This post is about what I ate on a day to day basis ("diet"), how I felt, and how I returned to "normal" life after recovery from getting my tonsils out (tonsillectomy), a laryngoscopy, and a biopsy in my throat below my vocal cords.
These are the foods I ate day by day after my tonsillectomy but you might feel different. Listen to your body.
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List of Soft Foods to Eat After Tonsillectomy
I see so many people searching for a list of what to eat after a tonsillectomy, so I'm gonna make a quick list here of foods and recipes that worked for me after a tonsillectomy. Please read further down if interested in the whole recovery from a tonsillectomy as an adult.
Soft foods worked for the first week but then I needed stuff to grab and pull off the scabs on my throat around day 8 (gross!!) 🙂
- Mashed Potatoes
- Oatmeal
- Egg and Bean Breakfast Burritos
- Smoothies
- No Sugar Watermelon Popsicles
- Red Lentils
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Black Bean Soup
- Coconut Rice Noodle Bowl
- Rice
- Frozen Peas cooked forever until very soft
- Avocado
- Frozen Bacon - yup, you read that right
Background:
45 year old female (2018), 128 lbs, exercises 4-5 x/ week. History of throat and tonsil problems since 16. Controlled asthma. I have had a tough year with illness that you can read about in my Birthday Ramblings post from June. This period of illness led me to getting my tonsils out (tonsillectomy) and two other procedures.
I recently had a tonsillectomy, direct laryngoscopy (camera down throat & vocal cords), and biopsies of both tonsils and the base of my tongue where the tonsil meets it (everything benign - thank ya!).
A tonsillectomy is supposed to be a bitch on it's own and these two additional procedures on top of it was a slap in the face.
Everything was sore - my teeth, jaw, tongue, throat, neck, tonsils, voice, ears, eyes.... Everyday was a new pain.
This post is about the three procedures, the recovery process, and also about plain and simple foods and recipes that helped in the recovery process.
Pain after Tonsillectomy:
The pain is real. I ate, drank, breathed, and tried to swallow pain, 24/7 for around 10 days. Every time I took medicine (every 3 hours in the beginning), I also ate something. It took forever to eat but I was diligent because I didn't want to 1) overwork my kidneys with drugs and no food 2) lose weight ( I didn't) and 3) end up in the hospital due to hydration issues.
The first thing I asked for when I woke up from anesthesia was water. I had 3 cups of water before leaving the surgery center. Some of it came out of my nose. Some of it drooled out. Some of it stayed permanently in my mouth and was gulped down hours later. I knew that my throat needed to stay wet to heal.
The thing about drinking is you have to be careful. It can feel like you're drowning. I really wanted to be careful not to aspire anything into my lungs as well, fearing pneumonia and a subsequent asthma attack.
Drinking and eating and sometimes breathing, felt like drowning for around 7 days straight then it turned into feeling like a cat with a hairball.
By day 7, my mouth was overwhelmed with spit and wet scabs that were tickling or irritating the back of my throat.
Day 12 was when I finally got out of bed for good, with an occasional nap, but this is the day that I resumed some personal and professional duties again with my food blog.
My mouth smelled like death and popsicles. I couldn't control body functions. I would try to swallow and burp and everything hurt like mad. I could kinda talk and knew it was fairly good for me to try to keep things moving.
Then the scabs started to form and I could feel them wigglin' around back there and there was blood spots and lines and I was in fear of coughing if I swallowed wrong. But I drank anyway. I couldn't yawn, sneeze, cough, or hiccup without great fear of internal combustion or a trip to the hospital for about ~13 days.
Sleep after tonsillectomy:
I slept sitting up for the first 9 nights (2 big pillows, 2 small). If I moved down it would feel like I might stop breathing or might drown in my own spit. That was real motivation to stay upright.
By day 10, I was able to move to one big and one small pillow and started to sleep elevated on my side. By day 15, I could sleep on my tummy, but still had pressure in my left ear, throat, and neck.
At day 28 now and still dealing with light pressure on the left side of my throat and neck, but it is slowly going away and I expect to be totally normal within the week.
Exercise after tonsillectomy:
Day 5 got me all riled up and I stretched a little. I had a lot of pressure in my left ear and neck so I had to keep my head above my heart, otherwise it hurt. I spent about 15 minutes gently stretching my neck, arms and shoulders.
By day 12, I could stretch my hamstrings sitting down and started gentle air squats, lunges, and kicks. By day 16, I added small weights and started bends where my head could get a little lower than my heart.
Day 20, I started with my regular weights, planks, and a couple sit ups. This was too much pressure for my throat and neck and it hurt for a couple days.
I'm at day 28 during this writing and am back on normal weights with less reps and still making sure to protect my neck from too much stress.
Drugs after Tonsillectomy:
I had a pain killer every 6 hours for 10 days. By day two, it felt like I didn't remember breathing when I took it so I took it down from 15 ml to 10 ml and that helped. I reduced it to every 8 hours by day 3. I stopped it completely by the 7th day.
Also had Advil every 6 hours but went down on that by the 3rd day and stopped it by the 10th day. Spoke with the nurse on day 14 and she told me to start the Advil again because of the pressure in my ear and neck, so went to 1200mg a day for another week.
I also had liquid prednisolone (15ml/day) for the first five days - I believe this was for asthma. Last I had, anesthetic suckers for my mouth that I didn't like or use.
Bathroom Talk after Tonsillectomy:
Drugs make you constipated. I thought by eating beans and fruit I could stay on top of this. Nope! My fantastic neighbor brought me over a couple things that really helped me get back going.
This tea (Smooth Moves Tea ) helped tremendously and within 24 hours. Err on less is more as you don't want to be overwhelmed when things "start to move". I had one cup a day and stayed regular. In retrospect, I would probably pick up some prune juice or something similar.
Things that helped me after Tonsillectomy:
Some of my asthma triggers are dry air, cold air, smelly stuff, and allergies (trees mostly but also weeds). I had my procedures done during a time when it was hot and humid and I had no allergies (summer). I read other posts where people need a humidifier, which I use in the fall and winter and would have definitely needed had it not been summer.
I laid around for 10 days straight. Luckily, I'm in good shape but these two back massagers helped ease a lot of tension from having to sleep sitting up. Theracane and a manual neck massager. Both are very affordable and I use them all the time on long cook days (I also have a previous neck injury which is why I bought them in the first place).
UPDATE (6/10/20): I have had a lot of feedback on this post about items that helped other people who were in bed for a long time. The posts below are amazon affiliate links. As an amazon associate I earn commission from qualifying purchases. Have something you love that has helped you to recover? Send me an email at beckie@eatsimplefood.com or comment on the post.
- Bed Tray - I used an old moped tire that I made into a Japanese drum. This would have worked better 🙂
- Back and Neck Support Upright Pillow - I used 2-4 pillows.
- Back and Neck Massager with Heat - woulda loved this
- Rubber Hot Water Bottle - always good for sore aching bodies that have been in bed a lot.
Breathing / State of Mind After Tonsillectomy:
I remember a yoga class where the teacher said to "be" with an uncomfortable position (not a painful position), but the point was to understand uncomfortableness and know that you can be with it for a long time.
You have to go into something like this with a battle plan, a cry of resilience and knowing the path will eventually be out and hopefully healthier for it. Don't get locked into the stories in your head ("Fake news!" lol).
Stay calm and try not to be surprised by anything. The point isn't to wait it out - it's to be with it, to try and settle into the pain, try to make friends with it. Easier said than done!
I utilized every breathing exercise that I knew. My asthma has given me experience with what it feels like to not be able to breathe and to have to calm yourself down.
A couple of my favorite breathing and visualizing exercises: 1) breathe in white light, breathe out explosion of it through your body/lungs 2) breathe in through your feet all the way to your head, breathe out the opposite way ending with releasing through the feet 3) breathe in through the back of the body (laying down), breathe out like you have gills through your neck/throat 4) mantras: in (health), out (peace); in (love), out (health); in Sat (truth), out Nam (divinity or god); in (grace), out (strength). There's some of my personal "woo woo" for ya!
Work After Tonsillectomy:
I work part time from home on my blog, recipe development, food photography, and admin. The other 20 hours a week, I am a personal chef.
At day 10, I was able to work from home, but I did not go back to cheffing for 3 weeks and was super grateful, because my cook days are long and physically hard.
Food - Day By Day "Diet" Guide After Tonsillectomy. This Is What I Ate:
I premade a bunch of food for my husband and I so neither one of us would starve. I'm posting what I made or ate but keep in mind you can buy a lot of this stuff at the grocery store already made or frozen.
For my husband, I didn't have time to cook a ton but wanted him to eat well. I picked up 4 pre-made salmon dishes wrapped in foil with rice and vegetables and cooked and froze them. Also picked up premade lamb keftas, frozen peas, and made rice (could buy frozen) and lastly bought premade meatballs, cooked them, warmed up a premade sauce, cooked noodles, added cheese and froze.
What I thought would work, generally didn't work when I thought it would work. I thought the soups and smoothies would be really important at the beginning. They really helped out after day 10.
I was really into oatmeal, mashed potatoes, and eggs right away.
Vinegars and fruit burned my throat, but I was all about sauerkraut on day 5. My taste buds were so bored and sauerkraut reminded me that I had taste buds. All the food I made and froze, came in handy weeks 2-3 when I still didn't really want to cook. But the breakfast burritos were handy for me from day 1.
Day 1 - Eating and drinking like a boss - soft breakfast burritos, smoothies, soups, mashed potatoes. Take advantage of this day. This was the best day until day 10.
Day 2 - Throat seized up at night. A moment of calm, shock, and settle in. I went down 33% on the painkillers because they made my breathing so shallow that it scared me. This day was bad and I couldn't stomach smoothies any more. A real bummer since I made so many. Popsicles came into the picture hard core.
Day 3 - ho hum. In and out of slumber. Drugs doing their thing. Went down on the ibuprofin 33%. Eating is difficult. Scrambled eggs and avocado are in the picture.
Day 4- Ears bringing the pain. Neck bringing it also. Still can't sleep on sides. Eyes are dazed and blurry. Food is hard. Oatmeal and almond milk start to grab stuff and move it along. Hurts but feels good.
Day 5 - 15 minutes of exercise but keeping head above the midline because of pressure in head, neck, and throat. Start wanting to move, do laundry, clean the kitchen.
Neck hurts from laying around all days. Mouth is in desperate need of new tastes. Start with some sauerkraut and a little sour cream. Sauerkraut hurts a little but my mouth remembers the pop and tang and responds positively to it. I haven't pooped in 4 days. My neighbor brings me "pooping" tea.
Day 6 - Went for a slow walk - 3 blocks. Naps - lots of naps. My mouth and tastebuds feel dead. I do not want to eat but eat anyway. I don't want to drink, but drink anyway. I sound like a monster eating and there is more gas exchange in my mouth than I have ever felt. I burp and swallow at the same time and can't help it. Start pooping!
Day 7 - Stretched. The body wants to move but there is so much pressure above the neck that real movement is next to impossible.
Wet scabs are starting to form and lightly shed. The irritation is unreal. At this point, I think you want wet scabs and not dry scabs. Start sucking on cooked frozen bacon to try to make my mouth feel alive.
Day 8 - Went for two walks. Ate, what felt like, 10lb of chinese food. Chinese noodles (like spaghetti) are making their first appearance. The pain is constant. I'm down to painkillers 1-2x day and advil 1-2x / day. I can deal with the pain. It's the neck throbbing and not being able to sleep in any position but loaded up with 4 pillows and on my back.
It's painful to swallow but that's ok. I just don't want to drown overnight in my own spit. I can't sleep on my sides and when I try my neck feels like the blood flow got caught off. Pain is nothing. I just want to keep swallowing and breathing. I'm grateful that my asthma is in check.
Day 9 - My mouth is bored to death. I start adding sauerkraut and cinnamon to everything to feel a new kind of pain. My ears burn. A little carbonated water mixed with regular water enters the picture and I'm hoping some of it will burn off my wet scabs.
I am a walking body part. I burp and swallow at the same time. So full of air / gas. Noises come from me that are uncontrollable. Yawns feel like my throat is gonna crack and my neck is gonna break. I look like a cat trying to clear a fur ball from its throat constantly. Totally uncomfortable.
My ears burn dull. Everything is loud. I crave expansion in my head, neck, and throat. I get up and make homemade sauerkraut and go back to sleep.
Day 10 - Unremarkable. Choking on spit and scabs still. First night sleeping propped up on 2 pillows but at least on my side and not my back. So glad to change positions. Painkiller is stopped except at nights to make sure I sleep.
Day 11 - Try to take a walk in the morning and have to turn around. Have a great 20 minute walk that night. Make dinner for the first time - Coconut Chicken Rice Noodle Bowl. Pit cherries for some juice in hopes to poop. Cut up cantaloupe and suck on that. Painkillers totally stopped and am at 1200 mg advil per day. I hear my normal voice for the first time briefly.
I was so excited by day 16 to pick up avocado and egg toast and eat it. Vegetables came back on day 16 too and I was thrilled to eat green beans boiled for 20 minutes (usually, I like them al dente). Vegetables were hard to eat for whatever reason and it seemed like chunkier food was almost easier.
Ground beef was equally as hard for me because there wasn't a lot of substance for my throat to grab on to.
By day 17, I was gently eating nachos, red lentils and rice, and by day 21 I was eating pizza and vegetables.
The scabs at the back of my throat were completely gone by day 26.
Recipe Links and List of Foods to Eat After Tonsillectomy:
Smoothies - I wanted fiber from the fruit and added peanut butter for protein. Later I added turmeric and ginger for anti-inflammatory.
Egg & Bean Breakfast Burritos w/ a touch of mild salsa, cheese, and potatoes - I made 24 of these and froze them. Ate them cold. When they defrosted it softened the tortilla and I could eat most of that too. I ate ⅓ of a burrito each 3 hours at night with my medicine for the first 3 nights. It took about 30 minutes to eat to eat ⅓.
Watermelon Popsickles - I made about 45 of these and every one of them is gone on day 6. I heard people suck on ice cubes but I like the way the popsickle sheared off into crushed ice when I was able to bite into it. This was simply blending up watermelon chunks and freezing in molds.
Oat Groats - The real deal. Cooked for about an hour and kept in the refrigerator. When I got tired of eggs I switched to this to take with the medicines. Instant would work too but I liked the thickness of the whole oats that could kinda grab stuff and move it along down my throat. Just a little butter and oat or almond milk.
Coconut Rice Noodle Bowl - Pasta didn't work for me at all. Neither did rice. But rice noodles were perfect and this bowl had a lot of flavor. I ate this a ton days 10-15. I made chicken too but mostly I was about the broth and noodles.
Butternut Squash Soup - I made this and froze it in mason jars and we took it out as necessary. Some times I ate oats in it.
Black Bean Soup - Blended this super smooth and froze in mason jars. Ate over mashed potatoes w/ avocado.
Mashed Potatoes - We also had mashed sweet potatoes but sweet potatoes mashed are still stringy so wouldn't recommend that. A little butter. A little almond milk. Dairy in large amounts did not sound soothing or tasty.
Bacon - I know this is weird, but I was eating frozen cooked bacon by day 7. I would just suck on it cooked and cold because my mouth just wanted some flavor, salt, and fat.
Eggs- ate cold with a little salt and avocado, scrambled. Great source of protein.
Chicken Broth, Avocado, Rice - Simple as that.
Ripe Peaches - no skin
Super Cooked Frozen Peas, a little butter, a little salt. I imagine this would be difficult for people as the pea shell can shear off. It simply went down smooth for me and I was able to wash out my mouth gently afterwards
Sauerkraut - This entered the picture day 5. I was starting to crave a little salt and the only two ingredients on this probiotic enhanced treat was salt and cabbage. It was finely shaved and had no vinegar. It was finally a burst of flavor that I was craving but still blandish in a way.
What I drank: coffee day 10, kombucha day 12, carbonated water mixed with reg water day 7, coconut water day 6. My mouth is pretty tough, so I was craving things that "burned right". A little sparkly water made me feel alive, refreshed, and optimistic for my tastebuds. Too much sparkly water was painful.
I imagine this food list would be great food for nearly any surgery recovery, but it really helped for my tonsillectomy, direct laryngoscopy, and biopsies. I hope this post is helpful if you're going through it or getting ready to go through it! Thanks for reading! Beckie
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Karli Gronholm says
Wow! That is such a good re cap of your post surgery. Very helpful for anyone post surgery. My mistakes is that I never prep food like I need to. I hope to not see another surgery for some time but this is a great reminder on so many levels!
beckie says
Thanks Karli - I hope you don't see a surgery again for a very long time too!!
Julie says
Thank you for sharing. I just had my tonsils and adenoids out on Valentine's Day. This is not easy.
beckie says
Thinking of you Julie - not easy is an understatement! I had to go very deep inside myself and I'm sure you are too. Let me know if you anything you ate helped and I can update the post with other people's suggestions. Keep pushing through!
Donna says
This was everything to me I am on day 7 post op and I feel this so deeply, this was much more painful then I expected . Made me smile, tried to laugh but it hurt
Beckie Hemmerling says
Thank you for the comment Donna - made my day. I feel for you! Such a difficult recovery. Sending you healing. No laughing, no snorting, save all that physical energy for trying to swallow and poop 🙂
Miranda says
Great post! Wished I found it sooner. I'm currently on day 8 post tonsillectomy & adenoidectomy.
Went to gym day 2 & 3 to walk treadmill as i was feeling ok - bad mistake, so drowsy from the meds. Day 4 = nap day...thanks to the pain meds.
Toughest=night time! I have yet to sleep thru the night. Sleeping in recliner since day 1, by humidifier but mouth so dry it hurts to swallow. Tongue felt swollen & burnt for first 5 days. Definitely still getting drowning feeling from mucus drainage.
Biggest help=bag of frozen peas on outside neck. I slept most of night with one on til day 7. It might come back tonight as Im experiencing bad jaw & some ear pain.
Pudding has been my favorite so far. Popsicles helped day 1, but too cold after that. Too cold & too hot things not tolerated.
Beckie Hemmerling says
Thank you for the comment Miranda. I am sooooo impressed with the gym, even though it was a mistake 🙂 Way to try to keep moving! I have heard of the bag of peas on the neck after the fact and wish I would have done that. My jaw and neck were so swollen. I agree with you that night time is the worst. Totally get it on the hot and cold food. I hope that day 8 and beyond are all smooth sailing. You are almost through it!
Hannah says
I'm on day 9 of my tonsillectomy & adenoidectomy. I can't believe you were able to exercise and also eat so much early on! I've been on apple sauce, pudding, fried but runny egg yolks, and cold mashed potatoes with sour cream and melted butter. On the couch, mostly. I tried eating overcooked soft noodles, and shortly thereafter my throat began to bleed, so I've gone back top the soft mush.
I started to feel much better last night with swallowing, but as soon as I eat or drink anything with citric acid, my throat begins to burn and it's uncomfortable all over again.
Hoping to try a soft German pancake (the bottoms tend to be custardy if they're not cooked too long) or perhaps a soft milchreis (rice pudding) with a soft canned fruit on top.
Just wanted to add my ideas and experience for anyone else. Thanks for sharing yours, it was so helpful and validating to what I've been feeling! (Ready to be done drowning in mucous...)
Beckie Hemmerling says
Oh Hannah! Thank you for contributing and telling everyone what you ate and how you feel!
I forced myself to eat early on even when I didn't want to or barely could. It took me hours to eat sometimes but I did it anyway - I had a real big fear of heading to the hospital in case I needed food or hydration. Day 10 is when I was able to sleep on my sides but still had to be elevated. I don't think I moved back to a normal sleeping position for at least another week after that.
I feel you! It was one of the worst feelings in my life, but I can tell you that I stopped getting sick so often after that surgery and have not been sick in nearly 3 years, so I would do it again. BUT, man, it's no joke!
I feel like you are about to turn a corner in your recovery in the next couple days. Hang in there! Keep trying to get water and food down if you can. It will give you the energy to keep healing faster. Sending lots of freshness to your mouth, wishes of a healthy poo (lol), lots of breaths of air that make it to your lungs, and a better healing week ahead!
Hannah says
Oh and also, I experienced tongue swelling around day 7-8. It made it hard to breathe laying on my back because my tongue would block airflow through my nose, and snoring would happen, which never happens normally. Never had trouble laying on my sides, but I've been on two soft foam pillows this whole time.
Chloe says
I don’t know if my comment already went through or not but I got my tonsils out today and I’m only 14 also I’m lactose intolerant so I’m struggling greatly this was so helpful tho thx
Beckie Hemmerling says
Hi Chloe! Thank you for the comment. It's so hard - wishing you a speedy recovery with no complications. Take it easy, get plenty of rest, and stay positive - it will pass and good riddance to your tonsils!