Recovering from septoplasty surgery

Dont afraid my friend same postion i face 5 months before nothing happens every thing is going very good and accurate be brave i also think that after general anesthesia i can awake but when i think it i am laughing cause its really nice sleep splints removal is little bit painfull very little pain donmt worry

Hi all. 7 or 8 months since my successful op. Time flies.

Re: the above person getting the polyp removed, I suggest you have another lengthy talk with your Doc. I had 3 visits. I had questions written out on paper and took those in, so I wouldnt forget anything. Go see him.

Cant believe they'll take out the packing just before they wheel you out into post op. It's in there as a bandage to support and prevent excess bleeding?  eg... It's like you've just had surgery for something and are bleeding everywhere and you only want a bandage on for 10 minutes after they've finished? AINT going to happen. Think about it. My packing came out about 18 hours after surgery and it poured out like something I've never seen before (sorry but the truth is what you need to hear). 18 hours later and it was like that. Not 18 minutes like you want. The excessive bleeding stops after 10 or 20 seconds as your body coagulates it. Then you wear the stupid moustache tampon type thing under your nose for a few days.  

I had a bit of an anxiety attack when I got back to my hospital bed as I really hate the thought of NOT being in control and breathing through your mouth. Sure it's uncomfortable, but you're having the surgery as it's obviously needed and will free you up for the future. In other words no pain no gain. Your body is pretty clever and you wont choke or stop breathing. You WILL breathe through your mouth and get enough air. It happened to probably EVERYONE in this thread! All mouth breathers! You'll get better.

Within 3, 4 or 5 days you'll feel a lot better. Each day thereafter the healing gets quicker. 2 weeks at the very most and you'll be thinking "what was I worried about". Keep rinsing your nose with saline etc, as your Doc advises. You'll hopefully be breathing a fair bit out of each nostril. I had 5 or 6 procedures and this is my experfience. Youre having really only 1 (septo) as a polyp removal is (Im sorry), like getting a scratch. Septo is the real surgery and is painful for sure, but take some pain meds at the required time and you'll be fine. I had NO pain just discomfort and was scared I would bump my nose.

Go back from about April 2012 up till now and read MY stories as I was a regular on here for many months to give a balanced story rather than the scary ones I read initially. Not saying theirs werent true, but mine is hopefully something like yours and not worth the worry and anxiety I went through. Id do it again in a blink if I had to. No problems.

Let us all know how youre doing after the op. You'll be fine.

Thommo

Hi A,
The nasal splints are in effect the "airway tubes" you are looking for. They are not what you imagine a "splint" to be, they are tubes attached to a plate which rests against your inside septum. The bad news is - they get blocked anyway! I could breather through them for all of about 30 min post op!! They are quite annoying to have in but after a septo I don't think you will have the luxury of telling your doc whether you wants them or not. They are also there to support the septum after it has been "mobilised" as far as I know.
The good news is the relief in getting them out is totally worth it. Splint removal did not hurt at all in my experience. The doc will very gently pull them and they will pretty much fall out. All over in about 10 seconds!

I had the white "tampon" type gauze on post op. Took it off later that night but couldn't stop the bleeding so got a fresh one from the nurses. Took it off the next morning before going home and was fine!
With regard t the mouth breathing, that is a definite unfortunately!! As your nose will be blocked until splints are removed, your mouth will open in your sleep. I had to take a mild sleeping tablet to get any kind of sleep, however sleeping returned to normal once splints were gone. Saline spray also really helped me! I had mine done 6 weeks ago and am back running 10km's so definitely no long term effects of the surgery!
Any other questions let us know, if not best of luck and let us know how it goes!

Hi Guest,

At several points in my life I experienced Panic Attacks but the surgery did not cause me to have any elevated anxiety. Normal to worry of course but there's really nothing remarkable that will happen that you should fear. Once they put the ansesthetic in you won't care what happens until you wake. The surgeon should be able to brief you on what he expects to do ... packing, spints, etc. if you want to know. The trouble I had sleeping was more because my throat was sore from the breathing tube. Assuming you mean post surgery, I wouldn't take meds to sleep as they will react with the anesthesia. If you're not sleeping now from worry, that's a different story. Really, there's nothing to worry about as this is a pretty routine surgery for these guys. Drink lots of water, use lip balm, and sleep with your head elevated.

Thanks everyone. My main anxiety is feeling clautraphobia with the basal packing and having a major panic attack.also, how I'm ggoing to be able to cope with not breathing in my nostrils ( even partially) for many days. I'm a claustraphobic.

the doc gave me xanax, but I'm afraid to get addicted:(

I have been having anxiety about this every day and night now for the last two weeks and feel like I'm headed for a disaster.

Im sooooo scared guys.

Andre

Can you ask your Doc not to use packing or splints? I only had those while in recovery and don't even remember having them out. Whether you have the splint/packing or not you really can't breath through your nose. I am also claustraphobic (probably not as severe if you are that worried about it though), but breathing through your mouth isn't that big of a deal.

I wasn't trying to imply in my previous post that the thread was overly negative, I saw both good and bad, but when you are ready to go for the surgery you are more worried and focused on the bad.  I just wanted to give a little to the good experience posts as I felt my recovery was going pretty well considering some of the other experiences I had read.

Anyway, just wanted to give a 1+ week update, I am 1 week 2 days post-op.

It was hard to breath through my nose throughout the week and with the occasional clean out with saline spray and Q-tip with neosporine it was OK but not enough.  During the week I had a large bunch of mucus and blood it turns out was stuck in my nasal cavity and wouldn't come out.  I was still at work on Wed. for a short shift, on day 5 and full days the rest of the week.  I had a Doctors appt. on Friday (exactly 1 week), the appointment was great as they used suction and lidocaine to get the rest of the gunk out of my nose.  They sucked a large portion of it at the appointment and I felt 100% better.  They gave me the go ahead to blow my nose, lightly... as well as use neti pot or sinus rinse.  So next morning I tried the rinse and it really felt like WAY too much pressure so I stopped and went neti pot.  That worked OK, but I could tell there was still more stuff to be cleaned out.  My solution was this morning when I did the neti pot again and used Q-Tip and one of the child nose suction bulb.  OMG what a difference I got two large and thick mucus/blood things out that were 2-3 inches long and I am completely cleared up all of the day today.  I can breath completely normally now, just have a little extra runny nose.  I am still a bit swollen so I am still taking it easy but I think the hardest part is over.

When I went in for surgery I had a complete blockage of my left nostril due to deviated septum and oversized turbinates on the right and left to compensate.  According to the Doctor I have about 95% clear nasal passage and should have complete breathing once all of the swelling and congestion clear up in another week or two.  

Speedy,

 

thanks for your insight and recommendations. I'm talking with my doctor tomorrow and have a list of questions I'm going to ask him.

my doc says he can also give me 95% breathing after this is done, and it sounds like its worth it. I just need to see what can be done to minimize my claustrophobia anxiety During the time my nose is clogged. Have you heard of the Kotler Nasal Airway?

Look it up.

Andre

Thank you for the positive note. I'm due to have Septoplasty and Turbinectomy in 10 days time. Not looking forward to it, but the breathing is a real problem. I understand it will be uncomfortable for a while, but having had two hip replacements, both succesful, think I should be able to cope with the prolem. I have arranged, with the surgeons cooperation to stay in hospital for two nights as I live some distance from the hospital and am 77 years of age.

I have an aversion to meds but can tell you that for the short duration I don't think you have to worry about dependence.

Hi , its Rosie, again.
4 days to D day or is that Op day.
A bit panicy but will be glad to get it over.
Thanks for the positive thoughts . I've looked at the worst and now hope for the best.

Hi,

 

I am having my surgery next week and thanks to your posts am not feeling too nervous at all! Be worth a bit of misery I think!

 

I was just wandering how many of you had headaches before surgery and if they have reduced since surgery?

 

I get awful headaches that sometimes stop me doing things and even with prevention medications I still get them, they are continuous when I have a sinus infection too. Make my life a misery to say the least.

 

Also the feeling of fluid in my cheek all the time really annoys me, did anyone have this before surgery and has it improved?

 

Look foward to some positive replies.

 

Great you can reply as a guest on this thread, saves the hassle of registering.

From Rosie:

It would seem that we are having surgery about the same time.  Yes I do  have some tightness and headaches, and there is that

unpleasant feeling of fulness in the sinus area, and wanting to blow my nose all the time, (quite unproductive).

My main problem is complete blockage of the right nostril and lack of sleep because of waking up with a dry

mouth and lack of breath.

Good luck for next week. 

I have confidence in my surgeon and the anaethetist and think that is important.

 

Rosie.

Thanks for your reply and good luck with your surgery too. Looking forward to a better quality of life once recovered.

As someone who read a lot of horror stories on the web about septoplasty I was a bit worried about having the procedure done.  I am 59 years old had have had a deviated septum for as long as I can remember.  Never had any sinus issues but over the last couple years I was getting frequent headaches (3 or 4 a week) that would last all day.  I also woke myself up a lot from snoring so decided I need to have this done.  I went in last tuesday and have to say the who process was rather quick.  I had general anethesia  and that is not a scary process at all.  I woke up like I had just had a nap.  I had no pain, but was just groggy.  My doctor had put splints in my nose and was surprise to find out I could breathe fine.   That changed during the evening, but I was worried that I would be totally blocked up from the get go.   I was given some pain medicine even though I told the nurse I wasn't in pain.  Had a few sips of ginger ale and within a half hour they were wheeling me out to my car with my wife driving me home.   I took the pain meds as instructed 4 hours later, because the nurse warned me not to wait for it to wear off.  I took 1 pill 4 hours later, then didn't take any more as I really didn't have pain.   I did start to get very congested in the evening and was nearly blocked up by the time I went to bed.   I sat up at a 45 degree angle most of the night but I really can't sleep when my nose is blocked so I got probably about an hour total sleep the first night.   I slept slightly better the following night but only got about 4 hours total sleep.  Had the surgery on a tuesday and had the splints out on friday, which was painless!!!!    Once they were out, breathing was great!  It's been getting gradually better each day.   I had septoplasty, bone spur removal, and turbinate reduction on the right side.   I would summarize that saying the experience is like having a horrible nose cold for 3 days.   Don't be afraid to use a ton of saline spray!   I didn't quite use enough the first day, but when I did on the second day, I was able to start getting a little air through the nostrils.   Oh and I haven't had a headache since the operation!