Tonsillectomy, not a gorey question
April 24, 2019 2:01 PM Subscribe
What helped you in the early recovery from your adult tonsillectomy? Specifically, wow this intermittent earache and general anesthesia induced sadness are driving me bonkers but all suggestions will be sleepily entertained.
I’m about 4 hours post tonsillectomy. Upon removal they were surprise infected so this was absolutely the right choice for me (after seven bouts of symptomatic tonsillitis in the past 11 months).
I’ve got a variety of smooth soups, popsicles, yogurt, some visitors lined up, PBS and YouTube, a backlog of podcasts. My contigo of tea is next to me and I’ve got a mug of lukewarm tea that I trying to takenreal swallow of instead of little sips. There’s an ice collar on my throat. The wirecutter suggested the humidifier that is next to the bed. It’s dark and I have a meditation podcast ready to go right now.
I understand the pain will get worse tomorrow and Friday. My current pain level is only a seven which is much better than my expectations. I’m not trying to be a hero with the pain medication so my next dose is in 45 minutes.
I’m extremely anxious and there’s a request in to my surgeon for something to help me relax. I want a massage but fear that might be too soon. Being in the verge of crying is not helping my throat and I’m being mindful to slow my breathing.
With all that in mind, what helped you be comfortable immediately after tonsillectomy?
I’m about 4 hours post tonsillectomy. Upon removal they were surprise infected so this was absolutely the right choice for me (after seven bouts of symptomatic tonsillitis in the past 11 months).
I’ve got a variety of smooth soups, popsicles, yogurt, some visitors lined up, PBS and YouTube, a backlog of podcasts. My contigo of tea is next to me and I’ve got a mug of lukewarm tea that I trying to takenreal swallow of instead of little sips. There’s an ice collar on my throat. The wirecutter suggested the humidifier that is next to the bed. It’s dark and I have a meditation podcast ready to go right now.
I understand the pain will get worse tomorrow and Friday. My current pain level is only a seven which is much better than my expectations. I’m not trying to be a hero with the pain medication so my next dose is in 45 minutes.
I’m extremely anxious and there’s a request in to my surgeon for something to help me relax. I want a massage but fear that might be too soon. Being in the verge of crying is not helping my throat and I’m being mindful to slow my breathing.
With all that in mind, what helped you be comfortable immediately after tonsillectomy?
It sounds like you're doing all the right things.
My husband had a tonsillectomy as an adult about 15ish years ago and the biggest thing that helped him was being liberal with stool softeners, as the pain meds they gave him were extreeeeeeeeemely constipating and he most definitely didn't need to be dealing with additional sources of pain and discomfort beyond his throat. Just throwing that out there in case it's not on your radar.
Other than that, he ate popsicles more or less constantly to stay hydrated, ate very little (which was fine, you just don't want to get dehydrated out of pain avoidance), and watched a ton of TV to distract himself.
Hang in there. It's a rough go, but I'm told that two weeks from now, you won't believe the difference. My husband has always been so, so glad that he did it.
posted by anderjen at 2:31 PM on April 24, 2019
My husband had a tonsillectomy as an adult about 15ish years ago and the biggest thing that helped him was being liberal with stool softeners, as the pain meds they gave him were extreeeeeeeeemely constipating and he most definitely didn't need to be dealing with additional sources of pain and discomfort beyond his throat. Just throwing that out there in case it's not on your radar.
Other than that, he ate popsicles more or less constantly to stay hydrated, ate very little (which was fine, you just don't want to get dehydrated out of pain avoidance), and watched a ton of TV to distract himself.
Hang in there. It's a rough go, but I'm told that two weeks from now, you won't believe the difference. My husband has always been so, so glad that he did it.
posted by anderjen at 2:31 PM on April 24, 2019
Response by poster: Yes! I requested a stool softener and got colace and took the first dose just now with my Percocet! The gel cap was awful to swallow. They’re tiny. I may not take them as frequently as prescribed but I’ll take them more than none.
This pain is still not as bad as strep. I’m expecting tomorrow/next day to be worse than strep. The hopeful long term benefits make this worthwhile. Doing lots of thinking about what flavors I want.
Am reminded why I don’t eat popsicles in real life - they give me a headache because that nerve is close to surface in my mouth. Glad I only got one box.
posted by bilabial at 2:46 PM on April 24, 2019
This pain is still not as bad as strep. I’m expecting tomorrow/next day to be worse than strep. The hopeful long term benefits make this worthwhile. Doing lots of thinking about what flavors I want.
Am reminded why I don’t eat popsicles in real life - they give me a headache because that nerve is close to surface in my mouth. Glad I only got one box.
posted by bilabial at 2:46 PM on April 24, 2019
You’re doing everything right. If you’re hungry (I wasn’t) lots of cold, soft food. My FIL (an ENT surgeon who arranged for his partner to remove my tonsils) said they no longer recommend popsicles and soft food etc, they tell you to eat normally, like toast, to toughen up your throat. If they tell you this, DON’T DO IT. This is bullshit medical advice from someone who clearly has never had a tonsillectomy. It feels like swallowing razor blades.
I basically stopped eating because I wasn’t hungry, my taste buds were damaged and everything tasted awful and it hurt so much. Bonus was, I lost 5kg. So only eat if you want to. Keep on top of your pain relief and take it before you are actually in pain. If you wait, it then takes another half hour of pain before they start to work so pre-empt it. I just slept a lot, it was exhausting. Day five is the worst.
Yes it’s miserable but it was absolutely the right thing to do and to not have tonsillitis ever again was worth it. Hang in there.
posted by Jubey at 7:49 PM on April 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
I basically stopped eating because I wasn’t hungry, my taste buds were damaged and everything tasted awful and it hurt so much. Bonus was, I lost 5kg. So only eat if you want to. Keep on top of your pain relief and take it before you are actually in pain. If you wait, it then takes another half hour of pain before they start to work so pre-empt it. I just slept a lot, it was exhausting. Day five is the worst.
Yes it’s miserable but it was absolutely the right thing to do and to not have tonsillitis ever again was worth it. Hang in there.
posted by Jubey at 7:49 PM on April 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
It sounds like you are on the right path to me as well.
I had mine removed in my mid thirties. For me, it was all about keeping me and my throat hydrated, and then using the prescribed medication to manage pain. The doctor recommended very frequent small sips of water, whatever temperature I preferred, and that is what seemed to work for me.
For the first three days after the procedure, if I fell asleep for more than a couple of hours or forgot to keep sipping, things became more unpleasant until I resumed sipping. Add me to the list of people that thinks it was all worth it, and I would do it again without hesitation if I had to make the choice again.
posted by csmason at 5:33 AM on April 25, 2019
I had mine removed in my mid thirties. For me, it was all about keeping me and my throat hydrated, and then using the prescribed medication to manage pain. The doctor recommended very frequent small sips of water, whatever temperature I preferred, and that is what seemed to work for me.
For the first three days after the procedure, if I fell asleep for more than a couple of hours or forgot to keep sipping, things became more unpleasant until I resumed sipping. Add me to the list of people that thinks it was all worth it, and I would do it again without hesitation if I had to make the choice again.
posted by csmason at 5:33 AM on April 25, 2019
Response by poster: I’m well hydrated and eating soup. Still on the 3/3 pain med schedule and decreased from 2 Percocet to 1.5 because I worry about becoming dependent on the stuff. Sleep schedule is terrible for actually getting great rest.
Humidifier is helpful. So excited about real food. Accomplishing NOTHING professionally (ha, I’ve been sending emails for a board I’m on) or bookwise or even television. Desperate for a fluffy e-audiobook available at NYPL. No violence or sadness or gore and I just don’t even have the attention span to search or formulate as a question.
My pain tolerance is pretty high so this could all definitely be much worse. Swallowing still uncomfortable. Earache is unpleasant. Throat tightness intermittent and ice stopped being pleasant on my neck pain a few days ago. That was a bummer.
Committed to following instructions and resting at least another week. Haven’t been talking, which as anyone’s knows is tough for me because I love the sound of my own thoughts even when they’re not making sense.
Still very glad I did it. Even if this only reduces the number of throat infections I get, it’ll be a win.
posted by bilabial at 7:05 PM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
Humidifier is helpful. So excited about real food. Accomplishing NOTHING professionally (ha, I’ve been sending emails for a board I’m on) or bookwise or even television. Desperate for a fluffy e-audiobook available at NYPL. No violence or sadness or gore and I just don’t even have the attention span to search or formulate as a question.
My pain tolerance is pretty high so this could all definitely be much worse. Swallowing still uncomfortable. Earache is unpleasant. Throat tightness intermittent and ice stopped being pleasant on my neck pain a few days ago. That was a bummer.
Committed to following instructions and resting at least another week. Haven’t been talking, which as anyone’s knows is tough for me because I love the sound of my own thoughts even when they’re not making sense.
Still very glad I did it. Even if this only reduces the number of throat infections I get, it’ll be a win.
posted by bilabial at 7:05 PM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
Hope you are coming out of the worst of it by now! I'm amazed you're even able to send the odd email...my husband was 100% out of commission for two full weeks when he had his, and even when he went back to work, he did half days for another week. It's just exhausting.
posted by anderjen at 7:04 PM on May 6, 2019
posted by anderjen at 7:04 PM on May 6, 2019
« Older Do non-profit, non-commercial radio stations pay... | I need a better suggestion than just "hire more... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by bluloo at 2:25 PM on April 24, 2019 [1 favorite]