I Hate Tonsils!

[lindsbeth112984]

Not really a coupon rant.. and maybe it doesn't even belong on here, but man.. I am so fed up & need to rant! I've always suffered with multiple bouts of tonsillitis per year. Tonsils that get so huge, they look like they are pretty much connected. Even without having it, they are abnormally large. It affects every day life. It's hard to swallow, eat food & lately I'll have painful attacks out of nowhere. Different kind of pain then I've been used to. I also feel like I have a lump behind one, which makes it more uncomfortable. So, the past 5-6 weeks I've been having it constantly. It's not going away. Seen an ENT in early November. She said they were going to go ahead & do a tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy (sp?) .. was supposed to call to book it. More than a month later I'm still waiting to hear when it's gonna happen. She predicted Feb/Mar. I feel hopeless because I'm in pain every day.. just wish I knew there was an end in sight..

So sick of being.. sick. It's wearing me out. I sleep strange hours right now.. up all night usually in pain.. then sleep a few hours. Trying to get ready for Christmas & I just feel stressed out. I feel like doing nothing. AGHHHHH.

Has anyone gone through this surgery as an adult? I hear it's bad to go through the older you are. I'd love for anyone to share stories if they have gone through it.

Thanks for letting me whine..

[maggiespice]

I am very sorry to hear you are in so much pain with your tonsils. I have a neice that has a lot of issues as well and her Dr. won't remove them???!!!?? I guess they don't think it is bad enough for her. Anyways good luck with your surgery. Hopefully it happens in Feb rather than March. I am sure you will be so much better after they are gone. Let us know how things go and how you are feeling after it's all said and done.

[The Kawarthan]

.

[anisa]

yikes, they sure waited long enough to decide on removing them.

i'm so sorry you are in so much pain and discomfort.

i had tonsillitis once, and was referred to a specialist and he decided at that one visit that they were to be removed. i was 25 or 26. it did take a full week to recover.

just a word of caution, when you are in recovery you don't eat solid foods for a few days. umm, just make sure you try and consume as much fiber as you can, when you can, because it will help in the long run (if you know what i mean, sorry to be gross!)

[CalliePink]

Yes! I suffered with problems that got worse as I got older. Mine were also chronically enlarged and inflamed. Rarely did I not have a sore throat, and my glands ached all the time. After one last seriously nasty and gross throat infection, I finally had them removed when I was 36. That was 5 years ago and I am so incredibly grateful to our health care system for yanking those things out, lol! It's made a very significant difference for me.

A word of warning though, it will hurt. Like hell. There is, of course, the odd exception, but expect it to be unbelievably painful. And ice cream doesn't help! Anything that requires swallowing will be torture.....it took me about 5 minutes to work up the courage to take my pain medication because it hurt so much just to swallow, lol! Also, it was a full week of recovery. Wiped right out. Even at the end of that week, don't push solids that aren't mushy. Your throat will be tender for about 3 weeks and you don't want to scar it with hard foods.

As treacherous as that week is, I think you'll be very happy you went through with it. Good luck!

[anisa]

i found ice cream to be gross when in recovery.

popsicles and freezies are good tho!

[lindsbeth112984]

i found ice cream to be gross when in recovery.

popsicles and freezies are good tho!

Dairy is a big no no I hear. It causes you to get extra mucus that just makes things gross.

[anisa]

^ yuppers, it just tastes all slimy and yucky.

[roseofblack25]

I had mine out when I was 9 and started eating soup the same day...I was starving surgery couldn't keep me from eating proper food LOL!

[Rocketrobbin]

I am so sorry for what you are going through, I also have had large irritable tonsils my whole life. Always getting infections, inflamed glands etc. Although it sounds like your case is too advanced now, for those that suffer with this, I take zinc lounges now as soon as I get that tickle in my throat. Just suck on one every three hours and the tickle is gone. Fingers crossed I have not had a problem since i started doing this.
Good Luck to you!

[anastasia1009]

I got mine removed at 28 years old and took about a week to heal. But mine started to grow back a few years ago and now suffering again.

[anastasia1009]

yikes, they sure waited long enough to decide on removing them.

i'm so sorry you are in so much pain and discomfort.

i had tonsillitis once, and was referred to a specialist and he decided at that one visit that they were to be removed. i was 25 or 26. it did take a full week to recover.

just a word of caution, when you are in recovery you don't eat solid foods for a few days. umm, just make sure you try and consume as much fiber as you can, when you can, because it will help in the long run (if you know what i mean, sorry to be gross!)

you are so right with fiber - after the surgery wow on pain pills and liquids so I wish I knew to take fiber. your tummy does suffer.

[lindsbeth112984]

I got mine removed at 28 years old and took about a week to heal. But mine started to grow back a few years ago and now suffering again.

Oh gosh.. they grow back?! Do not like this..

[GracieAnne]

They can partially grow back yes. But it is extremely rare.
I had mine out when I was 8 or 9, it got to the point that I was refusing all food because it was too difficult to eat, and the doctor finally agreed to do surgery.

I've never heard of people having it done as an adult, but it can't be too bad, nothing really changes with that from childhood to adulthood.

[maribel]

I had mine out a few years ago (I think I was 25 or 26). It wasn't so bad, but I learned some things that I will share because maybe it will help you.

I discovered I had a mild intolerance to Morphine, which made me vomit when they gave it to me immediately following surgery for the pain, so, they switched to demerol for the first little while, after that it was morphine drip with a gravol drip at the same time lol. Throwing up after tonsil surgery=NOT COOL.

As I was waking up, I kept trying to clear my throat, because it felt like something was in it.. thats from the surgery and is normal lol, but if I had known about it ahead of time, I probably wouldn't have done it at all thus saving myself some pain later on..

The first few days felt like more of a "really painful lump in your throat/throat feeling" or having swollen glands...By the time I finally had surgery, I was so used to the mild version of that feeling because I had tonsillitis every few weeks recurring. Every time I got a cold, any virus, my tonsils went crazy and stayed like that for at least two weeks! It was like having a tonsilitis flare, but times 15. Pain pills/liquid helped. I ate liquid and or mushy everything.. soup (warm, not hot) was good, meal replacement drinks are helpful to keeping your calorie intake sufficient when you hardly feel like eating.

Some things I wish I had known when I left the hospital from my surgery:

Ask for a liquid codeine syrup prescription, in addition to your pain pills for later on, as it will be easier to take at first, and it really is hard to swallow pills in the first bit. I ended up in the ER because I couldn't swallow the pain pills and felt like I was dying, so the ER doc gave me the syrup scrip.. I wish I had known that from the start. They will not likely tell you this. I just knew to ask and insist!

Fibre, as was suggested already, really helps because a side effect of pain pills, plus not wanting to eat, is constipation. They have stool softener pills you can take, if regular fibre doesn't help. (Docusate Sodium capsules, they are available over the counter at pharmacies, no prescription needed. )

Drink as MUCH water as you can, and don't plan on doing anything for a week because you might not have the energy.

Audio books on my Ipod were my best friend, because daytime tv was so boring, and I didn't have to concentrate on anything, just listen and rest.

Prepare your foods ahead of time, keep them in single serve containers, so if you're looking after yourself it's easy to make the food fast, and then you're more likely to eat.

Those sore throat lozenges available in the pharmacy(chloroseptic or sucrets, have benzocaine in them, an oral anesthetic) and help with the soreness by slightly numbing the throat and mouth. At least they did mine, especially during the healing phase. They will probably not suggest this either, just advil and water, but again, I knew they would help and since I had some from all the times my tonsils were bad, they were available.
.

My doctor told me the second week shouldn't hurt so much if I drank enough, but that's when they're healing and I found it the worst! It was like bee stings, thousands of them where my tonsils used to be.

The important part during this phase is to drink water like there's no tomorrow.. It will still hurt, but heal faster and better. It keeps the scab (GROSS) moist and stings less. Which means, if you're having a rough time during this healing phase, set an alarm to have a drink every few hours when you're sleeping (if you are able to go back to sleep after that kind of thing) because the morning was the WORST. Taking advil at the last drink break of the night before I would wake helped A LOT with that... It was working before I woke up.

BUT....
THE GOOD NEWS!

I haven't had a major cold, cough or been sick like I used to be since I had them out. Minor cold here and there... very few and far between.

My biggest regret about the surgery?

not having insisted on a referral to an ENT sooner. I would get tonsilitis many times a year as a teen, (never as a child), and around 23-24 I would just get recurring bouts of it... At my first specialist appointment, the doctor thought I was lying, because as it happened I was in when I wasn't sick.. a rare occurence.. So he told me to come back when I was... Like clockwork, less than two weeks later I was back in there. They scheduled the surgery for a few months later. It did take quite a while. I had it done in Stratford, ON.