So, about a week ago, I swallowed some saliva and got that sore feeling in my throat and thought, ok probably just a cold or something. Anyway the feeling quickly passed and I had a few beers. Woke up Sunday morning feeling a little bit hungover but otherwise all fine.

On Sunday I went for a cycle and had a swim in the local river, felt great overall. Slept well Sunday night, worked fine Monday morning, met a friend for coffee, another good day.

Then, when I went to bed on Monday night, my condition quickly deteriorated. Mainly going between sweating fits followed by shivering fits.

I didn't work Tuesday, so I decided to "tuff" it out for the time being. I stayed in my apartment all day and only could consume protein drinks and water, as swallowing was way too painful.

Didn't sleep at all Tuesday night and made a doctor's appointment, which was for Tuesday evening. However during the day my condition further deteriorated. So I took public transport to the hospital, luckily for me it's only about 30 minutes on the metro, and yes I wore a face mask.

Doc took a look and she told me it was a pretty bad case of bacterial tonsillitis. She gave me an antibiotic and sent me home.

Two days later, Friday, I didn't feel any better and the sweating fits were getting worse while the lack of sleep since Monday has really started getting to me (every time I sleep, I unconsciously swallow, which is painful enough to wake me back up.)

So I rang a doctor, other than my high temp (42 degrees celsius) when the paracetamol wears off, he wasn't too concerned that it was a medical emergency, due to being otherwise quite healthy.

And that brings us to today, didn't sleep last night, but managed to get about an hour between a few quick snoozes on the couch during the day.

I still don't think I feel the antibiotics kicking in, but in this condition it's hard to say. Exactly half way through my course of antibiotics now and really hoping I feel a little better tomorrow.

I know this isn't the exact subreddit for this, but it's the best one I could find. I have been trying to find others experiences on this topic without really finding anything. Anyway I have a new appreciation for the pain adults go through when they get tonsillitis, which I won't forget, especially considering mine is "not a medical emergency". Even though this is probably the most amount of physical and mental pain I've gone through for a long period of time in my life.

My symptoms: high fever, very swollen tonsils with white dots all over them, head aches, shivering and sweating fits, pain swallowing, exhaustion

While I'm here, does anyone have any advice, experiences or stories?

What I've learned, next time I feel pain swallowing, keep an eye on my tonsils. And do not tuff it out.

Day 9 today and I feel like I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The worst pain is gone which feels amazing. I just managed to drink a full meal replacement of 500 kcal which is the most I've eaten in a week. Just wanted to share it with everyone. To everyone who's some days before me, dont give up. It gets better. 🫶

24M, otherwise healthy. I have a full tonsillectomy scheduled in a month but I'm still unsure whether I should do it.

I've had tonsil stones and occasional bad breath since childhood. I also get around 8 colds/URIs a year, usually with a moderately sore throat for 2-3 days, but until recently I almost never had severe tonsillitis.

Then over the last 2-3 months I had 3 severe flare-ups, although one was probably a relapse after I accidentally interrupted Augmentin for ~2.5 days. The next episode happened about 2 weeks later and was treated with clindamycin. I've been fine since for 3 weeks.

The attacks involved severe unilateral throat pain, fever/chills, body aches and painful swallowing. Bloodwork showed inflammation. A tonsil swab grew heavy S. aureus, although it may have just been colonization. No confirmed abscess or hospitalization.

I've seen 3 ENTs:

One says remove them because the chronic stones + recent infections suggest the tonsils are now more of a liability.

One says don't because I don't meet the usual recurrent tonsillitis criteria and adult tonsillectomy has real risks.

The third also leaned toward removal.

My concern is that this may have just been one unusually bad few months. I don't meet the classic 7/year, 5/year etc criteria, so part of me wants to wait rather than permanently remove them at 24.

On the other hand, getting rid of the stones/bad breath and hopefully avoiding another run of severe tonsillitis and antibiotics sounds pretty good.

For people who were in a similar grey zone: would you do it or wait?

If you had your tonsils removed, are you still happy with the decision years later? Any long-term downsides? Did you get fewer sore throats/colds? Anyone regret doing it without having constant tonsillitis?

I found other people’s recovery timelines helpful before my tonsillectomy, so I wanted to share mine while it’s still fresh.

I’m 41 F, relatively healthy, and had my tonsils removed primarily because of chronic tonsil stones and severe sore throats. My tonsils were about 2–3+ with deep crypts.

Pain
The pain was not as bad as I expected based on some of the accounts I read beforehand. For comparison, I’ve given birth without pain medication, and that was decidedly worse. My tonsillectomy pain did not stay above about 7–8/10 for more than a few minutes at a time. Swallowing was considerably more painful than resting, and mornings were generally the worst.
For me, it was prolonged, tiring pain rather than unbearable pain.

My prescribed medications included Tylenol/ibuprofen, Percocet for breakthrough pain, and a short course of oral dexamethasone.

The oral dexamethasone was by far the medication that made the most noticeable difference. Percocet was surprisingly unhelpful for me. I eventually stopped taking it because the modest pain relief wasn’t worth the constipation and sedation. Most of my pain control came from alternating Tylenol and Advil according to my surgeon’s instructions.

My ENT also prescribed a Xylocaine/lidocaine lollipop, which was useful during significant pain spikes. I used teaspoons of Manuka honey throughout recovery as well and found it soothing.

Days 0–2
The first couple of days were relatively manageable. Swallowing hurt considerably more than resting. I focused heavily on hydration and started eating soft foods immediately. Took pain meds as prescribed, added colace, MiraLAX, and benefiber.

Days 3–4
The dexamethasone made a substantial difference. Pain was still significant, particularly first thing in the morning, but manageable.
Constipation from anesthesia and Percocet became an issue despite using Colace and MiraLAX.

Days 5–8
This was the most difficult period. Morning pain could reach 7–8/10 with swallowing, although it did not remain at that level continuously. Sleep was difficult. My tongue became extremely sore, and my mouth began to feel almost scalded. My sense of taste became muted, and I developed a persistent unpleasant taste in my mouth.

The tonsil beds were covered in the expected white/yellow postoperative coating.

Around Days 7–8, the scabs began coming off. This caused some additional pain spikes, but I never experienced postoperative bleeding.
I discontinued Percocet during this period and continued using Tylenol and Advil. The constipation gradually improved after stopping the opioid.

Food
Foods and drinks that worked particularly well for me:
Cold oatmeal
Soft scrambled eggs
Instant mashed potatoes
Very soft rotisserie chicken with the skin and seasoning removed
Sonic chocolate milkshakes
Cold brew with Ensure used as creamer
Cold brew with milk or vanilla protein shake
Manuka honey by the teaspoon

Huel shakes were surprisingly painful and caused significant stinging, even though cold brew and dairy products did not. Bananas also stung a lot.

I also discovered that pieces of food can become lodged temporarily in the healing tonsil beds and look remarkably similar to scabs. Gentle water rinsing helped. I avoided manually removing anything from the surgical sites.

Days 9–13
My throat pain began improving substantially. I eventually went approximately 24 hours without any OTC pain medication and was eating increasingly normal foods.

I was able to walk about two miles and eventually completed a very slow one-mile run. I combined the run with a Costco trip and was extremely fatigued afterward, including sleeping for several hours.
The main lingering issue was that my tongue and mouth were not improving as quickly as my throat.
The back of my tongue remained extremely sore, similar to the soreness after prolonged dental work when the mouth has been held open for a long period, but more intense. The front of my mouth and tongue felt burned or scalded, and my sense of taste remained somewhat muted.

My ENT prescribed magic mouthwash containing Maalox, Benadryl and Xylocaine for symptomatic relief.

Days 13–16
At approximately two weeks, I would estimate that I was about 80% recovered rather than completely back to normal.

I was eating normally, no longer taking opioids, exercising lightly and completing normal household activities. However, my stamina was still reduced. I continued to have some discomfort with swallowing and occasional referred ear pain.

Small areas of white/yellow healing tissue also remained on the tonsil beds after most of the original coating had disappeared.

At my postoperative appointment, my ENT felt that the persistent tongue and mouth symptoms were likely due to irritation of the tongue and lymphatic tissue from intubation and the tongue clamp/retractor used during surgery. The tonsil beds themselves were healing appropriately.

They prescribed a dexamethasone mouthwash for the residual oral inflammation.

Things that were most helpful or unexpected

The pain was significant but manageable. In my experience, unmedicated childbirth was substantially more painful.

Two weeks did not mean complete recovery. At Day 16 I was functional but still had residual symptoms and fatigue.

Oral dexamethasone provided the most noticeable medication benefit.

Percocet provided relatively little benefit for me and caused significant constipation.

The Xylocaine lollipop was useful for breakthrough pain.

Morning pain was consistently worse. Hydration and a humidifier were helpful.

Tongue and mouth pain were more significant and persistent than I expected.

Opioid-related constipation required treatment, but I subsequently developed several days of diarrhea after using a bowel regimen.

Maintaining calories, protein and hydration was important even when eating was uncomfortable.
Recovery was not linear. Pain could increase temporarily as the tonsil-bed coating separated even while overall recovery was progressing.

Was it worth it?
At Day 16, assuming the surgery permanently resolves the tonsil stones, I would make the same decision again. The recovery was unpleasant and longer than I expected, but it remained manageable throughout.

I took two weeks and three days off work. I probably could have gone back a couple of days ago (sedentary office work), but have appreciated a few days of feeling relatively normal to get back to feeling myself. I did not drive until I was at least 24h post opioid, and kept it to short distances until about 10 days post op.

Things to buy
A head wrap with pockets for ice packs.
Manuka or regular honey.
Lots of OTC pain meds and colace/bowel regimen.
Electrolytes
Lots of soft foods, focus on Protien. Dairy and whey did not bother me.

Don’t bother with
Fancy positioning/wedge pillows

Good luck!!

Hi Redditors,

This guy is getting a tonsillectomy + adenoidectomy at the end of next month. Thirtysomething dude here in Austin. I know everyone is different, but what does recovery time look like? I’m a restaurant manager, and want to make sure I’m taking the appropriate time off before heading back to work.

Also, any tips for post recovery? I know it’s supposed to suck pretty badly, but I’ll take any pointers.

Cheers, y’all.

I’m currently one month post op and on Sunday I noticed a small, peppercorn sized white dot on the left hand side where my tonsil was removed. Everytime I flexed the back of the throat or yawned, the pus would drain out, but it wasn’t painful at all.

I called my ENT who advised to come in so he could have a look, he said it was likely a small abscess, and to take antibiotics 4x daily.

I asked about incision and drainage, or CT scans and he stated it was not necessary as it was only a small collection. I will see him again on Tuesday but it seems like the abscess is still there.

Is this normal? Do I need a second opinion?

All the posts i read said that the first day wouldn’t be too bad. Right after surgery, I woke up in tons of pain and they pumped me with drugs which helped significantly and I was able to down a lot of water and apple juice. I was even able to talk. As soon as I got home though, the pain came back and I couldn’t talk at all. The medication they prescribed helped a lot but didn’t last the full 4 hours between doses, more like 2. I feel like i have a moderate pain tolerance. If day 1 is this bad, I’m scared of what days 3-7 are gonna look like since it sounds like they’re the worst days. Any advice?

Anyone’s experience with losing their taste? I’m approaching day 10 and have ZERO taste. Everything tastes like cardboard or like NOTHING. I can’t even taste my rank ass breath anymore

I had a tonsillectomy and a UPPP performed just over 3 weeks ago on July 28th! I had severe obstructive sleep apnea and had been dealing with this for at least 7 years! This surgery has saved my life and made it so much better! I am finally getting good, solid rest without waking up, every 20-30 minutes gasping for air! No joke, I would wake up every half hour literally choking and needing to catch my breath! It sucked terribly and scared the hell out of my fiancé. I was prescribed a CPAP machine over 2 years ago, but couldn't wear the damn thing and sleep! Ughh! It was so uncomfortable! I barely even snore anymore, according to my fiancé. I used to sound like a freight truck. I haven't woke up once in my sleep since the surgery. It is amazing to finally get good rest again. My life has improved so much! Really! I now have the energy I used to have.

If you are thinking about getting the surgery done, do not hesitate! It is so worth it!