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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
Hello, I’m 20 years old and had my tonsillectomy 16 days ago. The first week was hell, and then some. The second week may have been even worse. Not because of the pain, but because of the blood. I lost about a cup of blood in 3 days. I was really worried and went to the hospital the first time I stated to bleed. The doc at the hospital suctioned out the clot and sent me on my way saying I was fine. The next time I was bleeding it stopped right after I got up and I only lost about 1/4 of a cup of blood. The next time I started bleeding, I lost about a half a cup and we tried to get a hold of my EMT. They never called me back so finally, fed up and thinking I’m going to die, I just went to my EMT’s office. He saw me and reassured me that I wasn’t going to die and told me that if I bleed again to go back to the hospital so they can recauterize my wound. He also told me that with the 20 something years he’s been doing the surgery, he’s never had a bleeder after day 14. Luckily I’ve been 3 days without bleeding, however I still have the blood taste in my mouth and think I’m going to die. Maybe I’m just paranoid now. I would never recommend this surgery to anybody. The worst thing ever. If I could go back in time, I would.
Hello. I am on day 7. What a horror! Im 32 yrs old. Never had so much pain!
I woke up with a cold this morning. What do i do now?
I sleep 1-2 hours a day. So soooo tired!
I’m on week 3. Still aches when I chew a bit, or sneeze. Talking a lot wears me out and I start losing my voice.
I’ve just had my tonsils out yesterday. Just found this forum today, kinda makes me scared of what is to come but at least I won’t be surprised! I can only talk in a hoarse whisper. So mostly I just don’t talk. I am finding that TOO MUCH swallowing seems to make the pain worse. Def talking does! I usually have my 2 yr old grandson but without being able to talk it would be hard to have him here. Was hoping he could come back by tomorrow or Thursday at latest but from what I’m reading it seems it will be next week earliest. Hopefully it won’t take more than 10 days, we have a 6 day trip to the desert planned on 9/10!
Hang in there Micki. 10 days is probably the minimum. If you must go to the desert, BRING A HUMIDIFIER!!
Sounds like a good idea for when we are actually inside but we will be all day actually out on desert launching rockets. Guess lots of water will be my friend! Actually it already is as I drink two 64oz containers a day usually. But with it being so painful to swallow I have drastically cut back..gues I better work on getting that back up there. Lots of yogurt, froyo, and slurpees so far but I cut out sugar months ago so now I’ve had more sugar in the past 2 days than I usually have in a month! That even aggravated the throat, too much sugar. I’ll go further back in these forums for more tips over next few days too. If I eat too much cold stuff that hurts too. Gotta find a happy medium
I strongly suggest that if you eat frozen yogurt DO NOT put toppings on it! Especially coconut flakes. Got pineapple froyo and put shredded coconut on it and it gets struck in all the places where I have scabs forming. NOT a good feeling!
BTW, I’m 50 yrs old
Me too kiddo. Let’s stick together. 😉
Suddenly I have white sores/spots on the side of my tongue, is this normal???
I’m on day 9. Still in so much pain. The main thing is hunger. I’m so damn hungry. I was prescribed one bottle of Difflam but I’m on my third. Ice pops are great. I’m drinking a lot of milk with ice in it for the protein to fill me up but I spend the next couple of hours feeling nauceaus afterwards. I keep a spit cup by my bed to constantly spit the excess saliva in to as swallowing it makes my stomach full of it which makes me even more nauceaous. It’s my birthday today, ugh. I just want it to end. I want to get some sleeping pills or something as I wake up three times a night. God help me I never want to see another spit cup again. Sorry to be moany but it’s 6am and I still haven’t slept. Buy 2 ice packs. Put one on your neck and when that warms up the other one will be ready to go with rotation.