surgery for deviated septum

[firebirdgold]

Has anyone had this done? Did you like the results? Could you really not do much the first week after? And how long does it take to heal??
I finally went to the ear-nose-throat guy for my snoring, and he said I hit the snoring trifecta but that the first thing to do was fix my deviated septum. Apparently it''s truly dreadful, and there''s just no way I could be breathing through it at night. My Fi says ''no duh, I could have told you that!''. (my tongue is also way too big and my soft palette is stretched out from a lifetime of snoring.)

Of course, I''d like to know how all the other e-n-t guys I''ve gone to for my many sinus infections missed this little detail. Although he did say one would have to look for it since it''s towards the back of my nose.

So he says that this won''t affect the outwards appearance of my nose in anyway. He''ll be going in through my nostrils, and then I get to wear a splint for a week or so. That I can''t go to work for a week. And should take it easy and not travel for two weeks.

*sigh*
Which means that with the wedding schedule this summer, I can''t have the surgery until mid-september. Maybe I should wait a little for the surgery until after fi moves in? Which is also on hold until after all the weddings are done, I swear everyone got wedding fever all of a sudden.

The e-n-t doc says that after a couple months of healing then I go to the sleep clinic. If I went now they''d just laugh at him. I really hope this fixes the snoring. I''m worried about getting married while still snoring like this, he had to sleep on the couch last night.

Well, at anyrate, it''d be nice to be able to breathe through my nose when doing stuff like biking.

Please let me know what your experiences were like!

I could really use some sort of info other than what my mother digs up on the web. I swear, every time I talk to her she tells me how my nose is going to be disfigured or how it will make the snoring worse! Yes, I know, that''s what caller id is for.

 

[rainbowtrout]

My ENT told me surgery on my septum could do three things:

1) make it better
2) make it worse
3) do nothing

So I chose not to do anything....I dont breathe through my nose at night either, but I don''t snore.

 

[Lorelei]

I too have a deviated septum with my snitch and it is a PITA. I haven''t been offered treatment so I just put up with it, it is a nuisance though

I can''t breathe through my left nostril and the worst times are in bed at night, I have to sleep in a position that helps me to breathe through it as I am not a mouth breather unlike Hubby. Be easier if I was. I don''t know what to tell you Indie, I can sympathize though.

 

[SarFarSuperstar]

I had my deviated septum operated on as a child (I think I was 9) due to holes in my ears- the ENT said that my oxygen would help the holes heal, yada yada yada. Well, the holes are still there and basically I just had really annoying bloody noses for a year. If you so much as tapped my nose it would start bleeding. SO irritating. I''m not sure if you''ll be having the same exact thing done (they trimmed my turbinates- the little bumps on either side of your septum) but it was a PITA.

I hope this doesn''t scare you away because I really have no idea what effect the surgery I had has on snoring. I don''t think I snore, but I cannot attest to whether or not the septum surgery corrected any snoring that occurred during my adolescence.

Good luck! Keep some cotton pads on you at all times if you do decide to do it!

 

[diamondsrock]

I had an acquaintance who had it done and it is serious surgery. I guess she almost passed out when they took the splint or cotton out. I knew another guy as well and he said almost the same thing. Of course everyone''s pain tolerance is different. He had a better go of it than she did and he had serious apnea and needed it done asap.
If you have wedding plans coming up I would hold off personally until after everything is cooled off, unless it is medically necessary for you. Like with the sleep apnea, it would be important to take care of. I''m sure your ear nose and throat guy can tell you if you should move on the surgery or not, or if you can wait.
My husband has the deviated septum and is avoiding the surgery because he''d rather put up with it than deal with the surgery!

 

[Kaleigh]

I had the surgery when I was 20. It helped me but everyone is different. Yeah it''s painful but isn''t all surgery?

 

[firebirdgold]

Well, he basically said it was physically impossible for me not to have sleep apnea, which is why his people at the sleep lab would just laugh at him if he sent me in now. And there''s the minor detail that I''d rather not start off my marriage in seperate bedrooms. (He''s not what you''d call a good sleeper under the best of conditions)

The nurse told me that the splints were more miserable than painful, and I''d feel very happy when they came out. Some how I suspect that they might have omitted the bit in between where they actually take it out!

There was no mention of cotton packing, although it sounds reasonable.
I was more than a little dismayed when they told me I''d have to take a whole week off work and had to take it veeerrry easy for the week after that! It''s outpatient surgery, on my nose. How bad can it be? Er, maybe I don''t want to know.

 

[sumbride]

My brother had the surgery when he was 21, and his e-n-t decided it would also be a good time to yank out his tonsils, ya know, since he was already out. Umm... NO. He couldn''t breathe through his nose because it was stuffed full of cotton and he couldn''t breathe through his mouth because it hurt his throat, so he lay in bed for at least a week sort of gasping for air. He couldn''t eat anything really and he was very out of it. He had black eyes for a week because of the nose surgery... not sure if his was worse than your or not, but maybe. (His was caused by crashing his bike and his face into a curb when he was a kid.) When he was healed, he did feel significantly better, but he threatened to sue the dr. for suggesting he combine the surgeries. His nose actually did get straightened out with the surgery but that was a benefit, not the reason. His sinus infections came much less often and his voice even changed a bit (maybe that was the tonsils).

And he also earned the nickname "Uncle EWWWWW" from my neice becase he looked like death-warmed-over for about 10 days.

Don''t know if this helped you or not, but it was fun to share!

 

[ephemery1]

Date: 7/21/2006 12:28:10 PM
Author: sumbride
My brother had the surgery when he was 21, and his e-n-t decided it would also be a good time to yank out his tonsils, ya know, since he was already out.

UGH... let me tell you, I had my tonsils out about 3 years ago, and I am STILL recovering... it was the most shockingly miserable experience of my life. Shocking because I had NO idea it was going to be that horrible (yes, my doctor warned me it is one of the most painful surgeries an adult can experience... I just chose not to believe his 20+ years of medical expertise

)... and miserable because I was in bed for 3 solid weeks and in pain for a few more after that.

The good news is, I don''t think the deviated septum surgery is supposed to be as traumatic. Especially if your ENT only told you to count on a week off work. Poor thing... isn''t it annoying having these odd ailments that somehow normal people don''t seem to get?? Especially something like snoring that is so completely beyond your control. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

 

[momothree]

I had surgery about 6 or 7 years ago correcting my deviated septum, removing my tonsils and removing some sort of other nasal blockage with the goal of reducing my snoring and helping me breathe better out of my nose. Recovery was fairly nasty (including the vomiting up of copius amounts of blood) but pretty quick -- I think I was only out of work for a week or so. The operation was a success UNTIL I got pregnant again. I am now 5 years post-partum, baby weight all gone, and am STILL a noisy sleeper (more loud breathing than snoring, although I snort when I have a cold) and a lousy breather. My ent said that is not unheard of for the hormonal changes of pregnancy to mess up the results this kind of surgery. My hormonal changes may have been extreme because pregnancy #2 was with twins but if you are thinking of having kids eventually, this might be something that you want to discuss with your ent.

Also, I was tested for apnea prior to committing to the surgery. It was a fairly easy test, done at home while I slept.

 

[Gypsy]

I had surgery for it. But I also had some minor cosmetic changes done at the same time. The nose packing was just awful-- the first night I slept I felt like I was being suffocated. The whole first week was just bad. I got black eyes that didn't go away for three weeks. And my snoring? Worse ever since. If it weren't for the fact that I did have cosmetic changes done, and they were done well, it would have been a horrible experience I would regret.

 

[tawn]

Oh...this thread is scaring me! I have to have the same sort of surgery, and they''re going to "turbine" out my nose...I know that''s not what they''re doing, but that''s what stuck in my mind!

My niece cracked me in the nose about 15 years ago, and I guess I tried to heal, and and then keep healing some more, until there is almost no passage through one side, and it''s not much better on the other! I have a sharp little calcium deposit on the outside that''s painful and makes my nose look a little crooked...but most of the damage is on the inside!

I don''t snore at all, but I bet I''ll probably start after the surgery!

However, my girlfriend had it done and said it was the best thing that she''s ever done! Cute nose, she can breathe, and no more sinus headaches!