I had my tonsils removed a few years ago. I have rarely thrown up in my life, but other than once or twice, I’ve only been able to throw up by sticking my finger down my throat. Once it commenced, my body would rid my stomach of anything and everything without any real problems (except the obvious).
Since my tonsils have come out, I’ve had to throw up twice. (bad food and the flu). However, the finger down the throat trick doesn’t really work anymore. I still gag, and I get some expectorate in my esophogus, but it won’t move up my throat without significant effort from me. I can’t explain it, other than to say that it’s very uncomfortable. I feel like a python regurgitating a meal before it has been digested.
Is this normal? Are the tonsils a vital part of the throwing up function?
IANAD, but I believe tonsils provide some sensory trigger for the gag reflex. I know my wife has very prominent tonsils and she has a very low gag threshold - sometimes just brushing her teeth will make her hurl.
My guess–educated but not necessarily accurate–is that the diminution in sensory sensation as a secondary effect of the surgery is more likely to be the cause than the loss of the tonsil tissue per se. Because the surface of the tonsils have sensory perception, they might be perceived as contributing to a “gag reflex.” However this is not so much a function of the tonsil itself as the overlying mucosa, which has sensory innervation. Remove the tonsils and you remove some of the overlying innervation. During a typical tonsillectomy both the tonsil tissue and the overlying mucosa are removed, leaving a large defect which heals secondarily. This would leave a relatively hypesthetic area behind. It’s not like an operation through your outside skin where the skin is reflected away to gain access to whatever is being removed, and then sewn back over the resulting defect, leaving tactile sensation more intact (except where skin nerves were directly transected).