Adult Tonsillectomy

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My ENT had recommended a tonsillectomy, because I have chronic issues with my tonsils. I’m 30, so I’m obviously pretty nervous about this. Because of my anxiety, I’ve done a ton of research so that I know what to expect and it honestly sounds terrible. I’m having a lot of second thoughts about doing it, because I’m not sure the benefits outweigh the risks.

If it were just a painful recovery I think I could deal with that. But, I know that bleeding is a real risk and my doctor said it happens frequently. I find that upsetting. I don’t live in a community with a good hospital. In fact, most of the locals joke that unless they are dying, they need to go somewhere else for care. The ENT who will do my surgery lives in another town about 45 min away but practices in my town. He is a great surgeon. But if I have an emergency I’ll be a sitting duck, waiting for an hour to see my doctor - because emergencies inevitably happen at night and on weekends, right? That’s my luck anyway.

I also have major issues with having to take Percocet after surgery. I can barely stand the thought of taking Tylenol. I know that if I take Percocet and feel the slightest bit weird, I’ll end up in the ER. I’ve also read that even normal doses of Percocet can kill a person because it causes respiratory issues. So, I’m hoping I can get by with extra strength Tylenol...

I don’t know. I’m not “sick” like a lot of others. I have tonsil stones, which sometimes are hard to get out and cause a lot of swelling and pain in my tonsils. But I haven’t had strep in 15 years. It seems like an extreme solution to a minor problem. I have two small kids who need me and I’m not sure I want to have this done, as there are real risks, however small they may be. It doesn’t matter how small the risk is when it happens to you. My friend had to be life flighted to another hospital (again, because our hospital is worthless) because her scabs broke open and she almost bled to death after her tonsillectomy.

My other option is having the surgery done by my ENT (he performs surgery in the next city, and here, and I will have it done in the next city...) and then go stay with my parents about 3 hours away to recover. That way if there are emergencies I’m 5 min away from a real hospital. But then my ENT wouldn’t be the one to see me if that happened. But at least I wouldn’t bleed to death....

I’ve been losing sleep over this a lot lately. I’m looking at doing this next month because it’s really my only option in terms of timing, since my job isn’t as busy in September. So, I need to make a decision.

Can people share their experiences with me?

[BikerMatt]

I had my tonsils out when i was 22. So like you when i was an adult which is unusual. Honestly recovery was quick, i was in and out the same day and had very little to no pain.

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I had my tonsils out when i was 22. So like you when i was an adult which is unusual. Honestly recovery was quick, i was in and out the same day and had very little to no pain.

Did you have to take opioids? Or were you able to manage your pain with other things?

[Fishmanpa]

I had two tonsillectomies looking for the primary location of my cancer. One for my lingual tonsils with additional punch biopsies and my palatine tonsils were removed along with the cancer, 23 additional nodes and more punch biopsies looking for that pesky primary site (They never did either!).

It's a challenge as an adult but doable. Don't worry about pills, they'll give you liquid pain reliever. Frankly, I don't care how much you get anxious about meds, the need for relief will far outweigh the fear.

There's a site I recommend to join as it really lays it out there, offers support and reassurance that all will be well. It helped me a lot after my surgeries.

Positive thoughts

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Is it normal for one tonsil to be slightly larger than the other? My left one is larger. It has been for a long, long time.

On Friday at my ENT’s office I said, “So I don’t have tonsil cancer?” And he laughed and said, “Oh God no. You have zero risk factors and you’re way too young for tonsil cancer. You just have gross tonsils.”

For some reason I get super freaked out about anything that has to be sent to pathology, but I think it’s standard procedure. One time I had a skin tag removed from my armpit and I got a letter two weeks later congratulating me for not having skin cancer. Kinda startled me that they sent it. I imagine they’ll send my tonsils?

[jray23]

I had my tonsils removed at age 32. It was indeed extremely painful for about two weeks and I was sooooo glad to take each dose of hydrocodone (liquid) even though I generally hate medicine. Recovery as an adult is usually not a cakewalk!

One tonsil was swollen for several months. My ENT also sent mine for pathology but assured me that even though the chance was there he had never actually come across a malignant result during his time practicing. (And as he told me, tonsillectomy was something he saw/did ALL the time)

There is some risk of bleeding though. Thankfully my recovery was complication-free but you should definitely ask your ENT about your concerns. However, I do remember reading that the actual odds of death from tonsillectomy complications were extremely rare, like one in a million.

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[WiseMonkey]

I had mine out at 20, they were really bad. I did loose a lot of blood but didn't need a transfusion! That was in 1976 so a long time ago.
My brother had his out at 23, his were abscessed but he had no problems, that was in 1989, so the procedure was even more advanced by then.

It's an easy operation these days, no worries

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I had my tonsils removed at age 32. It was indeed extremely painful for about two weeks and I was sooooo glad to take each dose of hydrocodone (liquid) even though I generally hate medicine. Recovery as an adult is usually not a cakewalk!

One tonsil was swollen for several months. My ENT also sent mine for pathology but assured me that even though the chance was there he had never actually come across a malignant result during his time practicing. (And as he told me, tonsillectomy was something he saw/did ALL the time)

There is some risk of bleeding though. Thankfully my recovery was complication-free but you should definitely ask your ENT about your concerns. However, I do remember reading that the actual odds of death from tonsillectomy complications were extremely rare, like one in a million.

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So, would you go to a place with a better hospital 3 hours away from where your doc practices, or would you stay in your hometown and hope to heck you don’t have a bleeding incident? I don’t want to be life flighted like my friend, but I also don’t know if I should go to my parents and be that far from my ENT for two weeks. I know that some people end up fevering, on antibiotics, etc. Do I need to be close to him or is it ok to be away? He lives an hour away from my hospital so I’m afraid I’ll feel like a sitting duck.

[BikerMatt]

Did you have to take opioids? Or were you able to manage your pain with other things?

Nope no opiods.

Honestly it's an easy procedure. Maybe i had a better surgeon than the others that have replied to you as my tonsillectomy was nothing like the others have described.

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Nope no opiods.

Honestly it's an easy procedure. Maybe i had a better surgeon than the others that have replied to you as my tonsillectomy was nothing like the others have described.

I do wonder if the surgeon matters when it comes to bleeding. My friend is an ER nurse, and she said that bleeding is more of a Dr issue than anything else. I don't know how true that is. My friend who hemorrhaged had her surgery done by a different doctor in another state. I know my doctor said that bleeding does happen "commonly", and that they are almost always able to stop it without going back to surgery. He also said that he's pulled a Dorito out of a bleeding tonsil cavity, which was how he warned me about eating chips. lol. He also harped on me about drinking a lot of fluids and went so far as to say he doesn't care if I eat at all, but drinking is not up for discussion. It has to happen. So it kind of sounds like in a lot of cases, people don't follow the doctor's orders about what to eat and they get dehydrated, which causes a lot of problems.

What did you take for pain?