Thursday, October 4, 2012, I had appointment at Esbjerg Hospital i Denmark to have my tonsils removed. At the age of 33, it was with some concern I went into it, because the findings online were limited, in regards to the healing period after removed tonsils and the limited information were negative and without any details. As an adult, I decided to write this comparatively detailed review of what happened.
Should you or a relative stand before the operation to have tonsils removed, do not be afraid of this. I am quite sure in the long run that it is worth it – at least if you, like me, are used to running around with sore throat-like symptoms 5 months a year.
I do not have an overview of how many times I was on the Internet to search for answers as to whether this and hint were normal, expected, etc. when you had to tonsils removed. Hopefully this post can answer a number of frustration questions for future patients.
Good luck to you and please comment on the post if you have been able to use it for something. Oh And no, I’m not interested in wyning comments – they are deleted, but all “this is my experience”, “here is an advice” or any other constructive comments are more than welcome.
Day # 0 before surgery, time to remove tonsils
I was called for surgery at. 11:00 a.m. to have removed tonsils, and probably met on time, fasting and ready to go straight to the operating room, but acute operations had pushed the schedule and the waiting time was therefore 2-3 hours. Fine enough, I had brought a book with me, so the time was well spent.
At 12 o’clock, the nurse turns to me and asks me to swallow two Pinex (500mg paracetamol each). Now, I do not understand what such simple painkillers should benefit from during surgery, but it is obviously normal before any surgery, whether to remove tonsils or anything else.
At 13:20 I was called to the operating room. The staff was in a mighty mood and we chatted and exchanged awful humor before the anesthetic worked and I was out. And now it was time, time to get rid of the tonsils!
Day # 1, after surgery, where I got rid of tonsils
I woke up and became relatively quickly clear in my mind. Exactly what happened, I was nevertheless too groggy to remember, but I returned to the bedside ward for a long time, and it seemed to me after removing tonsils that the throat felt constricted as a normal “sore throat “, Though supplemented with general soreness throughout the throat, as well as in the tongue. Nor was my balance to boast. However, the pain was quite limited. The night would be spent at the hospital.
Today’s food & medicine
Today’s medicine: 2 Pinex/paracetamol of 500 mg for evening and night; 1 . Bonyl of 500 mg (Naproxen) until evening.
Today’s food: I got some chilled mashed potato with chilled parsley sauce. It was reasonable to get it down, but the subsequent lemon fromage was great to get in the throat. Cooling, soothing and easy to swallow. I guess americans would get gello of likewise. I ate 3-4 fromages during the evening. In addition, a slice of white soft bread without crusts. Nurses recommended nutella as it would seem a bit lubricating through the throat, but I chose honey, since my experience tells me that it may seem more anesthetic to throat irritation, so of course it could handle the after-effects after removing tonsils.
I had a hard time sleeping at night, partly due to the discomfort of the throat, and partly because of my room mate at the hospital, who had to receive various assistance from the nurses several times.
Day # 2
Woke up tired and unhappy, but very eager to come home. The doctor came along past at 10:00, looked in the throat and we spoke briefly. Nothing unusual to see, and we talked about the length of sick leave. I have a job where massive physical activity can occur, so he was skeptical about whether 2 weeks were a sufficient leave (they recommend 4 weeks before starting physical exercise after removal of tonsils, no matter how the surgery has gone ).
I still had sore throats after removed tonsils, and especially when I was sinking beverages made it pretty sore, so I probably did not get enough to drink.
The day was nice and quiet and I lay a lot on the couch in front of the TV.
Today’s food & medicine
Today’s food: The evening meal was again mashed potatoes with some paned fish (where I peeled the pan).
Today’s medicine: 2 pieces. pinex of 500 mg in the morning, dinner, evening and night; 1 piece. Bonyl of 500 mg (Naproxen) in the morning and evening.
Day # 3
Saturday was on the couch with a duvet and the TV. Lack of energy, increasing pain, at times very violent. Not very much food, and only very few pronounced words. In addition to pain and irritated throat, I could not feel that I had removed tonsils.
Today’s food: Yogurt, white bread without crust, pasta
Today’s medicine: 2 pieces. pinex of 500 mg in the morning, dinner, evening and night; 1 piece. Bonyl of 500 mg (Naproxen) in the morning and evening.
Day # 4
The day today reminded much of the day before, but again with more pain, less energy and a feeling that everything was quite unimaginable.
Today’s food: Yogurt, white bread without crust, pasta
Today’s medicine: 2 pieces. pinex of 500 mg in the morning, dinner, evening and night; 1 piece. Bonyl of 500 mg (Naproxen) in the morning and evening.
Day # 5
The pains are still very increasing, and my patience is similarly decreasing. I find the process after the removed tonsils, to be inconceivable, I’m constantly hungry and struggling to get a bit to eat, but every mouthful makes painful ears.
Medicine, mixture of different preparations
Heavy pain
At 6 p.m. I called the hospital. My patience was out and I was ready to beg for help. However, it was not necessary for luckily or unfortunately the sweet nurse announced that it was not very abnormal with the many pain, and recommending that I could get either Dolol / Tradolan / Mandolgin (3 different names in the same preponder), or oxynorm. Dolol I had taken one in the morning hours, as I used it from time to time for other reasons besides removing tonsils, and I could tell her that it had no effect on me (in regards to the tonsils, naturally). She therefore got a doctor to telephone a prescription for me at a 24-hour pharmacy, and then I had to start with Oxynorm.
Oxynorm is a very powerful morphine-like medication, which can be highly addictive, both mentally and physically, so it must be used with absolute caution.
The nurse also said that it was most likely because i had not used jaw-muscles that set as pain in the jaw and further into the ear. We will return to that statement later …
The first Oxynorm gave me 4-5 hours of total relaxation almost without pain, but at the same time you get a little dizzy or even stoned of these pills, so the side effects were obvious.
Today’s food & medicine
Today’s food: Yoghurts for breakfast, soft white bread for lunch (did not get quite much down) and a little pasta for the evening. In addition some ice cream and some cocoa pudding.
Today’s medicine: 2 pieces. 500 mg. paracetamol morning, afternoon, evening, wet; 1 piece. Bonyl 500 mg morning and evening, 1 pc Dolol 50 mg. Tomorrow, 1 piece of Oxynorm 5 mg. night.
Day # 6, Maybe I’ve should’ve never gotten them tonsils removed…
What a louzy day! I took the Oxynorm tablets four times during the day, each time with dizziness, nausea and discomfort (normal side effects), but conversely they took the top of the pain for 3-4 hours at a time. However, I’m not impressed with the effect!
Food intake has been extremely limited. The hunger is strong, but the pain counteracts the desire to eat. It worries me! I can not get drinks down either. It simply hurts.
Day # 7, why did I ever do it? Why did I let them remove my tonsils?
Today was an extremely uncomfortable day. The pain in the ears is not always covered by the Oxynorm tablets. There must be 6 hours between I take them, but they only have a real effect with me for 3-4 hours. There are therefore some quite painful and unpleassent hours in between. When the pills work, I’m fine and get a little fresh air and get my body working, but in pain periods, I’m completely silent with the head on a pillow and a duvet over the other ear. Regularly suppresses the ears to ease the pressure a little.
Took myself a couple of times to beat myself very hard with fist in my thigh to forget the ears. Expect absolutely bruises! All this to remove tonsils ..?
Have been on the weight today. Lost about 6 kg. in the first seven days. Not probably the healthiest weight loss.
If it works …
Winegums can be the way towards easing of ear pain after removing almonds
Went to the local kiosk after a few items, and think about the nurse’s statement Monday evening. “Lack of use of throat muscles and jaw muscles gives ear pain”. Therefore, I bought a bag of gummi bears in a crazy idea that they might be easy to swallow and if nothing else could give a lot of chewing time. In fact, it was not a stupid idea at all. When they are chewed very small, they are quite easy to swallow, so it’s only when the pain peaks that I can not get them down – and they do provide chewing time. If that does not help, I do not know. And there is no real nourishment in them. But getting tonsils removed could possibly give an argument for eating snouts.
Today’s food & medicine
Today’s food: Did not get anything to eat in the morning, nor to drink. The pain was simply too fierce, and they become obliterated when I sink. Sleep on / off until noon. At lunch I was given a portion of yogurt without lumps, and tonight pasta with sauce and fishpin. The panning was not peeled by today, and after all I got a half-reasonable portion down. Henad evening a couple of wings.
Today’s medicine: 2 pieces. 500 mg. paracetamol morning, afternoon, evening, wet; 1 piece. Bonyl 500 mg morning and evening, 1 piece of Oxynorm 5 mg. morning, afternoon, evening and night.
Day # 8
Woke up at 4:15 with a very massive pain in the ears. For close to an hour and a half i was extremely overwelmed with pain, made continuous suppression of the ears (shortened easier relief), and just waiting for me to take painkiller again.
Half an hour after the pills were taken, the ear pain was almost gone, but the throat was very rough a this morning. I think I talked too much and too loud yesterday. The energy level was quite reasonable for a couple of hours.
Throughout the day there have been periods of very massive ear pain, but I have become very aware of taking the pills at the exact times, and by the way, only eating and drinking at times when I know the pills are most effective. A little cheating maybe, but it makes a little difference. However, it is legal to cheat after removing tonsils!
Today’s food & medicine
Today’s Food: Started the day with some soda whipping because the throat really scratched. Think I expect the first wounds to fall soon. First real food was in the middle of the afternoon in the form of yogurt, and tonight I received a small portion of pasta with sauce and half a of boiled sausage.
Today’s medicine: 2 pieces. 500 mg. paracetamol morning, afternoon, evening, wet; 1 piece. Bonyl 500 mg morning and evening, 1 piece of Oxynorm 5 mg. morning, afternoon, evening and night. In addition, I took a dolol 50 mg. in the middle of the afternoon.
I had the expectation that the pain would be decreasing today. I was disappointed! Very disappointed! I was very frustrated by removing tonsils.
What good would ever come of it …
Day # 9
Woke up again at around 5 o’clock with ears and throat pain and therefore painkillers. When I got up at At 7:00 my voice was completely gone, and the throat hurt. During the night I’ve been very sniffed, so it obviously has an influence. However, it is as if the ears are just barely as painful as yeasterday and at least quicker to conceal. It gives me a little hope that everything is turning. I believe the sore troat is now a combination of a cold and my wounds.
By the way, I had absolutely no voice when I got up … It came back in 15-20 minutes.
Throughout the day, ear pain has been recurring when pain medication has been decreasing, however, it has generally been faster than previous days, although the pain is about as powerful.
I have also been out and spend some energy today, had a walk of about 5 kilometers, but of course, as directed by doctors without significant increase in blood pressure and heart rate.
The troat has been more attention-demanding today, possibly because the ears have not been. That’s why I’ve eaten more ice cream than the previous days.
Today’s food & medicine
Today’s Food: I decided yesterday that today should be used for a small experiment. We therefore got pizza for dinner. Everything was carefully chewed so that there were no sharp edges and large pieces, but it was also ok to get it down. We therefore switch to “normal” dinner from now on.
Breakfast was not available when our daughter kept me awake most of the night so I instead slept all morning. I arrived late for lunch so I ended up skipping. In other words, an unhealthy day, but for once, not so much because I had removed tonsils.
Today’s medicine: 2 pieces. 500 mg. paracetamol morning, afternoon, evening, wet; 1 piece. Bonyl 500 mg morning and evening, 1 piece of Oxynorm 5 mg. morning, afternoon, evening and night.
Day # 10 – Day # 14
As mentioned on day # 9, I tried to run standard diet from day # 10. Days # 10-14 are described collectively as they reminded a lot about each other.
The pain slowed decreased on day # 9 and even more in the following days, so I was virtually painless on day # 14. It was the first real bright spot after removed tonsils. It was also very nice, since I ran out of Oxynorm on Day # 10 and Bonyl on Day # 13.
The food was fairly normal, although it took a few days before I ate normal quantities, and sleep volume and quality varied a lot in the following week’s time.
A month later
The pain is gone, sleep is normalized, and I think very little about the period of pain. I have been through the first cold, which would typically have caused a sore-throat-like period, but it has been much easier than before i got rid of tonsils. Still a little discomfort in the throat for a few days, but rarely more than a cup of hot tea with honey can take.
When I look back on the period immediately after surgery, it was a hard time to get through and I’m not sure if I had completed the surgery and removed tonsils, if I had known what could’ve happen. Conversely, I am looking forward to avoiding throat infection today, and at the same time, the food does not always get stuck in the tonsils.
My wife has also noticed that my snoring has disappeared and the bad breath is significantly reduced. I recently re-discovered my taste buds, and I can differentiate the different flavors in the food much easier.
Overall, in the long run, I have not regretted the operation. I have not regretted removing almonds. Just that my snoring is gone and the taste are enhanced is worth it, but the idea of getting rid of throat infections can now also be right.
My advice for future patients
Consider seriously if you want to stand this through!
It is a time-limited period, but it can be hard and difficult to get through.
Do not wait until the pain has been unreadable for several days before asking for help in the form of pain relievers, but conversely, do not hit on as powerful medicine as Oxynorm if you can do without. Oxynorm is addictive, and I had some withdrawals for a couple of days after stopping with them.
But P L E A S E W R I T E A M E S S A G E below
