MD Says Watch Codeine After Tonsillectomy

Parents usually must give pain killers (analgesics) to their children after they’ve had a tonsillectomy. Researchers from the University of Western Ontario in Canada have found that codeine, a commonly prescribed analgesic after surgery, may not be the best medication for after a tonsillectomy.

Published in the most recent issue of New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers found two separate issues with codeine in children.

Overall, not just after tonsillectomies, some children may metabolize, or break down, the medication more quickly than others. This could result in the children ending up with an overdose, even though the dosage they received was the correct dosage for his or her size.

The other concern was using a medication that can suppress breathing, as codeine can do, on patients who may already have breathing problems at night: sleep apnea. In fact, tonsillectomies are often done to treat sleep apnea. And, if the medication decreases respirations, this could make things worse.

Tonsils

Your tonsils are two clumps of tissue that hang down – one on each side – of your throat, towards the back.

Researchers aren’t quite clear on the role tonsils play. They do believe that they were originally to help prevent infections, but now that doesn’t seem to be the case. Many studies have been done comparing people with tonsils and without to see if their infection rates differed. They didn’t.

The only time your tonsils become a problem is if they become swollen or infected. Swollen or larger than normal tonsils can block the airway. This is often the cause of sleep apnea in children, when they stop breathing for short periods while they are asleep.

Of course, if they become infected, you have pain. While the odd infection may be more annoying than anything else, frequent infections could lead to other problems.

Tosillectomies

The number of surgeries to remove the tonsils has dropped over the years. The main reason for their removal has also drastically changed. According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery,

30 years ago, approximately 90% of tonsillectomies in children were done for recurrent infection; now it is about 20% for infection and 80% for obstructive sleep problems (OSA).

Did you have your tonsils out? What was your experience like?

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