Tonsillectomy Recovery (Page 1)

man i just had my tonsils out a few days before you, so i'm still recovering. i'm 20. my pain was moderate. i don't know if they told you but normally about after 5days and your feeling pretty good the 6th day sucks. it was true for me, don't know if it was for you.

the scab thing really weirds me out. for me its like i will feel it almost hurt a little, and feel something trying to be swallowed, but takes a few times til its loose

hope this is helpful

my scabs as of now are going away, and i'm starting to see more pink than white, which is encouraging. how are yours doing?

i'm 18 as well and had my tonsils & adenoids out on the 31st of july. it was an emergency because i had another abcess forming and i had tonsilitis as well. (not the best senior year in the world haha)

i'm almost up to 2 weeks now. the whole scab thing is pretty gross... if you feel it coming, you may be able to spit it out, but usually you swallow it and die a little for a second because you realize how nasty it was (it doesn't hurt, but it's kind of disgusting to know what you just swallowed). after the scabs come off, your throat will be a little raw, and a little bleeding from day to day will occur (nothing major...unless you look back there with a flashlight, you can't really tell). it stings a little and my ears and neck are pretty sore as well, but they have me taking percocet which helps tremendously. tylenol isn't bad either, but at night it's easier to take the more powerful ones so you don't wake up in an intense amount of pain. eating and drinking stings a bit for a few days after the scabs fall off, and your throat will still have a little bit of white in the back, but nothing like the scabs. it might be a little pink/red and swollen from irritation.

eating soft food isn't as hard as i thought it would be, especially with the scabs gone. sometimes food gets stuck back there, but you can drink to flush it out with water or even "suck" it out.

i really hope you're doing well!! i promise you, when you're almost at two weeks you'll feel so much better. just drink a lot. it actually feels better to swallow after constantly drinking.

hope this helped you out!
-erin

i am 18 years old and had my tonsils out almost 2 weeks ago. omg it was one of the worst things i have ever been through. the pain was terriable!!! i am on day day 11 and my scabs still havent came off and im still barely eating anything. can someone tell me if it gets better when the scabs off?? im so hungry!!!! lol im so ready to feel normal again! the pain isnt that bad anymore. it still hurts a little to swallow and my ears kinda hurt... well if anyone has suggestions please let me know

I'm glad to hear that your recovery has gone so well. Being 18 is an advantage over us old-timers. (At 44, my recovery was horrible!), an most people lose those scabs around days 7 or 8.

Good luck to you!

Greg

I had a tonsillectomy a year ago. It took me 2 full weeks to recover and get back to work. Since then, I've started a website to help folks considering or recovering from a tonsillectomy. I took an informal survey last month. 70% of respondants said more than 10 days were needed.

Hope this helps.

Greg

what is the URL of the website?

I am 19 and had mine out last Tuesday. My ears hurt and it still hurts to swallow. I've been taking my antibiotics and tylenol regularly, and the scabs have begun to come off. I haven't noticed them in the process of sloughing off, I just notice the next morning that the white patches have been steadily decreasing in size. I am on day 8, given that I considered the operation date day 1 haha. So far pain meds help immensely in swallowing anything. Soup and small bits of chicken have been endurable, but mostly it's been pudding and applesauce for me! Hope all is well with anyone experiencing recovery. Remember, as painful as it is now, it only gets better! Even if you have a slip-up day, it means you're one step closer to the 2 week recovery day...be strong!

okay so ive never blogged before, but then again ive never been in so much pain. Its day four for me, and I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. Im almost 19 years old, and college starts again jan25 (exactly two weeks after surgery). Anyone wanna let me know what week three feels like?

So far i've vomited every night.. so i've woken up in so much pain due to the pills coming up with the vomit. My doctor says some people just dont do well with the surgery. ANyone experiencing this?

and i feel your pain! Im sooooo hungry! I just want this to be over with!

Hey i'm on day 10, and I vomited the first night, taking the antibiotics with the tylenol was a horrible idea. I went thru hell the first few days, like you. But don't worry, day 6 feels better, and day 10 feels amazing compared to day 1. I go back to school soon and I understand an anxiety to recover. try to take ur meds, pain killers and antibiotics, at separate times. Also, drinks tons of ice cold water...gatorade made me throw up for a few days, but now it's all I drink. Anything freezing cold will make it sooo much easier to swallow. I had soup on day 7 and that went well. keep cold water at ur bedside b/c u dont want ur mouth to dry out by morning, b/c mornings are the worst for me! other than that, jello, pudding and applesauce are the only friendly things for another week.

drinking juices rich in vitamin C, like apple juice, will help you out, and the water is extremely helpful.

don't worry, it'll only get better! and just think about all the pizza that'll taste amazinggg by the end of week 2

anyone know when the scabs fall off? like what day?

For all of you scared of tonsillectomies, just ignore all the inevitable negativity above this post. I just got my tonsillectomy yesterday, it's day 2. I'm 15, and so far, the only thing I've ever felt was a bit of an ache in my throat. I've been on codeine and ibuprofin. I was terrified of all the internet horror stories, but please, listen to me: Tonsillectomies aren't as painful as people say they are. Just look forward to the surgery and abuse the care that your friends/family give you, since they think you're 10x worse than you are.

I have heard between 6 and 9 days....Hang in there...You will be better soon...Take care...

Caroline

I just got my tonsils taken out five days ago...and so far the most painful day has been day 3. Granted they have all been painful (between 8-10 on the scale), day three I had the worse headache of my entire life! I was told it was probably from the anesthetic I recieved during surgery. I'm not sure, all I know is not even the pain meds could kick it...it was making my stomach turn. I haven't been able to open up my mouth wide enough to see the back of my throat, so I'm not even sure if my scabs have started to come off or not. But I'm not sure I can stand anymore pain than I am already in.
Does it hurt anyone else to yawn???
Probably the most pain I've ever been in and I am dying to feel normal again!!! NOt being able to talk for three days, and now only being able to take at a whisper in small intervals is killer. I've come to the realization that this is the most depressing recovery process...not being able to communicated and feeling isolated sucks! This is going to be the LONGEST 2 weeks ever! :/

believe me i know exactly what ur going through! at least u dont have nausea like me and were vomiting up to day 5! not to scare u but today is my day seven and day 6 was pretty bad for me. the insides of your ears really start to kill, but ice packs help SOOOO much!

I fur getting sick of Tv.. bejeweled game on facebook has become my obsession lol

I hope you start feeling better! looks like were about in the same spot! Don't waste ur time trying to look at the scabs they're so gross!!

only about 5 more days to go! We're halfway there!

I am on day 6 and I started bleeding last night. I haven't noticed whether the scabs have started to come off yet but since the bleeding I can't get enough water because it feels like there is sand in the back of my throat. Also my tongue was all white yesterday and this stuff kept coming off of it and now where the stuff came off there are blisters any thoughts on this?

guys!!! thanks for all blogs n messages!!!it really a relief to no u guys r out here feelt the same pain but are now doing better...i had my tonsils removed last monday n am now on day 8 ..was feeling really good on day 2 n 3 but then it was hell!!! pain like never before n i still suffer from nausea n vomitting...i cannot eat a thing without vomitting..everything has a weird gross taste i can only manage to drink i found that grass jelly helps cool down the throat...my scabs weird me out n it feels like a ball in my throat...disgusting feeling like a perpetual finger in the mouth making u wanna constantly throw up...hope my scabs get off soon!! especially wanted to thank u all for the messages n support..it was what got me through really bad periods during this past week..thanks a lot everybody!!

My son, aged 19, had his tonsils out on 1/14, so he's now 15 days post op. Did really well in terms of minor pain and was able to eat soft foods every day starting from the day of surgery.

Pain has never been a major issue, although he is takin liquid vicodin several times a day. Did really well for the first week and then got bad ear aches.

Scabs don't seem to be coming off within the normal timeframe of 5 to 10 days. The scab area is no longer green, but is now white with some small veins of red in the white patches. The patches are the same size as before.

Searched the web a lot, but can't find anything to help say if his healing is slow or not. Anybody out there know?

I'm 32 years old and had a tonsillectomy/adnoidectomy on February 5. I have no comparison to what kids go through, but this seems pretty painful. The first day, I got sick from the anesthia. My recommendation would be to wait about 5 hours after you get home from surgery before trying to eat. (When I got home, I was quite hungry and had an Ensure, which I vomited up right away...eww.)

What others have said here I have found true: the pain is inconsistent and I'm unable to foresee it. One minute, I feel almost normal again and then I reel backwards and have excruciating pain again. Last night, I became pretty constipated (sorry for TMI, but it's important!) Apparently, this is common with the lack of movement/activity combined with the drugs for pain. So be sure to eat fiber (think oatmeal!) when possible along with all that water we're supposed to drink.

I had an issue two nights ago where one part of my right tonsil suddenly formed what looked like a giant (larger than a pencil eraser) blood blister. After checking with the doctor, there was no need for alarm. Normal part of healing, I guess, so don't worry if you see the same/similar. It's only when the blood is running (like a bloody nose) that you should worry.

Today is day 6 post-op for me, and I tried to only take tylenol today to no avail...back to vicodin for me. But the good news is that I think the scabs are getting smaller. I see more pinkish areas appearing, even though there is quite a bit of white gunk left.

Foods that seem to be okay for me to eat are oatmeal, scrambled eggs, cream of wheat, sherbet, popsicles, cup noodles, and milk. I also had some sweet tea which was lovely on the throat...highly recommended! Just be sure to NOT add lemon.

Hope that this information is helpful for somebody out there. I know I did a lot of research before my surgery date and reading the testimonials helped prepare me.

I'm a 30 yr. old mother of three. I had my tonsilectomy Feb. 5. I had a great first two days with minimal pain (granted I was on codeine every three hours).

I've been eating soft foods since day 2. Days 3 and 4 were harder, but today, day 7, was just as bad as any. My pain has increased, especially in the ears. I'm back on regular meds and it hurts to talk.

I'm desperately waiting for those scabs to come off. I've probably been pushing it when it comes to foods that are okay and wonder if that's why I'm in so much more pain today. For some reason the back of my tongue has become very raw and sore and I'm wondering where that came from. Also, I feel like I'm inflamed deeper in my throat and that has me a little confused too. No BM since before surgery and I'm wondering if that's okay. Just impatient and sick of this recovery taking so long. And I feel like I've had it pretty well, all things condsidered.

I just had My Tonsils taking out on Monday, now its friday.. and im Going THRU HELL!!! Im soooo ready to be normal again, It hurts so bad to swallow anything, Havent eaten anything because it hurtsss sooo bad! Cant really talk either everytime i cough or sneeez it hurts SO bad!! Its like constant something in ur throat all the time... Is two weeks what it really takes then wa la normal?

Had my tonsils taken out Feb. 8th. Thought I would be back at work by Feb. 16th. Boy was I wrong!! I'm usually pretty good with pain, but this has been pretty rough. Much like everybody, I've had good days and very bad days. This page has been so very helpful since all seem to be going through the same thing. Thanks so much for all your comments. I've been trying to wean myself off pain meds, but when that pain hits, I give that up pretty quickly. Guess, I better settle in for the full two weeks. That seems to be the going rate. Sigh!

i just had my tonsils out last tuesday, ive been in nothing but pain. today is day 5 and ive lost 12 pounds. im scared of day six, i was able to talk today and my throat is doing the white healing thing but anytime i eat my throat feels like its screaming with pain then it travels through my ears the only thing that helps is an icepack on my throat, i start my first day of college monday and its now saturday and im throwing a bbq for my boyfriend and were also going to a hookah bar friday? do you think my throat will be feeling better by then so i can enjoy the food?