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I'll be able to actually breathe through my nose and smell in about two weeks

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Hylian7

Member
For most of my life, I have had a chronically stuffy nose, and 90% of the time blowing my nose did fuck all. I would often have a cough to try to clear my throat, due to a post nasal drip. That wouldn't really do anything either, but I would still feel compulsed to cough. When I was younger, about 10 years old I think. I'm a mouth breather, and can barely breathe through my nose at all.

On looking into an unrelated potential condition, through the grapevine I was referred to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. I have never been to an ENT before. I went and they were told by my doctor what they should be looking at, so they took a look and told me i was extremely congested, and there were polyps. They said they needed to run a CT scan.

Did the scan, and the doctor came back in and said "Your results are very interesting, and just what I suspected." I don't have my actual picture here, but here is a picture of a mostly healthy nose, as far as what this condition is, it's healthy, so look at the picture below:

Normal%20Sinus%20CT.jpg


In the nose (in the middle), notice all the black, anthill-like paths. That is open airway in the nose. Mine is completely grey/white and the black is almost nonexistent. My nasal airway is 99% congested! I can barely smell or breathe through my nose so much, that for the most part I can't effectively do either. I breathe almost exclusively through my mouth.

The good news is that the ENT said that a 30 minute procedure can fix this. It's Balloon Sinuplasty with Septoplasty with Turbinate Reduction. In short they're going to do a bunch of stuff including inflating my nasal passages with a balloon, pushing my septum back into place, another small incision (I forget what exactly it does), but basically it will fix these problems that have plagued me basically my entire life. I don't know how I never went to an ENT through all these years. I'm scheduled for the surgery in two weeks, and excited about being able to actually breathe. I have had trouble breathing sometimes before because of my nose.

Has anyone else had something similar to this?
 

Proelite

Member
Eat as much good food as you can. Take lots of shits.

Smell some diesel, someone's BO. Weed.

You've missed out.
 
I have not (yet) but my mother had the balloon thing done. It made her breathing a million times better. I have a hilariously deviated septum, so much so that my nose points diagonally and my right nostril is basically closed most of the time. Nothing as serious as what you're describing, but even them I have thought about corrective surgery.

Good luck with yours!
 

Talka

Member
You'll be able to breathe in like two months, not two weeks. There's an unpleasant recovery period.

I had a deviated septum fixed and had to breath through my mouth for two months after the surgery. Getting the splint they put in there removed was the weirdest sensation and honestly pretty painful. Felt like getting my brain pulled through my nose.

Good luck!

(Actually I don't know how long the recovery period is, but I had the surgery as a kid and it felt like two months. I'm sure you can google it and find out.)
 

CSX

Member
Similar situation to you but not as severe. My left nostril is often congested. Sometimes it flips to my right. Basically I'm often going to bed breathing through only one nostril which is not comfortable at all. Went to ENT and turns out I had swelling of turbines along with my nose off centered to the right like I got hit in the face by a basketball. Doctor gave me some strong nasal spray but offered surgery where they shoot plasma into my nose to shrink down the turbines.
 

gruenel

Member
I had pretty bad nasal septum deviation (which has a similar effect to your condition) all my life and decided to have it fixed 2 years ago. It really was a life changer, the first few days after the surgery sucked because my nose was still swollen AF but it's so good finally being able to BREATHE and not being congested all the time. Good luck!
 

Hylian7

Member
You'll be able to breathe in like two months, not two weeks. There's an unpleasant recovery period.

I had a deviated septum fixed and had to breath through my mouth for two months after the surgery. Getting the splint they put in there removed was the weirdest sensation and honestly pretty painful. Felt like getting my brain pulled through my nose.

Good luck!

(Actually I don't know how long the recovery period is, but I had the surgery as a kid and it felt like two months. I'm sure you can google it and find out.)

According to the information packet I got about the procedure:

Dissolvable sutures will be used to close this incision. There is no splinting or packing for this modern minimally invasive septoplasty procedure.
 
OP, my son had the sinusplasty done when he was 4, after nonstop sinus infections since birth, and it changed his (and our) life. No idea what his sense of smell was like until the surgery, but I'd highly recommend it. Good luck!
 

Hylian7

Member
So you never smelled something in your entire life or what exactly is this?

I have, it's just very weak. There's been some times I someone else says "What is that smell?" And I go "Huh?"

If I'm near a kitchen and someone is cooking something, I can pretty clearly smell it.
 
3 weeks later you'll want to reverse the procedure.

I have a really good sense of smell and love the connection of memory with it. I would have a very hard time giving it up even though some things smell shitty.
 
I had a very similar operation done early this year. Recovery was a bitch, and it's made barely any improvement to my breathing and sense of smell. I still have a post nasal drip, and sound permanently nasally, and I plan on going back to the doctor yet again.

I hope it works out for you OP, but do consider the possibility that the result may not be what you're expecting.
 
Bro, I did a Septoplasty, Rhinoplasty and Turbinectomy last year. 3 hours in a surgery. The 2h post surgery was, easily, the worst time of my life. But after 1-2 days the recovery is pretty easy (outside of not being able to masturbate). I can't stand 1000mg of paracetamol so I stopped taking any analgesic, which shows that there's really no major pains after it.

The results? Could be better. Could be worst.

Sinusplasty is much less invasive so it should be much easier. Wish you all the best.
 
I can partially relate to this. My nose isn't stuffed 90% of the time, but when my nose decides to produce mucus, boy does it produce mucus. I have gone through entire boxes of tissue in the span of a few hours when sick.

I don't think I have what you had, just huge sinus cavities that cause me to produce mucus much faster than the average person. I end up breathing through my mouth most of the time.
 

Aurongel

Member
Had a similar surgery done with turbinate reduction about four months ago. I had a more invasive procedure compared to yours that required putting me under. Even had a scary moment where I woke up briefly and felt the surgeon break my nose. Not only do I have a deviated septum but I also have allergies to just about everything.

This surgery didn't do a damn thing for me, here's hoping you have better luck.
 

Cilla

Member
I did! I had polyps and a lot of scarred tissue removed as well as my sinuses widened.

Recovery was alright but flushing out bloodclots got old fast.

I was good for about six months now I'm back to the start. Constant post nasal drip, stuffy nose etc.
 

Dante316

Member
This is interesting lol, I have a similar thing but my case is very unique. Dr said I can get surgery to remove the many polyps but I have very few symptoms. I can taste the food, sleep easily and even breath fine. Just some congestion. He said your CT scan doesn't match your condition lol
 

Big Wazu

Member
I did! I had polyps and a lot of scarred tissue removed as well as my sinuses widened.

Recovery was alright but flushing out bloodclots got old fast.

I was good for about six months now I'm back to the start. Constant post nasal drip, stuffy nose etc.

I got all this done as well a few years back and it didn't completely fix my problem. I'm debating on going back and seeing what else can be done.
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
I had a deviated septum and had surgery to fix it last year but it didn't take as I still struggle to breath from my left nostril which causes me to get headache and loose my sense of smell when my right nostril is blocked.

I could have another surgery to fix it but the doctor said that it could cause my nose to collapse so I decided against it.

So to prevent my right nostril getting blocked up the doctor gave me a nose spray which clears up the mucus in my nose and allows me to breath easily and so far it's working and I hope that it will continue to work as my last two nose spray worked for awhile before they became ineffective.

Hope it goes well for you OP.
 

MrToughPants

Brian Burke punched my mom
According to the information packet I got about the procedure:

Dissolvable sutures will be used to close this incision. There is no splinting or packing for this modern minimally invasive septoplasty procedure.

If they're carving cartilage out of your nose stents/splints can help keep the rigidity or form of your nose as it's usually quite fragile post-op. The ENT will decide if you require them.
 

smurfx

get some go again
i'm pretty much the same and i've been wanting to go to an ent but have never really been motivated to go through with it.
 

Vengrim

Member
I have a deviated septum that I'd love to get fixed but healthcare being what it is in the US makes me think this procedure would be expensive. Anyone know how much the procedure runs?
 

U2NUMB

Member
Science is awesome... I am super happy for you. It will be like a new life, I get congested during periods of the year and it lasts forever. I can not imagine never being able to get a break

Report back once you have it done...
 
I now feel hyper aware of my quarter of one nostril breathing ability, right now.

Overall it feels like it's getting worse. I really should go to a doc.
 

mike6467

Member
Good luck OP! I've had a positive experience with some of this stuff and hopefully it will go well for you as well.

I've got a deviated septum, my sinuses were fine every time they checked however. Eventually a new ENT discovered I also had enlarged turbinates, so basically every time I got a sinus infection (which I had chronically for like, the first 29 years of my life), my turbinates would close up nearly completely, and prevent stuff from getting out.

I had them reduced two years ago, and while I still get the occasional sinus infection, it's not nearly as debilitating, and I'm able to actually clear stuff out so they resolve much much faster.

It was life changing. I used to bitch about sinus infections and everyone would respond with "Yeah, they suck but it's one of those things you just deal with." With the way my sinuses worked, infections would cause fatigue to the point that I was afraid to drive, and actually impair my cognitive ability significantly. I felt like I was functioning at 20% of normal for 4-6 months out of the year. Now that I've had the procedure done, I see what most people were dealing with when they had this happen, and I finally see why people shrugged it off and couldn't understood why these things were so devastating for me.
 
For most of my life, I have had a chronically stuffy nose, and 90% of the time blowing my nose did fuck all. I would often have a cough to try to clear my throat, due to a post nasal drip. That wouldn't really do anything either, but I would still feel compulsed to cough. When I was younger, about 10 years old I think. I'm a mouth breather, and can barely breathe through my nose at all.

On looking into an unrelated potential condition, through the grapevine I was referred to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. I have never been to an ENT before. I went and they were told by my doctor what they should be looking at, so they took a look and told me i was extremely congested, and there were polyps. They said they needed to run a CT scan.

Did the scan, and the doctor came back in and said "Your results are very interesting, and just what I suspected." I don't have my actual picture here, but here is a picture of a mostly healthy nose, as far as what this condition is, it's healthy, so look at the picture below:

Normal%20Sinus%20CT.jpg


In the nose (in the middle), notice all the black, anthill-like paths. That is open airway in the nose. Mine is completely grey/white and the black is almost nonexistent. My nasal airway is 99% congested! I can barely smell or breathe through my nose so much, that for the most part I can't effectively do either. I breathe almost exclusively through my mouth.

The good news is that the ENT said that a 30 minute procedure can fix this. It's Balloon Sinuplasty with Septoplasty with Turbinate Reduction. In short they're going to do a bunch of stuff including inflating my nasal passages with a balloon, pushing my septum back into place, another small incision (I forget what exactly it does), but basically it will fix these problems that have plagued me basically my entire life. I don't know how I never went to an ENT through all these years. I'm scheduled for the surgery in two weeks, and excited about being able to actually breathe. I have had trouble breathing sometimes before because of my nose.

Has anyone else had something similar to this?

I envy you OP. When I was a kid,I basically got polyps in my nose really bad. They had to go in and freeze them which apparently killed any sense of smell I had (though to be honest, I really don't remember being able to smell at all). Unlike you though, I can breathe through my nose, just not very well.

I just sort of accepted it as my own little quirk. A co-worker told me a while back that he knew a guy who couldn't smell and they sent electrical impulses to his nose that fixed it. But seeing your story makes me want to look into the same process you're doing. It's a real double edged sword not being able to smell.
 

B.K.

Member
Get ready for a decent toothache for a few days. When I did mine, they took out so much material that everything in there was swollen. I was so swollen that it put pressure on the top of my mouth and every single tooth in the top of my mouth hurt.

What's really bad is when you go back for checkups and they clean out your nose. It was awful when they stuck that suction tube so far back in my nose that I could feel it in my throat. I'd leave with a bloody nose every time they did it.
 

Hylian7

Member
Got the surgery done today. I could breathe clearly through my nose for the first few minutes immediately after waking up, but then it bled more and my nose is stopped up with the blood. Had a bit of a panic attack that it was bleeding too much and something was wrong, but I found out it was normal.

Despite that, I am already seeing positive effects as I don't think I have had to clear my throat or cough a single time since I got the surgery.
 

Cobaltium

Member
Got the surgery done today. I could breathe clearly through my nose for the first few minutes immediately after waking up, but then it bled more and my nose is stopped up with the blood. Had a bit of a panic attack that it was bleeding too much and something was wrong, but I found out it was normal.

Despite that, I am already seeing positive effects as I don't think I have had to clear my throat or cough a single time since I got the surgery.

Congrats!
 

Weevilone

Member
You'll be able to breathe in like two months, not two weeks. There's an unpleasant recovery period.

I had a deviated septum fixed and had to breath through my mouth for two months after the surgery. Getting the splint they put in there removed was the weirdest sensation and honestly pretty painful. Felt like getting my brain pulled through my nose.

Good luck!

(Actually I don't know how long the recovery period is, but I had the surgery as a kid and it felt like two months. I'm sure you can google it and find out.)

I read this and did a double take to see whether this was an old post and I'd written what you wrote. I had this done years ago and it was quite unpleasant, but necessary.
 
Got the surgery done today. I could breathe clearly through my nose for the first few minutes immediately after waking up, but then it bled more and my nose is stopped up with the blood. Had a bit of a panic attack that it was bleeding too much and something was wrong, but I found out it was normal.

Despite that, I am already seeing positive effects as I don't think I have had to clear my throat or cough a single time since I got the surgery.
That's great! When my 4 year old woke up from the surgery, he vomited blood all over himself and me. So you're in good shape.
 
Got the surgery done today. I could breathe clearly through my nose for the first few minutes immediately after waking up, but then it bled more and my nose is stopped up with the blood. Had a bit of a panic attack that it was bleeding too much and something was wrong, but I found out it was normal.

Despite that, I am already seeing positive effects as I don't think I have had to clear my throat or cough a single time since I got the surgery.
Have fun with that.

I had the procedure done to me a year ago, and while I love finally being able to breath again, the fact I just had blood coming out of my nose for a good while coupled with the things they stuck up there to make sure the septum healed in the right way and mucus just pouring out was not fun.

It is temporary, but it is highly annoying.
 
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