Tonsil Removal – Tips for Patients
Getting your tonsils removed can be a path to a better life. Perhaps, “tunnel,” is a better word. Whether due to chronic tonsillitis, strep throat, tonsil stones, sleep apnea, cancer, or all of the above, getting your tonsils removed will change your life. After having a tonsillectomy at the age of 44, I found very little support, understanding, or good information available to people considering tonsil removal, or recovering from a tonsillectomy.
For those reasons, I created this site for people considering tonsillectomy, or who have recently had their tonsils removed.
After having my surgery and subsequent recovery, researching, writing, and reading experiences of others, I’ve learned a bit about how to best go about this. Read all the other pages of the site, especially the comments posted. You’ll learn alot. Let me just take this one post to highlight the basics of tonsil removal, and recovering from a tonsillectomy.
Should I have my tonsils removed?
This is often a tough question to answer. I won’t attempt to answer it for you. If you have large cryptic tonsils like I did. If you get tonsillitis and/ or strep throat several times per year. If you snore at night-maybe you suffer from sleep apnea and you don’t even know it. I did. All of this, to me adds up to some compelling reasons to have a tonsillectomy. I did. I am glad. Talk to your doctor. Read these pages. If you decide to have a tonsillectomy, let me give you my quick and dirty guide to getting your tonsils removed.
A Note About Ear Pain After Tonsil Removal
A common side effect of having tonsils removed is ear pain. This phenomena is what’s called a referred pain. The actual source of the pain is the throat, the tonsil beds, more specifically. The nerve that runs along the jaw can refer pain to the ears. The best relief I know of for this ear pain after tonsillectomy is chewing gum. I recommend a sugarless minty gum. A warm compress can also relieve this ear pain that often follow having ones tonsils out.
If I were to have my tonsils removed again, I would…
-Take two full weeks off from work.
–Buy a good quality humidifier
-Talk with my doctor IN ADVANCE about pain management. Insist upon enough pain medicine to last ten days!
-Make sure I had a comfortable recliner to sleep in.
-Buy a good ice bag
-Begin icing IMMEDIATELY after tonsillectomy surgery and stay with it.
-Stock up on full seasons of good shows. (Medications make reading difficult)
-Begin eating as much as possible and continue eating as much as possible.**
** This is a big one. Eating after tonsillectomy helps ward off the nausea associated with pain medicine. But it also helps the healing process. The old, “use it or lose it,” idea. In the U.K. and Australia, doctors advise their patients to eat rough foods after tonsillectomy. In the U.S. this is not so common. Usually the soft diet is recommended. It’s what I did. After reading THOUSANDS of accounts from people all over the world who have had their tonsils removed, I have decided that the U.K. and Australian doctors have it right. Time and time again I read of folks saying that their’s was not such a bad recovery-much better than the accounts they’d read of. Nine times out of ten, those people were eating rough foods from the get-go, and stayed with it.
I think having that food brush by the tonsil beds regularly minimizes the formation of scabs. these scabs are what cause many of the bleeding problems as they fall off. The scabs also make it hard to swallow. wait, let’s say, “makes swallowing feel like a ball of razor blades going down your throat.” Ok, back to the list of what I would do if I had my tonsils removed again…
-Drink lots and lots and lots of ice cold water. This is huge! It reduces inflammation after tonsillectomy, but also keeps the throat moist and works the muscles of the throat.
-Buy a Slushie machine
-Talk to my family and friends and ask for their support.
-READ THE COMMENTS FROM THIS WEBSITE!!!
Whether or not you decide to have a tonsillectomy, I wish you the very best of health. Take care,
Greg Tooke
My short bio
I had my tonsils taken out six days ago. I am 40. Sleeping with your head elevated is a must–literally in a sitting position if possible. The ear pain is intense–way worse than the throat pain. Keep lots of ice available for soreness. My consolation is that it will all be over soon and I never have to do it again.
My best friend got her tonsils removed in middle school and that was an awful ordeal. She came to my house after eating a hamburger and when I checked on her in the bathroom there was blood everywhere. We had to take her to the ER and recartrize them, so I’d advise staying from rough foods. I’m talking to my doctor Thursday regarding my tonsils. I’ve had throat problems all my life, first starting with thousands of ulcers I would get in the back of my throat and constantly swollen lymph nodes. I’m getting horrendous tonsil stone now because my tonsils are swollen 24/7. I always go to the doc for a check up and he always comments on how red and swollen my throat looks even when I’m feeling 100%. So hopefully they’ll go through with removing them. I can only stand so much of hacking up a tonsils gone in public and then gagging. (Everyday).
Hi! I am 23 and just had my tonsils and adenoids removed 5 days ago. The “balls of razor blades” you feel when you swallow is extremely accurate. Although, I have found that making sure I kept my throat hydrated so it wasn’t dry did seem to help at least a little bit. I have done a terrible job of eating only because it seemed that I would get neasous afterwards and of course it hurt. It is worse then I expected it to be, and the main thing I suggest is patience. I had none at the beginning but I just had to step back and let my body heal at its own pace. Still have a ways to go, but this is article is definitely accurate and has a lot of things will help!
I had my tonsiles removed 12 days ago and i can say i almost agree with all of those tips! Except i wouldnt eat the rough food. I have a very low pain tolerance so i guess i didnt eat much of anything besides baby food, jello and over cooked pasta for the first week because everything else hurt too much.
I think the thing that bothers me the most being in the second week, is food getting caught in the holes where the tonsiles used to be. Its so irritating and it honestly hurts. But trust me, the pain does go away over time. At times its unbearable, but it gets better. Think positive, take your medication and become friends with your tv and recliner 😉
Having my tonsils out Tuesday, Feb 10th. AHH I’m scared… (ball of razor blades) OH MY GOSH NO..
Thanks for all the great reading material and information. I am definitely going to bring up the soft vs. rough foods to my doctor.
Well..off to browse through more of your site 🙂 Thank you!
I am 23 and get my tonsils out on March 10th…reading about scabs and “balls of razorblades” is freaking me out!