I’ve had a hard time breathing through my nose my whole life. When I’m just resting I can get enough air through my nose most of the time, but just walking around I need to breathe through my mouth. I visited an ENT and he confirmed what I already knew - my septum is pretty far deviated and I have large-ish turbinates. I sleep with Breathe Right strips and they help quite a bit.
Has anybody here had either septoplasty or a turbinate reduction? What was your experience like? How painful and how long was recovery? How did the surgery affect your life, your training, etc.?
I can’t decide if it’s worth the inconvenience and pain since I’ve never experienced life with a different nasal structure and am unable to compare pre- to post-surgery.
I had it done when I was 30. Best. Decision. Ever. I sleep better at night, I run faster, I breathe easier. It wasn’t a fun surgery at all. But I’m very glad I did it and think I should have done it when I was in my teens.
I had it done in 2008 and I don’t really remember the surgery or recovery being bad. What I do remember is being able to breath like a normal person and not taking decongestants since. I won’t go as far as saying it was like a deaf person being able to hear, but it was life changing.
Same for me. Mine was in the 2007-08 timeframe. Big difference in breathing normally. Some docs may do it differently, but I had gauze packed up in my sinus. No big deal, until they take it out. It doesn’t really hurt, but the feeling of, and seeing, what looks like a ton of stuff coming out of your nose made me ALMOST faint. I knew something was up when the nurse came in with can of cold Dr. Pepper before the doctor came in to remove it and said, you might need this in a minute. But totally worth it. Good luck,
-Doug
Shoot…I was off the bike (and couldn’t swim or run) for almost 8 weeks after upper jaw surgery (and couldn’t blow my nose for about 6 weeks!). This sounds like hardly any inconvenience whatsoever.
Shoot…I was off the bike (and couldn’t swim or run) for almost 8 weeks after upper jaw surgery (and couldn’t blow my nose for about 6 weeks!). This sounds like hardly any inconvenience whatsoever.
Hmmm, thanks all. I’m still undecided. I certainly don’t have an extreme case (no sinus infections, never any CPAP, etc), but I do require a Breathe Right strip to sleep comfortably. The only reason I even started considering it is because we hit our high insurance deductible due to having a baby so anything else this year is covered 100%.
I’m leaning away from doing it this year. I think I want to plan to do it when I can clear my schedule for a few weeks for recovery. But it has been enlightening to read people’s experiences (the few here and the ones on the linked thread). Of course I’m second-guessing my hesitation. The truth is that I just don’t want to be a burden on my wife with an infant and our other son already at home.
Has anybody here had either septoplasty or a turbinate reduction? What was your experience like? How painful and how long was recovery? How did the surgery affect your life, your training, etc.?
I can’t decide if it’s worth the inconvenience and pain since I’ve never experienced life with a different nasal structure and am unable to compare pre- to post-surgery.
I had a turbinate reduction almost exactly 1 yr ago to relieve some inflammation that was causing me massive issues with sinus infections. Haven’t had one since & the procedure wasn’t bad at all. I was back to training a few weeks later. The horror stories come from the old school procedure where the packing had to be pulled from the sinuses. Now it is water soluble & drained out with a neti pot. Annoying but not painful.
