Top 10 Tonsillectomy Recovery Tips
Though I’ve added to the initial 10, these are my top tonsillectomy tips for anyone preparing for, or recovering from tonsillectomy surgery:
- Drink cold fluids
- Continue to drink cold fluids
- Drink more cold fluids! This is perhaps the single most important tip to make life easier while speeding up your recovery period.
- Get a good cool air humidifier and run it all the time in the room you’re in. Consider having more than one for the primary rooms you’ll be spending time in.
- Don’t worry about sleep. Forget the normal time convention. Sleep for short intervals, preferably in a recliner. Sleep can be your worst enemy. Sleeping a few hours in a bed usually results in a dry throat that hurts like crazy. It can take almost an hour to get the pain back under control.
- Keep a written log of your medications as you take them. It’s easy to forget what you’ve taken and when. If you would have problems that require help from the doctor, it can come in handy.
- Plan ahead! Stock up on items you’ll need ahead of time for your tonsillectomy recovery.
- Take something with your pain medicine. Carnation Instant Breakfast or Ensure will at least provide a base in your stomach and reduce nausea.
- Drink ice cold liquids!
A few bonus tips for better tonsillectomy recovery time:
- Plan some minor events. Even a simple event like a walk or a bath can take your mind off the discomfort and help your mindset during tonsillectomy recovery
- Chew sugarless gum. When pain gets referred to the ears, and it often does, chewing gum can ease the ear pain. It also keeps the swallowing process active, which many believe aids in tonsillectomy recovery. A warm compress on the area can also relieve ear pain.
- Ice! Whether it’s a high-tech ice bag or a bag of frozen peas, applying ice directly to the throat and neck is a great way to reduce inflammation and take the edge off of break-through pain. (thanks Kate!)
- Those are my top tonsillectomy tips. For a detailed daily checklist, check out my upcoming book.
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 Recovery General Store.
Some Extra Tips – After Tonsils are removed:
- It’s REALLY important that you drink. I know it’s almost impossible at times, but you must. A trick I used was to use Cloraseptic (sp?) numbing spray. (There’s also a lollipop your doc or pharmacist might know of)- to numb the throat a bit. Then I’d take the medicine. Once the meds kicked in (1/2 hour?), then I’d try to eat. My favorite foods at first were Jell-o and creamed soups. (sweet potato or broccoli by V-8 were good)
- You must keep drinking it helps your throat heal and keeps you hydrated. One gal, a nurse, said she went to an emergency room and demanded IV fluids. Wow! Maybe not such a bad idea!
-Greg Tooke My short bio
I would urge anyone reading this, to get fully checked out before surgery.
What do I mean exactly? Well, get your bloods done. Check for platelet count, iron and also check to see if you have any past history of bleeding in your family ( eg, did your mom have trouble with losing blood during any child labour? ).
I bled out a lot during my surgery on Friday (20th sept 13 for my tonsils ) and they are now sending me for a blast of blood testing, including a von willebrand screening. They reckon my blood doesnt clot as fast as normal blood.
Get yourself pre-checked for surgery to avoid any complications. This will ultimately lead you to recover much faster and tackle any surgical errors should they arise.
If you’ve never been under the knife, this pre-check will save you lots of worry and you’ll know you are a suitable candidate for good surgery with a quick recovery.
Pre-surgical checks are vital and I’ve learned my lesson the hard way. I’ve lost lots of blood and feel horrible, which is making my recovery that much harder. Also, I would avoid any septoplasty surgery. The septum is very weak, and even after a year now, if I even try to clean my nose, my septum sometimes tears away from the center of my nose. This may have to do with my blood disorder, but in general, problems with your septum are most usually cosmetic and dont block airflow. If it aint broke, dont fix it.
Gosh…I have upcoming 3 surgeries this coming Oct 24, one is tonsillectomy , number 2 is myringotomy and 3 is septoplasty ALL AT THE SAME TIME …..I’ve read all your comments and updates on tonsillectomy alone …I am scared to death now to do it…any suggestion maybe I will just do the tonsillectomy after my 2 other surgeries are healed.
Shaved ice was nice and fluffy, cooled the throat. I added flavors later on.
Anyone care to add another top tip?
Hey Greg, just wanted to throw my thoughts into the mix. For me the ice cream thing was highly overrated, for me it was hard to eat, I think I found it too rich. But one of my best friends brought over a couple of cartons of raspberry sorbet for me and that was awesome going down my throat. I would just let it sit out say 20 minutes or so to soften up and it tasted so good and like goldilocks it was just right. I found popsicles too cold are hard to eat and as I said the ice cream was too rich so sorbet it was for me. Also I enjoyed apple juice, and cheese omelets. Good luck to everyone out there!
Hey Maureen- Thanks so much for that GREAT tip! Nice to hear from you. Take care
Hi Greg! These look great and are definitely very helpful for anyone facing a tonsillectomy. I would just add that ice packs on the neck are a life saver! I got a couple large flexible clay-filled ones and swapped them out for each other–whether it was first thing in the morning or the middle of the night, they really helped keep the pain manageable.
Hi there, and thank you. I believe I’ll add that as #12! Take care!