6yo tonsillectomy experiences + reactive arthritis?

[Friedseasalt]

Hi everyone! I’m looking for some experiences/advice from anyone whose DC has had a tonsillectomy around age 6, and especially anyone who has had a child with possible reactive arthritis following recurrent tonsillitis.

My DS is 6 and has had ongoing/recurrent tonsillitis since he was around 10 months old. He’s now been seen by ENT and they’ve agreed to a tonsillectomy, so we’re officially on the waiting list.

He’s also had quite a lot of leg/knee pain over the last year or so, sometimes to the point of limping. His consultant mentioned that the joint/leg pain could potentially be reactive arthritis linked to the recurrent tonsil infections, which is something I’d never even heard of before.

We’re due to see rheumatology for MRI results etc so I’m interested in hearing from anyone who has been through something similar.

I’d particularly love to hear:
• How did your 6-ish year old find the tonsillectomy/recovery?
• How long were they really off school for?
• Any tips for making the recovery easier?
• Has anyone’s child had reactive arthritis following recurrent tonsillitis/strep infections?
• Did the joint/leg pain eventually settle after the tonsillectomy or treatment?
• And if it turned out not to be reactive arthritis, was it eventually diagnosed as something else such as JIA?

I’m basically looking for real-life experiences of what to expect, as there’s so much information online but it’s always reassuring hearing from parents who have actually been through it.

Thanks v much in advance!

Hi, I can give my experience of my 6 year old recovering from
a tonsillectomy. He had an Intracapsular removal following repeated strep an infections. This method was associated with less risks of bleeding and easier recovery so we chose this.
we kept on top of pain medication day and night. We gave ice lollies 30 mins before medicine in the morning so he was able to swallow medicine. Regular sips of water throughout day and night. I would use clean calpol syringes to syringe water in if he didn’t want to drink. Normal ish food - nothing too hot or acidic.
it was a fairly straightforward recovery without too much pain. There was 1 or 2 days where he was silently crying because it hurt and then others where he wanted to be on the slide in the garden. He was back to school on day 11/12 I think.

Not really the same but I started getting repeated bouts of tonsillitis when I turned 30, I had it again in March which triggered an autoimmune attack on my brain and spinal cord. I’ve since had them out, strep can cause awful side effects.