Iwan

I was wondering, has anyone here had their tonsils out as an adult?

I'm having mine done in 2 weeks, so I was wondering if anyone had any stories (good or bad) about having theirs done.

Like how long it took before you can go back to work?
How long till you can eat different foods, ice cream, fruit, vindaloos etc?
Whats the best stuff to eat/drink in the days afterwards?
Does it make talking painful?
Do you wake up in the morning gargling a mouthful of blood and scabs and looking like Hannibal Lecter?

Any feedback greatly appreciated.

boxst

I'm not sure you want to hear .... but a friend of mine had it done as said it was extremely, extremely painful for several days.

He was eating normally after a week or so, but the pain was there for two weeks.

Steve

Iwan

Cheers, as long as its honest that's fine - I'd just like an idea of how bad it'll be. I'm not scared of a bit of pain (yet).

I'm a contractor and don't want to take time off unless its absolutely necessary, I booked the day of the op (a friday) off work, then have a weekend to recover. But I suspect I was right in saying I may need a few more days after that before I'm driving the length of the country and visiting customers.

Any recommendations of what to eat in the days afterwards? I'm thinking of cold/cool soups put through a blender, or milkshakes, protein shakes etc, fruit smoothies and the like - but I'm just guessing really.

njkmrs

A mates 20 ish yr old daughter had them out recently (the tonsils !!) .
No major probs and back in work within a week I think .

I think they tell you to eat rough food eg toast ,these days to stop clag building up and causing infections .
Good Luck .

RyanSTI

iTrader: (1)

i want mine out, if the pain is less than toncilitus i'd take id any day of the week.

Iwan

Cheers guys.

I've just been doing some reading and it seems the advice is to drink as much fluids as possible, and to eat "normal" food as soon as possible, but avoid sharp stuff like cornflakes, dry toast, crusty french bread etc. As eating normal foods seems to make the throat heal faster and have less risk of infection, sounds weird but I'll go along with it.

I used to get tonsillitis loads as a kid, then stopped getting it for years, then last year started getting it again and had it 5 times in the last 12 months. Now even when not infected, my tonsils are pretty big and gnarly and cause me to snore. They also cause bad breath as food gets trapped in them very easily.

So I'm expecting a lot of pain, but hopefully it'll be a good move in the long run. I'm actually more scared of having to take a dump in a hospital bedpan than I am of having the op!

richie001

iTrader: (3)

Yeah i have,are you getting tonsillitis alot. Its not to bad,had mine out at 21 yrs old,I had a week off,eating was painful but you just got to get on with it,drinks lots of water stops the taste of blood and helps stop any infection you may get,eat ice cream helps with swelling,talking is painful,i did wake up sometime with a taste over blood but that's goes away after a couple of days.The worst thing was that i had my Op the same day has some kids and they were running around after 2-3 hours,me i felt like **** for 2 days and i had to stay overnight and the fu*kers woke me up at 6 am for breakfast which was a bowl over Corn Flakes with very little milk and that really sucked,i nearly choked and it hurt little fu*k.The other thing you know that feeling when you got something stuck at the back of your thoat and you want to cough it up you get that.

Hope that helps

stoneface

iTrader: (6)

I had mine out at 25 all was going well then I got an infection my throat swelled up so much I ended up with no jawline, swallowing fluid was only just possible.

richie001

iTrader: (3)

I had a infection,wasn't has bad has that.

Clarebabes

I had mine out 4 years ago and I wouldn't expect to be back at work after 3 days! I was knackered, the general anaesthetic takes it's toll on you as does the pain.

I had mine done privately and they made me beans on toast about 2 hours after the op. Hurt to eat, but was the best thing as normal food gets rid of the scabs!

Good luck with it. Do not drink alcohol on the drugs they give you. I accidentally swallowed some mouthwash with alcohol in and was violently sick. Not nice....

TopBanana

Had mine out last year. Luckily I know a good ENT surgeon and he did a brilliant job. It didn't hurt at all for the first two weeks, but hurt a bit for the following two - apparently that's quite common. I was working from home the next day, but took it very easy for two weeks as advised. The reason for this is that raised blood pressure from exertion can cause the incisions in your throat to bleed profusely until they've properly healed - it's a straight to hospital affair.

mamoon2

Glad you've posted this as I need to have mine out. Every time theres a bug going around a get Tonsilitus.

boxst

I thought it was quite rare to do it these days? I had tonsilitus probably 8 times in a row and I just given antibiotics, told to gargle on aspirin and I'll be fine.

Steve

Coupe-Se

I had my tonsils out when I was 37.

The operation wasn't too bad and for 2 days after I wondered what all the fuss was about. I ate normally and felt pretty ok and considered going back to work.

My tonsils were removed by cauterization and left two bloody huge craters in my throat.

Due to the cauterization process the nerve endings are seared and as a result the peak of the post op pain happens typically between 10 to 14 days post op as they repair themselves.

The hospital only gave me paracetomol and at day 9 in was in agony like I'd never experienced and couldn't sleep for 2 days. Fortunately my GP came out and gave me high strength pain killers which did the trick. 3 weeks post op and I felt fine and was back at work.

If you suffer from severe tonsilitus repeatedly, the op will be an absolute god send. The op is really unpleasant, but well worth it and I do wish they'd done it years ago for me.

what would scooby do

Well the good news is that once they are out your immune
system weakens further..

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

It does bugger all to your immune system LOL

Like Coupe-se I had my tonsils out with a snare and cauterisation at the age of 22.

after a couple of days drinking soup it's all getting back to normal and in work the next week. The post op pain described at a couple of weeks is tricky to describe from a medical point of view but much better than having "quinsy"

Quinsy - Overview - Overview

Shaun

MattW

A friend of the missus just had hers done.


She had to go back twice

GWH is it?

Iwan

Yeah its at GWH, fingers crossed.

You can bring me some fruit.

Leslie

I had mine out when I was about 4 years old I think, no problems with the operation etc but they brought me a plate of semolina with red hot jam in it the next day!

I can still remember the pain now.

Les

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

We had to ask our Doctor to refer our son to the hospital. Doc just kept prescribing amoxycillin, but he was losing too much time off school with the recurring tonsillitus.
Doc said it was only in extreme cases that tonsils get taken out nowadays and the consultant may not agree not take them out.
When we saw the Consultant, he had one look in my boys mouth and said, "Yeah, he's a prime candidate" and booked us in.
Son was supposed to go in on Monday, but he's been postponed until the 21st now.

Dave.

Iwan

If anyone's interested, I'll do a daily blog when I have mine out, and report back what its like.

With pics too if I can manage it!