It is usual to lose your taste following a tonsillectomy

Question: I have recently had a tonsillectomy , I am 41 years young.

I had the op on the 23rd August, unfortunately I had a very bad post op bleed on day 6 and was re-admitted for 4 days.

I feel i have turned the corner of pain, I am now only on paracetamol and anti bio's. I am now 12 days post op.

I am eating and drinking BUT I cant taste the food everything tastes of METAL, and I struggle with getting some food down.

Is this normal? I hope you can answer my question. thank you Faye

Yes it is.
It is usual to lose your taste following a tonsillectomy.
You are going to get better but very slowly. Usually it takes more than a month.
The gloss pharyngeal nerve, ninth cranial nerve , is responsible for taste in the posterior third of your tongue.

It is also responsible for innervating parts of the back of your throat. After an tonsillectomy, this nerve may be disrupted somewhat, and this can cause problems with taste.

An Austrian study concluded that tonsillectomy does not cause permanent changes to a person's sense of taste or smell.
The researchers from the University of Vienna also noted that after tonsillectomy none of the patients reported any long-term problems with their sense of taste or smell.


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