luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
Oh gag! No one told me how much gagging would go on while the scabs hang halfway down the back of my throat.
They finally pulled loose after a full day of spitting phlem from my nose and my lungs. When they broke free I went into a full gagging motion which was extremely painful on my throat and would have thrown up my lunch but....oh yeah, I haven't had any lunch or breakfast or any other solid food for 48 hrs. It just reached a point of being too painful to eat. Like ice picks being stuck into my ears and jammed down my neck to where the tonsils used to live.
I have been drinking vegetable juices and blending cooked foods like kale to the point of liquid so I could drink it. I can't take any pills right now and want to keep up my strength to shorten the healing time as much as possible.
I'm sick of popsicles. Tea seems to go down really well.
I hope those scabs don't form again. I have kept liquids going throughout to try to keep the scabs soft and have used ice packs and popsicles to keep the swelling down. These were the doctors suggestions.
Also after the first 24 hrs, they really encourage you to eat normal food just nothing citric or spicy. So I tried that also. It is funny but things like hamburger would go down pretty well while mashed potatos just seemed to get plastered all along the sides of my throat causing me to use all my neck muscles and I often had to cough it up and swollow again. Eating with me has been a real nauseating experience for my family. Eventually though (around day 6) I could no longer tolerate any solid food, not even angel hair pasta.
I chewed lots of gum to encourage swallowing. The idea is to keep the scabs from hardening which they say is even worse pain and longer rehab. God help anyone who has it worse than this has been.
The last two nights, I could not lay down. If I laid flat on my back, my uvala would choke me and swelling would form on whichever side of my face I was laying on if I moved sideways. So, I have slept on the couch with pillows keeping me upright.
The one upside so far, I could not take silver before without my joints swelling. Since surgery, I have sprayed silver on my tonsils and up my nostrils to help fight infection. Dr also has me on liquid amoxicillan. I'm not yet able to take my usual pills. So far, no serious herx from the silver although everytime I use it, itchy sores come up on my left wrist, both elbows. These are the joints that used to swell when silver was used. I hope I am kicking bugs out of the joints.
I so hope that by removing my infected tonsils, we have removed a big source of bacteria and that now the load is reduced to a point my immune system can handle it.
Nothing I have read gives any glimmer of hope that this surgery will put my RA in remission but I am the eternal optimist.
What my LLMD/rheumatologist did say is that if I did not do this, she could be forced to treat me antibiotically for 10 yrs to get the same results.
The ENT doctor agreed that my tonsils had a lot of scarring that could be hiding bacteria. He also said a strange thing. He said this surgery would only protect me for about two years. I was puzzled and asked him "Protect me from what?" He said "Well, tonsilitis of course".
Okay, so he thinks we are doing this because I am having a lot of tonsilitis. Neither the LLMD nor I said this, but I didn't bother to enlighten him. Oh how I wish I was only dealing with tonsilitis.
Time will tell what effect this surgery will have on my lyme, mycoplasmas, chlamydia pneumoniae and babesia.
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I am a nurse and work in surgery. I pass instuments to the docs perfoming this procedure quite often and have often thought that surgery has to be one of the most painful of all.
I am so sorry you are having such a rough time of it. I don't have any words of wisdom either, but wanted to offer my support and say YEE-OUCH!!
It does get better from here on out though. Just be very careful, because this is the time(around day 6-9 post op) that we get
tonsillectomies back with post tonsillar bleeds. Sounds like you are gonna be OK though if your scabs have come off. My thoughts are
with you. I will keep my fingers crossed for a speedy recovery!
Sorry to hear you're suffering so much. Guess I'm glad my tonsils were taken out when I was too young to remember.
I sure hope your operation has a postive effect on beating down all those pathogens.
Posts: 590 | From Canada | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged |
luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
Good Morning! I'm feeling much better today. It looks like I am headed back to the land of the living.
"So.. you old coot... you're left to suffer mercilessly!!"
TuTu! You funny girl!
Actually people generally guess me to be in my 30's so I don't normally have that "old coot" look about me, but during this recovery I looked in the mirror several times and would have screamed if I could have. My eyes were red and swollen and half the time my neck and jaw would be swollen and pain was just etched across my face. Pretty much a horror show.
I am WAY TOO OLD for this surgery!
Ornn and Betty and Looking, thanks for your kind words. I did everything the doctor and nursing staff recommended to keep swelling down and prevent or reduce bleeding. So far, no blood at all.
The pureed greens like kale are high in Vit K which coagulates blood. Normally I do things to thin my blood like CoQ10 and garlic because I had the blood fibrin that comes with this disease and rheumatoid arthritis is known to cause heart attacks.
But I stopped the CoQ10 and garlic 2 weeks prior and drank the green drinks in hopes it would prevent bleeding.
I wonder if the silver helped speed healing. Today is Day 8 and my throat does hurt like strep throat but that is a HUGH improvement over the last couple of days where every swallow felt like shards of glass in my ears and throat.
I envy all of you who did this as children. I'm glad the tonsils are gone and now, can I please have permission to get well?
Luvs
PS: I forgot to mention that I had an allergic reaction (hives) to the pain meds and the liquid amoxy so I had nothing more to help me through this than children's liquid tylenol.
I could not believe I couldn't take the pain meds.
Why oh why do we lymies develop an allergy to everything?
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
adamm
The scarring is probably not caused by TBIs, but they certainly could hide behind the scars. I had annual bouts of strep, tonsilitis and bronchitis as a child and even had to have some in home tutoring to keep up with school work a couple of years.
Here is a blurb from Wikipedia:
Infections requiring tonsillectomy are often a result of Streptococcus ("strep throat"), but some may be due to other bacteria, such as Staphylococcus, or viruses. However, the etiology of the condition is largely irrelevant in determining whether tonsillectomy is required [1].
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
My 20 year old daughter had hers out Friday. It sure is a rough recovery.
She is finally getting the meds down on a regular schedule.
She has just had fluids so far, and that just started today.
I wondered if anyone else is also taking antibiotics?
They kept on asking at the ER. She was not put on any. Should I be concerned? I'm giving her silver as precaution.
Thanks,
G
-------------------- Gail Posts: 234 | From Sterling, Ma | Registered: Jan 2008
| IP: Logged |
luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
Hello fellow sufferers
Take hope! I am day 14 and back to normal. It was not a fun trip. I was incredibly weak until yesterday. Suddenly had my old energy. So, of course, I had a blowout kind of a day. Very physical.
Here are a couple of suggestions. Sleep inclined to help drainage. Eat only cold stuff. Fruit popsicles were my best friend. Use ice pack on the neck to reduce swelling. I purchased one made to go around the neck.
Days 4-7 were my worst days and I could only drink. So I threw some kale (just use whatever veggie you like) into the blender. Turned it to soup and drank it. I was really worried about getting enough nutrition to help with the healing.
I developed hives to the liquid ammoxycillan as well as all the liquid painkillers. So I used silver and sprayed it directly onto the part of the throat where tonsils used to be. I found I could take liquid tylenol for children. While not as effective as the tylenol with codine, it did help take the edge off.
Nights 5 and 6 I slept sitting up on the sofa with pillows keeping me upright. Aghh! That was the worst of it.
I do feel much better with my joint pain and believe the tonsilectomy removed a large amount of bacteria.
I'm finally able to swallow pills again and hope to tackle the remaining bacteria hard and fast while the numbers are down.
Good luck to your kids!
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
Whoops Leadmare. Not your child suffering but you. Good luck to you too!
My physical day yesterday included 3 hrs of trailriding in the mountains. It didn't knock me out either.
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
| IP: Logged |
I'm day 7 and it just seems there is no easing up of the pains. UGH!
I am able to take the liquid Amoxicillian. But, I'm having to eat so many pain pills.
I don't think I've shed the scabs yet though. Still have a bit of swelling.
I'm looking forward to the days when I can ride again! In the last three years, I've only been in the saddle about 20-30 times.
So far, the longest I've been able to stay in the saddle is about 20 minutes in the round pen, once in a blue moon
I'm hoping this step in treatment will put me back in the saddle Posts: 58 | From Virginia | Registered: May 2008
| IP: Logged |
dontlikeliver
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4749
posted
Glad you got through it alright without complications (such as bleeding heavily).
The doc could be right. Nobody ever said that to me when I had my tonsillectomy (at 24) but after a couple of years, or less, the 'stubs' of the tonsils started to get inflamed. Of course, NOTHING like continuous full-blown tonsillitis. But, I still have the problem with the stubs becoming inflamed now and then, when flaring especially.
Posts: 2824 | From The Back of Beyond | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
Sorry for bringing this thread back from the dead.
My LLMD wants my tonsills out too (I think I go to the same LLMD \ rheumatologist as you). It has been 8 months since you have had your tonsillectomy, my big question is did it help and is it worth it? Thanks!
Also did you have the MDL lab run tests on your tonsills, if so did they find anything?
Posts: 92 | From Virginia | Registered: Jan 2009
| IP: Logged |
I wanted to add my thoughts and feelings on having the tonsils out as well. And, I guess I did not know that you had so much pain after your surgery. I hope that you know feel as if you did the right thing now that time has passed.
I had my tonsils out 3 yrs. ago at age 45! I knew that I was better (even while in the recovery room!) That is the one pivotal thing that turned my health back in the right direction.
If anybody is thinking about doing this and on the fence I just wanted to say that this has made all of the difference in how I feel. I also had almost no pain at all.............actually I don't even remember having much trouble at all.
I know several others who don't post anymore on this board who have gotten well after having their tonsils out.
My surgeon said that there was so much infection in my tonsils that I would have to feel better but did not believe that it would have any impact on my lYme disease. I am happy to say that it did!
Posts: 51 | From Roanoke,Va | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged |
LisaS
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10581
posted
You are brave luvs! I was supposed to get mine out three years ago. I was chicken. Never did, and I live with chronic tonsillitis. But after researching it, wow, it is so painful for adults and the recovery time takes forever! Glad the worst is over for you!
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[shake]](graemlins/shake.gif)
![[group hug]](graemlins/grouphug.gif)
luvs 
![[kiss]](graemlins/kissing.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Guess I'm glad my tonsils were taken out when I was too young to remember.![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic