Re: Thanks Panda! (and a question)
02/22/05 04:31 PM
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My actual nose usually isn't stuffy either. Yes, I still think the Saline will help, because it will free up everything plugging your sinuses.
I found the surgery to be really helpful, and here's why. Every time you have a sinus infection, scar tissue grows and stays. This narrows your passages and makes all of your openings smaller. That means that every time you get a cold or an allergy attack, the fluid cannot drain as easily as it used to. The result is that the fluid stays where it is and develops into an infection ... which leads to more scar tissue, and makes you more likely to get ANOTHER infection, leaving more scar tissue ... you get the idea. The surgery straightened my septum, and removed ALL the scar tissue from all of my sinuses. When they did a CT scan before the surgery, every single cavity in my face was 100% filled. There wasn't one empty spot anywhere. Even though I was young, the doctors felt the surgery was my only option. So, they emptied all of those cavities and made all of my openings bigger, so my body could drain itself better. I was pretty uncomfortable the first night after the surgery, and had a sort of sling thing that hooked around my ears and held a gauzy thing under my nose. Attractive, really. My doctor didn't "pack" my nose, which is something a lot of people fear. Instead, he used plastic strips that are very thin and flexible when wet. He placed one on each side of my septum, and they hardened and acted as splints. He removed them a week or so later. If your septum is straight you won't even need this, and the surgery would be a lot less complicated (not that it was complicated for me anyway). I was pretty sore for a while, but not tremendously swollen or black and blue. I went to a fourth of July party 3 days later, and just had a very runny nose, nothing else. I was still sore to the touch about a month or so later, but not terribly so. I would do it again in a heartbeat, even if it were only to last 10 years. I'd do it every 10 years for the rest of my life to avoid the way I suffered with the infections before the surgery.
Do you have polyps or anything else going on? Find out about that, since they have deep roots and can be more difficult to remove.
Basically, if I could handle it at 15, it can't be that big a deal. See an ENT and honestly I would reccommend that you jump at the opportunity to have the surgery if they suggest it!
Hope that helps,
Panda
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Amanda
I live in the Big Apple, but I don't eat the skin
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