Scheduled surgery for next Thursday. I'm nervous! I will ask my ENT as well, but any supplies I should be buying to prepare for recovery?

Thanks again for all of you guys' advice!

Painkillers. All of them. Lots of them.

They'll possibly give you one as part of the package, but the large sinus rinse squeezy bottles that you can fill with warm salt water and irrigate with can provide enormous relief.

Here is my protocol for patients:
Grocery list: nasal saline spray bottle (ex ocean), alkalol if you can find it(not alcohol, add to your saline rinse 1/4), peroxide and Q-tips(mix 1/2 strength solution of peroxide and use Q--tips to dissolve any blood clots/crust in your nasal vestibule (so you can clearly see end of stents), afrin nasal spray or equivalent (oxymetazalone) to use if you start to have any significant bleeding. I Rx antibiotics, Percocet and bactroban ointment. Most patients use pain meds for 1-2 days. Apply ointment after you clean your nose twice a day. These measures should make your recovery easier. Good luck.

I had that surgery. Wasn't a big deal at all. I refused the offer of vicodin, and had mild discomfort the first night on Tylenol. Basically no discomfort the next day. Worked out the 2nd day (against orders). Was up to full tilt boggie by the 3rd day.

I had this done 1 yr ago. Buy a neti pot, & get ready to waterboard yourself to dislodge the packing. Really not that bad of a procedure, i think the painkillers help you sleep more than nothing else. Having to sleep upright was the worst part. I was back on the bike in 3 weeks, in the pool after a month.

Updated OP. Had the surgery yesterday.

I have chronic sinusitis, a blocked right sinus and a deviated septum. It's been recommended I have a septoplasty and a turbinectomy. I would like to hear from anyone who has had this surgery to tell me how it went and if it helped. My main question is whether or not the surgery alters how your nose appears on the outside...in other words....does it make it look straighter? I see it's crooked in photos and I want to know if the septoplasty will help that. Thanks!

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Septoplasty

I'm about 3 months past surgery now. Overall, I have to say the surgery was a success and fairly simple process. The only thing I truly hated was the last two days with the splints up my nose. Other than that, recovery was not bad at all. I have noticed that I'm consistently sleeping better and my breathing has improved dramatically. I'd do it again in a heartbeat for the results I've seen.

As to changing appearance of your nose: no, the surgery will not change the appearance of your nose.

Question to those who have had the surgery...

I had it about 16 days ago..first couple days were miserable, smell/taste were gone for about 10 days, beginning to feel normal at about 2 weeks.

I've tried working out a bit (just lower heart rate stuff) and my nose gets pretty stuffy. I end up breathing out of my mouth within 30'. Any experience like this?

Did you have sinus surgery as well as nasal surgery ? Re-mucosalization of the sinuses (healing a new layer of sinus lining) can take a few weeks if you had extensive work done there. I would recommend keeping up with saline washes to clear any crusting or debris in your nose and allow a little more time for healing.

Thanks for the reply. Had both septoplasty and turbinate reduction. I'm keeping up with the sinus rinses, which do help.

ENT said everything looked good and I have a check up soon. Could working out too soon do any damage? He said it won't bleed; it hasn't since the second day after surgery.

You should be good. Out of typical window for any complications and it sounds like you had limited nasal airway work done.

I just googled recovery for septoplasty and found this forum. I'm happy to read so many athletes have been helped by this surgery since this is one of my primary goals. I've been told that it will help a lot with performance, which only makes sense. Better oxygen and better sleep = better performance.

I have struggled with the same problem for years but always too afraid to have the surgery, since it is considered "elective". I finally did it Wednesday and I'm still miserable. I am looking forward to all the benefits described but the two or three weeks recovery is hard to cope with.

My doc only told me to use saline spray 2x day; no washes. Would that help the recovery? I can't breathe through my nose at all and blowing hurts with those splints. I do have a neti pot. At this point, I can only fantasize sleeping well and breathing better!

pain meds: Will they slow recovery? I am not in pain anymore but incredibly frustrated that I can't breathe or sleep yet and I'm bored. I wish I could knock myself out until I'm good to get back to swimming and cycling.

Just take it easy. Take some of your pain medicine if the stents are making you feel uncomfortable. The day you get them out will be a game changer. Mind the advice not to resume training for two weeks and then ease back in. Last thing you want to happen is to have a post-op nose bleed and end up packed again in the ER!

Had a septoplasty and turbinate reduction surgery done last Friday. Pain has been moderate. No packing, but did have splints which I had removed yesterday on day 5 (can't believe how big those pieces of plastic are!). I definitely think my ENT did not prepare me properly for the post-surgery regime. They gave me a bottle of Afrin and Mupirocin ointment to use. No mention of saline irrigation until yesterday's appointment.

Pain has been minimal (only took 2 Oxycodone to sleep day and night of surgery). I've been experiencing significant congestion (can't breathe through either nostril with any consistency) and I'm still bleeding - more light, bloody dribbles than anything. I recognize I probably didn't follow the instructions to a T (did some work around the house, no ice packs, bent over on occasion and blew nose lightly on a few occasions).

Wondering if anyone has any suggestions for eliminating the bleeding or at what point I need to be concerned by it. At what point does the congestion disappear? Feels like I have a terrible head cold. Nothing is sexier to go around my house or sitting in my office with Kleenex stuck up my nostrils!

Thanks.

Not to trump your docs orders, but here is what I would advise....
1. Go ahead and use the afrin 2 sprays/nostril q8hrs for 2-3days - its a vasoconstrictor so will help with bleeding and congestion
2. There is a nasal wash called alkalol (not alcohol, that would burn like hell) that has been around for ages and is available over the counter. Can mix 25-50% with your saline solution and use twice daily as nasal wash. Think it will help with your healing.
3. Time heals


RG

I had the surgery on March 13th and from what I can tell, major congestion with the inability to breathe through the nose is normal and will clear up as the days pass. Until my splints were taken out, I felt like I was drowning in snot with all the drainage I had.

I developed a major headache and nausea after the splints were taken out (day 6 for me) which was the worst part of my recovery, but my congestion improved dramatically over the next few days and now that the headache has decreased to just a minor annoyance, I feel basically back to normal.

You should be doing saline rinses several times a day - try the NeilMed bottle and saline packets. That has been the thing I think has helped my recovery the most.

I would be concerned that you're still bleeding. I don't think you should be dribbling at all at this point but that's my non-MD opinion based on my own recovery.

Hi just found this forum and signed up ..happy I did! I had septoplasty and turbinate reduction last Saturday and the worst part of the recovery is that I m stuck indoors while the sun is shining and it s amazing spring weather outside and most of my runner friends are doing hill drills and getting ready for the peak of the race season here ..can t wait to get out !! I did the op because I always had trouble breathing. I never could really breathe from my nose without feeling tiered doing so. During long easy runs I m fine but when I m pushing up a hill or during races I always end up huffing and panting and my chest feels like it s about to explode plus I suffer from side stitches a lot and I ve been doing so much research on the topic and finally came to the conclusion that if I had to be able to breathe properly from my nose and breathe right in to my diaphragm not to my chest it would help minimize the stitches I suffer from constantly and that always slow me down terribly. I suffer from short breaths and have periods of not being able to breathe at night when I feel like I m choking ..but I would not have done the surgery for the latter it was only the fact I believed ( I hope I was right ) it would improve my running that I decided to go for the surgery. It is now Tuesday evening and over 72 hrs since I had the surgery.I still can t breathe from my nose. And it looks swollen and not pretty at all but I didn t have rhinoplasty even though many friends suggested I could once I was doing septoplasty but I quite like my nose ..its not pretty but it s fine . Suits me so I don t care. I just want to be able to breathe properly from both nostrils and feel the air go in thru my nose and I want to have less sinus headaches and congestion which basically has made me miss so many training sessions and leaves me feeling miserable. What I m really concerned about is how everyone keeps saying they had lots of goo and yucky crap come out of their nose and all I have is watery snot and a bit of blood. I feel no pain but I do feel discomfort. I breathe entirely from my mouth and it s constantly dry and last night I rolled over and woke up with huge pain cos I used to sleep face down before the op so I must have just turned to my natural position during my sleep. I never took a single pain killer after the surgery just panadol for the headache but then the doc said better not take those cos my blood pressure was extremely low ( I fainted three times in one day at the hospital - I was discharged the day after the surgery) and apparently paracetamol lowers blood pressure - didn t know that . I did know my blood pressure is very very low though. I faint often,
I m seeing my surgeon on thursday and I hope the nurses will flush my nose cos I m only using this saline solution like four times even more a day but it s not working much. I hope I can resume running gently soon or I ll go mad if I don 't !! Can anyone tell me how long before I can resume training properly ? How long till the nose resumes it s original shape ..I look like french bulldog right now :)

oh poor you how I feel your pain . I had no splints put in just gauze which was taken out the day after the surgery. Still can t breathe. I don t use a neti pot or whatever it is !! I m only using saline solution and I make my own hot water with sea salt and clean my nostrils around the outside with it cos they are full of dry mucus and feel so uncomfortable. I can t wait to start training again. The eve before the surgery I was doing a speed session on the track > I left when the lights went out and I was so happy..tiered and happy. I want that feeling again !!! But everyone here is saying the op helped with their breathing so I m keeping my fingers crossed it will be the same for me !! Wish you a speedy recovery :)

Headed for my surgery on Friday. Ready to get breathing better! Not looking forward to pain but want to feel/breathe better in the long run.

Good luck. It really was not bad. The splints were miserable the last day and a half. Other than that, not too bad. Breathing is nice. And being able to sleep well, train hard, recover (see: sleep well), and do it over again has been nice! :-)

Looking forward to the breathing out of both sides of my nose!
John

Surgery was postponed until this Friday. Hoping it is not too bad....

The only appropriate thing to do sitting in pre op this am was to check out Stwitch right? Sometimes you simply need to go to a happy place.

Thanks for this thread, my attitude improved heading into the OR. More air immediately. Unbelievable.

I'm glad I found this forum. It's really reassuring to hear so many fellow triathletes have been through this and are better for it.

I've been told I need to get this done -- both septoplasty and turbinate reduction. I'm aware there are different methods of doing this though, in particular turbinate reduction.

Can I ask you guys, did everyone here have a mucosal resection with a microdebrider? I hear that's probably the safest and most effective method nowadays. That's compared to more classic mucosal resection with a scalpel, and other shorter-lasting and more outdated methods such as laser, radiofrequency, diathermy etc.

I've met with 2 seperate ENT's in my local city here in Melbourne, Australia and one suggested an old school procedure -- completely cutting out my turbinates with a scalpel, while the other was adament I only needed a partial removal again using a scalpel.

These methods as I understand are turbinectomy's rather than submucosal resection. I've read that they can lead to a condition called empty nose syndrome which concerns me.

Apparently this is because they remove or damage what they call the mucosa, which has the function of "feeling" the air going through the nose and triggering numerous important respiratory responses.

The older methods I've been offered damage this mucosa, whereas submucosal resection does not. Problem is, I cant find anyone who does submucosal resection with a microdebrider here.

If anyone knows of a good doc in Melbourne or Australia I'd be forever grateful!