of my mess and forcing water down so I won’t dehydrate. I’ve even set my alarm at night every hour to get up to drink water, morning still are horrible. I haven’t been able to eat beyond liquids, but even they taste bad. My tongue has a horrible taste on the sides and anything sweet tastes horrible. I’m down 12 lbs. and I have to admit food doesn’t even appeal to me now like some other people.
Before the surgery I was reading everything I could online to get a sense as to what I was getting myself into. After the first hour I was totally freaked out. When I talked to my husband he said that you can’t believe ever you read on the Internet and that people are only going to write about their horror stories. He made me second guess that maybe it’s not THAT bad, well if you’re reading this it is. I’m so tired and the pain is unbelievable. I do have ear pain but as of now it’s not as bad as some. Under my tongue in the back is killing me. It radiates into my jaw. This recovery really is deceiving because days 1-5 you think you’re going to be able to handle this, not in my case. I’m so desperate that I keep looking for someone out there that’s going to say it will be over in a certain amount of days. I know 14 seems to be the big number, but I’ve read many stories where it’s beyond that date. I just can’t do this anymore.
I know I sound all over the place, I just can’t take the pain. If 14 is the magic number, I don’t think I can do this for the next 6 days. I have read that when the pain does start to do away it’s fast. I hope that’s true. If anything writing this has helped me focus on something other that the pain for 20 minutes. Good luck to those that are going through this or thinking about it. I know there is always something way worse than an adult tonsillectomy, but this REALLY sucks!!!!
Hi, I’m 46 and female and I had mine out on 3rd of June. I’m on day 24 and I have no pain anymore but do get a dry throat. I know it feels like it will never end but I promise it will. The day 14 and onwards is pretty much right for it to start subsiding but the best thing you can do for yourself now is to eat solid foods. It seems lie the worst advice in the world but you’re throat gets worse if you don’t keep it moving. I was told to eat toast or anything quite rough so those scabs would come of instead of hanging around. If you don’t get rid of them it can become infected. I got infected two days after surgery and believe me you don’t want that on top of the pain. Please try and be strong and eat properly, it really does help. I hope you keep us up to date with how you are. Take care, Jane
I totally feel ya…how are you feeling now?
I am now on day 27 and I can eat whatever I want but my only problem that I’m having is my taste. I still have a horrible taste in my mouth and nothing tastes like it should. The ENT says to give it 6 weeks so we will see. I do miss the taste of food and drinks so I hope it comes back. I do still wake up in the morning with a dry throat but it isn’t really sore. It took awhile for my energy to come back. I didn’t really notice a huge change until the three week point. There are still a few scabs on the back of my throat. I never had bleeding and I think it’s because I drank a ton of water. I did read on this that people thought that day 14 was the time they felt back to normal but I didn’t. I think now I’m feeling like myself but not a 100%. If someone was to ask me if I am glad I did it I’m not sure at this point. I’m worried about my taste issue and whether or not it’s going to go back to normal. I think it’s still too fresh in my mind to make that decision. For me, this was the most painful thing I ever went through. I’ll keep everyone posted on how I progress. Many times people never post when they are better. People need to hear that it gets better.
I hear you Heathers, I am 39 and on day 10, I had a really rough go from the start up until day 5 when it was suggested I take 1 Aleeve every 12 hours and 2 regular strength Tylenol every 6 hours, It completely changed my recovery! To the point thaT I didn’t notice the pain from the scabbing only the tickle and trying not to cough. I was on morphine drip in the hospital over night and when I got home percocet every three hours until day 5, that is when my ENT suggested the Aleeve and my friend who is a pain management specialist suggested the rest. I did not use another percocet since and I am almost at the end. I am sure you are feeling okay now but of not ask your ENT if you can try what I call the Shirley Cocktail! All the best!!
Hi Heather,
Any relief? I am on day 6 and I’m losing hope that it will ever get better. It actually seems like it is getting worse 🙁
Well you just made up my mind I am 41 and doc just said we need to get these out and now after reading all of these that will be a big FAT NO way , I will stick with the antibiotics for the rest of my life . thanks for putting this on here
Hey I’m 24, healthy, and live in a big city. I got my tonsils & adenoids removed Thursday morning & posting Tuesday evening. I was wondering when did people start leaving their houses for a few hours comfortably? I’m typically a very independent & social person, but up until now even watching movies has worn me out. I wouldn’t drive on pain meds. However, knowing there’s a social light at the end of the tunnel would be nice. I just don’t want to push it too much & end up straining the healing. Thanks.
I left my house for the first time on day 10 and felt very dizzy and nauseous and had to go back home and rest. But day 11 and 12 I kept going out for short periods of time and only felt ready to be in social settings at approx day 15. Some of the not being ready also came from me not being able to talk at all until day 9 and then the fear of having bad breath from the scabs. Goodluck it’s almost over!
Hey, does anyone happen to have a photo of a healed partial tonsillectomy? I got a “full” tonsillectomy but noticed that there is lumpy tissue left. Am I being paranoid?im 21 days post recovery and I would hate to have to suffer with tonsil stones again after going through all that pain. Does anyone have this tissue or are you completely smooth? If you have tissue left, has it caused you any problems?
Hi, I don’t have a photo but my daughter had hers out when she was young and they left a bit behind. It’s been infected a couple of times since then and I’m talking she had them out when she was 7 and is 26 now so no major problems with the little bit that’s left. If there are no holes or crypts in the tissue though I’m sure you won’t get stones.