u/Apprehensive_Ear3300

I'm 4 days post op and got so many tips from this sub. I'll list the ones that have really helped me and anything I personally have found to help. More than anything I think I want peace of mind that everything is going to be okay 😭 so reading these posts really helped me. I hope this helps at least one person who overthinks like crazy. These are the things I would say are non-negotiable if I were to do this again (God forbid lol).

1. ⁠Cool mist humidifier. I think for everyone this is necessary. It will keep your throat moist while you're not drinking ice water (you should be doing that every chance you get!) I put it on my nightstand slightly elevated from my bed because I didn't want it directly in my face. Keep your door shut or at least half way. I noticed a big difference when I'd leave my room, could only handle about an hour before I had to go back and breathe in the moist air.

2. ⁠Ice water. Drink this 24/7. I swear at times it is more pain relief than the pain medication. I went through a 36 pack of water bottles in 3 days and a huge bag of ice from the grocery store in that same time. Always have a big cup full of ice and water. Don't worry about chewing ice honestly, it's scary for me and you get the same benefit from extremely cold water. When I say take at least a sip every 10 minutes, I mean it. Set timers in the middle of the night. I've found even when im waking up in the middle of the night to drink, my rest improves.

3. ⁠Be careful if you are sensitive to opioids. I'd never taken them before so I had no idea. My doctor prescribed me liquid hydrocodone. First dose at home it made me super nauseous but I continued with the next dose. Big mistake. Next time I took it, an hour later I was vomiting water and blood that had gone into my stomach during surgery (normal). It felt amazing to get out BUT unfortunately the straining caused a bleed on the right side and the blood loss mixed with the pain medication made me extremely delirious and hysteric. I went to the ER and vomited again, they did an X-ray, gave me fluids, ran THREE separate rounds of blood tests, had my vitals 24/7 and gave me TXA to clot my blood. I was up for to receive blood but thankfully the medication worked enough. I was only there from 11pm to 8am but I swear it felt like I was there for 3 days. If you have nausea after taking it, please stop. Honestly I do not think it's worth it. I've been taking Tylenol now every 6 hours and I feel so much better off the hydrocodone. I don't say this to scare anyone!!! As long as you're drinking water all day and keeping your throat moist / eating smooth foods you more than likely will not bleed. I just got unlucky.

4. ⁠ASK FOR A STEROID from the get-go. With my situation I had to advocate for myself quite a bit (surgeon didn't even see me after surgery or tell me how it went. He said no need to follow up either 🙃). The night of day 3 I decided to call the next morning and say I want a steroid to help with the inflammation. My uvula has been huge to the point where it goes down into my throat and I can't see the end of it. If that happens it doesn't automatically mean you can't breathe or swallow, but it does make it much harder. I started prednisone today. Your doctor should recommend the best days to take it since it's short term. But ideally you want to start it right before the pain starts to peak.

5. ⁠Food. I only ate applesauce my first day since I was later in the ER but the next day I really tried my hardest to eat as much as I could. I've found eating makes me feel so much better. My favorite things have been malt-o-meal or cream of wheat. I found a plain chocolate one and I just add water and sugar and it is so good. Make it really runny. Even having it slightly warm feels really nice and it's satisfying. When my stomach hurt I CRAVED bread. So I heated up a can of chicken noodle soup and made sure the noodles were the really thin ones. I got a piece of white bread and dipped it in the soup. At day 3 it tasted like I was eating in a fancy restaurant. Make sure you chew really well. I really recommend. Non-dairy Ben and Jerry's ice cream is so good. I had the strawberry cheesecake one and found crushing up a big graham cracker into dust and mixing it in was so much more pleasant to eat. I mixed vegetarian refried beans with water and shredded cheese and microwaved it until it was thin enough. It was good for when I had a savory craving, I do recommend. Lastly, aloe water feels very nice and is a nice change from regular water. I'd avoid juice if you can. I tried having non-dairy yogurt blended with frozen banana on day 2 and it burned so I can't recommend any fruits to you right now.

6. ⁠TAKE A BATH!!! I began to feel so disgusting just sitting in my bed day after day. I would shower every night but I once took a hot bath in the morning and it helped me feel positive again. Lol this stuff can get really hard on your mental health.

7. Dulcolax stool softener every morning. It's very gentle. If you have a sensitive stomach to the general anesthesia maybe wait until your stomach feels normal before taking.

I wish you luck and I hope this helps you or anyone else!! ❤️❤️

I hope this helps you or someone out!

Hi all :)

I got home a few hours ago from the surgery center where I had my tonsils out (my only problem was stones, I saw one come out recently that was hard and darker in color like a rock. When it didn't even crack I realized enough is enough and I need to get over my fear. That thing was probably in there for 5+ years).

I'm writing about my surgery experience to offer some support to those who also think very worst case scenario. I'm not at the point where bleeding is common (let's hope it doesn't come to that) but more so than bleeding I was terrified I wouldn't wake up. It was my first time under general anesthesia. I did wake up, from an amazing sleep too. If you're like me and drive yourself crazy going back and forth should I do it should I not... I hope this positive surgery experience helps you. For me, it was a very elective procedure as the my tonsils were small and I don't get sick as much as I used to (mono as a kid, strep multiple times a year). So it was just for the stones and the fact that they were ruining my confidence. Luckily my doctor was on board from the beginning to do it. I have no health problems aside from OCD which really made me delay deciding to do this for years. If you're in a similar position and keep going back and forth, think very much in absolutes or worst case scenarios, I got through it and so can you. I don't know if this is a particularly helpful story to most just because I'm literally still day zero and I think most people are more concerned with complications AFTER the surgery than not waking up. But if you are like me and worry about that nonzero chance (because the way I think is, oh I'll just have the worst luck and have anesthesia complications) take this positive experience and push away all the horror stories you've read. I hope whatever you decide to do you are well and have a great recovery :D Remember, people get this done every day and are fine.

Now it's time for the hard part, healing lol

Hi all :)

I got home a few hours ago from the surgery center where I had my tonsils out (my only problem was stones, I saw one come out recently that was hard and darker in color like a rock. When it didn't even crack I realized enough is enough and I need to get over my fear. That thing was probably in there for 5+ years).

I'm writing about my surgery experience to offer some support to those who also think very worst case scenario. I'm not at the point where bleeding is common (let's hope it doesn't come to that) but more so than bleeding I was terrified I wouldn't wake up. It was my first time under general anesthesia. I did wake up, from an amazing sleep too. If you're like me and drive yourself crazy going back and forth should I do it should I not... I hope this positive surgery experience helps you. For me, it was a very elective procedure as the my tonsils were small and I don't get sick as much as I used to (mono as a kid, strep multiple times a year). So it was just for the stones and the fact that they were ruining my confidence. Luckily my doctor was on board from the beginning to do it. I have no health problems aside from OCD which really made me delay deciding to do this for years. If you're in a similar position and keep going back and forth, think very much in absolutes or worst case scenarios, I got through it and so can you. I don't know if this is a particularly helpful story to most just because I'm literally still day zero and I think most people are more concerned with complications AFTER the surgery than not waking up. But if you are like me and worry about that nonzero chance (because the way I think is, oh I'll just have the worst luck and have anesthesia complications) take this positive experience and push away all the horror stories you've read. I hope whatever you decide to do you are well and have a great recovery :D Remember, people get this done every day and are fine.

Now it's time for the hard part, healing lol

How did you get yourself to go through with it? I know that bleeding doesn't happen to everyone, but my biggest fear is hemorrhaging and dying and the fact that technically this is an elective thing I'm doing makes the fear worse. I don't get chronic tonsillitis. Like I can live with the tonsil stones, but it sucks. I'd rather have them out obviously. If anyone was in a similar position to me please... offer some advice or anecdotes. I had my consult today and the doctor agreed easily to do it. (Don't say that should be reason enough to not be scared lol). F24 thank you :D

Hi everyone :) 24F I've been on Prozac for 10+ years for MDD, GAD, and more recently OCD. 80mg. Works wonders but over time I've noticed feeling some flatness and a lack of motivation. My doctor prescribed Wellbutrin and I've been on that for a few months. I think it has helped a bit but we decided to try the higher dose to see if I improve more. Yesterday I increased to 300mg and unfortunately got too deep into reading about people who experienced seizures with it, specifically people with no history and were not low on electrolytes, drinking, taking other drugs, history with ED. Since finding out about the very minimal risk (I know it will most likely never happen to me, but I think in absolutes.) My OCD will not allow me to continue taking it, point blank.

I am wondering if anyone here has added lamictal to their Prozac to help with the flat feeling? Specifically for MDD, a lot of the Prozac/lamictal anecdotes I read are for bipolar and I don't have that. Thank you in advance, I hope everyone is having a good day.

Disclaimer: please don't comment that I won't have a seizure on Wellbutrin. I already know very well that it's irrational the way I'm thinking but that's just the way I am.