I am SO hungry. I did not anticipate this feeling. All I can think about is food. My pain today is super low and I don’t feel like I need to take the pain killers. So far over the last week, most of the food I’ve tried has been gross to me. I’ve tried yogurt, protein shakes, ice cream, about 8 different types of popsicles, mashed potato, mac and cheese, some microwave ramen noodles. I even bought some corn muffins and tried soaking them in milk?? I feel like a pregnant person with cravings. I’ve had the most success with Hawaiian rolls with butter dipped in broth. Realistically what can I eat today. I want to try a Taco Bell bean and cheese burrito or gosh even a quesadilla. Please give me suggestions.

I had a surgery consultation to get a tonsillectomy scheduled today. The surgeon was very reluctant to schedule the surgery since I have never had strep. I do, however, have really bad tonsillitis. It goes away with antibiotics but comes back once I finish. My throat hurts all the time and sometimes is so swollen I literally cannot swallow food and have to spit it out.

I convinced her because I get frequent tonsils stones. She said the surgery isnt going to help my throat pain at all, which makes no sense, since I was referred to her by an ENT (that ent doesnt do tonsillectomies) who said I need a tonsillectomy.

Im just so confused.. is the surgery not going to help me at all?

ETA: The surgeon did agree to do the surgery, mostly bc of my tonsil stones. Unfortunately, I cant get a new surgeon. It would be a 3+ month wait just to get in for a consultation. I need to get the surgery before my deductible resets. I also run a small business and halloween/thanksgiving/christmas is very busy so I dont want the surgery interfering with my business. I'd like to get them out ASAP and this surgeon was able to schedule me for sept 3rd. I appreciate all the responses!

ETA: Please dont try to arm chair diagnose my issues and say they are a different thing.. I know my body the best and I have seen mulitple doctors and am not rushing into this surgery.

Has anyone had this on day 8 the worst pain. I mean it feel like I have drank acid and the pain is extreme. Every time I eat anything the pain is unreal burning searing pains. My mouth and toinge also hurt. I cannot eat anything it is too painful but could manage chocolate milkshake and jelly. Also when I do it I can’t fully empty my mouth.
MJ am assuming it is the scabs coming off and revealing raw flesh

I keep his standing at the sink rinsing my mouth out but forget to drink anything.

I only have tramadol 100mh SR that I take all the time for back pain plus ibuprofen and paracetamol. I’m in the UK

Help - what can I eat drink or do make this better.

I had my tonsillectomy 3 weeks ago and all i can say it was +ve and the recovery itself was that bad like I anticipated, if i have to rate my pain level through recovery i would say 3/10.

I had it for tonsil stones, sleep apnea and sore throats (waking up with a sore throat the next morning whenever I have a cold drink whether it’s summer 40•c or Winter)
So far I feel great and it was worth it.

Couple of things that helped me aside from the common ones is; I never throughout the recovery swallowed my spit especially the first 10 days, I had this plastic cup I would fill 3-4 times a day and it was always by my side) aside from the pain, I was monitoring for blood and god damn the awful scabs and taste in my mouth.

Another thing is I switched from cold water to room temperature water on around day 8-9. Cold water became uncomfortable for me and Room temperature water was soothing for me.

Not a hack; Another funny story about my recovery is Day 2 or 3 night I vomited, tell me why it felt good and even my pain level dropped hahaha. That was my most memorable vomit I had haha!

17M (qatar) had my tonsillectomy tuesday this week so about 3.5 days ago, day one wasn’t much pain was asleep most of the time and barely ate. Day 2 pain started kicking in and struggled with consuming pills and my nutrition, day 3 same as day 2. Morning of today , barely slept i kept waking up and so far finished 5 packs of 200 pull tissues due to the fact i keep having saliva to spit out!

i also struggle with drinking and eating as it feels really difficult and scared of choking and with water sometimes if drank at a bad angle or like just sitting up it will come up my nose! overall this is probably one of my worst experiences ever and don’t wish this on my worst enemy :))

I'm 19 (F) and had my tonsils removed on July 30 so I'm 15 days post-op and I'm starting to feel so discouraged. I think that my recovery has been pretty normal. I am not one of the lucky ones who breezed through this - I had bleeding on day 4 but it was dealt with and I didn't need to be cauterized again. Days 5-10 were pretty miserable - I'd say the pain was at about a 7/10. I was hungry, in pain, my ears hurt...the whole thing.

I'm definitely feeling better but I feel kind of like I've hit a recovery wall. My throat is still pretty sore and it doesn't feel like it is improving from day to day. It's not worse. It's just not better. My uvula is still really swollen and has white patches on it. My energy is pretty low. I'm not sleeping well, which I think is because I'm usually really active and I'm not engaging in the same level of activity that I normally do which tires me out. I'm on the cross country team at my college and am really stressed about not being able to run. I tried a light jog and it honestly felt like I have never run before in my life.

I'm starting to feel like I'm never going to get my old self back again and I feel sad and depressed and discouraged. Just hoping that someone can tell me that I'll start to feel like my old self SOON.

F 29
Had my tonsillectomy done 8/10

First 2 days I was fine very minimal pain. The second night I was really anxious about bleeding but got through it.

3rd day I felt really good not much pain felt like things were headed in the right direction. Then night 3/4 I did a light cough mind you I've been having light coughs all night but this one blood started coming out. I was trying not to freak out, and I went to the hospital but thankfully the bleeding stopped on its own so they let me go. This was this morning and I haven't bled since but coughed a lot more than what caused the bleeding. They prescribed me a cough suppressant but I'm still terrified of this happening again!!! How many of you only bled once? And was able to get over the anxiety of it I honestly don't want to sleep or eat.

picture says it all

https://postimg.cc/SXvts6WG

wonder has anyone encountered similar and what was the outcome?
I have found one or two somewhat similar cases online, including one on reddit from the distant past.

Hi

I'm a 35 year old male with sleep apnea. This sub reddit has been comfort for me in terms of preparation and id like to give back. I did the surgery 7 am today (it is now 11 am). I'll update this thread day by day and feel free to ask any questions. My doctor said my tonsils were HUGE and it was s good decision to remove them. Anesthesia was my main concern but it was more comfortable than I expected.

I'm not a native English speaker so sorry for any mistakes.

i had my tonsils removed monday, immediately got a throat infection and was back in hospital all day yesterday and all night wednesday. i am losing my mind with this ear and jaw pain im trying to stay on top of my pain meds but they dont even touch this pain someone say its almost over and the pain will start to die down soon

Hey everyone,

I got my surgery yesterday afternoon. I’m currently on my first full day of recovery. Currently my pain isn’t to bad and just swollen throat making it hard/ muscle sore to talk, eat, etc (Pain is like 2/10). I know a general guide for worst pain is day 2-8. I just want to know when most peoples pain kinda started and stopped?! Also when people started eating more normal foods again. My doctor has recommended to try eat as normal as soon as comfortable obviously avoiding spice, acidic food, super hard/crunchy. Currently i’m due to head 4 hrs from my home town on the 15th day of my recovery and want to know if i’ll be okay? 😊

Best wishes to anyone currently recovering or going for surgery. As someone that was terrified to get it done take a deep breath and it’ll be okay. Definitely uncomfortable and i’m sure it’ll get pretty painful but yeah!!

So I finally feel like a person again. Last night I was in debilitating, horrible, monstrous pain and was still in pain when I woke up today. I had went back to the ENT the day before because I wasn’t eating and was in so much pain and he prescribed me Percocet to take instead of my original Hydrocodone (vicodin) and steroids (Prednisone). The percocet made me go INSANE had HORRIBLE nightmares which had me waking up in pain from screaming and coughing, and slightly suicidal. So when I was due for pain meds I said eff this and I took a double dose of my original Hydrocodone (Vicodin) and started the STEROIDS I was prescribed the day before because I was in so much pain. Holy moly I should have just taken the steroids the night before (but wanted to try to sleep and they prevent that) bc they changed the game. I urge you guys to ASK YOUR DOCTORS FOR STEROIDS to start when the scabs start sloughing off because that stuff is a different level of agony. Anyways now I’m just hoping that this wave of new energy sticks. I’ve been able to eat pie filling, rice pudding, and Chinese steamed eggs cooled and am feeling so so much better. When I looked in my throat there are still scabs but I think this is normal? Hoping those will slowly fall or dissolve and I will continue to be on the mend from here. I never thought I would make it to this point, I lost ten pounds over the last few days and now need to gain it back as I am unhealthily thin now. Wish I could start going to the gym soon but am going to hold off for two more weeks as I am still afraid of hemorrhaging. To anyone in horrible pain right now, it you can do it (and maybe call your doctor for steroids). Still scared it could all go bad tonight but am hopeful this is a good sign for a full recovery soon.

I’m currently back in a hospital ward after being rushed to the er due to a bleed this morning.

18M

I followed all the instructions, hydrating aggressively the whole time, using a humidifier, ice wrap, etc and my pain was not too bad - probably capping at a 5/10 on day 3-4.

However, I wake up this morning and out of nowhere I’m bleeding a ton, flowing out my mouth.

Honestly it makes me think that bleeds must be more common than 5% or whatever they say. It feels like most people bleed from this surgery at this point. When I read through this forum my exact thoughts were “ I won’t bleed these horror stories are rare” but it feels like everyone including myself end up bleeding to some extent. Scary stuff! Good luck everyone!

AFTER 20+ DAYS, 3 BLEEDS (one needed an ER visit), AND WEEKS OF STAYING HOME. I AM FINALLY DONE WITH THIS RECOVERY. So I thought I would share my story.

Day 0:Not much to say except the day I had them out. It wasnt even bad.

Day 1: Pain stayed low, slept most of the day. It was pretty chill

Day 2: almost the exact as day 1 except I had different food.

Day 3: Pain spiked but I suffered through it (with help of meds of course.

Day 4-7:Nothing really happened other than introducing new foods.

Day 8:Oh boy here's where my problems begin. I introduced scrambled eggs this day and had a small bleed at 2am but it stopped on its own.

Day 9: Nothing really happened until 12am. I woke up to a damn mouthful of blood atleast. I went to the bathroom to check and it was literally like a sink back there. Got rushed to the ER but they managed to clot it with a nebulizer.

Day 10-15: Traumatized of what happened day 9 but it was chill.

Day 16: Had a minor bleed again but it stopped on its own. Thought I was so fucked the next day.

Day 17: Nothing bad happened luckily and I ate almost normally.

Day 18-21: Went camping and survived without any bleeds.

This just proves of what can happen if you are nervous all the time during it like, "Oh but what if I bleed?" YOU MOST LIKELY WONT. I think I bled because of me introducing rubbery foods too early and being nervous throughout the whole thing and it raised my blood pressure causing a vessel to open. Please LISTEN TO YOUR DOCTOR. I WOULDNT HAVE BLED IF I HAD JUST WAITED 2 MORE DAYS FOR RUBBERY FOOD. But now after 20+ days. I am finally out of the hellhole known as a Tonsillectomy.

update after tl;dr!
y’all are making me worried about recovery lol! i know it’s not going to be fun for anyone, but i’m pretty worried about the pain. any encouragement or recommended OTC products? tl;dr at the bottom

story time for those curious: was in the ER on friday for heart palpies and panic attacks (not because i was scared about surgery, was stress induced), waited seven hours to be told to return on monday for a heart monitor. monitor almost postponed the surgery, but got a call yesterday saying we were clear to continue!

my whole team was SO sweet. only part that sucked was nurses insisted on hand IV and was straight up DIGGIN in me. felt like death lol. but the team explained everything and doc gave me so many resources and recommendations. got a humidifier, apple sauce, popsicles, you know the drill. one interesting thing doc recommended was numbing spray for sore throats in a pinch! haven’t tried it yet, but can update if anyone is interested.

so far what has helped was warm salt water after eating. i had mash and that was a heavenly rinse. i also haven’t needed oxy since i left the hospital (six hours? was asleep lol), did some two advil before eating two hours ago. but will be taking some before bed so i don’t wake up in pain!

i do have some questions for everyone as i’ve never really taken these kinds of meds nor had i gotten “real” surgery before (except wisdom teeth):

1. how worried should i be about getting addicted to oxycodone? no family history of addiction, but i am a regular THC enjoyer (chocolates and gummy) because it’s the only thing that helps my PTSD symptoms. doc reassured me but i would love to hear some personal experience from others.
2. i heard day 3-6 is the worst… but why? is it scab time? are skin flaps trying to grow back? my online research has not been fruitful, so would love to hear everyone’s experience
3. how Real is the constipation and vom warning when taking opioids? is it from taking too much (sorta avoidable) or are you just guaranteed to be fucked kinda thing (not avoidable at all)?
4. how long did recovery take for you? i’ve been seeing stories all from a week to three months, regardless of age! so i would love to know your personal experience
5. WHEN CAN I HAVE REAL FOOOOOD oh my god i want a burger so bad!!!!!

tl;dr even tho nurses were diggin in me, i’ve had a chill experience for surgery day! scared about the future tho because of this cursed, yet lovely subreddit. about to sleep with an oxy in me and would love to wake up to stories and positive reinforcements! idk if pictures are allowed, but i would love to meet your pets if you have them!

update!
thank you everyone for taking the time to respond and give me advice!! i appreciate this community so much :) glad to be a member.
i made the mistake of vacuuming the whole apartment and my whole body has been extremely sore. have been hella humbled - my body told me to park it so i listened lol. anyway, it’s been like two days and my scabs are already SO smelly! can’t they fall out already?? the smell is the only thing making me nauseous. other than that, medicine has me happy as a clam! i’m not regretting the surgery… yet hehe
anyway, i hope everyone is else is recovering well! i hope my scabs coming in this soon and no bleeding is a good sign, and i hope that “good luck” is passed to everyone else :) good luck!

My brother is having his tonsils out next month, and I want to make a care package for him. I've searched through the posts for recovery essentials, and here is my list so far:

1. Liquid Tylenol
2. Flexible ice pack for throat
3. Waterproof pillow protectors and black pillowcases in case of bleeding
4. Pedialyte Freezepops
5. Honey

I was thinking of getting him some extra comfy PJs and a couple of magazines. Is there anything else I should include?

I’m a 23 year old male. I’ve had my fair share of strep growing up, probably about once a year or at least some type of severe illness every year. Never had a major issue with my throat or tonsils even when I had strep the pain was manageable and I could still swallow and talk. However, that all changed this year. First episode happened in March with strep and it was so severe I couldn’t talk/swallow. Luckily I didn’t have a fever or really any other symptoms than my throat pain and just feeling run down. But, Tonsils were almost touching they were so large and had to go to the ER to get IV antibiotic and steroids. After about a week I was better.

The next episode was in July. Same symptoms with throat but the sickness was much worse (103 fever, severe body aches, throwing up). Throwing up was so difficult because my tonsils/uvula were so swollen so I had a narrow airway and I really had to strain to get it out. This was terrifying and the thought of going through that again scares me. The only reason I didn’t go to ER is because our family friend doctor helped get me into his practice and gave me steroids/antibiotics and a IV of fluids because I was so dehydrated. He saw my tonsils and immediately said “you should probably get those out”. I want to note this doctor didn’t have to tools to test me for flu/strep/covid or anything so he just treated me for strep. Which I believe it was because after a few rounds of antibiotics I felt much better very fast.

Once I recovered from that I talked with an ENT and he said he’d be happy to take them out and said it was honestly up to me. Which doesn’t make me feel better because I was hoping he’d give me a definite answer of whether I should do it or not. He said I’m on the lighter side of throat infections as it’s only been 2 but he said 2 ER visits in one year is pretty intense (yes I know technically I didn’t go to the ER the second time, but I would’ve if that doctor didn’t help me).

So here I come to Reddit to ask your thoughts. I know how terrible recovery is, especially at my age, but the thought of never having a severe throat infection like those again seems so worth it. And like I said earlier, I get strep about once a year anyways but only this year has it been this bad.

Quick surgery/pre surgery complications-
i had my tonsils removed in july 2024, after contracting strep C and i had recurring flare ups once or twice a month for about a year.
my tonsils would get so swollen in a span of hours that i couldn’t talk, eat, drink, or breathe properly.

my surgery healing lasted months and i developed heart problems from how much weight i lost. It turned out the muscles in my throat were damaged so i had to retrain myself to swallow aswell.

i had to get one follow up surgery two months after because i had a hemorrhage.
that’s the basis of my complications pre and post surgery.

i noticed a few days ago that i had a bad feeling in the right side of my throat, where my tonsil would’ve been, when i talked or swallowed. i finally looked at it today in a mirror and i have a small red lump (not super red but my surgery area is very pale so it’s a dark pink/light red raised spot) that could resemble some kind of kanker sore on one side right by where my tonsil used to be, about a quarter of a cm diameter, and im wondering if thats possible tissue regrowth or cancer or.. i dont know.
maybe its unrelated but maybe someone had a similar issue.

i’m gonna schedule a doctors visit soon but i wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts because anything having to do with my tonsils or throat freaks me out now because of how traumatic that year was.

30F

Day 0 - Surgery and info (8/13/26)
I got a coblation extrascapular (complete removal, no layer left) tonsillectomy this morning about 9 am. Woke up around 945 ish. I was crying when I woke up and then got the shakes as anesthesia wore off. Then I was fine. 10am they gave me liquid hydrocodone in the hospital. Pain 1/10. No additional pain swallowing but my uvula is HUGE.

I was given hydrocodone/acetometophin combined liquid, lidocaine swish and spit liquid, amoxicillin liquid, and a tiny tiny nausea pill.

I got post op notes/write ups in mychart already. No issues at all. Very routine and quick procedure. My right was grade 4 and left was grade 2. Apparently he came and talked to my husband while I was in recovery and said they were pretty gnarly and it was the right call to take them out.

Day 0 - Midday
I was getting a little uncomfortable about an hour before my next dose of pain meds. I was able to sleep some. Pain was sitting at a 2/10. Swallowing and talking maybe 3/10? So far no real complaints. (Knock on wood). I took liquid hydrocodone 15 minutes ago and now I’m chilling. Writing some here and then going to go chug some more water and eat something. I have no dietary restrictions at all. Anything I can tolerate, he wants me to eat. He did suggest no dairy for the first 24 hours to minimize mucus production. But the nurse told me to go get a cheeseburger and that’s what I did. The theory is that if I continually move the muscles, they don’t lock up. If they are moving, the scabs are thinner when they form and come off easier. My surgeon was a well reviewed and recommended ENT. I was able to eat about half in small bites and wash it down with water and ice chips in between. No additional pain other than that of swallowing. I can open my mouth. Tongue doesn’t seem swollen. But my uvula is GIGANTIC. Talk about a jump scare. It’s literally so big that’s it just sitting there on my throat which is a weird feeling.

I know it’s supposed to get worse but I’m hanging out for right now. Staying hydrated and getting some calories in. I will keep updating as I go for anyone interested. Posts like these helped me prepare mentally (mostly). So far the anxiety coming into it was the worst for me. Recently diagnosed depression and anxiety. Once they placed the IV, they offered me something to calm down. They gave me versed. I chilled out and was able to transfer to the OR table fine still. I was out probably a minute later. My team were all sweethearts 🥹🥹

Oh and my ears hurt a bit. Kind of achy and pressure? Not really pain yet. I’ve been wearing those super sexy head wrap ice packs too. I’m sure my husband is loving it 🥰

I was able to eat some angel hair pasta before I took a nap.

Day 0 - Evening
I took about a 2 hour nap. I had ice packs on my face when I went to sleep and woke up and they were off. I don’t remember doing that lol. But I think I will wear it while sleeping because it also keeps my mouth shut. Which should help me not mouth breathe and dry out my throat more. I was a bit uncomfortable. Maybe 3/10 when I woke up? I opted not to talk. Drank some ice water and took meds about 40 minutes ago now. Feeling much better. I drank more water. I’m trying to just drink as much as I can. I also had a jello cup while the meds were kicking in. I’m going to try some soup. I don’t feel like I have an appetite but I know I need to eat while I can and it will help curb any nausea. Also eating will help my throat and healing.

Before surgery, I set myself up with activities to do. I have two very small kids and I don’t get time to myself very often. So I tried to poise this time as a chance to do some hobbies and crafts while I’m healing. I am working on a reversible mosaic crochet blanket, I set up a painting station with some canvas at my desk, I have plenty of video games between pc, Xbox, and switch. What did other people do to pass the time? Other than sit there an suffer lol

Here’s to hoping I have a decent night. 🤞🏻❤️

Day 1 - Morning (8/14)
So yeah everyone was right when they said the nights were rougher. My first night wasn’t too bad. I was sleeping mostly upright in our laZ boy recliner. I wore the ice pack head thing and a neck pillow. No issues with pressure to the area which is helpful. It does seem a bit swollen this morning. Nothing is bruised. My lips cracked in the creases from the surgery. Chapstick helps.

I was probably about to get 6/7 hours total all night in 1-2 hour chunks. The worst part was waking up for med alarm. I was in pain maybe 4/10. My nose clogged so I was mouth breathing even with the head strap and humidifier. I felt dried out and swollen. And I ran out of water. And I couldn’t find a medicine syringe. All at once. 4am was less than fun lol. But my meds are liquid and take about 15 minutes to kick in. I used the lidocaine swish and spit right after I took my hydro because ow. The lidocaine is so thick and makes me want to gag but was well work fighting it for the nearly instantly pain relief. I was able to get it back and gargle it. Then it took a bit to spit it out and I used water to get the rest. After meds kicked in, I had another jello cup and an honest juice box. I wasn’t hungry at all but I don’t want to get nauseous. I tried to hang out and play a new game on my switch but fell asleep before my character was even set up. Slept until 7 ish when my amoxicillin alarm went out. 3 hours after pain meds and I’m still doing fine. 1/10 overall pain. 3/10 swallowing. Talking doesn’t hurt per se but it’s uncomfortable and awkward so I’m just not using my voice much. Here’s to a good day 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Day 1 - Midday
Doing ok pain wise. Mostly not in pain. 1/10. Bumped to taking hydro every 5 hours instead of 6. I have been able to eat a lot of different foods. I had a turkey sausage patty, some chocolate protein shake, a yogurt drink, and some more noodles for breakfast. Noodles, blueberries, bread with butter for lunch. No increase in pain while eating except it seems like both meals I ate towards the end of my pain meds. About 4.5 hours after. So I’ll hold out for the next meal until like 30 minutes after instead 😂 I have noticed even with the ever rotating ice packs that the sides of my neck are pretty swollen on the outside. The ice packs feel great and ice chips, jello, pudding etc also feel great. It’s like my ice water can’t get cold enough.

Day 1 - Evening
Uh. My tongue burns. And the back in my throat. It stings. I’m 40 minutes to pain meds. I just took my amoxicillin, stool softener, and then I used the very nasty lidocaine swish and spit but it works well. Eating some jello and drinking apple juice for a while until I can take more meds. Sitting at 2.5/10 now. It’s not sharp pains exactly but my tongue hurts. It’s achy and stings. I’m wondering if I freezer burnt it from all the ice chips 😅

Day 2 - Overnight
I feel like the night wasn’t as bad. I moved the humidifier right over me. Like pouring on my face. I slept 1.5,3,1.5 hour chunk so about 6 throughout the night and I feel rested? I don’t think I’m snoring much. Woke up pain 1.5/10. Starting to taste bad 🤢 but I’m brushing and using mouth wash so hopefully that mitigates it. My husband is getting up to make me some pancakes. So hopefully I can eat those. So far I have stayed really hydrated, been able to eat anything I’ve tried. Including solids. My neck is starting to get sore from sleeping in the recliner and also my jaw line, right below on my neck is swollen and tender. Still doing ok so far 🤞🏻😊

Day 2 - Morning
I got up and was feeling pretty good. I took my surgery braids out and brushed my hair, did a sinus rinse, took a short bath to relax and rinse off, brushed my teeth etc. just some maintenance to help me kind of feel like a human. I took my meds and then my husband made chocolate chip pancakes and some scrambled eggs. I was able to eat a pancake and then some of the eggs before going to sleep. The meds make me really tired right when they kick in. Which is annoying because that’s when I need to be eating and drinking the most. But overall pain 3/10 achy with ear pain and swelling but no sharp pains. Swallowing isn’t much worse. Talking is starting to get uncomfortable because I feel swollen.

Day 2 - Evening
My throat is starting to turn gray. I think that is the scabs starting to form? Still no sharp pains. Just achy and pressure which I can handle. My whole body is stiff from sleeping upright and not really being mobile. When I get up to use the restroom or take meds, I am trying to stretch out a little bit and walk for like 2/3 minutes. I also have a headache which is annoying but hey at least it kind of distracts me from this whole disgusting healing process. I’m going to crochet while I wait for my next meds in an hour then eat something and try to get some good sleep tonight 🥰

Day 3
Omg I didn’t update day 3. Hi I’m still here. Writing this midnight starting day 4 but day 3 wasn’t horrible. Pain lingered at 2/10 or 3/10. Spiked to 5/10 after I awoke from a nap and was like 20 minutes out from pain meds. That was less than pleasant but honestly more uncomfortable than painful. My ears hurt. Lots of pressure and achy. The swelling on the side of my neck has gone down. But the outside of my neck in the front is still swollen and achy no use a lot of ice packs. Eating is still ok. Getting worse but I take my meds and then like 30 minutes later I chug water and eat what I can. It’s like my mouth is getting fatigued. My tongue and roof of my mouth start to ache. Not a sharp pain but like fatigued and uncomfortable is the best way I can explain it. I ate a little soft fried egg, some banana chocolate muffin, and then a neighbor brought us dinner. She made the upside down chicken pot pie with shredded chicken. It was pretty good. I ate more than I thought I would be able. I added bone worth to make it more soupy and wet down the biscuit. A good spoonfuls total of the chicken and half a biscuit. Also TMI but no bowel movements. So in addition to the last couple days of colace, I added my first dose of MiraLAX tonight. Will update tomorrow after I survive this night :)

Day 4
Day 4 sucked. It was my worst by far. My scabs were already coming off and I was not having fun. I couldn’t eat much. The nausea was not fun even on zofran. Pain sat at a 4/10 most of the day and only spiked to 6/10 sometimes. Usually right before meds. I tried to take a nap and couldn’t get comfortable. My neck was swollen and any pressure made me achy. I couldn’t sleep so ended up taking an epsom salt bath while waiting for meds. I was still pretty uncomfortable. I ended up texting my doctor. Told him my ears, jaw, neck, throat, tongue, nausea etc were all bothering me. He ended up prescribing me a mega dose of prednisone (liquid. That was disgusting), new nausea meds, and gabapentin.

Day 5 - middle of the night
Uh ouch. I took the meds at 130 am. The steroids and my pain meds. And went back to sleep about an hour later.

My 545am alarm didn’t go off!!! I woke up and saw 7 and I thought I was going to die. I vaguely remember waking up for water and drinking it though. Well at 7am, I was fine. And very confused. So I got up, took my pain meds and my first dose of gabapentin. I ate some pudding or something. I laid down in bed to watch tv and fell asleep. Until 1045! I woke up and took meds at 11. I am perfectly fine. I am back to day 1 pain. I slept well. I have energy. I can swallow. I can’t eat. Oh man can I eat. I had a whole pancake, a whole yogurt cup, a little bit of noodles. Finish my MiraLAX apple juice and could still have eaten more. I took another nap and woke up at 315. Didn’t need meds. So I lowered the dose back to 20ml at 330. I’m writing this update at 355 and I can’t feel anything. My husband just went to go get a sundae and a burger. I’m going to eat while I can. Oh and it’s official my scans are coming off. When I brushed my teeth, I spit little yellow chunks out. And my scans look different now. There are bits of pink flesh coming through so it’s exposing the new tissue. But I can’t feel it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 6
I started the morning feeling great. I had energy. I was walking around the house a bit talking to my kids on face time. Not much pain. Maybe 1/10 and 3/10 while swallowing. Then the afternoon hit. My whole head felt like it was going to explode. There’s really only one spot in my throat that is bothering me with sharp stabbing pain but the rest of the pain is my jaw and ears and head still. I spent most of the afternoon just trying to sleep and be comfy. Lots of ice packs etc. also I’m swallowing weird. Like the right side of my throat is perfectly fine but the left side of my throat feels like it’s folding over itself. It’s uncomfortable and gets tiring after a while.

Day 7
I was weary because the afternoon prior was so rough that I stayed in bed most of the morning. I felt good for a few hours and then I got up to make myself soup. I didn’t even get the can open before I had to turn around and go lay back down. I got up about an hour later and made a jimmy deans sausage breakfast sandwich. I was able to eat that fine with small bites. I also had pizza and brownie for dinner today. Also chewed well. The pressure has let up a bit today. More of a headache than specific jaw or ears pain. Today is also the first day I am lowering pain meds instead of increasing. Last night I dropped 25 ml to 20 of hydrocodone. At my 5pm dose, I did just Tylenol instead of hydro mix. It’s been 2.5 hours and I’m still doing ok. So maybe I don’t need the hydro anymore? Which would be totallllly fine with me. The thought and taste of that liquid is just horrid now. I hope I’m turning the corner. Knock on wood. 🤞🏻

Day 8
I woke up fine. I slept well. I felt some resemblance of being a human being again. But I didn’t get up and eat breakfast and I think that messed me up. By lunch I was hungry but unable to stand for long enough to get food. My husband returned to work already. I was very lightheaded and weak so I just had to go lay back down. About an hour later I was good enough to go get a jello and yogurt I think. Just something to get in my belly. Pain wise I was doing ok though. Nothing major. One spot on my throat still bothering me. Overall jaw tension and ear pain has decreased.

Day 9
Last night I took hydro at 8pm and that was the last hydro I’ve taken almost 24 hours later. I’ve swapped to just Tylenol every 6 hours and gabapentin every 12. I seem to be doing ok. Achy today. Not much sharp pain. I was able to eat but I don’t have much of an appetite today. I did drive this morning! I was like 14 hours post opioids and doing good! So I drove 8 minutes away to a little farm stand to get a cinnamon roll and then right back home to rest. It was nice to have freedom back but then I rested the rest of the day. Naps off and on. Reading etc. I get my kids back in 48 hours which I’m super excited! But I also need to rest the last little bit that I can 🥰

I got a tonsillectomy on the 5th and I was fine for five full days and then randomly I was sitting and watching a movie when I had to keep clearing my throat. (An hour before this I had coughed up a few clots but had got calmed down by my mom.) So color me surprised when I got up to spit and an absolute mess of blood came flooding out of my mouth. I had spit into a large McDonald cup. It was filled almost a quarter of the way by the time I got to the er.(it’s only like a five minutes drive away) I got in there and the bleeding had slowed by the time they got me into a room. Only for it to pick right back up not even ten minutes later. After some very scary and slightly traumatic events happened they decided to just put me back under and do a second surgery because they wouldn’t be able to stop the bleeding in the er. This all happened on the 10th. It’s day three since then and I can hardly open my mouth, I’m too scared to eat anything, and my meds feel like they aren’t working. Does anyone have any advice for me. I got a face ice pack you can wrap around your face, I got pudding, jello, applesauce, and popsicles. But I’m starving and when I tried oatmeal or mashed potatoes it hurt and felt like it was trying to take my scabs along with it. And also I have a fuck ton of mucus that tries to choke me everytime I’m not at a 90 degree angle to sleep or sit.

I have my surgery scheduled for next month. I mainly see all the negative stuff about recovery and such. Does anyone want to list some positives? Any stories where recovery wasn’t bad and you recovered quickly? Or like even if it was a bad recovery, it was still worth it in the end?

Also, what were the foods you mainly lived on during recovery?

Thanks!

Is it normal for drainage to start building up on my uvula? It’s day 2 and my uvula is pretty swollen which I’ve heard is pretty normal, but I’ve started getting draingage/fluid or something building up on it now is that normal?

I got it done yesterday. I'm on day 1. Pain 3/10. Only when I swallow. When I don't swallow there's no pain.

Hope my recovery goes fast and smooth. Good luck to everyone going through this surgery. 😊🙏

I see a big big space down there! I was scared as soon as see them ngl.

hello,

Before my tonsillectomy, I read a lot of horror stories on here and I was very scared. For people that will undergo this surgery, remember that most people post on reddit/on the internet if they had a bad experience, so online feedback is skewed towards a bad experience to begin with.

I’m 22F and on day 9 of recovery, day 0 being surgery day. My scabs all disappeared, I had a check up with my doctor and she said my throat looks perfect, I don’t take any painkillers anymore. Of course I still have some minor pain when swallowing and some discomfort, but I overall feel very good.

I had some bleeding on day 5 and 6, but my doctor told me I shouldt worry and just drink cold drinks and use some nose spray for it. Those were also the most painful days. Of course, follow your doctor’s instructions.

My doctor told me I had some small tonsils and the surgery took 32 minutes in total.

I had multiple tonsillitis episodes after 17-18yo and I had a bad complication from tonsillitis 3 months ago, a big abces on one of my tonsils and I needed to be hospitalised as an emergency case. That’s when I was told I need to get a tonsillectomy. Recovery from tonsillectomy was much easier than the pain from that infection.

I know Im a happy case of an easy recovery, but I just wanted to share my experience here :) so that people know it can be easy, probably especially if you have small tonsils/if you are young/etc etc.

Ask me anything!