r/Tonsillectomy

Not at the same time, obviously.

I’ve had a tonsillectomy. Was awful. Ate ONLY vegan vanilla pudding for a week.

I am going to get my lower wisdom teeth removed and people around me are saying the lower ones are awful to remove. As in pain n other stuff.

If you’ve had a tonsillectomy and lower wisdom teeth removed: Which was worse?

I’m trying to see what i should prepare for pain-wise 🧍‍♂️

I have officially reached one year post operation and I wanted to share my experience and even through EVERYTHING, if you need it, get the surgery. It was worth it.

I got my surgery done at an older age (27F) so I was aware that the pain and complications are more of a risk than the recommended younger age. It’s been an ongoing battle since 2014, but the years coming up to my surgery date was progressively worse. I was suffering with tonsil stones, cryptic tonsils, tonsillitis for two years straight, sinus infections every month, and my adenoids caused sleep apnea. I was beyond nervous because I was never put under anesthesia and I was worried about hemorrhaging. Luckily I would consider my recovery “easier” than most of the horror stories on this sub. The first week was the only time I did sob out of pure pain, but it subsided going into week two. I couldn’t talk for a few days and my soft palate did drop significantly (what was left of my uvula rested on my tongue for days) but even with the worst gag reflex known to mankind, I was able to push through and not vomit. I didn’t fully “recover” until two months later and l’m still working on eating spicy foods because it’ll still burn my scars.

Helpful Tips:

- Take note of how much water you’re drinking. You want to stay hydrated and consistently drink. If your scabs stay wet, the less likely they will try to peel prematurely.

- Don’t push yourself to talk. If you can’t talk yet, there’s no need to put pressure on your vocal cords and throat. I used my notes app for help!

-Sleep elevated so there’s less pressure. If your adenoids were blocking your breathing like mine, you’ll feel like you can smell colors.

-Don’t look at your throat if you don’t need to. I saw the cauterized flesh and I was terrified seeing the black/grey skin.

- Your breath is gonna STANK. Brush your teeth if you can but you’re not gonna get the smell/taste of burnt out of your mouth until you’re healed.

-Liquid extra strength tylenol will be your best friend and you better put alarms on your phone so you don’t miss the next time you need to take your antibiotics and pain meds.

Weird Stuff I Wasn’t Ready For:

-My uvula is basically gone. I watched it progressively go away as my soft palate rose back up, tightening all of the skin. There’s just a little bump there now but I know she’s still with me in my heart.

-My voice changed! It’s not significant but my voice is lower and less nasally now.

-I can hear SO well now. I didn’t realize my tonsils were pushing in my ears and muffling everything.

- I have an autoimmune disease diagnosis now. After three months post op, I never felt “fully healed”. Fatigue, fainting, joint pain, face rash, etc. My body was so focused on fighting my tonsil related infections and illnesses, that when the issue was gone, I started noticing that something didn’t feel right and after many months of bloodwork and seeing specialists, I have a diagnosis and now I can focus on taking care of myself in a different capacity.

All in all, it was an interesting year, but I would still recommend the surgery if you’re suffering. You’ll feel so much better afterwards.

I am post op day 7 EOD and have still not experienced the peak pain everyone is saying on here, that is supposed to come around this time. I have been super on top of my pain meds and when they start to wear off (especially on days 5 and 6) I have decently intense ear pain and pain swallowing on my right side.

Throughout this process I’ve been in a comfortable, bearable state on my meds, today being the best day so far, little to no pain at all and I am not taking opioids anymore. It is still uncomfortable to talk after a while so I try not to and my tongue is swollen on the right still

I am so scared that the crazy intense pain is going to come out of nowhere 😭 i have been drinking a lot of water. The wounds in the back of my mouth still have that white coating and are frothy/foamy inside.

I have not really noticed much “scabs falling off” or really felt that. The left side is definitely further along than the right. Does this mean I haven’t reached that point yet 😬😬

My scabs are maybe starting to come off? I wondered if maybe that was it, but it’s awful. I’ve been looking at the surgical site a few times a day with a flashlight in the mirror (something I got very good at due to the tonsils existing previously) and it looked mostly fine, but the pain has gotten worse/deeper over the last day or two (like, crying pain, and I have a pretty high pain tolerance usually) but today I noticed it looks weird? Like, the scabs look funny, and I think kinda greenish in spots? And now it’s bright red around them when previously it wasn’t. I’m a little worried it might be an infection. Also my ears hurt and are really itchy. Is this normal? Should I contact my doctor? I think I’m supposed to be going in for my post op exam sometime in the next week or two, but it’s starting to worry me a bit. My ENT prescribed me hydrocodone for the pain but it doesn’t seem to be working all that well, especially in the mornings. I have two humidifiers running and I’ve been chugging more water than an AI data center, plus keeping the area cold as much as I can. Ice packs on my neck/throat only help ease the pain a little bit. My scabs don’t seem to be coming off very much though, I thought they were supposed to be falling off more by now, but I’ve only got little reddish spots on them.

I could just be anxious about all of it, and I’m writing this at 1:30am, but I thought I’d ask since it doesn’t seem to be improving at all.

19M - My throat swelled up so bad after day one. I've been waking up every two hours at night half-delirious. It hurts to talk and to swallow. I've been having to crush up my pills since my throats's so swollen.

I've been distracting myself with lots of video game playthroughs on YouTube since haven't had the strength to play myself. My dog hasn't left my side since I got home from surgery, she's been such a good little buddy. I have a week off from work to recover, but I'm almost sure I'm going to need longer than that.

Day 1 post op was magical, I'm glad a had an okay day before I got run over by a bus. My one saving grace is I haven't been in unbearable amounts of pain, especially if I don't swallow. I've been popping Lortab like candy.

I'm so tired. I hope this post is coherent. Shoutout to all my surgery buddies, I love yall.

Hey guys, hope you’re all doing well!

Quick question for anyone who’s had a tonsillectomy

When were you able to start eating normally again?

I got my tonsils removed on April 6th. The first couple of days were painful and my mental health was definitely poor, I felt like I would never feel like a human again.

I want everyone to know that it gets better! I went to a metal concert 11 days post op, went in a mosh pit, and yelled along to my favorite songs with zero pain or consequences.

I sleep like a baby every night because I'm no longer being suffocated by my tonsils. My voice has changed for the better and my quality of life has already increased significantly.