After a post here on ST sparked me to get my act together and get the allergy testing completed that my ENT requested I have done prior to sinus surgery, I have now scheduled March 24th to have my deviated septum fixed and turbinets trimmed. For anyone that has had this done, how long was it until you were back on the track and really able to hit it hard. My doctor said I should be fine in a matter of days, however my wife had this surgery done a few years ago and after taking somewhere between 2 and 4 weeks off from working out she had a massive bloody nose (required the ER to stop it, even the paramedics on the ambulance couldn’t slow it down, it looked like she had been shot in the face) after starting up workouts. So she is saying I should figure being out of action for 3 - 4 weeks. I am figuring 2 weeks in my training plan but would like to hear others experiences.
I had the same surgery. FYI - the day after the surgery, I could have gone to work. When I woke up on day three, I felt 5 times worse. So don’t expect a nice, linear recovery.
I was at the office at the end of the week, and took another week off from that before I started to ‘move athletically.’ When I did, I eased back into it. Try a few light bikes or runs just to see how you feel the next day.
Other unsolicited helpful tips, if you care:
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If you don’t own a humidifier, buy, borrow or steal one. You breath through your mouth when you sleep by necessity, and it feels like they poured sand down your throat.
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Painkillers can bung you up. For the first time in my adult life, I specifically had to go ‘bran hunting.’ Not fun.
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Be fastidious if they give you a nasal rinse routine. Let’s just say it’s amazing what can come out of a human sinus passage, even weeks after surgery. You don’t want to leave that in there.
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Be really careful around non-predictable movements - like toddlers or pets. My doc said he’s had to redo a few surgeries from a wayward 2 year old’s fist, or being bumped by a dog. I got away with one but I nearly dropped my two year old when he accidentally clipped the end of my nose at the end of week 3.
My surgery was end of November, and I’m STILL touch-sensitive. It doesn’t hurt, per se, but you can tell they’ve done some work up there. Good luck!
i’m gonna x2 on what the above poster said. i just had the surgery on jan20.
yesterday was my 2 week checkup & got the all clear from the doc to resume normal life (training finally!!)
he said to have at it for all working out (run, bike, weights, etc…). b/c of scabbing might want to wait another week on the swim.
my surgery was to fix deviated septum, turbinectomy, balloon sinuplasty, & other stuff.
post-op was rough. embrace your habit of mouth-breathing, you’ll be doing it for a few weeks after surgery.
i didn’t have the feeling like the post above me of feeling great on day 1, but it went from ok to bad to better.
you’ll have a ton of drainage. sleeping upright through your mouth blows.
eating is nearly impossible as not only does it hurt your nose to open your mouth, but your throat is raw as hell from the breathing tube & breathing through your mouth, plus you have to take breaks from chewing to breathe through your mouth.
2 days after surgery…packing removal. oh boy. no legitimate way to sugar coat this.
taking the packing out was just like others have described, you think the doc is taking out an alien. weird, not awful.
then…
for me, i had a bit of residual bleeding inside, so he had to repack me in the office. WOW. only time in my life i have ever passed out in a doc office.
that was rough. had to lay down. he took it out about 30min later, that sucked, no bleeding since.
don’t be discouraged, you get exponentially better every day. surgery for me was on wednesday, i was lazy but mobile by friday.
feeling much better by sunday. back to work on monday.
you won’t be able to breathe, taste, or smell until the splints come out, which was the most pain free part of the whole deal surprisingly.
my doc had be going into the office every few days for checkups, and those were less than pleasant with the scopes & suction going in pretty far.
2 weeks later, here i am, alive and well.
just got the last of my stitches out yesterday. still a bit tight & tender from the septum reset & the scabbing, but no real pain.
can’t wait to work out today for the first time in weeks. i am tasting & smelling like never before, and the prospect of nose-breathing on a run excites me like i can’t tell you.
i plan on posting a thread once the whole ordeal is done & im fully healed.
but for now, any pain was minor in retrospect & HIGHLY worth it from what i can tell.
those scopes were in me anyhow for every sinus infection, so if this is the last time i had to deal with them, then so be it.
all in all, i think it’s a great option for us (former) mouth-breathers.
pm me if i can help any more.
ed
oh, forgot to comment on this.
humidifier is important.
drink TONS of water & eat yogurt.
taking that much vicodin will stop you up like you don’t even want to know.
All good info above. I had it done in '92. Had polyps removed from all sinus cavities and some of the openings reconstructed. I was a top level cyclist at the time and needed to take it easy for about three weeks. Problem is not that you body needs to recover or rest but you don’t want to aggressively force dust and contaminants in the space. More importantly stress from weight lifting or hard efforts put significant pressure on the capillaries in the nasal cavity and head - bust some of those and you will bleed like a stuck pig and risk infection. I don’t want to crush your buzz but you will definitely be more comfortable in the long run and will sleep better and feel less pain and discomfort, especially when the seasons change. Use the saline like crazy and humidify your living space like a walk in cigar humidor. And do not worry when you have the mother of all bloody-mucous goobers to spit out the morning after. For me it was like something out of Star Trek but felt good after I got rid of it. Narcotics like Vicodin and others will cause major constipation so monitor that. It will suck but don’t push it you will be happy with the result.
Surgery for deviated septum…100% at 4 weeks.
X2 what everyone has said. I had the surgery last January and my greatest issue was nose breathing the cold winter air. I felt fine 2 weeks post surgery but still had swelling. My nose was extra sensitive all winter long. Make sure you use the saline rinse.
I had FESS (sinus surgery) on Tuesday. The doc undeviated my septum and reduced my turbinates along with making some of the other parts of the sinus structure “bigger”. Now that I’m 3 days post-op, the pain comes and goes, but I am curious to hear if any of you who’ve had it noticed any improvement in energy levels and maybe even improvement in breathing when you workout or do any cardio.
My case was sort of atypical… I am a military pilot, so the surgery would be considered premature in regards to trying other methods to get the sinusitis to clear up without going under the endoscope. I had what is called a “barotrauma” during a descent and it was maybe the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. The anatomy of my sinus structure isn’t that bad, but could be “more” compatible with military flying… hence the surgery. Any feedback would be appreciated.
And yes, I am buying a humidifier today… sleeping is the WORST by far.
first week you’ll feel like the flu
second bad cold
3-4 medium cold
5-6 mild cold
most people can work out at 2 weeks
intervals etc at 3-4 weeks
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10 days for me. good luck!
So has the sinus surgery helped in terms of training? performance?
I’m the lucky veteran of 3 of these type of surgeries- turbinates/septum, etc. Two of them were 10+ years ago and the third one this past October.
Key Points:
Saline = good.
If you are getting splints don’t expect to be anything but miserable until they come out. Once they come out, you will feel 100x better and realize how bad you felt before…
Breathe through your nose as much as you can in the weeks and months following the surgery. You will need to re-train yourself to breath through your nose and apparently this makes a big difference on the ultimate success of the entire process.
Vicodin is amazing.
Don’t take too much vicodin if you can help it because its also really addictive - if you dope up on it for a couple of weeks you are going to be feeling really shitty (although not actually shitting) when you withdraw from it.
Take your time coming back from it. Better not to screw up the whole thing by coming back too soon than get in 1 extra week of training.
With the above being said- the performance gains are well worth the pain/crappiness of the surgery. Don’t expect that you’ll magically be able to bike/run faster b/c you can breathe through your nose, but do expect not to get sick nearly as much (haven’t been sick since October, knock on wood), and more than anything any allergies you had before the surgery will have way less of an effect. These are the real benefits as opposed to better breathing during workouts.
Good luck.
So has the sinus surgery helped in terms of training? performance?
Helped in terms of not getting sick every month. Wasn’t a performance-enhancing decision 
Haven’t noticed any “freer-flowing” benefits.
Vicodin is amazing.
Ugh, can’t stand the stuff. Morphine button on the IV, on the other hand…wow.
How did everyone go about finding a good surgeon? Can most ENT’s do it or do you have to find a specialist? Also, do they give you a perscription for some cocaine after the surgery for the bloody noses?
Were you back to full training at 10 days after a FESS (endoscopic sinus surgery)? How are the results for you?
Were you back to full training at 10 days after a FESS (endoscopic sinus surgery)? How are the results for you?
I scheduled it for a time when I wasn’t full-on in training. So I was back to my “full” light schedule w/in 10 days for bike and run, and probably 14 days in the pool.
I think I’ve been sick once since then, and it was ~15 months ago. Drastic improvement.
From Mrs. kdw:
Thanks for the post. I had FES surgery along with sinoplasty and turbinate reduction a little less than 3 weeks ago. I feel pretty normal at this point but my workouts feel sluggish and I am pretty beat by the end of the day. It feels a bit like coming back after having a sinus infection. Has anyone had a similar experience? I guess I was anticipating feeling lousy from the neck up for a little while but didn’t think my fitness would take such a hit. I spent all winter fighting through undiagnosed bacterial infections. When they finally did a CT scan (2 days after Boston marathon) I had a massive sinus infection as well as evidence of years of previous infection (what a relief to know!) Once I finished a course of antibiotics I really started to feel like myself again. I was finally feeling like I had it back right before I went under the knife. I guess I’m wondering how long it might be before I feel like that again.