Undergoing surgery to get rid of nasal polyps?

Hello - I had nasal polyp removal surgery at 9.15am yesterday under general anaesthetic - I am a diabetic and asthmatic so am a complicated case. I can state that the whole procedure was fine - I did have packs in my nose but did not find them to be anywhere near as uncomfortable as Judith stated. They were removed at 4pm and although there was pain for a few seconds it certainly didn't linger and at no time was I close to passing out. I was able to come home at 6pm with a gauze taped under my nose. I am a 39 year old woman and had quite a severe case of polyps but it was not necessary to go into my sinuses. Although I am still bleeding slightly I can already feel an improvement with the pressure I was feeling at the back of my nasal passages. I am being treated with a nasal spray, cocodamol and a nasal douche. Don't let Judith's experience put you off... I read it and went ahead ready for it to be terrible and have been pleasantly surprised. I was treated in England on the NHS. Hope this helps xx

To all who wrote in, thank you! These comments have offered a lot of information that I could not find through google...)
I am a student and have recently discovered the discomfort that nasal polyps come with. I am considering the surgery to have them removed, but my biggest concern is: how long will I be "recovering" for? (Basically, how long until I can return to classes!)
Any response is helpful!
Thanks.

I had a nasal polyp removed on Tuesday and the recovery is going great. It was a large polyp that was clogging my right maxillary sinus. I went in to surgery tuesday morning and was home by 1:00. Surgery went off without a hitch and he didn't even need to pack it. Little to no pain has been observed. I've only take a couple of acetaminophen for some discomfort in my throat because of the breathing tube. My nose has been tender, but not in pain. I've hacked up some coagulated blood through post nasal drip, but other than that, I've had minimal drainage. At this time, I've been out of surgery almost 48 hours. Tomorrow I have my post-opt appointment and I predict it will go well. I'm thankful I didn't have to have a deviated septum corrected like some on here have. I couldn't imagine having to go through that. For those of you that are having just a polyp removed, The surgery is simple, and there shouldn't be many complications. I hope this helps!

Hello everyone,
I just had polyp surgery on the left side of my sinus. I had only one big polyp growing and this was my experience.

I´d been suffering from constant headaches in my temples, sinus infections, bronchitis, laryngitis, and other infections for the past 9 (yes nine!) months. I had 2 x-rays done that showed infections but no polyps (they don´t show up on x-rays) My doctor finally ordered a CAT scan a few months ago and then after several more failed attempts to treat the infections with antibiotics he (and I) opted for surgery.

It was general anesthesia ENDOSCOPIC operation where they cut under the upper lip and enter the sinus cavity from the mouth, which was a little scary but once you´re under you don´t know what´s going on anyways. I woke up about an hour later with what I can only describe as a tampon up my nose and a tube that ran directly from my forehead to the sinus cavity in my left cheek. I felt no pain, only very groggy from the anesthesia. About an hour later I ¨came to¨ totally and the doctor told me that the surgery had been successful but I was going to have to stay an extra day to have liquid antibiotics directly pumped into the sinus cavity (I assume this was due to the infection they found upon opening my face) so I was in the hospital from Thursday morning, the day of the operation, to Saturday afternoon. Friday was the worst day for me because the liquid antibiotics (and blood) drained down to my stomach and made me pretty sick so I spent most of the day vomiting with an IV drip for liquids and food. But on Saturday I felt much better (they gave me a medicine for my stomach on Friday and Saturday in the IV) and started to eat soft foods.

I was reading a post above about the removal of the ¨tampon¨ from the nasal passage and while it did hurt me, mine was only in the nose, and not in the sinus cavity. It was a strange sensation and on a scale of one to ten I´d rate it a 4 for about 5 seconds and then the pain was replaced by a dull throb almost immediately. I think the reason it hurt so much was because it was about the size of my pointer finger! I did bleed quite a bit after the removal but just held some gauze to my nose. Then I went home with an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory prescription.

Today is Sunday, I haven´t really felt any pain at all, a bit sore in the cheek from the stitches and I have some swelling and bruising. I do have blood drainage down the throat which is gross but not painful. The muscles on the left side of my face (of course) aren´t working like the right side but little by little I feel them coming to. I have to chew only on the right side, so food doesn´t get into the stitches and it´s strange brushing my teeth, sometimes when liquid or food gets into the stitches it burns a bit.

My doctor seems optimistic that the polyp won´t grow back. That was discussed as a side effect and he immediately dismissed it. The one thing I do notice is that I don´t have a lot of feeling in my left cheek and one of my front teeth is numb still. The doctor did warn me about this so I expect it to go away. Tomorrow I go back for a checkup, and I expect it to be favorable. I haven´t been blowing my nose because I’m afraid it will hurt, but I’m going to ask him about that

I feel so much better already, before when I tried to breathe on the left side, the air passage was almost completely blocked from the polyp and now air enters freely for the first time in 9 months! Even if the polyp grows back, I think the surgery was probably worth it, I´ve been suffering for so long with these constant infections, and I´m just happy to breathe again.

If you have any questions let me know!

Thanks to Judith and I have just had FESS nasal polypectomy with packing and the pain just as you described. Now, five days on, I still feel ghastly - like I have a bad cold coming on - and still mucus and blood oozing and generally very horrid indeed. The thought of possibly more complications arising from this and going through another 'procedure' fills me with dread. The tampon-like packing being pulled out had me in a sweat, and screaming at one point. I cannot imagine that this is necessary in this day and age. This was in a NHS hospital in England, by the way.

So far, I would tend to say - try every possible option before you go for this surgery. Allergies are the likely cause and to pay money for good allergy-testing would be preferable to this.

WOW! Glad I live in the US. Over here this is an outpatient procedure with disolvable packing at the most. 48 hours later and you are almost back to 100% normal.

I got nasal polyps for the first time 3 years ago. In that time, I have tried nasal sprays and prendisone which only work for a small amount of time. I have had the polypectomy twice, the frist time 2 years ago and the 2nd time last month.

The first time the surgery worked great for the first year but than they started to grow back. This time they came back in a month.

Nasal polyps are awful and I do not wish them on anyone but they are not life threatening as far as I know.

I am being referred to another specialist in a different city to try the other type of surgery. Hopefully this will work better and last longer.

Orginally I was told that polyps can grow back anytime between 2-20 years and I just happen to be a rare case with a special anatomy.

Good luck to everyone with this problem!

Oh my goodness Judith...I have never heard my experience described so accurately...from the surgery to the removal of the packing...you did a good job. That is EXACTLY what it is like. I did read your update post as well, and yes, you were right on target again. I am about to have my second sinus/polyp surgery (first one I had the septum repaired like you) and I have concerns that when I was 26, it took me months to really heal. Now at 42, I'm thinking "NOOOOO" :) I was just searching internet for possible alternatives to surgery (even though I know it doesn't exist) and saw your post...it takes one to know one as they say....thanks for writing that description. I'm going to give to my husband before my surgery so he can maybe understand a little better. :)

Did you get a Polypectomy or an Endoscopic Sinus Surgery ????

I just had this surgery in Australia - deviated septum and polyps removed.  It has definitely been unpleasant but not as bad as Judith seems to have suffered.   I stayed in hospital one night, now 4 days later I'm still washing blood from my nose and its too blocked to breath through which is very annoying.  My mouth lips are a bit sore however I *think* I'm getting close to being able to breath through the nose again.  (I can squeese a little air through now though not enough to breath)

I recently had large polyps removed and experienced the very same thing Judith did. It seems like the doctors failed to give the full picture. I didn't expect so much pain. It's two weeks after and I'm hoping the worst is over.

They do pack the sinus' but with a material that dissolves, so you don't have to have it pulled out.

There is alot of wrong information on here about this surgery. I just had this done yesterday and I was at the hospital for about 5 hours. They put me under and when i woke the doctor said it was the worse case he had ever seen in over a thousand surgerys that he had done. When i was under they packed my nasal cavity with gauze, I thought this would cause me not to be able to breath but the gauze was put far in enough that it didn't stop me from breathing in and out of my nose. I have two strings that are coming out of my right side of my nose and are taped to my face, this is so they can pull out the gauze that is in the higher and lower part of my nasal cavity.(this will be done in about a week) I also have a bandage taped to the outside of my nose to help with the bleeding and been changing that about every two hours. I thought i would be in more pain then i am and feel ten times better then i did before the surgery. Hope this helped in understanding how this surgery works, dont worry it's not that bad :) I'll give you guys a update when they pull out my stuffing next week. Till then take care of yourselves.

I had polyps removed in 1999 (endoscopic surgery) and it was quite painful with the packing that had to be pulled out. When I had to have the surgery again in 2009, I feared the worst and come to find out, I had just about no pain at all. I joked with my doctor that he didn't really do surgery on me, just put me under and then sent me a bill! I had no packing horror story on 2nd surgery. Now, tomorrow I go in for my 3rd and hopefully final surgery (nasal polyps, diseased sinus cavities and repair to deviated septum). I say hopefully final because I have learned about aspirin desensitization for people like me who have Samter's (which means I am highly likely to have polyps grow back) and I will be desensitizing AGAIN after surgery. The use of aspirin is supposed to either slow down the regrowth or stop it entirely. Time will tell. I also have asthma and I know from experience, getting the polyps out, less sinus infections also means less asthma flare ups!

Thanks for sharing everyone!

It's been over a month, how did it go?