Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire! Then, Deep Sleep.

roster wrote:

ozij wrote:And a big thumbs up for your docotor!

O.

Glad to see my o found another position so quickly. Obviously you practice nepotism.

, Roster, I felt so sorry for that poor laid off vowel...

It must have been the power of the unconscious, since this was posted a few minutes after I found myself wondering at your signature of the day...

Rooster
Tough economy. I had to layoff one redundant vowel.
Practicing alectryomancy will greatly improve your CPAP therapy.

But then again, it my have been my uncontrollable typo generator too... my apologies to all who suffer from the typos.

O.

Papillon2 wrote:Bob, it sounds like you could benefit from regular use of a Neti pot. It will give you better nasal irrigation than a spray. Have you tried one yet? If not, check out the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8sDIbRAXlg
Good luck!
Papillon

What I did today was basically the same thing, but instead of a pot, it was a bottle. It's not a spray, it has a large opening and you squeeze the bottle instead of pouring with the pot. Same ends, different means. I definitely stay away from nasal sprays; the last thing I need is to become an afrin addict!

Bob3000 wrote:
I will try lowering my heated humidifier. Right now it's at 60%, so I have a lot of room on that. I did actually try a nasal saline rinse today. Basically, when gently squirting the rinse into my left nostril, it would mostly go down my throat and only if I simultaneously expelled air our of my right nostril could I get the rinse to come out of the right nostril. After that, the rinse trickled out of my right nostril, but it certainly didn't flow. When I applied the rinse to my right nostril, it flowed out of my left nostril quite well. It's like there's a one-way valve in my right nostril today! Normally if I lay on my side, the nostril closest to the pillow gets clogged within a few minutes, and the nostril away from the pillow clears. If I flip to my other side, within a few minutes, the process repeats, so I know there is probably no structural blockage as both nostrils can clear, just rarely at the same time. I will keep working on the nasal rinse, too. Very good advice, thanks.

1. I found that when my bedroom humidity is above 40 or 45% there is no need for CPAP humidification and some people believe extra humidification at those levels may increase congestion. So most of the year, I don't use the humidifier. In the winter when the gas heat works hard a few days in a row the room humidity may drop to 35% or so and I will use the humidifier at a one or two setting.

2. I had a very good turbinate reduction and correction of deviated septum. Prior to the surgery, the neti pot solution would barely trickle out of the output nostril. After the surgery and healing, it would flow out of the outtake nostril about as fast as I could pour it into the intake nostril. Now I find the neti pot treatment is not very helpful except when I have a cold or bad allergic rhinitis. Prior to the surgery it was a big deal every morning to blow my nose and almost always see blood in the facial tissue. Now those days are over and Kleenex says their sales have dropped. I would recommend at the very least you have your nasal passages scoped to see what condition the turbinates and septum are in.

Congrats.... Your perseverence is a prime factor. We need good doctors, DMEs and sleep technicians, but anyone waiting for them to do it all will not get the same great results. We all search for the right mask and pressure prescriptions. We all have to find what works for us because there in not a single solution for all sleep problems.

AaronM

roster wrote:I would recommend at the very least you have your nasal passages scoped to see what condition the turbinates and septum are in.

Roster, You're story is inspiring. I will be doing that this week.

Bob, that is such a good account of your experiences. This should be good for a long time for newcomers. Thank you for taking the time to put it in words.

Jane

Another bad night. I need to have someone just take a drill, and go to town on my tiny nasal passages. Just open 'em on up! I will be seeing an ENT this week. I am tired and all, but still so happy that if and when I can correct my restricted nasal passages, I can start sleeping well every night. I'll keep updating this thread.

The doc scoped me in the office on the first visit. He sprayed some Afrin up my nose to open it up. I sat in a chair behind which was a monitor he watched to guide the device. Another monitor was in front of the chair so I could see the condition of the turbinates and septum. The only discomfort was like a slight tickle.

He went as far as the vocal cords and had me say two different words. You could see those little vocal cords vibrate in different directions with the different words. Surprising that such tiny things can cause so much trouble in life.

BTW, I complain often on the forum about medical professionals, so let me say my ENT surgeon is one fine surgeon with a great manner.

Bob3000 wrote:I need to have someone just take a drill, and go to town on my tiny nasal passages. Just open 'em on up!

Ohhhhhhhhhhh... a drill!!!! ouch.

Cringing...

That reminds me of a funny story I read about nasal surgery.
The link within my old post doesn't go anywhere now.
I'm glad I copied the words.

viewtopic.php?p=119095#p119095

roster wrote:The doc scoped me in the office on the first visit. He sprayed some Afrin up my nose to open it up. I sat in a chair behind which was a monitor he watched to guide the device. Another monitor was in front of the chair so I could see the condition of the turbinates and septum. The only discomfort was like a slight tickle.

Yes same thing here. I gagged but then I gag when pointed at with a tongue depressor.

Inspiring story Bob and well done.

I can relate to the permanent nasal congestion thing.

I have been to an ENT, and an allergist. ENT said there are no issues with the structure of my nasal passages or sinuses. Allergist scratch tested me like crazy and found zero allergies.

Frustrating to say the least.

I've tried the neti pot...no luck with that one. I'm now on prescription strenght Reactine nightly and that seems to help somewhat. According to the allergist and my family doc, I'm obviously allergic to something but no idea what.

I have found however that continued use of the cpap has actually helped with the congestion long term. I often don't take the Reactine anymore. If I set the humidifier at 1.5 it's pretty much perfect for keeping the passages moist and open, no rainout. Mind you, when I take the nasal mask off in the morning the congestion returns within short order.

Keep us updated on the results from your ENT.

Friday afternoon I was put under and had both septoplasty and submucosal resection of the inferior turbinates performed. No packing, but I did receive stents. By Friday evening, I was relaxing on my couch, mouth-breathing as usual but in little pain. Saturday, same story. Bleeding seems to have subsided and only one nostril hurts, but it's only 3/10 so not bad. Today I did a little work at the lab. My only complaint is that the stents I have inserted up my nostrils have straws that are supposed to allow nose-breathing, but I am too clogged up to do that. I am going to have the stents removed on Thursday, so I am hoping that by a week from today I should be able to nose-breathe. I am disappointed that I can't use my CPAP right now; other accounts I've read online suggested that nasal CPAP was possible within a day or two but if I were to blow or suck hard enough to get air moving through my nose, my ears would probably explode and my nose would start leaking blood like a faucet.

I will update again when something happens.

Bob3000 wrote:Friday afternoon I was put under and had both septoplasty and submucosal resection of the inferior turbinates performed. No packing, but I did receive stents. By Friday evening, I was relaxing on my couch, mouth-breathing as usual but in little pain. Saturday, same story. Bleeding seems to have subsided and only one nostril hurts, but it's only 3/10 so not bad. Today I did a little work at the lab. My only complaint is that the stents I have inserted up my nostrils have straws that are supposed to allow nose-breathing, but I am too clogged up to do that. I am going to have the stents removed on Thursday, so I am hoping that by a week from today I should be able to nose-breathe. I am disappointed that I can't use my CPAP right now; other accounts I've read online suggested that nasal CPAP was possible within a day or two but if I were to blow or suck hard enough to get air moving through my nose, my ears would probably explode and my nose would start leaking blood like a faucet.

I will update again when something happens.

No beating around the bush for you... Wow. Good for you. Let your significant other take care of you for a while. Let your body heal. It sounds like you're on your way.

DreamDiver wrote:No beating around the bush for you... Wow. Good for you. Let your significant other take care of you for a while. Let your body heal. It sounds like you're on your way.

haha thanks

I am on postop day 4 and so far, so good. Bleeding mostly stopped on day 2, but I am still quite blocked up. Can't wait to have the stents pulled out in two days! Pain is fairly minimal. Actually, my front left tooth hurts more than my nose lol. I am hoping to be back on CPAP next week, but we'll see. I've been sleeping on the couch, propped up on pillows or even just sitting up (man, I wish I had a lazy boy recliner); this is supposed to help reduce swelling. It definitely reduces my enjoyment sleep. It's hard to sleep for more than an hour or two without waking up to get some water. I've always been a mouth breather, but I realize now that I must have been getting enough air through my nose to keep the back of my throat moist, even if I did have to keep my mouth open; now that I am breathing 100% through my mouth, I can't go 30 minutes without water when awake or more than two hours without water when asleep. Hopefully Thursday night I will be somewhat nose breathing, though I hear there's some rebound congestion after the stents are removed. Saline rinses a few times a day are good for the healing, but they don't seem to help me really clear my nose, just loosen things up a little and get some blood out.

Bob3000 wrote: I've always been a mouth breather, but I realize now that I must have been getting enough air through my nose to keep the back of my throat moist, even if I did have to keep my mouth open; now that I am breathing 100% through my mouth, I can't go 30 minutes without water when awake or more than two hours without water when asleep. Hopefully Thursday night I will be somewhat nose breathing, though I hear there's some rebound congestion after the stents are removed. Saline rinses a few times a day are good for the healing, but they don't seem to help me really clear my nose, just loosen things up a little and get some blood out.

Here is something that is a big help for me for dry mouth - viewtopic.php?f=1&t=47608

Regarding stents removal, I never experienced rebound congestion. There was some swelling from the surgery which took a few weeks to subside.