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How long does it take to recover after tonsillectomy?
Tonsillectomy recovery time is unique for each patient. The recovery timeline for children is much shorter than for adults, with seemingly less pain. My own eight year old son was back to his old self in less than a week after his tonsils taken out. This may have fanned the flames of my unreasonable expectations of my own recovery time as an adult. His was fairly typical of a child his age. Children’s bodies heal faster than adults’ do.
Tonsillectomy Recovery Time
What to expect after tonsil surgery
The timeline for recovery for an adult is a different story. Age matters. In fact, it appears that the older an adult is at the time of their tonsillectomy, the longer the recovery is, in general. Based on my own adult tonsillectomy recovery, and the stories of thousands of my readers, I’d put the average adult tonsillectomy recovery time at approximately 10.43 days. Yes, I’m that good!
Humor aside, ten days seems to be pretty typical. I added the .43 because so many people, myself included, thought they had it licked and went back to work around day ten, only to find they weren’t quite ready. As scabs slough off in second week of recovery, many adults experience a bit of a pain relapse, just as they thought they were almost recovered. This is a really tough period for many. They’ve spent almost two weeks with minimal sleep, minimal nourishment, minimal activity, and lots of pain medicine. It can be downright depressing for adults recovering in this second week.
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I do hear from many adults whose recovery times are closer to a week – perhaps due to my good advice, perhaps due to genetics. It’s hard to say why some adults’ recovery timelines are shorter, and their experiences less traumatic. There are also cases that drag out further. If you’re one of a small minority that requires re-cauterization for bleeding, or don’t take the proper precautions, (many of these are outlined here and in my book), your tonsillectomy recovery time may be as much as three or four weeks. I want to make an important point here- one that I cannot overemphasis: Stay hydrated! Keep drinking fluids! Dehydration is the worst enemy of the tonsillectomy patient.
My advice: ask your employer, your family, your friends, and the rest of the world to give you two weeks for your adult tonsillectomy. You may surprise them, hopefully for the better.
Recovery is unique to each individual- sure. We know that recovery time for adults is longer, and maybe harder, than for children. I remember my own son bouncing back in less than a week! My own experience taught me that ten days off from a job that required lots of talking was a bit light. I generally advise two weeks. As I’ve said, most employers will let you come back early. That’s easier than asking for more time after the fact. I’ve read the accounts of thousands of tonsillectomy patients- most of them adults. I’ve learned that the time required varies. I wonder though, how many tonsillectomy patients never really post about their experience.
Are you one of those quiet ones lying in the weeds? I’d like to get a better feel for the average adult tonsillectomy recovery time. Please take a moment and share your own experience in recovering from tonsillectomy surgery. You can help us all!I’ve put together a collection of items that I think would be helpful, if not essential, to making tonsillectomy recovery a little more pleasant. Check out the Tonsillectomy General Store.
-Greg Tooke My short bio
I am 26 and on day 5 of my tonsillectomy and I have to say apart from the pain on one side of my throat and what feels like earache I have been getting on ok. Pain killers are working wonders, although have ran out today so off to docs to get some more! I have been using a hot water bottle for the pain in my ear, sleeping propped up with pillows, making sure I’m drinking plenty of water and most of all keep swallowing, because apparently your saliva is what heals you faster. I have been eating solids since I got out of hospital on day 2 which is also good for you as helps with the scabs. It’s not a nice op to have but all I keep thinking is no more tonsillitis 🙂 🙂 :)..
Hey Lauren this Wednesday will make a week for me since i did tonsillectomy. Im in a lot of pain my throat feels like its on fire and its stinging and burning. Any ideas for why this may be any advice you can help with ? Im a 24 yr old female. Thanks so much in advance
Aneika.
Hi Aneika!
Well you’ve done a week! I’m now on day 13 and I’m back at work and back to normal! As you are between day 6-10 there will be some discomfort and pain. Are you drinking lots of water etc? When I hit Day 6 I had awful pain due to the scabs coming off and I couldn’t drink ice cold water but had to change to luke warm water (boiled water cooled down), that helped a lot . I believe that the reason you are in pain would be because of the scabs coming off and new skin underneath, keep drinking fluids and try to eat as normally as you can. I know it’s hard but I didn’t have soft food at all, I powered through as it helps so much in the healing. Make sure you’re taking your painkillers at least 30-40 mins before eating as that’ll help too! Ice packs are also good to hold on your throats with the pain! It gets easier I promise, hang in there! Lauren xxx
I hear prescription lidocaine helps although I am past the burning phase and used ice SHREDDED TO SNOW CONE CONSISTENCY because it requires NO SUCKING and just comfortably and soothingly melts AND HYDRATES 🙂 Also, once the stinging’s gone it’s still nice and can be flavored with a pinch of powdered drink mix although too much flavor can sting again so go light at first. I’ve also learned that any surgery can TRULY take an AVERAGE of ONE YEAR to completely heal (American Academy of Otolaryngology.) I am age 47 and on week four – been in college and active since week two but paying dearly for it… feeling nauseated daily. I had some light bleeding that seemed to stop during week 2-3 but after reading this article tipping on “recauterization” I believe I will go back to the surgeon (who said I looked great after 2weeks) and see if he’ll see me again (free due to surgery follow up) and make sure all is closing properly and that it’s not blood swallowing that is making me nauseated. I will also hydrate more due to this article and must say that this procedure was LONG OVERDUE because I did not know the power of seeing a specialist vs my regular family doc; who said and I am paraphrasing “everything looks ok…most patients just dig out the tonsil stones is all. We can TRY a specialist but I don’t believe removal of tonsils will be approved.” Apparently my tonsils were hideously infected to the point of deterioration! Also: please please patient/reader; stick to the soft foods for 4weeks minimum. It really is very tender for a very long time and taco lovers like myself need to be tough and go for the super creamy bean/cheese burritos for quite awhile. God Bless.
I am a 21 year old female and I am on day 8 of my tonsilectomy recovery. On the worst days, days 5 and 6, the healing process felt slow and like it would never end. Thankfully, on day 7 I felt minimal pain. Today I feel almost no pain at all, just a little discomfort when swallowing or when I speak for too long or too loud. I found that ice packs on my throat and on my ears were an absolute live saver. I took several hot showers a day and the steam felt wonderful. Also definitely recommend a humidifier. Slushies and water were the only things I could swallow for days, the ice from the slushies felt amazing on my throat. Easily the most painful experience of my life but I believe it is worth it to no longer have tonsillitis multiple times a year.
I’m a 34yo female and had the tonsillectomy on 9th Jan 2017.. So I guess I’m upto day 7 today. I’ve had ups and downs with pain but mostly just battled with boredom. The days seem to last forever and I tend to load up on the drowsy painkillers so I can just sleep through the whole experience! One tip I can suggest that helped me a lot was putting an ice pack or ice cubes on the outside of my neck to soothe/numb the pain.
I’m 48 now had my surgery on December 29th rough road. My Birthday was January 12th that was my two week mark I still have trouble in my throats feels like hair or something is in there. I’m going to hang in there. Reading your post I wish I had did the ice packs when I did it was on day 10 I’m just happy there is a end of this tunel.
Hi. Have read a fair few of the comments and experiences here, including yours Kate, and i just want to say thank you.
It is my wife who is going in for her surgery tomorrow, and because of my own anxiety condition i can’t be there for her so for me there is a lot of emotion just hoping she gets through the operation (i worry a lot, and my wife has sleep apnea and asthma so there are risks involved, even though minor.)
Once my wife (age 33) returns home ……..yes, i am being positive here……we are hoping that the recovery falls into the category of the least issues possible. I am worried about bleeds as i can’t just get my wife to the hospital, and neither of us drive or know anyone who can help. Not being able to cope in a hopsital myself it would destroy me having to leave her to deal with complications alone so the better the recovery can be, the calmer and stronger i can be in my supportive role. Have made a mental note of a few tips, and no doubt my wife will be given advice when allowed home.
Will post more if and when necessary.
All the best to anyone who is still enduring the effects. There is a light, and for some this arrives quicker than others.
Over view if you dont want to read all.
1. Pain meds made me sick use doramamine to help with nausea
2. Invest in a pill grinder so you can have pills ground up in apple sauce. (Apple sauce hides the flavor ask doctor before grinding up certain pills)
3. Freeze gatorade in ice cube trays to be ground up into small ice chips. They are great for extra flavor and coolimg your throat.
4. Use your ice pack 24/7
5. Invest in a cold mist humidifier
6. Sleep with head propped up
I am on day 10 post op and am almost nearly back to normal. However there are some thins not quite normal yet. My throat feels tight. I still cannot open my mouth as wide as I used to be able to, but I feel that will come with time.
My recovery was a miserable wreck, but was over as quickly as it had begun. Most people say that day 1-3 are fine and they are able to do normal activities, however for me I was unable to do anything and that even included talking. For about the first 7 days I said maybe 10 words. The fix to this was a used a handy dandy app on my phone that i typed into and it spoke for me. The pain the first couple days was so bad I could barely swallow my liquid pain medication. Day 3 I started spitting out the top layers of my scabs. Once day 4 came around taking medication or drinking anything gave me the stabbing pain of death because my scabs had begun falling off.
The pain medication made me nauseous so to counteract that my husband would give me a doramamine ground up in apple sauce. I would swallow that and follow it with my pain meds.
Most people say stay hydrated, but I couldnt bare through the pain to be able to drink water. The doctor said I could have childs tylenol on top of my pain medication, I was unable to swallow it because it was too thick. The fix to that was to mix it with water. I would take my oxycodone and 2 hrs later the tylenol if i was in pain. 2 hrs after that I would take another dose of oxy. I always had ice chips close by just in case the pain wont go away. It seemed to numb the area quite well sometimes, it would also help clean out any apple sauce left over back there.
So seeing as I wasnt able to drink or eat anything and my recovery was still quite quick in comparison to most I would have to say it was due to the fact that I bought a cold mist humidifier and started in my house 3 or 4 days pre op. By the time my operation came around my house had already been being “humidified” for a couple days. The other part is I slept on my back with my head extra propped up. I used the ice pack supplied by the hospital 24/7 all the way through day 7. I froze gatorade in ice cube trays and would blend those up into ice chips for extra flavor, that only lasted about a day or 2 until it burned to bad to drink gatorade.
All in all I lost 16 pounds… that is a lot for me I am 5’8″ 130 lbs now.
I forgot to put I am 28 years old
I’m a 32 yr old and on day 4, almost to day 5. I don’t know what the deal is, but this easy peasy! I don’t want to jinx it and I heard that the scabs falling off is painful…but this is only about 50% as painful as the last round of strep (with abscess) that I had. I wish I would have done this years ago! To everyone reading the horror stories, keep that PMA (positive mental attitude)! Haha I hate that saying, but it’s working for me! For everyone in misery…I wish you a quick recovery and am praying I don’t start to feel that way. Just think – no more strep or tonsillitis ever again after this!!!