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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
Im 30 now and had my tonsils out and it has been one week.
I had to spend one night in the hospital due to sleep apnea. I had pain right away, for the first 5 days I had two t3’s every 4 ish hours. I normally have a very high pain tolerance but this recovery sure sucks! Now taking two Extra Strength every 6-8hours.
I am just drinking liquids, cant eat food yet or swallow Tylenol. Vanilla pudding is my favorite so far. Anything with fruit is too acidic and I cant eat or drink it.
Decided to work the next two days, lets see how this goes!
I am limited to pudding, ice cream, slushies and water. What I would do for a rack of ribs or something right about now….
I just had my tonsils out this morning 5/30/17. And I feel great just feels like a bad sore throat which I had a lot of them growing up so this is really nothing new. I would a went to work today but couldn’t talk so decided what was the point. I basically sit at a desk doing estimates and quotes for printing jobs for people. I have only taken 10mg of the liquid pain meds they sent me home with 5mg twice. So far my experience hasn’t been a bad one. I even went back to work after having all my wisdom teeth out. I think I have a high pain tolerance. Good luck to any one out there that will be going thru this process.
Hi Zhentay- Thanks for posting. Be careful – Day one can be a bit of a honeymoon. Stay hydrated and don’t overexert yourself. Please keep us posted!
Sounds like me – I felt fine immediately after the procedure but got progressively worse. I’d recommend rest regardless of how good you feel. Be sure not to push yourself too hard in the first week as it will hit you like a tonne of bricks! All the best with your recovery.
I’m on day 14.. this is absolute hell. I just want to eat! as of the past two days it doesn’t hurt as bad and my dr prescribed me liquid vicodin and I’m trying not to call and ask for a refill just to see how I can deal with the pain. During the day it’s a solid 6 but everytime I wake up from a nap or just from sleeping at night it feels like I went to hell and back. I am 21 years old and it’s just getting. Ridiculous! I’m honestly not sure if I experienced the scabs yet because I have not had any bleeding or feeling of something stuck in my throat nor did I see any scabs when I looked at my throat (looked up pictures to know what I’m looking for) I’m slowly eating.. mac and cheese, mashed potatoes. I did a really soft cookie that I chewed up really good. Makes you realize how much you don’t really chew your food up normally. Also it does still hurt to swallow, right side hurts more than left. I’ve lost 7 pounds so far but I haven’t weighed myself for about 6 days now so who knows. My ear aches are bad. I got random times where everything seems loud. Talking seems Loud and I got some earplugs for when that happens. This is the end of my two weeks and starting on my third week tomorrow. When will this end?!
I’m a 21 yr old female, I had my tonsils out on the 1st of May. I had been having issues with my tonsils for about 1 1/2 years.
I didn’t read any online stories, I had a friend whom had a terrible tonsilectomy post op. She pretty much had the worst case scenario.
Waking up after surgery, I thought I was going to die. I was in so much pain. They gave me alot of morphine. I continued to be given morphine and tramadol till the next morning at the hospital.
Day 3 was hell. By then all the good pain relief has worn off. Could hardly talk the entire 2 weeks recovery. Then I had the ear ache on day 5 and that is very painful. The waking up in the morning and the 3 am wake up are by far the most painful. Drinking water and swallowing saliva is like swallowing razor blades. I also had huge trouble sleeping I couldn’t really sleep. I’d just take naps when the pain relief had kicked in then a couple hours at night and the morning if I was lucky.
I was fortunate that I didn’t have any bleeding. Probably bc I didn’t eat much at all. Pretty much everything tastes awful! I did eat sushi rice mostly and I had really odd cravings. I did also have to scoop food out of one of my wounds for about 4-5 days, it was disgusting.
I’m now just over my 2 weeks recovery, it still hurts to talk, sneezing is so so painful and to touch outside of my neck hurts. I’m still very exhausted I also think I’m getting sick with a cold/fever, due to the post op recovery.
Overall I completely underestimated the pain I would be in, I’d much rather break a couple bones again. I’m due to see my specialist in 1-2 weeks time. Good luck everyone else with this post op recovery!
I’m a 25 year old female, I smoke. I had my tonsils and adenoids out on the 8th May, I woke up in the worse pain I have ever felt in my whole life. And I have a good pain tolerance. I would rather have my wisdom teeth taken out again, that was a walk in the park! I took 3 endone tablets and nothing else. I recovered so quickly from it.
Anyway…
I had to see my doctor who also did the procedure 4 days after, so the 12th May 2017. He was really impressed in how my throat looked and that I could talk. He said usually patients aren’t like this until around day 10-12. He said it’s a miracle. Okay, I can talk, yes. I noticed on the Friday when I woke up how moody and agitated I was, I popped a 5mg endone. I’m suppose to take 1 tablet 4 times a day. I only took the one as I was on a war path with anyone who even just looked at me. Crazy, huh! This isn’t me I thought. Maybe it’s the lack of sleep and these endone making me go crazy. Day 7, 15th May I could hardly talk. Since day 1 the pain has been a lot worse first thing in the morning and when I want to go to bed at night. There’s lots of phlegm and mucus stuck in my throat and always traces of blood in it. It doesn’t look alarming but I am a little concerned. Today 16th May, 8 days after surgery I do not want to go to work this afternoon. I am so depressed I just want to sleep all day and forget the pain. It’s winter so it’s cold!