Recovering from septoplasty surgery

Hi,
I was using Nasal Decongesent from past four years to releave my Stuffy Nose.. Doc suggested to undergo Septoplasty.. I've never hospitalised till date and Septoplasty seems scary to me 8-| ... If i undergo surgery, how long will it take to normal work.. i work in an MNC as a contractor ..leave for more than two weeks is bit difficult to apply :-( ....
Kindly Reply
Thanks,
Sandeep

I had septoplasty with turbinoplasty 5 days ago and I felt crappy the first two days but other than that the healing is fast. I get my splints out tomorrow and will be glad to breath as the hardest part is the sensitivity to the nose and how stuffy you feel due to the blood clots and splints. I went to the gym yesterday and can't wait to get back full force.

When I was checking this message board both before and immediately after surgery, I was disappointed to find very few posts describing the situation 3 weeks or more out. In other words, what was the outcome? Was it worth the discomfort and anxiety of surgery? Well, it's been 3 weeks since my operation (septoplasty and turbinate reduction), and I can whole-heartedly say, at least in my case, it was definitely worth it. The pain was quite minimal (perhaps only pain of 2 on a 10 point scale the day OF surgery). The most difficult part of the entire process is the anxiety the days leading to the surgery and the 6 days of congestion between the operation and the endoscopic cleaning. Immediately after my endoscopic cleaning I could breathe like the wind blows; before surgery I was barely getting any airflow even with an army of daily decongestants and steroid nasal sprays. A few things everyone considering this operation should consider when reading this or similar boards: 1) the people who tend to go out their way to post are the small % of patients who are particularly anal, sensitive and/or neurotic--experiences that might be horrifying to them and lead them to complain both in person and on anonymous message boards may be barely noticeable to the majority of patients and 2) I actually recommend resuming work (assuming it's not manual labor) shortly after surgery--it keeps your mind off your congestion and recovery the first week. Cheers and no offense to the posters here; it did provide a good deal of information about the operation and recovery.

Had the procedure done on February 11, 2010 and feeling like c**p today. However; out of the 3-4 people on the street that had the Septoplasty and Turbinate surgery ALL said it was worth the 5-10 days of pain. I have had both shoulders done (rotator cuff) and both biceps, and detached retina surgery. This surgery was much more painful than any of my priors - I just hope the outcome will be the same or better. If you haven't had the Septoplasty and cannot breathe out of one nostril (100%) - JUST DO IT! As for recoop time, it's too early to comment so give me two weeks and then I'll come back and give my feedback.

Speedy62269

i am 6 days post op from septoplasty.......if you are considering this surgery get ready for a bumpy ride....stay ahead of your pain...take your meds every 4 hours.....get chap stick, soft food, i had my husband go get ambesol cuz the pain radiated into my mouth so the ambesol helped knumb behind my top lip.....keep up with the ice.....it really did not "hurt" when the splints came out.....take pain meds 45 mins before that dr visit....i find 6 days after that, i get dizzy when i use the neti pot and my congestion is still profound and saline soothes but then drips out continuously. continuous pain has stopped, but it is VERY VERY VERY tender to the touch....i called my dr this morning and he said NO to taking a decongestant....that the stuffyness would be with me for 14-20 days atleast...... good luck.......glad its behind me...and wish everyone luck with this procedure......

hello, reading all these posts made me very nervous. I am not good with pain, but i have a sinus infection, cold, stuffiness allll the time so hopefully it will be worth it.

Has anyone gotten the septoplasty with a rhinoplasty?? i have a crooked nose as well and i hate it! its really not that noticible to others but to me it is. So im doing both at the same time... can anyone tell me how their recovery was?

im soooo nervous!! and mine is not until April!

Will I look like a different person after due to the swelling a bruising?? and how much swelling is there?

I am four days post-op Septoplasty. The first day as you may have read from other people's post was the worst. The pain was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I definitely recommend the recliner. Some of the things I have dealt with thus far are as follows: Sinus pressure, sinus pain, low grade fever, bleeding with nasal drainage, sore throat, uvula injury, dry mouth, poor sleep, anxiety, and a migraine headache.
The sinus pressure I dealt with by taking pseudophedrine (Sudafed), and a warm shower. This helped greatly and the sinus pressure has been kept to a minimum. The sinus pain and low grade fever I have been taking 500 mg acetaminophen (Tylenol) every 3-4 hours not to exceed 4,000 mg in a 24 hour period. I was prescribed Percocet, but have not taken it. I am not a big fan of narcotics and the sedating feeling. I like to be aware of my surroundings. The bleeding and nasal drainage continues at a very slow ooze. The first two days I was changing the drip pad at least once every hour. Now I am not using the drip pad at all. Just dabbing with light pressure any oozing. The sore throat and uvula injury was from the intubation which can be common. I felt like my uvula was causing me difficulty with swallowing food. Checked in with ENT and feels the swelling will go down with time. Already seeing and feeling change on the 4th day. The dry mouth was from having to breath through my mouth. Sipping water consistently helped keep me from getting to dry and keeping my fever down. The poor sleep continues to be the worst part for me. I have been unable to sleep more than 2-3 hours at a time. Usually awakened from the dry mouth or the whistling sound made when one nostril opens from congestion. The first 48 hours I was anxious thinking to myself what have I gotten myself into. As each day passes you feel better and the anxiety subsides. The migraine I had on day 2. I feel like it was brought on by the stress of the procedure and abruptly stopping my usual 2 cups of coffee a day addiction. At this point I glad that I have had the procedure. In a couple of days I will be having my splints taken out. Looking forward to it in hopes I can breath through my nose again and get back to a regular sleep pattern.

Hi I had septoplasty with turbine reduction 14 days ago. The first night was hell, not because of the pain but rather the packing made it difficult to breathe. I put a wet gauze pad inside my mouth to keep it moist >;) >;) , . I also used a humidifer . the next day the packing came out. There wasn't a lot of pain and removal helped a little, but the splints were irrataing and I was so swollen it was hard to breathe, Not being able to sneeze or blow my nose was also a pain. Three days after the surgery day I called my doctor and asked if the difficult breathing was normal,he had me come right in and he removed the spints and suctioned me. one week later I was suctioned again I also stopped the saline as it was drying me out. the doctor told me that after the tenth day I could neti pot my nose and that I should blow my nose. i still have some swelling but I'm actually breathing through my nose. The doctor persribed percocet but, I used vicodan instead. The pain wasn't as bad as the misery of unabillity to breath, I had a dull head ach which came and went for 10 days . I feel pretty good now ,the doctor says it will just get better. I :-D 'll let you know

I am 6 days post-op (septoplasty, turbinate reduction and closing of a second opening in my left maxillary sinus). Not being able to breathe trough my nose at all is a pain, but at least an expected one. The amount of pain I am experiencing I did not expect however (and I've given birth to both my sons without any pain killing and have had several other surgical procedures over the years without problems, so I don't think I am particularily sensitive to pain...).
Acetaminophen by itself did not seem to make any difference. My doctor prescibed me a combination with codeine instead, and that keeps it bearable, but still.
Next Tuesday my splints will come out and edoscopic cleaning will be done. I hope to have some improvement after that ( have the feeling the stitches of the splints are tight/irritating), but will not expect miracles.

My dr. did prepare me for not feeling good for quite some time after surgery and adviced me to get help for the first couple of weeks looking after my sons and household. Advice I followed, thank goodness!!!
I will let him know I experienced more pain than expected. From what I've read here, dr's might just underestimate the pain people experience after this type of surgery 8unless we on this forum are indeed only the exceptions).

My advice to people who plan this operation:
-plan to take it really easy for 2-3 weeks afterwards
-get help if you can
-get adequate information on how to reduce post-op pain (and if meds are pre-scribed, don't hesitate to take them if you experience pain. it will only be for a little while that you're on these meds and having lots of pain certainly won't improve the healing process)
-get plenty of rest, drink plenty, use a humidifier and saline solution, eat regular small meals if you can
-stock up on icecubes/popsickles beforehand

And, last but not least: don't give up hope! I'm in here for the long haul (my sinus problems have had major negative impact on my health & quality of life for years if not decades, so a couple of weeks of discomfort won't hold me back).

Will keep you posted on the progress...

Hi all, I have been told I need to have a septoplasty & turbinate surgery, I am doing my research BEFORE I do anything.
What I would like to know has any of the above folks had good success after their surgery are all of you glad you did it now? Was the pain worth it? Thanks for the info.

I have posted before when I was 6 days post-op. I am now 3 weeks post-op and I CAN BREATHE!!!
:-D
And I mean I can breathe properly through my nose for the first time ever in my life, also during the night.
I'm still a bit tired from the surgery and an infection afterwards (this probably explains the pain I experienced), but over all feel much more energized. must have something to do with the better quality of breathing and therefore sleep? And the absence of chronically infected sinuses...

I had the splints removed 7 days post-op (slightly unpleasant experience, but not painfull) and could breather much better a couple of hours afterwards.
Had the last stitches removed last week, which was a bit painfull indeed, but only very briefly.

Anyway, if I continue to be able to breathe like this, the surgery was already worth it.
Will keep you posted...

I am 8 days post-op septoplasty, turbinate reduction and adenoidectomy. I finally decided to have this surgery done after YEARS of incurable sinus and adenoid infections. My quality of life was very poor due to fatigue from the constant infections. I have to say, this has been the worst week of my life so far. I have a history of having bad reactions to medications so of course I had a reaction to the anesthesia. I woke up in recovery with a panic attack. I also have a history of sleep disturbances and a fear of not being able to breathe ( I have asthma), so not being able to breathe thru my nose has caused a lot of anxiety. My doctor has been awesome in that I've been able to reach him by phone after hours on a couple of occasions, so I've been lucky there. He removed my stints the day after surgery and told me I could use Afrin every 12 hrs which helped. Unfortunately, you can't use the Afrin for more than 3-5 days or you risk getting the rebound congestion. After I stopped the Afrin, the congestion was pretty bad. My doc says this is due to the sinuses swelling from the trauma. I would finally fall asleep breathing thru my mouth only to wake up gasping for air over and over because I would revert back to nose breathing after I fell asleep. This gave me severe anxiety. My doctor called in Xanax for me, had me come in the next day, did a full debridement and prescribed oral steroids to shrink the swelling. This helped tremendously. The first night on the steriods I actually got 6 hrs of sleep, which was awesome considering I haven't got more than 2-3 hrs per night before that. Last night, I couldn't fall asleep even with the Xanax because the steroids hype you up. I'm feeling a little dispared right now, but hopefully things will get better as I taper off the steroids.

My advice to anyone considering this surgery is this: Pain was not a major issue. I've been taking OTC tylenol and Aleve only. If you can sleep while breathing through your mouth, then you'll be fine. If not, and you can take codeine (which I can't), I would take that around the clock for the first few days and just knock yourself out. After that, use the Afrin and saline rinses around the clock. My only regret is that I didn't go out and buy or borrow a recliner, because it causes neck pain propping yourself up on pillows night after night. I do think that the doctor's tend to "sugar coat" this surgery from what I've read on the internet. It definitely is not an easy recovery as they all seem to claim it is. Good luck to everyone else. It helps to know I'm not suffering alone.

back to work in full force so soon, i suspect you gotta easy girly job?

Thanks for all the great response. I think I will have my surgery. I am an IT professional and have not been able to breathe properly through my nose (without nose spray) since I was 6. Apparently I have bone blocking most of my nasal passages and some 'other stuff'.
Now I thought I was crazy but the more root canals I had done the worse my nose breathing became but after a very long winter of nose bleeds I finally went and saw an ENT who fixed the nose bleeds and told me of the bone and roots of my teeth blocking my sinuses! YUK.
I have had ALOT of other surgerys but nothing in a super sensitive region like nose before so I was worried. I have had tailbone removed, tubes tied, liver tumor removed, Hemorrhoid and polyps removed. Let me clue you if you can survive Hemorrhoid/polyp and colon surgery you can about withstand anything... no joke, people laugh when you say that but if you have never had that surgery, forget it. You will go with a colostomy bag before doing that again, and I have had that surgery 3 times now, next time now way. Concrete it shut please!
But thanks again for the feedback I will be scheduling the surgery now and see how it goes!

Hey all. Just doing some research online (like all of you) and found this site. I was wondering how long it took most of you to be able to breathe normally through the nose. I am 16 days off surgery, and I have moderate breathing. I can breathe through one side or the other, and it switches every so often. Both sides still seem to be swollen though, as the breathing I can do is sometimes labored. Walking around helps to clear it up, but once i sit/lay down, it shuts off again and it's back to some mouth-breathing.

In addition, I wanted to share some of my experience. Had septoplasty, sub-mucosal resection, and a trimming of one middle turbinate (concha bullosa) on June 10. I guess that would make this day 16 for me. I went into this expecting a more speedy recovery. Everything I read said you would return to work in 7-10 days, so silly me I thought I'd be able to breathe at that point! Well, apparently, for me anyway, 7 days was the mark for external swelling and most of my bleeding to go down. Actually, just days after surgery I was having a lot of bleeding, to the point where drainage down my throat one night was so bad I woke up with a terrrible terrible stomach-ache from blood swallowed. I went back to the doctor and he cauterized a spot to help. It seems to have helped. Day 9 was the first time I was able to slightly taste a bit of food I was eating. Walking around at night on days 10/11 cleared my nose for the first time. Once I stopped to rest, it closed again. Day 13 was my first time with a few hours of nasal clarity. By that I mean one nostril or the other was clear, but not totally open. So here I am, day 16, typing. Had a tough night sleeping. One nostril was closed, the other open a little. Right now one is fully open, one is 40%. I hope it continues to get better.

It's a tough process. Overall, I have had very little pain and a good amount of bleeding for the first 7 days. Today, day 16, I have no pain, almost no bleeding, and just a lingering congestion. I am hoping another week or so and that subsides as well. I'd like to be able to go a day without thinking "can I breathe?". I just want it to be effortless and natural again.