Septoplasty experiences needed

I am suffering from deviated nasal septum for my whole life. Everyone keeps telling me that septoplasty will solve my problem, but I am too scared to try. Wee, I am scared of any surgery. Have anyone here had septoplasty and would like to share experience?

I had performed Septoplasty to correct a deviated nasal septum when I was 17. I suffered a severe nasal trauma and had had breathing difficulties ever since, but I finally took some time and had a CAT scan performed and it was found that my septum was deviated by 26 degrees. I did the surgery and 10 days later and I could breathe well through both sides of my nose for the first time. No more sinus infections, arrested breathing during sleep or the negative pressure in my ears. My life and health have improved beyond words.

I know this is pretty old, but I just came across this and thought I would respond..

I just had a septoplasty done a week ago to correct a deviated septum. I guess I always had nasal problems and was always sick, but just recently it got very bad. I woke in the middle of the night because I couldn't breathe and I was constantly getting nose bleeds. I finally saw an Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon who said surgery was the best bet.

I went into the hospital at 6:30 for surgery at 7:30. Keep in mind that this is my first time having any kind of surgery of any kind. I have a very low tolerance of pain and am scared to death of needles. I went in, they had to do a pregnancy test before they could continue with anything. Then they put my IV in. Which the nurse I had was wonderful. I felt nothing. At first, all that they had in my IV was basically gatorade. When my pregancy test came back negative, they gave me something to calm me down..which was wonderful! It kicked in about 10 seconds after she put it in. It was fantastic.

I was then wheeled to surgery. They explained everything to me again, I saw my doctor then they took me into the OR. All I remember is saying how cold it was in the room and them putting a warm blanket on me. After that the next thing I remember is waking up. I had a mask on my face to help me breathe (which I freaked out about..no clue why) and my throat was very sore from the intibation. I remember one of the nurses saying how pale I looked, then I leaned over the side of my bed and threw up in some towels another nurse was holding. They said it was from the blood in my stomach. After that they wheeled my into recovery.

I was in recovery for a few hours. They gave me some ice chips which were wonderful. My dad was there with me and he had to basically feed me the ice chips. I had no energy at all. The nurse then came in to remove the packing. I have read others' experiences and they had the packing removed much later and said it was horrible. I thankfully had mine removed before it could get good and dry. It still hurt pretty bad, but I was still kind of out of it so it only hurt for a few minutes after. They then brought me some toast so I could take a vicadin and go home.

They gave me prescription for vicadin and an antibiotic. I went home and slept all day. I had no pain all weekend except for a headache and sore throat from breathing out of my mouth the whole time. I slept on the couch in the corner because I had to be propped up. The seaping from my nose was pretty bad. Had to wear the stupid gauze mustache all weekend. But it's not so bad, I didn't really leave the house.

The following monday I had the splints removed. I was dreading this. And it was nothing! It just feels very weird. But the best part is, after they were removed, I could breathe!

It's now been over a week, since the surgery. I go back to work in a few days. I will have been off work for a week and 3 days. Only because my job requires me to do a lot of bending over and picking up heavy things. ( I do shipping and receiving). But I can now sleep normally, no more gauze mustache. I don't go anywhere without a tissue though because it still runs a little. I still have a suture in my nose which will dissolve in a few days. And I can now blow my nose!

So trust me, I know how scary it is. But I would highly recommend going through with it. If you have the same problems I have, it's deff. worth every minute of it.

Hope this helped!

i live in the los angeles area and am seeking a qualified ENT. i am willing to travel within CA. can you give me doc info? thank you!