Tonsillectomy. Has anyone had one?

[Usernameinvalid16]

I had an appointment this morning that confirmed i will be getting my tonsils removed due to tonsil stones (finally!) after nearly 2 years of gp visits i am over the moon! I will have to stay overnight incase of complications or blood loss.
Has anyone had them removed?
What was it like to eat/drink afterwards? How quickly were you able to get up and get going? (i'm expecting to feel like shit for a while but dd has nursery in the morning) Will i be able to take her to nursery?
When can i drive again, 5 days?
What about jewellery?
Sorry for all the questions, they will probably go through all of this on the day but i would like to be prepared. Thanks

I was 21, had mine after several years of 9 bouts a year and it affecting my degree.

At hospital I felt fine. But I was up to my eyeballs on morphine. Wouldn't let me put until I'd eaten something, but I had no difficulty with that.

At home, the 1st night the bleeding started, and made me feel very sick. It eased off when I sat up, but the moment I tried to lie down I was flooded again. At about 1am my mum was about to take me to A&E, but it finally stopped.

The pain was the worst thing. Swallowing was impossible for the first week and I barely slept. Ironically, crisps were better than ice cream, as the scratching of my throat felt good!

Week two I felt much better and tried to make a nice salad for lunch. Huge mistake. Fresh tomato spices burned like hell, so did the vinegar in the dressing. Shouldn't have tried either of those!!

Anyway, after recovery about a month later, I had the usual symptoms of tonsillitis, minus the closed throat, and went back to the docs in confusion. No bugger told me you can still get the same level of infections. I get a lot of sinus and ear infections instead.

For me it hasn't been worth it, and I wouldn't put myself through it again.

I wasn't fit to drive for 4 days afterwards because of the bleeding stopping and starting all the time. Also the pain was incredible, but I wasn't able to take codeine then as it made me vomit. NOT something I wanted at that point!!

I'd organise your mother for the nursery run, be kind to yourself and give yourself a day to see how you are going to react.

I had mine out at 27, the recovery was much worse than I expected but the results have been amazing!!

My advice:

• get yourself some liquid calpol (and be warned the pills they send you home with are large and difficult to swallow)
• wake regularly at night for pain meds but also to not allow your throat to go dry - the night time pain was the worst!
• stay away from dairy heavy products immediately after (i.e. ice cream) - it made my throat feel very "claggy"

I hoped to be back at work within 2 weeks, working from after after 1 week but grossly underestimated the post OP pain/recovery and ended up taking 2-3 weeks I think.

Good luck!

Had mine out when I was about 18, 50 years ago and my sister had hers out at the same time, she was 22.

The next day we were both able to eat the same food as everyone else was having, so as far as hurting goes, no I didn't find it painful at all.

Being so long ago we were kept in hospital - unnecessarily - for about a week and I remember our being told off by the ward sister one morning for making too much noise when we were playing snap in the day room .

I had mine out when I was 5 with no hassle at all . DS had his out a few years ago when he was 17 , it was touch and go whether they would do him because he was at the start of another bout of tonsillitis ( was constant) but they went ahead , he was ages in recovery , was discharged at 8 pm and then I had to take him back at 1.30 am as he was bleeding heavily and he was readmitted for IV ABs . He was told not to mix with people for 2 weeks post op but was fine after about 5/7 days . Post op complications are much more common in adults .

I had mine out at age 29. I thought it was excruciatingly painful, and instead of improving day by day it gets worse and peaks around 7-8 days. I got an infection though and then had a secondary haemorrhage on day ten which was scary. I was on IV antibiotics and a drip and was whiter than post-birth.
Sorry but you asked !
And I still get yellow ulcerated throats.

Dm will help with the nursery run. I am expecting it to get worse before it gets better, i don't like strong painkillers (i don't like the way they make me feel) so will stock up on soluble paracetamol.

Had mine done in my 20s. First thing I asked for when I came round was toast. it does hurt, but not unbearable, take regular pain relief. When back home I found crisps the easiest to eat, couldn't stand soft foods.

Good luck.

Gargle with the soluble painkillers before you swallow them too, that's what the nurses told me to do. Good luck x

Worst thing I ever did. I have more problems now and even less space at the back of my throat than I did when I had the tonsils and infections every month.

Having them out as an adult is much worse than having them out as a child.

I was in hospital for three days and had an infection that made me cry for a week, it was agony.

If I could turn the clock back I would'nt have had them out.

I had mine out when I was around 14, best thing ever. I had tonsillitis about 7/8 times a year. You have to eat toast before they'll let you out, you need to eat hard foods at home and loads of ice cream! It's uncomfortable for a week or so after, but in terms of swallowing etc, no more painful that having tonsillitis

I had mine out as an adult. I was in agony for two weeks afterwards. Struggled for 4 or 5 weeks after that and was not totally right for over 6 months...but mine were huge and suspected cancerous (although thankfully not) and I was very poorly before having them out. Been so much better since though!

It hurt like mad for a few days afterwards (Voltarol suppositories were my friend!) but it was one of the best things I ever did. Colds used to knock me out for days because my throat would close up, I couldn't attend social events because I'd get so ill and I missed loads of school/university/work days because of colds. I was at the end of my tether when I saw the ENT consultant and was so glad when he agreed to operate.

MrTCakes I don't think you can due to risk of infection. Though if you did, you throat would be VERY SOAR. Having a tonsillectomy is like having a really bad soar throat, with the added pain.

Did any of you guys teeth hurt after a couple days after the operation? My teeth were in excruciating pain! When I took a bite, it felt like my teeth were having a bad migraine.

Sorry to hear that memy. I had my tonsils out when I was 13 (and I can still remember the pain).

My son had his removed at 21, he didn't stay in overnight as he was last on the list in the day surgery unit he was offered a bed in a ward but wanted to go back to his flat as it was his friends birthday and he didn't want to miss the party. I think he was worst a few days later, maybe it was a week, we were told it was when the scabs came off and that is when you might get a bleed. He said it wasn't as painful as tonsillitis.

My son was told toast was a good thing to eat and that eating all soft food, ice cream and jelly, is an old fashioned idea. I don't know if that is true but toast didn't seem to do him any harm.

I had mine out about three years ago. It was one of the best things I ever did. I have chronic kidney disease and every time I got tonsillitis (at least6 times a year) my renal problems would flare up.
The recovery was pretty grim. i can't take NSAIDS (ibuprofen etc) so was prescribed soluble paracetamol and tramadol. I would go from invincible and slightly mental on tramadol to weeping and shaking on paracetamol.
It did hurt. Quite a lot.
After about two weeks it started to improve although (TMI) I coughed up ming for quite a while after.
I am now capable having a cold without a chronic infection which is quite a revelation, and my general health has improved dramatically.
Good luck, and remember it's worth ti!

Had mine out at 8 - I remember being in pain for a couple of weeks when coughing, eating, drinking etc. (Though I was a bit of a drama queen).
Had high temp and vomiting for about 24 hours after, then was fine after that. Obviously I couldn't drive then, but don't recall feeling woozy or out of sorts at all, so I can imagine you'll be fine to drive.

I've never had any throat problems since, although I dont recall having anything particularly bad before that either.

Best of luck!

And MrT - I can't imagine you could have an op during tonsillitis due to infection. I presume the tonsils would be swollen too, making the op more difficult/risky?

I've had mine put twice - once as a kid, and once in my 20s. They can grow back, it seems.

I still get sinus and ear infection (a lot), but I don't miss at all the feeling of finding it hard to get air in.
Yy to scratchy foods, and avoid rice for a few days. I found it sort of - stuck.