Well, I finally had my surgery yesterday morning. I knew if I did not get it done per work, etc., I would never make time. I had deviated septum and turbinate surgery. This blog has been soo great to assist my healing process from the start. Hearing of the other stories, and what to and not to do have been perfect. I read for 4 hours last night.
I did not have any packing or splints. As many have stated, I have done the following per my plan, and realizations upon reading this blog.
- Surgery Wednesday AM.
- No pain and do not remember any of it. Have had minimal to no pain at all.
- Went and got a humidifier after hearing of the all the positive responses to humidity
- Relax......I would never have relaxed through today as I felt good and would have pushed it. The people here that pushed too early told of the ramifications. Working from the office bed all day. Worked out great. Being Thursday, figure I will head back to work Monday. Again........RELAX as much as possible and stay in a comfortable, slightly inclined in your bed if possible. Enough cannot be said for the consistent blood pressure.
- Took a steamy bath and used my Sinus Flush. I believe this to be the #1 key to how well I am doing today. I have used three times today, and minimal to no blood this past time, and that is bascially flushing minimal mucus.
I recommend practicing and getting used to it for a couple of weeks at least,, and is a must!!!! I cleaned out so much "Stuff" this morning and have been breathing well and through my nose during a brief nap, will still at an angle in bed. It has only been 24 hrs and I am breathing like never before. The other blogs do indicate this could change tomorrow, so trying to flush just enough, and not use any Nasal sprays like Afrin (that just dries things up). good short term, but believe the more moist everything stays, the better.
I am already sooo glad I did this, and do nto expect my mind or status will change. If concerned of the pain, mine was nothing. First 24 hrs slightly a hassle but not bad.
Summary: Relax, drink a lot of fluids, have a bucket next to you so you do not have to keep getting up to "spit" (thus changing BP slightly-you'll see), don't let things get dried out, and the Nasal Flushes are a must!!
I hope things continue to go well, and will keep watching the blogs. You all have been the best resource. Thank you!!

Konstruct wrote:

Hello All - Been a long time since I posted here (on pages 15,16 and so on of this forum thread)

A quick recap - I had surgery in November of '07 to fix a deviated septum and have polyps removed. Things were going so/so for a while after. Then in January went in to see my ENT and they found scarring in my nose. That required a second surgery to remove the tissue and 'other stuff by my eye' as my doctor put it. Yeah...that's great...I love hearing 'stuff' from someone who has operated on me and makes 10 times more $$$ that I do. Anyway....weeks go by and I continued to have severe pain in my forehead. I decided to talk with my ENT and he said he didnt see any scarring or infection and told me to see a Neurologist. I was like...no...they are not headaches. I believed my frontal sinus was the problem. So I then decided to get a second opinion from another ENT. He put a camera up my nose and didnt see infection or scarring. But he decided a CT Scan would tell us for sure what is going on. A couple days go by and I get the results from him. The scan showed my frontal sinus completely blocked and infected and the doc said I would be a good candidate for Sinuplasty. I couldn't believe this would be my THIRD surgery since last November. The pain has been absolutely HORRIBLE. The new doc didnt even give me pain killers or anitbiotics. Whatever...I endured the pain until this morning when I went in for my third operation. The procedure was to only last anywhere from 15 mins to an hour. It lasted over 2 hours. The reason: They couldn't get the balloon up through my nose and up into my frontal sinus because it was so swollen/infected shut. So guess what they did guys and gals? I now have 6 stitches above my left eyebrow because they had to go from the outside in! I was informed prior to surgery that this may be an option if the doc couldn't get the balloon in. I am actually not bothered by this at all though it may sound like it. I've been through hell with the deviated septum, polyps, scarring, and now frontal sinus. I will say that I actually feel pretty good and I am very confident this mornings surgery will be the one that finally settles the score. I am a little upset that they only gave me 5/500 Vicodin though. What kind of !@#! is THAT? I might call them tomorrow and get an upgrade. They drill through my forehead and I get weak Vicodin. And it is generic too (hospital filled the scrip).

Anyway - I hope you all have better luck than what I have had so far.

Wow, i am going into my third day and after reading this, feeling very lucky. My doc has been great, and on the start of the third day i just slept better than I have in a very long time as I can already breathe better than with an Afrin shot with a breathe rite. I hope all goes better with you this time. Has not been much pain, but thuse who are not being given Vivoden, shoud demand it. Personally I hate and react to Percocet.

Hi, I have found this sight to be helpful. I was wondering if anyone only had a deviated septum repaired, (Nothing more)? I hear the splints are annoying. Can you breathe through them? I have severe anxiety if I can't breathe at all through my nose. It's almost like a clostrephobic sp? feeling. I hyperventilate. It sounds like I'm a big baby, maybe? I am forgetful, lazy and tired all of the time and feel this surgery is necessary to enjoy the rest of my life. The doctor said she was going to cut out the septum blocking my left side and reduce the size of some tissue on the right side that is filling the extra room that is on that side. She said she is only working in the lower half of my nose. It doesn't sound too bad but I get sick to my stomach thinking that I won't be able to breathe out of my nose at all. Can anyone help without sugar coating the experience? She said it would be a week of hell for me. Thak you to everyone who has posted a question or shared their experience.

I know this site is for Apnea but I wanted to ask the question to those who suffer from it.  This is semi related.
I have a twisted deviated septum as my doctor puts it.  For those who have it, do you suffer from chronic coughs as well??  Post nsal drip??  This is the problem I need to solve.  But added info to this, When I lay down face facing right, my left nostrol closes up and I break from my right, if I turn my head to the left my right nostrol closes and I breath from the other.  This takes couple of minutes to switch nostrols but it does.  That is not what bothers me because I get a full nights sleep.  IT's the chronic cough I get all day when I am up right only.  When I lay down, I do NOT cough just gets a little stuffy.

I want to find a doctor to do some kind of sinus surgery hoping it will solve my coughing problem and the bonus is my breathing but do not care if it doesn't change my breathing problem.

Any experience with PND or Coughing?  if so, did the surgery help? and is all the surgery the same or different?  Thanks.

Oh, when you come out of surgery (anaesthesia) and the nurse offers you a cookie or something, don't do it.  You may throw up.  I have been under anaesthesia for multiple test to figure out why I am coughing, bronchoscopy, 24 hr Bravo pH testing etc. and never had a problem until once a nurse offered a cookie, I ate it and I paid for it.  Go home and sleep it off.  

Im new here. First post! Been reading for a while, and I appreciate all the great info Ive found here!
 I had my deviated septum surgery 2 weeks ago,a long with mucho polyp removal and something to do with the turbates (?).

 The original problem was mild to moderate sleep apnea, crazy snoring, poor sleep overall, dry mouth, bad gums,  and lack of being able to breathe through my nose (from birth, basically). I also have a bad allergies adding to the picture.

 I think i had a really decent doctor. I had some trouble getting clearances for the procedure, but worked through it, and the insurance hurdles and all was well.  The procedure was about 3.5 hours. The doc said he pulled out tons of polyps, much more than average. The septum was 90% blocked on one side, so that was a task too, i assume.  I woke up with very little pain, but yes the stints are a little annoying.  I had them in from thurs to mon, and pulled out on Monday morning. They didnt 'hurt' a bit, more of a nuisance.  For me, not breathing through my nose wasn't an issue, it was common.  Pulling them out didn't hurt AT ALL.  That first breath was truly amazing.  Air had never gone into the place it does now, seriously. I took some pain medicine for that weekend, but it really didn't hurt at all, just made a boring weekend home a little more relaxing.  At this point, its 100% better.

 The next few days my allergies started acting up and stopped my nose back up, combined with some of the scarring that is normal for the healing process. A few absolutely miserable nights, mostly because of allergies that have never been properly dealt with. (im working on it!!).   When i get vacuumed out (3 times now) all is well afterwards, great actually.

  As far as helping the orig things inal issues: Im not sure.  I have in addition cleaned my house a littler better, started taking Singulair. And bought an air purifier.  The last few nights with all that in place, I have definitely slept better. Before that, was hit or miss.  Ive heard my snoring is tons better. (the neighbors pictures don't rattle anymore). And do feel better in the mornings. So i think it was a combination of, and the surgery was definately a big part of the solution. Once i get to the allergist and start treatments for that, my life should definitely be a little more pleasant.  Now i just have the 25 lbs to lose! Once I believe everything is healed up inside, Im going to get a nedipot and look into using that when things are stopped up. More great info from the forum! thanks!

I just had surgery to fix my deviated septum yesterday morning.  It only took about an hour and fifteen minutes.  Some things I did to make the whole process go really really easy.
1. I had my pain and antibiotics meds in the house before I went in to the hospital.
2. The day before I rented movies.
3. For guys... have a can of crotch spray handy.  Rather have it just in case, with all the sitting around.
4. My wife had a watermellon cut up and cold. Probably one of the best things that made me feel good.  Cold, wet.
5. Popcycles! Or itilian ices.  Once again... cold, wet, tastey.
6. Ice cold Gaterade G2.
7. Clean sheet on my recliner chair.
8. Laptop on small table next to my recliner. Email, games, news, etc.
9. I have a 5 disk DVD player... so loaded them all up.  Just a push of a button and I had lots of stuff to watch.
10. Ice pack. Sure helped the headaches.
11. I took 2 vicadin every 4 hours yesterday... today 2 every 5 hours.  Don't hurt.  
12. Vicadin may also bind you up.  Take something like a Dulcolax too.
13. Keep drinking. So what if I pee every half hour.  I have been soooo comfortable so far.
14. The right side packing moved away from the bridge of my nose... and moved down a bit.  I called the Dr. and he said it was ok... that it had a stitch in it at the top... so wouldn't come out.  
15. I left the mustache dressing on yesterday.  Changed it like 4 times. Today no dressing.  Want it to get max air.  Feels ok.
16. I've been eating very small meals. Rolled turkey and cheese.  Shephards Pie.  Chopped up chicken nuggets. Lots of grapes. Jello. Pudding. Watermellon.
17. I can breath in around the packing, which is cool. I do brush my teeth and use mouth wash to keep my mouth feeling clean, esp with all the mouth breathing.

My nose and face is slightly puffy, but no big deal.  I figure that it's normal after having someone cut into your face with pieces of sharp metal.

So far my experience has been really positive.  I've been a mouth breather for my whole life, and finally found out I had a severely deviated septum.  Shaped like a Z. Totally cutting off the left nostril.  Thought my poor breathing was allergies.  Not feeling any pain by doing all the stuff listed above.  I can't wait until I get the packing out and can breathe like a typical human being.

Oh... and do exactly what the dr. says to do.  Don't think you know better.  I took that outlook two years ago when my achillies tendon snapped in half, and I had to have it sewen back together.  My recovery was very quick, painless, and I was hiking and playing very soon afterwards.  So I'm doing what I'm supposed to again.  And it's working so far.  

If you are wondering whether or not to have this surgery I would reccommend it.  Just don't push yourself afterwards and you'll get through it just fine.  So far it's been really easy for me.  I wish the same to anyone else.

Love!

Hi everyody!   Wanted to share my experience with all of you. I was diagnosed with chronic rhinitis and polyps. My symptoms were as follows: couldnt breath with my nose, swelling in the nose, mouth breathing and allergies. My Dr. told me surgery would be beneficial but it was entirely my option. If I wanted to try meds that that would be fine too. I am the worst with meds so I opted for surgery to remove polyps and possible septoplasty(to fix possible deviation). My surgey was a week ago today. It was harder than I thought. I had to wait 6 hours to do the surgery! Arrived 6am; surgery was @12noon. (Supposed to be originally at 8am) I woke up in recovery room, feeling like I did 15 rounds with Mike Tyson!! AND LOST!! He fixed my deviated septum and I felt it!! Groggy with headache from hell with nasea. Surgery took approx. 2 hours. Nurse pumped morphine and I couldnt talk to tell her No!! When I could talk I told her- NO morphine, no anti-nausea meds. I wanted to sleep. I did for almost 4 hours They never offered me something to eat as it was 24 hours since Ive had something to eat!! I left hospital at 8pm. Thankful my husband brought me fruit and nutriment!! I had strength to leave! If it was up to the hospital they would just pump me with meds/without food PRobably to keep me there another day!  
  Yesterday,I had the "packing" removed. This was sooo painful.   It felt like a tooth being ripped out of your nose!! While the pain resonates the MD will attempt to suction anything else he/she feels neccessary!! I was cringing! They told me I would have to go approx. every 2 weeks to clean out!??!
 Today no packing, very happy.   The headaches have subsided and I can breath with my nose!! AND SMELL!! So far so good!!  

Hi,

I had the surgery back in 1995 and it was wonderful! My entire right sinus was completely blocked. The doc told my then husband I was the worst case he'd ever seen. Funny thing is, that didn't stop me from snoring. When the nurse asked me how I was sleeping a few years ago, I told her alot, but that I nearly fell asleep at the wheel a few times in spite of that. She said I may have sleep apnea and thats when I had my study and found out.

I am considering the sinus cleansing surgery again, but I know it will not affect my OSA.


_________________
Rosey

Hi everyone...i was doing some research and found this forum....

It sounds like everyone on here knows a ton about this and have went through all the stages so heres my question....

I have had a deviated septum as long as i remember....I can remember back to when i was 3 or 4 so the doctor said i must have had been hit at some point or born with this....

My nose on the right side is blocked up about 95% and i can breath thru my left nostril but i ralrely do unless i want to smell something....

So sience im 28 and have always breathed thru my mouth.....and it dosent seem to have any negative side effect that i know of besides that I.E. no sinus , sleeping , breathing issues....

should i have this surgury done anyway?

I read on a website that not breathing through your nose can have a mountin of negative side effects which scared me but then i realized that if im 28 and have rarely had any issues then that cant be 100% the case....

SO anotherwords .... if ive made it this long seemingly just fine would it be worth all the trouble to get this done, will i somehow get used to breathing thru my nose?

will that give me or air to breath ?


Darkwave

Darkwave: What about other problems?

- Do you snore? If so, Loudly?
       (if yes, your wife, or girlfriend (I assume you're male) will hate it, I do and have to wear ear plugs every single night which I feel is NOT safe.

- Do you wake up tired? restless sleep patterns?

- Do you stop breathing when you're sleeping and wake up (if you don't know, tape yourself)

- Sinus headaches, pressures etc.

I feel surgery is always the last resort, manage your own health because there isn't too many doctors out there that will.    You need to list pros & Cons because when you have surgery it's never going to be the same, it is going to be either well worth it even with the possiblities of mishaps as mentioned above or it may be worse and a problem.  

What ever you do (everyone for what ever problem thats chronic or hard to identify) please get copies off all your test results.  Most doctors will not want to do surgery and do all kinds of test, drugs, etc.  Make sure you have copies because you wil probably see more than 1 doctor for the same reason and they will want to do test you have already done over and over.  So be prepared.

I always get a full nights sleep, and never wake up at night....

I would hope if i were to not breath at night im sure that would wake me up....

Im single , no roommates so i dont know about the snoring thing..

Im not restless at all....


The only thing i can think of that might restrict me for the DS is when Im working out .... but again my job isnt too psychal so i
think that just might be a conditioning issue more than a breathing through mouth thing.

When i was younger about 12 the dr told me when i was older that he would recommend getting that done....

even when i was that young i told him if i always did that , then i can continue that way.....

...so it sounds to me if its not causing adverse issues to just not worry about it until it would be a issue.


thanks for fast reply.

So,

After not too much delay, I had a CT scan (confirming a deviated septum/enlarged turbinate but no polyps) and saw an ENT specialist that recommended I get two different surgeries.  I am now post-op for one in which I had for deviated septum and turbinate reduction, I had the surgery itself on Tuesday morning.  The sinus pressure seems to be getting more intense and I have pretty much broken myself of the intense desire to clean out my nose, because the crusties are impacted in the front portion and I'll just have to be a mouth breather until they remove the shunts.

I've heard it's a dramatic improvement when the shunts are removed (which I'll have done Monday)--is there anyone out there that can attest to this?  I don't have any gauze packing that I know of (since nose is congested but not running anymore) but there are still the plastic shints stabilizing until they come out so I'm hoping that will make all the difference.  I've heard stories that the Dr. pulls out unbelievable amounts of stuff and then vacuums out the nose.  Joy.  

I wish I could say I'm not dependent on the Vicodin, but I have to take that pill religiously every four hours or the pressure gets to be too much and the pinching/soreness between my top lip and nose make me feel like I've been beat up again.  Vicodin combined with my daughter's boo boo ice pack seem to provide some relief.

On another note, the cat is deeply worried for me.  The combination of bloody tissues everywhere and my lethargic self have him alternating between pacing back and forth on the couch and following me around the house.

Wow.  Did I kill the thread?

I had the septoplasty and turbinate reduction about a month ago and I have to say that it was the best thing I have ever done. To finally be able to sleep a whole night without using nose spray has been a godsend.

I am currently recovering from the UPPP surgery and I am doing ok with that so far.

As for the nasal surgery, the key from here on out is to perform saline nasal flushes on a daily basis. I mix up a pinch of sea salt with warm water and flush mine twice a day. I havent had any issues with allergies.

The worst part of the surgery was the day they removed the splints, I did not take my pain meds before and that was a huge mistake.

Hello to everyone,
I posted on a different thread about allergies and Cpap.
I wanted to check to see if anyone has problems with your nasal passages
burning and iritated.
I went to the allergist on Monday and I still have allergies no worse than before.
On Sat.7/19 I had Cat scan and I got the results yesterday and it shows I have deviated
septum and a Spur up there .
I am currently being refered to a ENT.
I'm not sure what to anticipate when I go see the DR.
Has anyone ever been told they have a spur and what did the Dr do for you?
Has anyone here had the nasal burning and excessive sneezing with the deviated septum?
I really appreciate any feedback.
thanks ,  
RobiniG