How To: Quickly Recover from a Tonsillectomy as an Adult
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I had my tonsils removed Tuesday. Today, I’m mostly up and around (but still not handling computer work because mucking with live databases and codeine do NOT mix.) and active. Sure, I’m not talking much, but I’m also not in crippling pain. Not bad for four days after a major surgery…
First off: Yes, tough guy, you need your mother or girlfriend to come take care of you for at least the first week after the surgery. There’s no driving yourself home after this one. In fact, the hospital won’t even let you. I definitely needed the wheelchair to get out of the recovery room.
Ice. Lots of ice.
Make sure your icemaker is full and your ice trays have frozen over before you leave for the hospital. You’ll want all the ice you can get, and then some.
The biggest single thing that we did right when I came home from the hospital was to get ice on the outside of my neck right away, and to keep it there for 48 hours in a pretty constant stream. This managed the swelling (and therefore the damage) that was done to the tissue throughout my neck. You’ll want to put ice packs around your entire neck, not just on the outside of where the surgery was done; the surgery will make the back of your neck sore as well… and you really don’t need any more pain.
I sucked on ice chips in a constant stream for the first four days. The few times that I tried to push it and consume somewhat solid food (chicken broth, yogurt, or mashed potatoes) were unfortunate experiences.
Drink until your eyeballs float.
They tell you this over and over again, but let me reiterate it — get the coldest non-acidic liquid drinks that you can get, and pour them down your throat in a constant stream. No straws. I like cold gatorade the best. You should drink about 16 ounces of clear liquid an hour. Fruit juice was too acidic for me and burnt m throat. Ensure worked great as a coating, especially when I needed to take medicines.
Don’t sleep.
The most important thing right off the bat for me was not sleeping. Mom let me sleep for an hour at the most. You need to stay hydrated as your first priority. If you sleep, you can’t stay ahead of the swelling and you’ll get hurt worse.
Don’t skip doses of painkiller.
If you accidentally sleep through a dose, you’ll be in a major amount of pain. Don’t do it. Stay hydrated, stay awake as much as you can, and take all of your medications at the right times.
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I did it!!! I finally had my tonsils out last night and got a little sick but did not throw up. However today has been awful, my tongue is huge and my doctor used stitches so they are driving me crazy. I’m taking a liquid demerol (which is by far the greatest pain med i have ever had) and an anti nauseau medicine. I want to sleep because then I don’t feel the pain but then it seems like it is 100 times worse when I wake up if that is at all possible. Is it normal for my tongue to be swollen? It is also a little numb on the back right side. Og and icecream does nothing to help me. Water or warm tea is about all i can take and even that is excruciating
it’s official.
tonsillectomy scheduled for next thursday, the 18th.
this site should make me nervous for whats to come, but it’s actually rather comforting to know what to expect and how to handle what comes with it. i’ve never had any surgery before, but i’m not really nervous because i feel rather prepared, all from what i’ve read here.
i’ll let you know how it turns out on thursday afternoon!!
good luck to everyone else who’s healing!!
Wow, I wish I had read this blog before my operation. Hi everyone. I am on day 6 post op and I have experienced much of the pain and troubles as most of you. Like I said, I had my surgery 6 days ago. Day one was great, I kept thinking, “this isn’t bad” a few days and I should be back to work (I must have still been heavily medicated).
Day two wasn’t much different; I didn’t feel horrible, about the same as having strep. I was prescribed Lortab, Amoxicillin, and an anti- nausea medicine. Even though I wasn’t in too much pain, I did take my pain meds every four hours cause it helped me to sleep.
Day three, the horror starts. I think what went wrong was that I did not drink enough water. I would sleep for 8 hours with no water and wake up every 6 or so to take the pain meds.
Advice- DRINK LOTS OF WATER, I think that if I had drunk more water, the swelling would have not been so bad. I also wasn’t waking up to take more pain meds, so when I did wake up, I was in agonizing pain. Day four was just as bad, five and six; the same. Today, I went back to see the doctor cause I was sure something was wrong. He gave me a stronger pain medication, now Percocet, and some more antibiotics (I never really needed the nausea medication). My doctor had warned me before the surgery that most people recover in 5-10 days. Today he said it looks like I will be in the two week range.
The new pain meds have helped tremendously. The downside is, they make me jittery and I am not sleeping much. I am drinking much more water than I did in the beginning and I am hoping for a better day tomorrow and going forward.
I have two small children, so I decided to stay at a relative’s house post surgery. This was the best decision I made. I was able to get the rest I needed and my kids weren’t there to distract my recovery. My kids love to play with mommy and I hate to say no. So they stayed home with my husband so that I could get better faster.
Just as everyone else has said, I have had disgusting white, thick patches at the back of the throat which the doctor said are scabs. I have not been successful in eating anything but liquids the past four days. I tried eating mashed potatoes and a mashed banana yesterday, but it hurt like hell. One thing I have been able to eat is Campbell’s classic chicken noodle soup, luke warm. I put some saltine crackers in the broth and let them get nice and soggy. They were easy to get down and helped with the hunger. Here are my suggestions for a pleasant recovery:
DO-
Have a nurse (family member) near by the whole time if possible. Make sure you have something to write with cause talking hurts.
Drink LOTS OF WATER AND ICE CHIPS. The cold ice chips feel great when your tong and throat is swollen.
If you are a coffee drinker, have someone go to Starbucks and get you your favorite drink. After two days with no caffeine, I had a splitting headache. My grams went to Starbucks and got me a Venti iced Mocha with an extra shot and NO ICE. I put it in the fridge and drank a small amount every time I had a headache, it really helped. (No Soda, the carbonation makes you belch, and that HURTS).
Take your pin meds as described. Every 4 hours with no lapse. If you don’t wake up to take it, you will wake up in agonizing pain and then have to wait ½ hour before relief.
Don’t be afraid to call your doctor if the pain meds he described aren’t strong enough. Mine gave me Percocet today, Even though I hate the jittery feeling; it works much better than the Lortab.
Use an ice pack as much as possible in the first few days. The ice helps with the swelling and the less swelling, the less pain.
DON’T-
Rush yourself. Don’t assume that you will be a quick healer. If there is one thing that I am sure of, reading through these blogs is that people react differently and some take longer than others. Just assume that you will take the maximum amount of time to heal, that way if it’s sooner, you are lucky.
Try to do things around the house. Today, after getting back from the doctor and taking the first Percocet, I had a bunch of energy so I thought I would try some cleaning. After about two hours, I was in more pain than ever and I had to wait another two hours before I could take more meds. Just relax and get a good book or be a couch potato. Don’t try to rush it.
I hope you have found this helpful and please ask any questions! I have many more days of recovery and I hope I am through the worst…don’t learn the painful way, take everyone’s advice!!!!
Hi Tiffany,
First…you said OG doesn;t help, did you mean OJ? If so I would suggest not drinking anything citrus! Have you gotton lemon juice in a cut…OUCH. The acid can hurt the open wound!
Second, the swelling is normal so use an ice pack and drink LOTS of water it will help, I promise.
If the Demoral is making you sleep, have someone wake you up when it’s time to take the pain meds again. Don’t let the time lapse. Don’t worry about running out, your doctor will give you more if you need it. Hang in there!!!
Hi everybody and thanks to Stef and Sue for your advice and encouraging words! For Tiffany, I tried dtrinking luke warm rather than ice cold water and it’s helped me. Also, after a few days I was able to eat cold, white rice. At least it’ll give you some protein. Sue, be careful with the codein tablets as they DO contain paracetamol if it’s co-codamol. I’m on day 7 now and the scabs are definitely forming, when is the pain going away???!!! As so many of you’ve said already, the mornings are the worstbut I find that a mouth wash called Difflam (don’t know if you have it in the US) works better than most pain killers. Sue, I’m in jersey, Channel Islands, where are you? Paula xx
I saw my ENT yesterday, he said the tonsils have got to go. i’m scheduled for a coblation tonsillectomy on October 10th. He said that it is very painful, but the recovery time will be significantly shorter than with other methods. My husband is going to stay home for a week and take care of me and the kids, and my mother in law is going to come down to help when he goes back to work. overall, it should go pretty smoothly. I’m ready to get these things out of here.
Good luck Kris, souns good that they’re trying out a less painful method! Did anyone of you experience fever after the operation? I keep getting hot flushes and it’s seven days after the surgery. It’s very mild fever but I’m still a bit worried… Any advice? Thanks guys!
Thanks Lori. I have no idea what I was talking about as far as the OG goes. I must have been pretty high on all these drugs I have to take.HAHA It does hurt to swallow anything including spit. This is just awful for me..Im a talker!! Also I have a hard time not being in control of my household so I was up tring to help my husband clean the house and do laundry. Not a good idea, since i am seeing little black dots everywhere. Hopefully this gets a little better. I guess I will go try and catch a nap. Good luck Kris
Oh one more thing…for those of you that said the lortab doesn’t work I strongly recommend Demerol. It is a liquid which is nice and it is related to morphine so this is about the only good thing so far!!!
Hey its me again…Paula my doctor said anything over 100.4 degrees needs to be seen. Are you on antibiotics? I would probably call the doctor if I was you, I haven’t had any fever this far.
Yay Tiffany! You got it done! I know it’s hard, but just try to relax and take it easy. There will be plenty of time for housework and such
Paula, I agree with Tiffany. I would check with your doctor about your fever. It could be a sign of infection, and you don’t want that while you’re trying to heal.
Kris, good luck with your procedure. My doctor didn’t offer me the coblation method. I don’t know if it was because he can’t do it period or because of my particular case, or what. I know that certain methods couldn’t be used with me because my tonsils were very infected and had to be removed completely. (I’ve heard there are some procedures that simply reduce the size of your tonsils, which wouldn’t have helped me.)
i am post op day 9 and finally feeling human again. i am 28 and had my tonsils out on a wednesday. the very next morning i was in urgent care for dehydration and a horrible headache and pumped full of liquids and pain meds, since i was so dopey the day of the surgery i kept falling asleep with a bottle of water in my hand, instead of drinking it. things were ok after that. i was eating some solid foods like pancakes, french toast, bread, mashed potatoes by day 4, and the pain was starting to dissipate, but i was still mostly on milkshakes, popsicles water ice and waters. i did try to just take tylenol so i could go back to work by day 6, but day 7 i woke up at 6:30am with severe hemorraging on the left side and ended up in the er and pumped full of liquids and steroids to stop the bleeding, then to the docs, then back to the hospital for another surgery to recauterize the left side. i went home and 4 hours later i ended up back in urgent care for another horrible headache(which i now think was from the anesthesia and not from dehydration)and pumped full of liquids and pain meds. day 8 was much better, no pain on the right side and a little from the second surgery on the left the day before. i think my tongue hurts worse than anything because i think they cauterized it too. today is day 9 and i feel a lot better. my voice is coming back, some of my taste buds are coming back and i feel much stronger. i am still on mostly popsicles and clear liquids, for fear of more hemorraging on the left side(there was so much blood i was terrified), but ramen noodles are quite tasty and slide down the throat just fine. other than some slight pain on the left side of my tongue and when the left side gets dry from sleeping, i feel pretty damn good. thank god, my bridal shower is tomorrow. i was hoping to be back to work 3 days after the surgery, but its now about a week and a half and i still have 2 more days home. at least i will be able to enjoy my bridal shower. i was scared to get the operation done from reading other peoples experiences, but went through with it anyway, and if all goes well and i am sick less, than it was all worth it. the hemorraging was just a complication of being an adult when having it done and i was fully aware of the fact that it might happen. all in all, i am glad i had it done, no more infected huge tonsils. well worth it! my suggestion is taking a few days off and playing the rest by ear. if you need the full week to 10 days, then take it, rather than get sick later…
Melissa,
My goodness, sounds like you’ve been through the works. Makes my recovery sound like a walk in the park LOL. Good to hear you are finally feeling better!
Today has been an icky day. I’m disappointed because it’s, what, day 17 or something like that? It’s been so long I’ve stopped counting the days. I just feel swollen and really sore. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still eating, talking, etc. It’s just miserable. Nothing horrid, just nagging. I thought I’d be past this by now, but I guess it does take a while…
I wonder if it’s because last night was the first night I slept laying down?
i had my tonsils out on the 11th of this month so i am yes on my second night at home i found grape gatorade and very cold water to be helpful i have also drank slimfast althought like was said before the milk did make a layer in my throat that i had a hard time dealing with. I also had the inside of my nose scrapped at the time of my tonsils being removed so i dont know which is worse right now my nose bleeding like crazy or this constant feeling of flem in the back of my throat that wont go away. i only took a week off work but i am thinking i will have to add to this due to the fact i am home all day with my two kids and i refuse to take the pain meds but i am ontop of my anitibiotics i have been sleeping in my husbands relincer last night and will again tonight soemthing about feeling like i am drowning in blood doesnt soothe me very well. Big reason i refuse to take the pain meds well for 1 i cant afford them and second i applied for a new job jsut before i had this done and i dont want to take ones a friend is offering me (same as what i was prescribed) then get the job cuz they do drug test then ill be up a creak and no paddle any suggestions for what to do but like i said i am home all day with my kids and cant afford to be loopy? I’ll keep you posted on my recovery thanks and i wish i would have found this site before hand although it would not have made me change my mind on getting this done. I had cronic tonsilitis one year in high school i had it 10 times and jsut now at the age of 31 got them out i must be crazy!!! hehe
Michelle, if you have a note from your dr. stating that you were on pain meds, as long as it correlates with what shows up in your test, they shouldn’t be able to hold it against you. Noone should have to go through this without pain meds. Call your dr. to make sure, but I’m sure if you explained everyone would understand.
i have the script but cant afford the meds i have an old bottle of lortabs not outdated but i can use those but then again my youngest is 22 months and i cant focus if i am on meds. my throat hurts still a lot and my nose fianlly quit bleeding. i swear i feel my stitches in my throat my dr said they are the ones that disolve so how long will that take cuz i feel like i have something stuck in my throat and it is annoying!!
Hi All
This website is a godsend. I wish I had found it pre-op!! Anyway, I am based in the UK where my surgeon saw me for the whole of 2 mins before the surgery and told me I would have a “sore throat” for a few days. Yeah right, if that’s what he classes as a sore throat!!
I am now on day 12 after surgery and can honestly say it’s the first day I have felt “normal”. I still have pain in my throat and my ears are very painful. First few days upto day 10 were the worst, especially days 3-5. I was sick through lack of food and over doing it with meds on an empty stomach. I started trying to eat normal food as soon as I could and yes it hurt but it helped my recovery. I didn’t push myself, if I couldn’t eat it, I wouldn’t. Your body will tell you what it can handle. Milkshake and ice were my best friends. I drank and drank water until I was ready to pop, but it helped and yes it hurt, but in the long term it helped!
Anyway I have a couple of questions. Seems a lot of you have been prescribed anti-biotics after surgery?? all I have is the pain medicine. Is this normal here in the UK??? Also, I am off work for 2 weeks, but still don’t feel well enough to go back yet, so may take some more time off. I still feel very dizzy, not able to drive yet and talking hurts.
I am sooooooo longing for a normal night out, but am scared that alcohol and crowded places might do more damage than it’s worth. Have any of you experienced this? I am craving for spicy foods which I keep dreaming and fantasising about (sad I know). I would appreciate any comments on it. Many thanks.
For all of you who are going under soon, please remember, water and ice is the way forward.
Lots of love
Aarti xxx
Hi all,
Tomorrow will be a week since the op and I’m feeling weak. Two days ago I spit out a large clot (size of a pound coin) and last night I had a bleed I knew nothing about until I brushed my teeth and spat blood out in to the sink. I notice after a while it clotted up and this morning it looked normal. Just hope I haven’t got an infection.
Stef: Poor you. I can’t belive that things are back to normal with you after all that time.
Paula: No these are Codeine phosphate not co-codamol and I’ve found they really chill me out as well as kill the pain just what I need when I’m frustrated at eating in pain. Also I live in Chesterfield.
Take care to you all. x
Sorry stef……..NOT back to normal!
well i took some pain pills last night i slept better but i feel like crap today i feel like i outside of my body i dont like this feeling therefore i wont be taking that anymore ill jsut deal with the pain
Sue,
Yeah, me too. Like I said, it’s not terrible at all. Today I haven’t even needed to take over the counter pain meds. It’s just annoying! If I had to use one word to sum up this whole experience, annoying would be it.
I did hear that it takes adults a loooong time to get back to “normal.” And then what is normal? They removed a part of your body; it’s going to be different forever.
i had repeated infection 80% very bad,
but talked to my sweetheart of a doctor whom was running out of ways to treat this reoccuring issuse,
well 9-11-08 is was go time, i know much pain will be there for me and it would be some time before my next steak dinner. but less than 24 hours after i was rushed to the er due many systoms of danger i couldnt figure what i did wrong, i had issuse my frist step into my home nothing when down no matter how small was pushed up threw my nose and exited there, well after spend days on deaths door in hospital i awoke {THANK THE ALMIGHTY GOD FOR THIS} to be completely choked off from air and breath seems that a 4inch by 4 inch piece of cotton medical gauge cut off my neck which the nurse try to say was i giant mucus plug was any one here told of mucus plug giant or other wise??? well i did believe for the moment as grabbed it to flush it away, the next morning two more pieces 3 1/2 inches long and 3/4 of a inch wide come out in front of wittnesses and it was medical gauge
the doc said it may have been melt away medical gauge but its days later and i still have aonther piece in there that has to be removed any body any insite any thing close?
any body agree doc try to kill me?
my age 42, was perfectly healthy before this operation
i hope it never happens to another person ever
Aarti-
I was put on a one week course of antibiotics after my surgery as a precautionary measure. Here in the U.S. I think it’s routine for most people to be put on antibiotics.
I would stay away from spicy foods until you know you can handle other foods first. You will be amazed how good you feel, eating all kinds of things (FINALLY), and trying something spicy for the first time (ouch). The new flesh is still very tender, and you need to take it slow for a while. I know what you mean about craving it though. I don’t even like spicy foods and I was craving things like salsa, chili, etc. in the worst way!
Also, I don’t know if you are still on pain meds, but stay away from alcohol until you are completely off of them!
I hope you feel better soon, and you’re able to take another week off of work. I sounds like you need it.
Aarti –
I got mine out on the 4th and I went out (hard) for my birthday this weekend. When I woke up the next morning, my throat still somewhat hurt, but not as much as my hangover lol. I would stick to beer since shots definitely burned my throat a lot more than usual going down.
i’m going today for an ENT consultation — have had throat problems my whole life, was recommended to take out my tonsils at age 15 (am now 33) but didn’t do it. i don’t get strep, but i get colds/flus about 6-8 times a year, ALWAYS starting with soar throat and ALWAYS ending with laryngitis, lost voice, etc. I also have tonsil stones all the time which is extremely annoying. i’m not sure if this warrants the surgery though. Does anyone have any experience with this? if the surgery will get rid of tonsil stones and reduce frequency of throat problems, it might be worth it. otherwise, judging from teh amount of pain you are all describing, i’m not sure if i want to go through that!
–sarah
Jeanne and Steve
Thanks for your comments. I will see how I get on, but definately need another week off. I am starting to get stronger each day. Have halved my pain meds now, as they were making me sick! Steve, glad you had a good birthday. I will probably wait another 2 weeks or so before I go out as I love my wine too much!! Things are looking up though, apart from some soreness and earache.
Aarti xx
I have a doctors appointment tomorrow to see if I need my tonsils and adnoids removed. I’m certain the doctor will tell me I do (since surgery is a main source of income for them) so I was hoping people might give me some advise. Here’s what I’m dealing with; I get tonsil stones once in a blue moon (followed by the dreaded bad breath), soar throats periodically, post nasal drip that burns the roof of my mouth, and it usually feels like somethings stuck in my throat. Should I get the little buggers removed or not? The pain from the surgery seems hideous and my problems aren’t bothering me THAT much, but I’m worried about it getting worse as I get older.
Tonsils out 8/11. For anyone that’s older (I’m 43) the recovery time is much longer. I was on here the week before I had my surgery and was terrified by what I read. For those of you reading all this before you have your tonsils out just know that everyone has a different recovery. Mine was a nitemare but, at least I knew ahead of time was I was getting into. It’s nice to know your not alone. Stuff still taste funny but, slow it’s getting better.
For anyone that is used to having tea/coffee with caffeine on a regular basis make sure you get your caffeine somhow or you will have a wicked headache. After the third day I sipped iced tea during the day and the headache went away.
Great site. My ENT wants to take mine out at 45. I’ve been fighting throat related illnessed my entire life. My tonsils are now pretty much in a pure tonsilitis mode… aka cronic tonsilitis. I appreciate everyone’s experiences.
I’m nearly two weeks into the operation ( had mine out on 3rd Septemebter at the age of 30). I still can’t face the thought of hot tea or coffee. The thought of it makes me feel sick and have replaced it with chocolate milkshake!! As a Brit, I quite miss having a nice cup of tea! anyone else suffered the same??
Oh my word – I so wish I hadnt read some of the posts on this site. I am having my tonsils removed next week and am terrified. At 35 doc has warned it will be painful and he said I should stay in the house for 2 weeks to reduce risk of infection and will probably need about a month of work.
Definately going to stock up on ice and milkshakes and hope to be able to add another post in a few weeks reassuring future victims that the op is a walk in the park.
Thank you
Ewww! I ate a snack cake a little while ago. I just went into the bathroom for my nightly peek into my throat. I had food stuck in the holes where my tonsils were! I gargled and ate a few crackers to try and dislodge it. The right side is good to go, but the left is still icky! It doesn’t hurt or anything…I would have never known if I hadn’t seen it.
I guess that’s what I get for looking in there. The doctor warned me never to do it, but do I listen? LOL I really want to make sure that everything is healing up OK (so far so good, scabs almost 100% gone).
Does anyone else’s food get stuck in there? If so, what’s the best course of action? I’d hate to hurt my throat by bothering it too much, but at the same time I don’t want to leave it in there.
Stef,
I’ve not noticed any food getting stuck in there. Can’t you use your finger? Or tweezers?
Lauren,
How did you get on at the hospital? Are you going to go for it?
Aarti,
I’m fine with tea. Are you not able to eat?
xxx
Sue
Yes I am fine with food. Just cannot drink tea or coffee it makes me sick. Even the thought of it makes me nauseous. A bit like being pregnant, only I am not!
It is the sixth day since my surgery and I am so sick of not just being able to wake up get ready and still feel great. My throat is not to bad but i just feel EXHAUSTED!!! Does anybody else feel like walking up the stairs is enough to warrent a nap? Yeaterday was supposed to be the worst day everybody has said but I actually didn’t think it was too bad until I had to take my little boy to urgent care and he decided to run all over the office so I had no choice but to pick him up and then it was pretty much downhill from there. I started to feel really sweaty and just yucky all over. By the time my husband got home from work he walked fight into my emotional breakdown:( He definitly got the short end of the stick on that deal. So needless to say I am getting extremely frustrated with not being able to just take care of my kids, even attempt to pick up my house, and make dinner! I’m hoping that I will be ok by Saturday because we already had to postpone one of my little guys 3rd birthday last saturday. Well hopefully everybody else is doing well and good luck to those of you that haven’t had the joy yet
Oh one other thing…does anybody still experience numbness anywhere on your tongue?
Oh Tiffany, poor you!!! Yes it is exhausting. I was going to sleep for 2 hours twice a day during my first week. Just felt so exhausted and out of it. Body felt weird and doped up (as though on illeagal drugs!!). Your body is telling you to rest and thats the best thing to do. Yes numbness on your tounge is normal. It’s where they clamp it during the surgery. Feels awful I know. Hope you feel better soon and remember, don’t over extert yourself, rest rest rest. You have to!
Ok, today was my day.Went in at 8 came home about 1ish. Right after recover…I thought damn….if this is it, I can do this….well that was the pain medicine still working. As then night goes on I am getting sicker and sicker…nauseated etc.And, yes I have been drinking and eating popsicles. Stay tuned, have to go lie down.
Hi Everyone! I was just told today that I have to have my tonsils removed in two weeks. Its not the pain I’m scared of, but being put under. Any idea of what it feels like to be put under? I’m 23 and never had surgery before so I’m pretty terrified. Any advice?
Ashley – First things first — I’m not your doctor, and this isn’t medical advice. If you have a concern about being put under, then you should share it with your doctor or with the anestheseologist, who will usually introduce himself to you before the procedure after you’re already in the hospital gown.
Usually they make you fall asleep first with a drug like Versed, and then they intubate you and if they’re going to use gas at that point they’ll start you on the gas that keeps you asleep during the procedure itself. The drugs they use definitely vary depending on what other medications you’re taking and you need to either bring the names or the actual prescription fact sheets of any other drugs you’re taking (including things specific to women like birth control) and any vitamin supplements and/or over the counter drugs that you’ve taken recently or that you take regularly.
Really, it feels like you’re just kind of dozing off. They’ll usually shoot the drug into your IV, and then ask you “Are you feeling sleepy?” and once you say yes to that, they’ll then have you start counting to ten … I don’t think I remembered past three.
Sue,
I tried both a Q-tip and my fingers. I must have looked like a fool in front of the mirror haha. In the end I wussed out and couldn’t touch the area way back there. It was OK though, I gargled a bunch and it came out. I’m pretty sure it happens every time I eat and (obviously) goes away on its own. It just freaked me out.
Ashley,
I was just the opposite of you. I’m not scared of being put under at all (after 10 surgeries I guess I shouldn’t be), but the pain of the tonsillectomy scared me the most
This time, since I was so nervous, they gave me Versed first. They call it “liquid courage” LOL. It calms you down so you aren’t scared and so you don’t give a damn about what’s going on around you. They told me beforehand that I probably wouldn’t remember much past that point. I remember some, but it’s fuzzy. Before I knew it, I was waking up in recovery.
If you don’t get the calming stuff first (the last few surgeries I had, I didn’t need it) it’s a little different: you’ll actually remember going into the OR. First they will hook you up to monitors so that they can make sure you are OK during surgery. They should tell you exactly when they are giving you the medicine and what to expect from it. (For example, they told me I’d feel a warm, tingling feeling as I nodded off.) In my experience everything went really fast after they actually gave me the IV drugs: I was unconscious within 10 seconds.
Unlike sleeping, it feels like no time at all passes while you are out. It’s like you are in the OR, and then you blink and you are in recovery.
Remember that I’m just telling you about MY personal experiences. It can be different for everyone. Please talk to your doctor and/or your anesthesiologist. They know that it can be scary, so they’ll do their best to answer any questions and reassure you.
Did you have yours done by coblation?
I had a laser tonsillectomy 5 days ago due to cryptic tonsil. My surgery was postponed a few hours because I had drank 3 sips of iced tea on the AM of my surgery. You will need to have an empty stomach or they will cancel the procedure. They will insert an IV and the anesthesia will burn (not severely) for about 2 seconds. Then it’s lights out. I walked out, slowly, 45 minutes after I woke up. Have someone drive you to/from the appointment! I was able to stroll around the drugstore while waiting for my perscriptions, but I was exhausted and fell asleep as soon as I got home. The first day you will want to sleep. Day 2 and 3 aren’t so bad. Day 4 you will probably start to feel worse. DRINK! I had a hard time drinking anything, and my kidneys started to hurt. Stay away from citrus, try gatorade watered down, with ice. I am going into day 6, and I have developed thrush from the antibiotics. It’s worse than the tonsillectomy pain. My mouth is raw, and nothing is going down with the lump in my throat. I have been perscribed with a medication to swish and spit for the thrush. I have no doubt that I will get better, but it will be a rough couple of days! Still, I don’t regret it. Tough it out and it will payoff.
No, I didn’t have the coblation.
Hey everyone. I just had a bright idea. If you want, you can go to my web site http://www.myspace.com/stefstice and read all about my journey through the tonsillectomy. I had my first ENT visit on August 15, and most posts after that are about the tonsils. If you don’t mind some foul language and some very opinionated posts, (I’d say my blog is rated R) you’ll get a kick out of it
I was very honest on not only how it felt physically, but what I went through mentally.
I really hope nobody thinks I am trying to steal Karl’s thunder. I think Karl did a fantastic thing by writing his post and then letting all of us comment on it and talk amongst ourselves. There is no way I could beat that. I’m just trying to give ya’ll a little insight on what I went through.
I know the web sites that I appreciated the most were the sites that featured honest people that spoke candidly about the experience. Especially THIS web site. Thanks Karl.
Whether its because you want to learn as much as you can or because it’s like a train wreck and you just can’t look away, I know a lot of you out there (me included) want to find as many sources of information as you can.
Hi all. JUst wanted to up date you all as this may help someone to see “the end of the tunnel”… I am on my 12th post op day today and I’m feeling so much better! I can almost eat normally and I only have a little bit of pain compared to before. I sleep through the night and I no loner take any pain killers so for all of you who are on day 1, 2, 3 etcetera there is an end to the pain!!!
However, the last 7-8 days I’ve been feeling very dizzy and I have problem focusing visually as my vision is blurred. I’m assuming that I have low blood pressure but I’ve never had it before so it’s freaking me out a bit. Can anyone advice on this…? What do I do, is it normal????Thanks, I appreciate it! Good luck to eveerybody who’ve planned their surgery, it’s worth it!
Ok, day two for me. I had to get off here yesterday because I literally had to throw up (day one of surgery). But, before that, I truly didn’t feel as bad as I had prepared for. I guess it’s a good mind set to go in…preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. Because, although I am in a lot of pain today (had my surgery yesterday)I can still get up and around. And, I truly don’t feel as bad as I thought I would. I am using a neck cold pack, trying to get liquids down, but today is harder to do that because I can feel the swelling is worse then yesterday. But, ice chips are good and I had some tea so far. But, I was worried about having a huge tongue, having it scrapped, not being able to talk at all, losing my taste buds and bleeding bad and throwing up. These are things others have experienced on here. And, to say the least I feel very lucky…right now anyway. I truly feel bad for the ones that these horrible things have happened to – how terrible. The worst for me is the meds makes me nauseated and it hurts to swallow. I talked more yesterday (the first day of surgery) then I can today…hence more swelling today. I’ll keep you posted and good luck to all of you and the guy that goes in tomorrow (Thursday).
One last thing, I wanted to brush my teeth so bad last night (day one of surgery) so I put some toothpaste on my finger and rubbed it around my teeth, that helped. And, today..I went ahead and have brushed twice already with a toothbrush (because your mouth will feel like someone crapped in it lol) just do it slow and very easy, just to refresh your mouth. Seemed to help my throat open a little better too..for a moment anyway. You have to use your own discretion on this tip because if your tongue was scrapped or whatever, you may not feel up to that. The next option is gum, plus it’ll keep your throat wet while chewing it.
Hi Paula. I am dat 14 into surgery and stopped taking my meds a few days ago. I am feeling a whole let better too. Still some pain, but nothing compared to the first week. However I am still feeling dizzy too as you also mentioned. I think it still must be the anesthetic. I was reading websites today on anesthesia and one bit said it can make you feel a bit dizzy for months, sometimes takes upto a year to come out of your system. It’s just what I read, but obviously depends on each individual. But I know how you feel as I do feel dizzy and wonder how I will get on with driving. Best of luck.
Lisa,
What method did they use to remove your tonsils?? I’m getting mine out Oct 30th.