Sinus/deviated Septum Surgery?

I have had surgery for a deviated septum and it was the best thing I ever did for myself! I couldn't breathe out of one side of my nose, so I had to sleep on one side thus I did not sleep well. I sleep much better now! Even my lips are less chapped b/c I had become a mouth breather at night. Go for it!

I had it done back in '95 - best decision ever! I can breathe so much better now than before, and get less frequent sinus infections. I'm sure they've come a long way with the procedure now since I had it done, but my recovery period was about 5 days. Good luck!

hi
have your tried the sinus cleanse (neilmed) ? that helps me to some degree. I use it almost everyday... you can buy the packets and rinse bottle together...
it does help flush out some stuff (tmi) :)
additionally, I have read that surgery doesn't always work... so you might want to wait on that...
I don't like meds either... and have however taken amoxicillan-clav which only works so much.. I have also read that i can take a LONG time even if you are on meds for a sinus infection to clear up..
try the rinse... and then some nose spray... I do find some relief with the two.. dont over-use the nose spray though, it can kinda cause the jitters.. but once a day seems ok..
talk to your pharmacist.. often, they know just as much as the docs.. .
for now.. get that nose rinse... it works well when u r especially stuffed up... takes getting used to... (use warm water) .......

My sister-in-law had it done and she said it made a huge differance for her.

I had it a few years ago and I highly recommend it. It was not that bad at all for me. I was only out about 10 or 20 minutes, so they were done quickly. I did not have to use much of the pain meds afterward at all and I did not have any bleeding. Removing the packing is a weird experience, but it does not hurt and is over in just a second. You will have to be off work or on easy mode for a couple of weeks, but after that it is a piece of cake. It has helped me so much and I only get allergies once or twice a season now, and can breathe much easier and more freely. Every once in a while I will get swollen, and I just use something like afrin for a day or two and then am fine. It's a short time to deal with the surgery and recovery versus all the problems you would have for a lifetime, so I say go for it.

I had mine done many years ago. It was a long recovery, having the packing removed is no walk through the park, either. However, I can now go in the water without nose plugs and I don't get nearly as many sinus infections as I did then. I am so glad I had it done. Funny thing, my top lip area had to readjust to the new position of my septum, so instead of my nose looking out of place, after the surgery my lips were kind of crooked. They adjusted over time and look even/normal now.

I HIGHLY recommend the sinus clinic at Northwestern. You'll see an ENT and an allergist together, and it makes all of the difference in understanding what is going on. My sinus problems are allergy based, and the ENT really earned my respect when he advised I did not need surgery.

I see Dr. Peters (allergist) and Dr. Kern (ENT), but others I've sent there see other combinations and have been very happy. I really adore Dr. Peters. She specializes in sinuses, and she'll track down the cause of your issue.

I second the reco for NeilMed. It's saved me from many courses of antibiotics.

Good luck!

I had it done last Jan, it was really painful and I wasn't expecting it to be as bad as it was. I have bad sleep apnea and had the surgery so I can successfully use my bi pap machine. I am doing really so it has worked out well for me. If you re having a problem get it done and out of the way.

Almost 15 years ago I has the surgery done and I would highly recommend it! I couldn't breathe out of the left side of my nose, and the cartiledge in the lower part of my nose had shifted and I was in bad shape. I have alot of inhalent allergies that still bother me but never to the extent they did before the surgery.

As others have said-the recovery takes awhile and it was painful BUT so worth it!!!

A few weeks of recovery VS a lifetime of problems. No question that I would do it again in a heartbeat. I had forgotten what it was like to breathe through both nostrils, and not be stuffed up the majority of the time.

I want to piggy-back on your question. Can a person tell if their septum is deviated or does a doctor have to see it? I wonder about both myself and my hubby. I'm a mouth breather all the time because I can't get enough air thru my nose. Hubby can only breathe thru one nostril at a time; it switches but never are both clear at once. His nose looks a little lopsided; mine doesn't. We both snore, too.

I had the surgery in 2006, I was having close to 40-50 sinus infections a year. I got so sick of being congested too!

They wanted to put me into a "twilight" sleep while they did work up my nose to fix it, but when the anesthesiologist came to see me, I asked her to PLEASE put me to sleep, and she was fine with that. It meant too that after I was asleep, they wrapped me up like a burrito, and stuck a tube down my throat to help me breathe, and when I woke up from surgery, my throat was a little dry from being intubated, but at least my nose was fixed and I don't have any recall of anything because I was knocked out.

GET THE SURGERY!!!

I had this surgery in Nov 2009 after years of sinus infections, allergies and constantly feeling like I was congested with nothing working. I tried every over the counter and natural solution I could find and nothing worked. Having the surgery was the best decision ever. I had no concept of how much I should have been able to breathe through my nose and how much the deviated septum was blocking everything. I haven't had a sinus infection since and am down to needing allergy medicine only a few weeks out of the year because blowing my nose actually works now. I hardly ever feel congested and can even get over colds much faster now.

Yes, surgery isn't fun and it took a week in bed to start feeling myself again but I barely needed the pain meds they gave me and the improvement in my life was so worth it. Plus, my recovery was longer because my 3 yr old got the flu the day after my surgery and I came down with it too. I think I would have been up much faster without the fever!

If your ENT says you have the deviated septum and that surgery would help, I would definitely talk to him more about it! I wish I had done this a long time ago.

I had the surgery two years ago and it changed my life. Not going to lie, the few days after surgery were miserable, but once the packing was removed a week later everything was great. Very much worth it.

I had it done some 18 years ago and would never suggest it. Second hand smoke on people make me gag, I can instantly smell when women are on their menstrual cycle and I have been known to get up and sit somewhere else on the train because someone smelled as if they peed on themselves. But that's not the worst part. After the surgery, had to sleep sitting up and I bled for 2 days straight and you don't even want to know what happened when he pulled what seemed to be 18 inches of gauze out of each side of my nose.

Since then, my sensitivity to perfume/cologne, burning wood/leaves, air fresheners and even fabric softener give me instant migraines. The more I am around any of these scents, my immune system goes down. I've had to ask co-workers to not put scented lotions and perfume on. I have tried air purifiers and now my latest idea was essential oils. They work great, but everyone around me (who for the most part has stopped wearing perfume/cologne and scented lotions) do not like the smell of the oils so I had to stop using it.

I know 2 other people who have had the same surgery and experience the exact same issues.

If I had a chance to do it again, I would opt out of having the surgery. Not smelling is so much better than smelling every little thing.

I have heard that the surgery these days aren’t as evasive as they were 18 years ago, but I’m not sure if those who had surgery recently experience the extreme sensitivity as those of us who have had it so many years ago. I also heard the recovery process was much better now a days too.