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Tonsillectomy

Horrible. One of the worst medical experiences I can imagine. And I've experienced more than my fair share. The only things I have worse are kidney stones and chemo.
 
I still got everything - toncils, wisdom teeth. Never been under anesthesia in my life.

Had kidney stones though - 3 times. As someone mentioned earlier, the pain is unbearable. Wish I could have been knocked out, lol.
 
gandalfe said:
I had sleep apnoea, tried the mask, no good, so I had a tonsillectomy and uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty). I lived on Slurpees for about a week or 2.
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This was mine as well. My tonsils were 3-5X normal size and I had a lot of excess tissue in my throat that would close off while I slept causing up to 60 waking events per hour, meaning I never entered deep sleep. They took out my tonsils and uvula and the doctor said almost 2 pounds of excess tissue in my throat. Suddenly I could breathe and actually sleep. Before I had the surgery we thought I had narcolepsy because I would literally suddenly fall asleep doing normal things like eating and talking to people. Later I had sinus surgery for the apnea because I was still having issues with breathing at night.

The surgery was bad. It took me 2 weeks before I could even swallow. I spent 2 days about a week after the surgery in the hospital being fed intravenously. One thing you don't think about was your tongue. They clamp your tongue and pull it out of your mouth so it isn't in the way for the surgery. Well clamping a tongue isn't easy so they clamp down really hard. My tongue swelled up to the size of a golf ball. It was a bad experience. I am glad I had it done because I couldn't sleep but wow was it painful. Literally the only things I have experienced that were worse are kidney stones and chemotherapy.
 
Recovery is harder as an adult than a child, but you'll likely survive. :p
 
LogGrad98 said:
This was mine as well. My tonsils were 3-5X normal size and I had a lot of excess tissue in my throat that would close off while I slept causing up to 60 waking events per hour, meaning I never entered deep sleep. They took out my tonsils and uvula and the doctor said almost 2 pounds of excess tissue in my throat. Suddenly I could breathe and actually sleep. Before I had the surgery we thought I had narcolepsy because I would literally suddenly fall asleep doing normal things like eating and talking to people. Later I had sinus surgery for the apnea because I was still having issues with breathing at night.

The surgery was bad. It took me 2 weeks before I could even swallow. I spent 2 days about a week after the surgery in the hospital being fed intravenously. One thing you don't think about was your tongue. They clamp your tongue and pull it out of your mouth so it isn't in the way for the surgery. Well clamping a tongue isn't easy so they clamp down really hard. My tongue swelled up to the size of a golf ball. It was a bad experience. I am glad I had it done because I couldn't sleep but wow was it painful. Literally the only things I have experienced that were worse are kidney stones and chemotherapy.
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I had my tonsils taken out yesterday and am thankfully feeling pretty good. The wife has taken a few days off and is helping out a lot. I’m on Percocet and Tylenol. Then I’ll rotate off of those and take some ibuprofen. I’m pretty lethargic and swallowing is a little difficult. But I’ve been sipping on Icewater and have the humidifier cranked up.

It mostly feels like a sore throat. Which, I’m used to. After a year now of having sore throats every two weeks.

I was worried about my tongue swelling up. Haven’t had issues with that. Yesterday I did have issues with taste, things tasted metallic. But not today, everything tastes normal. Sleeping is hard since you have to sleep propped up.

I cannot believe that you had nearly 2 lbs of soft tissue taken out. The worst pain was when I first woke up. I could feel my throat just raw with pain and I had a bad headache. That’s just with having the tonsils taken out and the adenoids shrunk. I don’t know how you survived that.
 
Glad it went well.

Really glad I had mine out when I was four. I only have pleasant memories of popsicles and ice cream.
 
Had mine out about 12 years ago. Afterwards I remembered the doctor telling me not to do any activities that would exert myself over the next 2 weeks so I'd just stay home and did pretty much nothing. On around the 10-12th day I went out for the first time to see a movie, it was about a 30 minute walk round trip, and when I got home that night the wound where they took out the tonsils opened up and I was spewing continuous streams of blood.

I had to take the taxi to the emergency room where they started injecting adrenaline to try to stop the flow of blood, but that didn't work. They ended up having to call in a surgeon to do the surgery that night at around 3am in the morning to stitch up the wound and close it off.

The worst part was having to sign the consent form before going under the aesthetic saying there is a chance I might die from the surgery and that the hospital won't be responsible, and giving them the next of kin's contact detail. I decided not to call my family as didn't want to worry them (they lived in another city at the time).

Luckily I woke up the next morning all stitched up and OK. But it was pretty dicey for a while there, one of the worst night of my life.
 
LogGrad98 said:
Horrible. One of the worst medical experiences I can imagine. And I've experienced more than my fair share. The only things I have worse are kidney stones and chemo.
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I just got a CT scan today for a stone I have stuck somewhere. Fourth one in a year and a half. The last two weeks have been miserable.
 
I never knew the thriller was married.
 
Day 5 was the best day. Yesterday from 5:00-11:00pm I felt normal again. Which, is saying something for those who’ve been through this operation. For the past several days I’ve been relegated to the couch, on a liquid only diet, sleeping under a humidifier for most days, and waking up ever 3 hrs to down pain meds.

So it was pretty amazing yesterday night to get some soup and bread from kneaders and then watch stuff on tv with a clear mind. Still can’t talk much though.

But then after midnight things got dicey. I couldn’t sleep and the scabs are beginning to flake off. Over the next few days (from what I’ve read) the scabs flake off and expose raw new skin where your tonsils used to be. Not only is this painful but dangerous, since this is where scabs can come off prematurely and lead to life threatening hemmoraging.

At around 2 I dozed off and my phone didn’t alarm didn’t wake me up. I woke up at 3:37, 37 mins past the set time to take my next Set of pain killers in a lot of pain. Took them but the pain didn’t go away. Around 6:am I couldn’t take it anymore and took a long hot shower. The pain level reached the highest I’ve felt since the operation, maybe a 8 or 9. It felt like there were a bunch of mini razors at the back of my throat slicing into me anytime I breathed swallowed.

I haven’t seen any bleeding and hopefully never do.

The pain has gone down since the shower but it’s still at a consistent 4. Bad headache, no energy, and raw skin at the end of the Throat. Day 4 and day 6 has been the worst so far. I thought Day 2 felt like a weak sore throat and day 5 felt good.

I’ve heard that it typically takes 2 weeks to fully recover. But honestly, I’d just love to lower the pain meds and have most of the scabbing off by day 8 or 9. I can deal with an adjusted diet/lack of exercise for the last few days. It’s just the same old diet and routine over the last 6 without seeing any substantial and permanent improvement that has been the most depressing part.

For as much pain as this operation inflicts, it’s the mental anguish that is equally as bad (yet rarely talked about). Every few hrs you must take pain meds. You need to constantly keep your throat moist. So it’s not like you’re sitting in a hammock taking it easy for a few weeks. You’re still busy. You just can’t eat anything, don’t sleep, are drugged out of your mind, and the back of your throat is scabbed over by the most disgusting smelling and tasting thing I’ve ever experienced. And are you even getting any better? It’s difficult to tell.
 
jesus this is horrible, yuck. how in the hell do you have two pounds of flesh removed from your throat? Hate reading crap like this makes my skin crawl, that said i have no problem holding a screaming bleeding person down while a doctor staples their head back together, hmmm i want some snacks...
 
infection said:
Why did you have them taken out?
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For a few years now I’ve had issues with sore throats. If I got sick it was always with a sore throat. I’d get sick every 3-4 weeks for at least a day or so with something Throat or sinus related. This past year was the final straw. I noticed my tonsils never seemed to shrink I had enough of always getting sick.

I went to ENT of Utah, they have clinics all over the valley.

The doctor said that typically 8 episodes a year was the threshold (I was having probably close to double that) and recommended tonsillectomy.

During the surgery he removed my tonsils and most (or part?) of my adenoids. Apparently my adenoids were large and had a stone (common with people suffering from chronic issues with tonsils) in them.

Last night was the first night in a week I’ve slept more than 5 hours and in bed. Hopefully we are on the upswing.

I don’t know how LG did it. My throat has been raw these past few days as the scabs have come off, exposing new and raw skin where my tonsils had previously been. He had two lbs of flesh taken out from his throat. That’s ridiculous. I’d hope if a doctor had to do that he’d place you in a medically induced coma for a month as my throat healed.
 
I had similar issues when I was 18 with frequent sore throat and swollen tonsils. I got mine taken out and it was breezy. Felt better as soon as they were out.
 
Bulletproof said:
I had similar issues when I was 18 with frequent sore throat and swollen tonsils. I got mine taken out and it was breezy. Felt better as soon as they were out.
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That’s good. I wish I had done that too. I’ve always had issues with them, even in middle School.

Typically young kids are better within 3-5 days. They just take some Tylenol.

Those 18 years or older can be put out for two weeks. Online I’ve read horror stories. LG’s story is one. Typically adults heal slower, tonsils are larger, and the surgery is overall a lot more traumatic. I’ve been switching off between Percocet + Tylenol and Ibuprofen every 3 hrs. I have a friend who struggles with sore throats and needs to have her tonsils out. But she’s worried about the recovery. She has two kids, a full time job, and doesn’t want to be put out for 2 weeks. She’s in her early 40s

Today is Day 7 and I think I’m turning the corner. Pain in the ears and throat is diminishing. The scabs are becoming more transparent. Had some light bleeding earlier today but stopped within a minute of sipping some cold water.
 
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