Advice please! Scared

Bleeding at this stage after a tonsillectomy is quite common as it's when the scabs start to fall off and sometimes the bleeding from that is a bit more than you'd expect.

If the bleeding is really excessive and needs emergency treatment - she's in exactly the right place to manage it. The hospital will have treated that problem thousands of times before and know exactly what to do. All parents are bound to worry when their child goes through something like this so it's understandable that you're anxious but your daughter a) will be fine and b) has her dad with her and is safe with him.

My 5 year old is due his out any day now and I struggle with anxiety at the best of times. Don't even know why I read this post but I do hope your little one recovers fast. Hospital is definitely the best place. Do update us when you can ❤️

Came here to sympathize OP. I am exactly like that and spiral when one of my DC's has a medical issue. In my case I believe it's a form of PTSD (first DS was a preemie, 2nd DS was in hospital for over a week with RSV as a baby). Whenever one of them has had to go to A&E in the past and I stay at home I go in to full Monica Geller mode and start a cleaning frenzy 😂. I am prescribed a benzo to deal with moments like this which luckily only happen every so often, maybe a few times a year (I refused antidepressants bc I am fine the rest of the time, its just when something like this triggers my health anxiety and I need to be there for my kids.)

I am sure most moms would panic over this, even the ones without health anxiety so don't beat yourself up about being scared. You are doing a great job trying to be strong when your dc is around.

Your dd is in good hands.

This is not the case anymore. It is now recommended that you drink sips of still water right up to surgery. It stops post surgery headache. The guidance changed quite a few years ago.
My child has had 5 surgeries in recent years and has been told to drink water.

Hope you’re all doing ok. If it helps, I had my tonsils removed in my 20s. I bled quite badly about a week later. It was scary at the time but was admitted to hospital and all was fine in the end. I’m still so glad I had them removed even though that happened. Recurrent tonsillitis is no fun! It is scary but she’ll be glad of it in the long run 😊

Hope she’s ok, and I hope you managed to get some rest too. 💐

Happened to me in my thirties , I was kept in one night for observation and given antibiotics.

Sounds like this has been handled perfectly. Sensible DH keeps calm and quickly gets clothes on and gets her to the hospital. You don't waste an ambulance which could be used for someone with an immediate threat to life. Your daughter gets medical attention quickly. Older child does not have to needlessly spend hours sat in a hospital and can still rest and get to school the next day.
Hope DD gets well soon.

I can’t google as it will send me in to a spiral - I have a strict rule about that when I am feeling this way. But I assume this happens and isn’t hugely unusual? I keep imagining her bleeding so much that she passes out.

Very sensible to keep away from google.

Your DD is with her father in the best place for her. You are doing a fabulous job as a parent.

This also happened to me in my late teens, I had too giant blood clots where my tonsils used to be, they where actually bigger than my old manky tonsils!!

apparently it’s normal, the pain was horrific! Rather than anything freezing cold, try luke warm drinks to sooth it, it was tea for me, but hot chocolate cooled to just above room temp might work. Anything freezing I would of fainted!

Parisianprincess It's crazy .my DD was 22 when they finally operated! It's a worrying time for you.she is in the best place though. NhS are very good .sending love ❤ xx

I do hope you get some good news soon OP. Try to comfort yourself with the thought that now she has had them out she won’t be prone to tonsil infections every winter, she will breathe more easily, sleep better and her breath will smell better.

Just to say little bleeds really common at this point! I had my tonsils out (as an adult) and basically they cauterise the area in surgery. At this point in recovery the cauterised material kind of peels off like a scab. There is a risk that, like with many scabs, part peels off and could pull off a little bit more when it comes away that wasn't ready yet. Hence a little bleed from that 'not ready' area. Just like when you pick at a scab on your hand that's partially peeled off and make it bleed.

That's why they advise you to try eat rough foods to pull the little bits off gradually, as the risk of pulling more off increases as the partially peeled away bit gets bigger. I also found that bit the most painful in terms of pain when talking as it dries out a lot right when scab comes off!

So 100000% right thing to get her to A&E ASAP to get checked isn't a haemorrhage, but please don't panic as small bleeds are super common, more so than the big.

I had a post-tonsillectomy haemorrhage when I was 24. With hindsight I don't think I was warned sufficiently of the probability of a haemorrhage occurring.

I'm glad they've gone in. I bled a few days after having my tonsils out. In my case it was an haemorrhage and I needed a blood transfusion. It sounds like a simple thing for your daughter so hopefully they can sort it quickly but she's in the best place to deal with it.

Just a hand hold OP. It will be fine.

My daughter was blue lighted to hospital with a post tonsillectomy bleed, it was a bad one and she was admitted and had to go back to theatre. At the time it felt very frightening. She was very unlucky as it happened again a week later. That time we were both more relaxed as we knew what was happening. I have to say that we do tend to be bleeders in our family. She was 18 at the time.
I hope all goes well with your daughter. She is the best possible place with people who are experienced at dealing with this.

I had my tonsils out 54 years ago, when I was 8. Recovery was straightforward, no bleeds although I was very sore.

Someone in my family had this happened and had to be admitted back so that he could go into theatre as a couple of stitches had opened. This was two days after the operation, not seven, so it could be a scab.

My daughter had a bleed a week after her tonsillectomy. Blood was pouring out, huge amounts of it. We called an ambulance and it took 45 minutes to come despite her being highest priority. By the time it arrived the bleeding had stopped, but the paramedics phoned the hospital who said she needed to come in anyway. They kept her in overnight and put her on antibiotics, they wouldn't let her eat or drink anything in case she needed surgery but she didn't in the end. It was all very dramatic and stressful but she was fine a day later.

I had my tonsils out as an adult and bleeding after a week or so is very common. It's when the scabs fall off bacically.

I had a very scary bleed on day 10 and was spitting up mouthfuls of blood, almost called and ambulance as per surgeons instructions but was trying to reduce the bleeding by chugging iced water and that was very effective so didn't go in.

I was told that about 5% of people have a bleed bad enough to be hospitalised (this is anything from a couple of tablespoons to half a cup depending on who you speak to) and then 20% of those need to go into surgery to stop the bleeding. I think he really it's better with children.

It all sounds normal recovery but you were right to go to hospital in ase the bleeding doesn't stop. It's a pretty brutal surgery.

Now you are at this point it should get easier for her. If only I've side has gone then it's possible the other side will go shortly too.

I woke up in the night swallowing blood 😩
It was a mild infection and cleared up quickly with antibiotics.

Hi, I'm a nurse. I used to work in ENT. post tonsillectomy bleeds aren't all that uncommon but I appreciate how scary they can be. There are medications that can be given to slow the bleeding and help clot formation. We most often used topical adrenaline which is very effective. Worst case scenario is that she will be taken back to theatre and it will be fixed there but that's highly unlikely for a small bleed. They will likely keep her in for observation for a day or two.

Try not to worry. You've done the right thing getting her to hospital. And sips of water are fine before surgery so don't worry about that either!

It's really not worth the risk 😕

This happened to us, on day 7. Straight to hospital. Whizzed straight through the reception the minute I uttered the words “post tonsillectomy bleed” by staff at 100mph (much to the annoyance of the crowded waiting room of patients spending hours waiting on plastic chairs/the floor/stood up for hours on end waiting to be seen!)
Was seen by a paediatrician, who consulted with ENT etc. Kept in for obvs for a few hours and then discharged as apparently it was just a chunk of scab coming off and causing some minor bleeding (didn’t feel very minor to me mind: absolutely terrifying more like!)
For what it’s worth that was the begining of things really improving. The next day she declared she didn’t need any more pain relief and seemed to “bounce back” really quickly and was pretty much back to normal.
Hang on in there @parisianprincess I know how terrifying it is, and how stressful and emotional your whole week will have been (I remember begging the anaesthetist to look after my DD and keep her safe!) the op and recovery are tough but I promise you the rewards will be so, so worth it xxx