| Author | Message | ||
     Damnut |
So the bad nights of sleep and the annual, sometimes bi-annual, swelling of the tonsils along with a totally deviated septum had my ENT Dr request that I have a tonsillectomy. While she's in there she will fix my deviated septum too. Anyone here have a tonsillectomy as an adult? Just wondering how bad it is actually going to be. She was saying it is very painful and hearing that from a Dr is unnerving almost to the point of me not doing the surgery. She is saying that it will be 2 weeks out of work too. | ||
| Hughlysses |
My dad had a tonsillectomy when he was in his 30's (which was a LONG time ago), but he would have agreed with your doctor's assessment. He said he really felt bad afterwards and took a long time to recover. I used to get your symptoms the same way from the time I was about 10 years old until I was 40 or so, but I apparently finally outgrew it. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I had it done as a kid, so no help there...but weigh the short (couple weeks) recovery time against how many years of sleepless nights? I'd take a couple weeks. When my legs were rebuilt in '08, the surgeon did a quick n dirty job because (as he told me years later) "we're a teaching hospital in addition to being aggressive doctors, but we honestly figured you would leave in a bag", so they didn't do too much detail work on my calf/graft/muscle wrap. Made it work and stitched it up. I elected to go back about a year later to have it revised. The graft had a cleft that accumulated "stuff", the calf was the size of my thigh, and it was pretty misshapen. I knew it would be recovery time again. More PT, more cleaning and packing and draining, more waiting for a graft to take as they redid it...but weighing that against a (hopefully long) lifetime of a "make it work" repair...I had the surgery. I've never regretted it. If it's elective, pick a time when works not too busy and when you can afford to take time off. And take it OFF - no half ass "I'll just do some of this but not all of it" crap. Take care of your body  | ||
| Ebutch |
Get another docs opinion Nose and throat specialist !!!!!!!  | ||
| Damnut |
My company is shutting down the week of Thanksgiving. I'm thinking of having it done the week prior. I just hope after 2 weeks of recovery that I'll be able to eat my deep fried turkey, it's ••••••• delicious. | ||
| Hughlysses |
PS- The best results I had in finding a cure for it was right before I went to college. When I was a little kid, the doctor would invariably prescribe penicillin, I'd take it for 2 weeks and SLOWLY get better. I got a really bad case the summer before I went to college and went to an ears, eyes, nose, & throat specialist. He said it was clear that whatever I had was resistant to penicillin, so he took a throat culture. 2 days later, I went back in, and he prescribed Ampicillin. I was better ONE day later. When I went to college the next year, same deal, except that doctor ran a culture right off the bat. He said it was astounding how fast Ampicillin knocked it out. By 5 or so years later, my new GP was routinely prescribing Amoxicillin, which is apparently the standard antibiotic now, and pretty soon, it was working no better than penicillin used to. He didn't seem interested in trying another culture, but fortunately for me I seemed to outgrow it about then and I rarely have throat problems now. | ||
| Balloyd66 |
My 13 year-old step daughter had her tonsils out. She was out of school for 8 days (10 calendar days) and didn't eat decent food for at least 2 weeks. Gotta love Jello! | ||
| Airbozo |
Never had a tonsillectomy, but had a deviated septum fixed about 10 years ago. Pro's: Helped my breathing and sleep. All but eliminated my car sickness issues. I feel better. The DR. said that is because I am getting more oxygen with less effort. Con's: Hurt like a mofo for about a week. Cannot stand the taste of hoppy beers anymore (used to LOVE IPA's). Blood pouring from my eyes! Seriously, I know everything is connected, but they could have warned me. Scared the living daylights out of me and the SO. The look on her face when she saw the blood pour from my eyes on the way home will never leave me. When they took the plastic stint out of my nose it also hurt like hell. I never expected something that size to be shoved up both sides of my nose. Have I scared you yet? I would do it over again though. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
I had the tonsils & uvula removed along with getting my deviated septum fixed at the same time. I only missed a few days of work. I think I had it done on a Wednesday and was back to work the following Monday. The best part was going back to the doctor after the stint was removed from my nose. (Just a FYI, the stint is HUGE and looks like it would make a good fishing lure.) I wasn't following his instruction about flushing my nose out with saline. I got all clogged up and he had to pull the blood booger from my nose. It was about 1/2" in diameter and 3 inches long and smelled like shit. I felt GREAT once it was removed. It too looked like it would have been good catfish bait. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
... and here is a pic from the webs..  | ||
| Airbozo |
...thanks for reminding me what was up my nose... Need a pain pill just looking at it. | ||
| Dwardo |
When I was a kid, everybody, and I mean everybody, had their tonsils out. I don't know what was up with that. I remember it being painful but they brought popsicles around in the hospital and that made it alright. It's hard to remember, but I can't think it was all that bad. Maybe as an adult it is worse. | ||
| Ourdee |
Talk them into letting you have nitrous when they pull that out. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Nitrous? Hell no! You want to feel you nose give birth!  | ||
| 86129squids |
... never had mine taken out. Now I snore like Sasquatch (some of you know), and at age 5 I had an incident where I flew from the back seat of my sis' '68 Mustang, over the right passenger seat, and impacted the dash directly with my nose. Split the vinyl and foam on that thing down to the metal- I remember the sight to this day. Bled like a stuck pig, and my dad couldn't afford to take me to the hospital. Now I have THIS nose, not my mom's beautiful one, which I suspect would've been the case... My honey said the other night that I shook the bed snoring, gasping for air. As I approach the big 50, I'm thinking about stuff like this. "If I'dve known I was going to live this long, I'dve taken better care of myself." | ||
| Dwardo |
Hey, Squids - seriously, get a sleep study done and see if you are a candidate for a CPAP machine. You probably are. I have used one since 2005 and it was like getting a new lease on life. I never realized how tired I was until I wasn't tired anymore. Plus, your snoring can materially damage your heart (mine did) and cause a host of other health problems. | ||
| Big_island_rider |
My wife, Tracey, who is a nurse had hers out at the age of 40. She will answer the question as I can not. BadWeb meet Tracey, Tracey met BadWeb: During the fall/winter I had a history of having a "cold" and losing my voice 3-4x every year for most of my adult life. It was actually allergy symptoms that caused most of my symptoms. I went through allergy shots for 5 years but still had issues: mouth breather/snored, did not sleep well, had a constant sore throat, and repeated laryngitis. At the age of 40 after 6 back to back rounds of antibiotics it was suggested I get a tonsillectomy. Truthfully, the surgery and recovery was very easy compared to the constant pain I had dealt with the previous 6 months. I had surgery on Friday and was back to work on Monday...talking on the phone at a call center. I followed the post op instructions for the most part...I ate "soft foods" popsicles and jello the first two days then soups and mashed taters for the next 5 days then started to add back "regular" foods. I remember eating a hamburger and then pizza one week after surgery and had no issues with any foods after that. Tips do not use straws, eat lots of cold soft foods the first week and listen to your body. If it hurts do not eat it. Go for it and feel better! | ||
| Ratbuell |
"If I'dve known I was going to live this long, I'dve taken better care of myself." "I treat my body like a temple, you treat yours like a tent." - jimmy buffett | ||
| Airbozo |
Aren't temples packed with useless gaudy crap? | ||
| Ducley |
Ditto what Dwardo said. Seems like CPAP machines are usually for fat guys with fat soft palates or tongues that clog their airway but between tonsils and uvula it all looks the same to me. I started using one about 2008 and it had only one constant pressure at 14 cm of wc but the one I have now is much better with one pressure for when I inhale(19) and a lower one for when I exhale(15) and the computer driving it all tries to keep time with my breathing rhythm. The first sleep study I did showed my blood O2 had dropped to 52% at one point and the recent one 36%. I thought I could beat the machine the first time around by just sleeping on my side. Yes, the Darth Vader feeling is not fun nor does the wife find it has any aphrodisiac qualities, but waking up feeling like you don't need a gallon of coffee anymore just to get out of bed is pretty much priceless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_apnea |
