Doc has been saying they have to go for a long time, but I've been avoiding it. How bad is getting your tonsils removed when you are in your 40s?

Not sure, I had mine out at 16, which is considered late. I lost 30 pounds, to painful to eat.

Probably not a lot worse than losing them at age 4, and very likely a whole lot easier since medical procedures have advanced so much since the end of WWII.

I only had one choice of ice cream flavors as I recall. You may face a very tough decision.

Here is Dr. Weil's take on taking out your tonsils:

https://www.drweil.com/health-...to-take-out-tonsils/

41

I was five or six and I remember the mask being placed over my face before surgery, then waking up in a hospital room with a really sore throat and a little toy stagecoach, complete with horses, driver and passengers sitting on the table next to my bed.

I looked over at my mother and she said "Kid, you'll be glad you didn't wait until your 40s to have them out."

No wait, that was the doctor who said that.

My wife had hers out in her mid 20's and it was a really bad couple of weeks. Some of the problem was because she found out that she had a mild allergy to the pain medicine that they gave and it caused her to vomit every time she ate, so on top of having scabs in the back of her throat, she was also throwing up. I think she lost at least 15 pounds in 2 weeks. Also after about a week you will think you are feeling better, but then the scabs fall off then you will really know what pain feels like.

I'm not going to lie to you...I had mine out at 45 years old and it wasn't fun at all. Took two weeks off work and I still wasn't back to normal after that. The procedure caused several other issues I'm still dealing with and I'm now 49.

I developed TERRIBLE vertigo after the surgery. I don't know if it was coincidence but doctors seem to think it is related as the onset was right after the surgery. Possibly from being moved around while under anesthesia. I thought it was lingering effects from the anesthesia, however, it was later diagnosed as BPV.

I've also developed a chronic cough which started right after the healing process was done (about three weeks after the surgery). It feels to me like there is some kind of skin flap or something back there that tickles all the time. I'm always hacking at the worst possible times. Doctors can't figure it out.

I would not do it again if I could go back in time.

Probably ain't gonna get no little toy stagecoach, neither.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
Probably not a lot worse than losing them at age 4, and very likely a whole lot easier since medical procedures have advanced so much since the end of WWII.

I only had one choice of ice cream flavors as I recall. You may face a very tough decision.

"Probably?"
"Very likely?"
I had mine out at about 35. The doctor warned me it would be brutal. I've always considered myself to have a high pain tolerance. I'm a great patient. The first day was a piece of cake. I could have gone right back to work. The next 14 days were pure hell. It was like the worst sore throat you could imagine. My doctor said it's significantly worse for adults.

I got mine out in my 20's. As bad as my common bouts of tonsillitis were (I'd get it usually 3 times per year and it would know me out for more than a week at a time...couldn't even swallow my own saliva) the recovery was very painful. At least I lots of liquid codiene and water ice though!

I think a toy stage coach would have taken some of the pain away.

Had mine out in the 5th grade. Fast forward and for years I get the 1 or 2 excruciating sore throats a year. Found a Doctor who said a small piece of tonsil was left over and it gets infected. Now at 56 years old, he said surgery will correct it and he made no bones that it would be a painful recovery. He told me he recently had his done as an adult and said it was painful but he got over it.

Bottom line for me is a short painful recovery will be better than ongoing years of sore throats. Just trying to build up the courage!

I had mine removed in my late 20s - I was sick 7+ times a year throughout my 20s - every time I got a sniffle I'd end up at the doc a month later on antibiotics due to my tonsils - I'd get better and then get sick a week or two later. They finally agreed to take them out.

After I healed I was not sick for over 2 years - Not once. It was wonderful. Recovery was NOT fun. They only gave me tylenol 3 for the pain. I ate nothing but ice cream and applesauce for over 2 weeks. I took two weeks off of work and went back with a still very sore throat - talking was difficult. However, after two weeks it rapidly got better and by the end of the 3rd week I was good as new. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

The doc commented that it was good that I got them removed before I was older because recovery is much worse as you age... Around that same time my boss's mom had to have hers out - she was in her late 60s - they would only take one at a time for her and healing was over a month each time.

Shawn

I remember the worst part was when the giant scabs in the back of my throat came off...the dead tissue kinda hung there for a week, I could feel them move with every swallow.

Had mine out at 35.

Two words

Bru. Tal

Those are the words the doc used.
He said little kids just don't know how bad it is.

Good luck, do what the doc says.

Doc told my wife, who is 47, to not have them removed as the recovery would be brutal. If she did elect to have them removed I am not sure a stagecoach would do it for her.

I had my tonsils taken out in my mid-20s as part of a surgery to reduce snoring. As part of the surgery, my uvula and part of my soft palate were also removed.

The soft palate part hurt so bad I never even noticed the tonsils.

I'd still do it again.

I had mine taken out when I was 44. Didn't notice it that much. Probably because they also took out part of my tongue and the back part of the roof of my mouth.

I had chronic tonsillitis for years and years and years.

Right after I retired from the Navy, I had a dumbass attack, went snowmobiling while seriously overdressed with the bottom layer being cotton. Opened the snowmobile suit to cool off, caught a chill. Chill became tonsillitis. Tonsillitis became throat abcesses. Abcesses became emergency surgery, 10 days in the hospital, 8 of them in ICU on a respirator and IV antibiotics.

That was in January of '91, I was 40. In April, after I more-or-less recovered from that little escapade, I went back in and had my tonsils removed, which should have happened 30 years prior.

Contrary to the bulk of experiences here, I don't recall that being particularly uncomfortable.

That was 26 years ago and I haven't had anything worse than a mild cold since.

I did not receive my toy stagecoach. Dammit.

Get a second opinion from ENT in another practice. It is major surgery for an adult.