Hello all.

I'm curious if anyone has had endoscopic surgery on their sinuses and
how it all went? I have been having sinus problems for some years now,
about 3 years ago a CT Scan found polyps or cysts in my maxillary
sinuses. Coincidentally this was about the same time I started having
frequent sinus infections and more frequent colds. Actually come to
think of it, I might have had infection problems for a lot longer as
I've recently discovered that it's not *normal* to be terribly
congested for 3 weeks following a cold...

Anyway, I've visited an ENT recently and he said, like my doctor does,
that my real problem is allergies. I've been medicated for allergies
for many many years (current regimen is zyrtec + singulair + flonase)
and I have been receiving shots for ~2 years, as well as having been on
a 3 year course of shots as a younger child. I have noticed no impact
from the shots at all, though my doctor insists we keep going. Zyrtec
has become rather ineffective for me, I never noticed any difference
with the flonase, but singulair works wonderful for me now. I find
irrigation to be useful when I have an active infection, but it does
not seem to benefit me in the long run. The point is, I am aggressively
treating my allergies and doing all I can there.

The ENT said, basically, that I have three problems. First, a deviated
septum (CT Scan results said it was mild but he seems to think it's
worth fixing). Secondly, I have polyps in my maxillary sinuses that are
retaining mucous. Finally, I have chronically swollen turbinates. He
said that there is really nothing that can be done, we've tried
treating with all sorts of medecines (including oral and nasal
steroids) and I've been irrigating for months now. He says my options
at this point are to continue to live as I have been, or to have
surgery. For the surgery, he wants to do a septioplasty, remove the
polyps, shrink the turbinates (ultrasound) and clean out some of the
swollen tissue in the ethmoid sinuses. Other than that, my drainage is
clean and the tissue lining of my sinuses is in good shape (other than
the mild swelling in the ethmoids), as far as the CT scan shows.

I'm pretty torn about all this. On the one hand, I don't feel all that
bad... The ENT said it's basically a quality of life issue and that's
up to me to decide. I guess what I am most troubled by is that I
frequently get colds and almost always get a sinus infection afterwards
(on the order of 6 infections a year lately I'd say). It is really
annoying and I do not tolerate prednisone well, so I'd love to do
anything to avoid having to take it. Other than that, the two big
issues for me are that I frequently have difficulty breathing through
my nose (not congestion, just swollen tissue, year round). I can do it
most of the time, but it never feels as clear as I think it should.
Also, I really don't think my sense of smell is that great most of the
time.

Those are the main issues... I tend to get a lot of headaches, my eyes
are always red and I have a permanent puffiness under my eyes, but I
have no idea of those are related to the sinuses or not. But on the
other hand, I am curious of how good I could possibly feel... A few
weeks ago I saw my doctor for a routine checkup and the bloodwork
turned up an elevated white count, and he looked up my nose and said it
was full of puss. I told him that well, I felt pretty normal and he
commented that it's not a good sign when that feels 'normal'. So I
suspect that I've just grown so accustomed to this that I've fogotten
what it's like to feel good. That could be wishful thinking though, and
for all I know my allergies cause me to feel a bit down and surgery
isn't going to help that.

Any advice? I am tempted to do it to get a clean start. I think that
perhaps if everything gets cleaned out, and I religiously use flonase
and irrigate, perhaps it won't get this bad again. But it still
might... On the flip side, it seems pretty likely that without the
surgery it will only get worse, or at least stay the same...