Having Tonsils Out

xzanti

Im having my tonsils out in the new year and Im feeling rather nervous at the thought of it.. Iv heard it gets more painful the later in life you have them out.. Im 22 and they've been giving me trouble for years..

Anyone whos had this done... I need some advice..

Will I have stitches in my throat??
How long will it be before I can eat normally again??
How long will I be in hospital for??

Any other nuggets of info you can provide will be great..

Cheers

deisemum

I had my tonsils out when I was 21/22. Since I had them out I've felt much better as I used to have infected tonsils 3 out of 4 weeks approx.

The morning after I had them out we were given a bowl of corn flakes boiled egg and toast because it's better for healing, the jelly and ice cream days are not recommended. About 15 mins before each meal we were given pain relief in the form of a syrup, something like calpol.

I can see why breakfast was served at 6.30am because you chewed each corn flake thoroughly.

I found the pain peaked about a week after I had them out, pain in ears is where I felt it.

I was a week in hospital, a week at home and advised not to go in to public areas due to the risk of infection, then in the 3rd week I could go out and about but to avoid crowded areas.

I had them out in London so it may be different over here.

A word of caution, I went on the drink about 6 weeks after and drank a lot, I ended up damaging the healing and my throat bled and I got a severe infection.

When your tonsils are removed and you see them in a jar you'll be amazed how big the are, like the size of boiled eggs.

xzanti

:eek: Oh Sweet Jesus.. I was hoping you would say its a piece of cake That sounds barbaric...

Thanks for the info

Trizo

Hey xzanti ,

i had mine out when i was 21/22, like you i was nervous i hate just being in hospitals let alone getting operated on

i used to get infected tonsils all the time towards the end and it was just ruining my life i was missing days of work , college , nights out everything so it was just a huge relief to get them out. I got tired of the gargling with disprin and the Penicillin(calvapen i think) and i think if i hadn’t asked the doctor to just take them out i would have done so myself!

I was told before i got them out that the older you are the worse it usually is pain wise etc .. and also that it usually affects girls more so (weather this is true or not i don’t know) but apparently they suffer more from earaches etc..

My experience : i woke up after the operation doped out of it i didn’t know where i was twas great then i just slept and slept , the next morning i was still a little drowsy but i had a full breakfast , i couldn’t believe A)how hungry i was and that i was able to eat because of my throat.
but i had loads , mind you the whole time you are given painkillers (pretty strong ones at that) but i was still very surprised. apparently eating soon after really helps you to heal and recover faster. Looking at the back of my throat at the time i remember seeing this yellow/white stuff covering the whole area (im not sure what this is maybe the throat healing or some kind of stuff the surgeon puts on the back of your throat to protect it?).
I was out of hospital within a day or two(i think two) and on painkillers for another week and a bit.
-Stitches i think i even had to have one removed 2 weeks afterwards although i think the rest were dissolvable or swallowable ??
I have to tell you though it is worth all of the pain and nerves ,you cannot go on with them it will just drag you down

The best advise i can give you is
A) eat as soon as possible (i.e. when your offered something)
continue to eat this will heal and clean the throat alot faster, don’t lose your appetite if you don’t feel hungry try to eat
C)take the painkillers regularly i only remember feeling a little pain once for the whole 2 weeks or so

well i think that’s everything , getting them out will be one of the best things you do and hopefully you wont suffer too much pain after the op
Best of luck

Unshelved

I had my tonsils out when I was 22 as well. I used to get tonsilitis every 4-6 weeks, missed loads of work, and spent a lot of time just feeling awful. Getting them removed is one of the best things I ever did.

The operations is a bit scary if you're not used to hospitals etc. You should be fasting from all food and drink from midnight the night before so hopefully you'll be operated on early in the morning. You're wheeled down to the operating theatre, asked a few questions about allergies to penicillin, a needle with the anaesthetic is stuck into the back of your hand (not very painful but try to keep your hands warm so that they can find a vein) and then you drift off to sleep.

Afterwards is painful - like an exceptionally sore throat - nothing you can't handle. Anyway they give you painkillers. Get as much sleep as you can - you'll be feeling very woozy. The day after the op you should be feeling very much better and very hungry - you'll be surprised at how quickly you're eating normally again. You'll probably be kept in three days in total. If you can't face hospital food, tell your visitors to bring you something soothing like yoghurt. Stay away from fruit like oranges, kiwis and tomatoes - they'll sting.

Bring something rubbishy to read like magazines or trashy novels - you won't have the concentration for War & Peace. A walkman/mp3 player is handy too if your ward is a noisy one.

You'll probably be out of work for a fortnight in total. If you're female, don't wear any makeup or nail varnish before the op, and get someone to look after your jewellery because they'll remove it before theatre.

Good luck - you'll be absolutely fine, and you'll feel so much better once the tonsils are gone.

Edited to add - Take Vitamin E to speed up the healing process from a couple of days after the operation. You may feel a strange itching sensation deep in your ears - that's the healing taking place - not painful but a bit irritating.

I never got to see my tonsils - after reading desiemum's entry, I feel a bit deprived now!

moridin

I had mine out in May of this year, I'm 25.

I wasn't expecting it to be as nasty as it was. Make no mistake, it's going to hurt - better get used to the idea now. As has been said, it's better to try and eat something rough like toast and cornflakes, as it speeds up the healing process.

What I didn't notice from the other posts (perhaps it just happened in my case, I dunno), is that afterwards I was pretty concerned about what felt like a flap of skin/tissue in my throat. It turned out to just be swelling from the operation, but seriously felt like there was something loose in there which moved when I took a deep breath or something - scared me half to death.

The painkillers I was given to bring home (solphadol) didn't last anywhere near as long as they should have, so I had trouble sleeping. Deisemum mentions pains in your ears, and that's quite true, it'll almost drive you nuts. If your painkillers aren't working well then talk to the doctor as soon as you can, don't sit it out and just take more like I did - you'll run out too soon

Trizo mentions a white covering on the back of his throat - I had the same, but another thing that I noticed was that as you get better your throat starts to stink really badly. It'll go away eventually, it's just rather unpleasant, so stock up on breath mints!

Horrible-ness of the operation aside, it's definately worth getting done, you'll be in a lot better health after it

Angels

Had mine out like few other postee's, at the age of 20 i got them out a few years ago now.

The only thing i would say to you is try to eat as soon as possible.

You'll feel raw for a few days but it's nothing too scary.

I on the other hand reacted very badly to anasthetic (spelt that wrong oops),
was getting sick for days. I was in hospital for a week and recovered fine.

It's nice excuse to be able to eat ice cream for a few days though.

Hope everything goes well for you.

Santa Claus

I had mine out at 26. It's a killer alright, expect it to be sore when you swallow food or liquid for about a week but after that you'll be back to nearly normal.

You will have pain around your ears for a week or so afterwards but my doctor told me that it's not caused by the tonsils but rather because they had your jaw clamped open for the operation :eek:

connundrum

Hey, had mine out bout a year and a half ago - best thing I ever did. They removed my adenoids (spelling?!) too and that helped with my sinus's.
The pain after the actual operation was compareable to a mild/bad case of tonsilitus (spelling again..) so for me it was well worth the pain. Compared to some of the other opertaions I've had it was a walk in the park!

Actually the worst thing was with the adenoids cos they had to shove cotton wool up me nose and it hurt like hell when they took the cotton wool out! :mad:

All in all its well worth it and none too scary in the end. Out of hospital the next day and back drinking (not heavily) about 10 days after that.

xzanti

Cheers for your replys... Although I dont feel a lot better about it, but at least ill know what to expect

Dave!

It seems the most important thing to remember is to keep taking those drugs!

Good luck to ye, I'm sure it'll be grand! Just lazing around in bed for a week or two -- appreciate it!

drdre

donot worry u will be fine:D ,just take a chill pill before u go to the hospital

starn

It's a piece of cake. I have had mine out twice at this stage and there's noting to it. I do remeber the first time I had them taken out, I was 10 years old. On my second day in the hospital one of the nurse's came in and put a cast on my left leg. EVEN THOUGH I KEPT TELLING HER THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH IT AND THAT THERE WASNOTHING BROKEN. Imagine the look on my mothers face when she came in to visit me.

rugbug86

i had mine out when i was 8. they made me eat DRY toast the next day. but the pain wasn't THAT bad...

xzanti

Its weird because my tonsils have been fine for the past few months... But now, the day I go for my consultation they have come up again (hense the fact that Im awake at 06:17) .. Which is good because at least the specialist can see how bad they are... They can get soooo much worse though.. sometimes it feels like Im trying to swallow rasor blades

Thanks again for the info guys

Dave!

poor thing

Alessandra

xzanti wrote:

Its weird because my tonsils have been fine for the past few months... But now, the day I go for my consultation they have come up again (hense the fact that Im awake at 06:17) .. Which is good because at least the specialist can see how bad they are... They can get soooo much worse though.. sometimes it feels like Im trying to swallow rasor blades

Thanks again for the info guys

Dont worry itll be worth it, had mine out 2months ago and not a bother since. Hospital 2\3 days. Eat and make sure you drink plenty. It wasn't half as bad as my worst tonsilitis. No worries, you'll be fine....

Lex Luthor

OK. I have a reality check for you here.

It's not a piece of cake.

Please don't get that into your head.

There was 3 of us in the same room, all about same age getting them out in Clane hospital the same morning about 6 1/2 yrs ago. I was 28 at the time. 2 of us were in sheer agony, the other could bear it. I was in sheer agony. Some people tolerate it more than others. Be prepared for the worst.

Its a full 10 days from start to finish so you should at least take 2 weeks off work.

Day 1 starts the morning of the operation. Don't worry about what all the people say about the operation...you're out for it, so what can you do.

It's normally done by 10am on Day 1. I got out of hospital on Day 3 about midday.

Nights 1 & 2 were absolute torture....It was horrible...I was walking the floors with pain at 4am. Had to keep asking the nurses for morphene.

They normally give you dry toast at lunch time on day 1 and to be honest for the first 2 days, that is about all you can eat. Its total bed time for the first 4 days for me. The pain is comparable to the worst sore throat you've ever had and double that. You also get that infected taste in your mouth during days 3 & 4...quite normal.

Then the fun part....Days 5-7. The worse 3 days of the lot. The pain moves up into the ears....I was praying for mercy at this stage.

Day 8, you should start to spitting blood.....The end is near...its a good sign.

I took Solpadeine during the 10 days as it was soluble...Every 4 hrs.
I also gargled Solpadeine ever couple of hours and spat out when the pain started coming back and in between swallowing them. Keep a notepad by your bed and time stamp every time you gargle & swallow your pain killers.

Stay away from dairy products for the first 2 days....I'd stick with water, fruit juice and soft fruits. Always finish each meal by washing out your mouth with water.

Looking back, it was the best operation I have done apart from the Lasik. I used to suffer from bad tonisilits every 2-3 months and had a horrendous amount of sick days each year....(20-30). I have had in total about 3 sick days since. Not one sore throat.

Google the word tonsillectomy and you'll get all the info, but they all mention the 10 day cycle.

I've heard cold air beside your bed can relieve a bit of pain along with some ice packs placed on your neck.

Best of luck.

Santa Claus wrote:

You will have pain around your ears for a week or so afterwards but my doctor told me that it's not caused by the tonsils but rather because they had your jaw clamped open for the operation :eek:

Does your doctor have a beak and duck feathers....what a load of sh!te.
Tonsils are located very close to the ears, so the pain you will feel in your ears is coming from the throat.

Alessandra

Oh its by no means a straight forward procedure! Two girls in the same ward a few weeks before i had them out were still there when I came back. They kept haemorraging, but the docs said its cos they wouldnt eat. I was really weak for about 8days after and then I came off the painkillers and was ok again. I was able to fly after 14days for my year abroad and havent been able to go back 4 a check up since but its all good now.

Victor

Regarding how to or how not to take painkillers and the like, follow your doctors instructions, not the suggestions of some random person on the internet.

Alessandra

Í agree actually!

xzanti

OMFG :eek:

Well the consultant said they are definately coming out.. 4 to 6 months to wait at the most aparently... They are still quite sore (which again has me up at 05:48) so I wont be sorry to see the back of them at the end of the day and I think* I have a pretty good threshold for pain so I shall have to gritt my teeth and hope for the best...

Regarding the haemoraging (sp) like someone mentioned, the doc did warn me of this, and said Id have to go back in and be anaesthetised again if it happened :eek: so fingers x'd that wont happen

Cheers

Lex Luthor

Victor wrote:

Regarding how to or how not to take painkillers and the like, follow your doctors instructions, not the suggestions of some random person on the internet.

I agree. I was not making any suggestions, just telling what I did.