 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Sinusitis / March 2006How long after surgery does relief come?
I had sinus surgery almost 3 weeks ago. They removed a bone spur from my nose that was causing obstruction and also cleared out my maxillary and ethimoid sinuses. I am still experiencing a great deal of stuffiness and PND. The doc said this is normal. But, I still have annoying sinus symptoms that I had before the surgery - facial and teeth pain, headache (mostly on my rear right occiput), and mental fog. Today I actually feel worse than I did a week ago. My nasal passages are also extremely dry, despute switching to pure saline nasal spray. It takes me 2 hours to clear out in the morning before I can possibly leave the house. Does anyone know how long it takes to turn the corner and start feeling results from this surgery? Any help is appreciated, Mathilda It took me 6 weeks before my sinuses started to "feel" better post surgery. First three weeks were the initial healing and initial sweeling reduction from the surgery. Second three weeks were the actual healing phase at which point they started to feel better. It actually took about 4 months before all the reamining pain and other problems were gone. Plus by that time I was able to start getting full control off all other alelrgy related problem, except for some excess PSD. Your results may vary, but you should have another post op appointment sometime soon for a check up, ask your ENT about your concerns. Are you sure you are not sleeping with an allergy trigger at night or have one of the many cold viruses that is going around making things worse? <dkuhajda@locl.net> wrote in message > It took me 6 weeks before my sinuses started to "feel" better post > surgery. [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > have one of the many cold viruses that is going around making things > worse? Thanks for the the response. Your account of the length of the healing process makes me feel a bit better. Prior to my surgery, I had heard second-hand accounts of friends of friends who had this surgery and they said it changed their life. So I had high expectations. And when I first started feeling the headache and facial pain, my heart sank as I thought my surgery may not have been sucessful. I'm so anxious to feel better ... apparently I just need to be more patient. Prior to surgery, I underwent extensive allergy testing and the doctors found nothing. So I am not sure if anything in my bedroom is causing my morning problems. I run a humidifier all night. And I did have a bit of that cold that was going around last week, but thankfully it was gone within 48 hours. It may still be hanging on, though. That was an awful experience as every time I blew my nose (however gently), my sinuses would throb in pain. The doc had given me percoset for pain but that was the first time I had to use it ... 2 weeks post-op. Mathilda >Thanks for the the response. Your account of the length of the healing >process makes me feel a bit better. Prior to my surgery, I had heard [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >found nothing. So I am not sure if anything in my bedroom is causing my >morning problems. You can still have snesitivities even if you do not have allergies. As a matter of fact, this is quite common. It is quite possible that by now you are sensitive to dust. >I run a humidifier all night. Be very careful. If the humidity is over 40%, you will have mold and dust mites and will develop sensitivity to mold and dust mites that will take years to get rid of. You may be better off without the humidifier unless it was recommended by your doctor. >And I did have a bit of that >cold that was going around last week, but thankfully it was gone within 48 >hours. It may still be hanging on, though. That was an awful experience as >every time I blew my nose (however gently), my sinuses would throb in pain. >The doc had given me percoset for pain but that was the first time I had to >use it ... 2 weeks post-op. You need to eliminate any environmental factors (allerenic and non-allergenic) or you may not heal completely, or, if you do, the inflammatory process may start up all over again..... > Prior to surgery, I underwent extensive allergy testing and the doctors > found nothing. How extensive? Typically allergy tests test you for a half dozen strains of mold. There are well over a hundred strains of mold that can cause problems. The only real way to know if you've got something funky in your environment that the allergy tests didn't cover, is to call in an industrial hygienist to take air and wall samples from your home and the place where you work. Some of the better home inspectors (those guys you always call when you're thinking of buying a house) will do this too--but not all of them. The other big problem, isn't an allergy but a sensitivity to pollution. Do you know what the air quality is like in your neighborhood? If not, go to www.scorecard.org and enter your Zip code. You'll get a report based on the EPA's own monitoring data. Finally, let me say that the healing process and recovery process depends on just what was wrong with your sinuses in the first place. In my case, full improvement took the better part of a year because the disease was so extensive. > And I did have a bit of that > cold that was going around last week, but thankfully it was gone within 48 > hours. Don't worry, that's not unusual--in fact you should be VERY careful to wash your hands and avoid cold sufferers for the next few months. Because, as my ENT explained to me, your cilia took a hit and your nasopharynx linings got damaged from all that surgery, making it easier for a cold virus to infect you until everything heals properly. So you'll be more susceptible to colds for a couple of months now.  SignatureSteven D. Litvintchouk Email: sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me. On 3/26/06 7:07 AM, in article BOGdnXpgUv-pM7vZRVn-rQ@comcast.com, "Mathilda Jane" <mathilda@stargatesucks.net> wrote: > I had sinus surgery almost 3 weeks ago. They removed a bone spur from my > nose that was causing obstruction and also cleared out my maxillary and [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Any help is appreciated, > Mathilda If you are using a saline spray that contains benzalkonium that can delay your healing. Ask your doctor about using a spray without preservatives that contains electrolytes as these have been shown to speed return of cilia function. > On 3/26/06 7:07 AM, in article BOGdnXpgUv-pM7vZRVn-rQ@comcast.com, "Mathilda > Jane" <mathilda@stargatesucks.net> wrote: [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > contains electrolytes as these have been shown to speed return of cilia > function. BTW, my ENT told me that the scraping of the sinus linings and other work done during sinus surgery can damage the cilia, making you more sensitive to irritants and even more susceptible to colds--until the cilia function returns. So he advises post-op sinus patients to be extra careful to avoid cold viruses and air pollution if possible. SignatureSteven D. Litvintchouk Email: sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me. > I had sinus surgery almost 3 weeks ago. They removed a bone spur from my > nose that was causing obstruction and also cleared out my maxillary and [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Any help is appreciated, > Mathilda All the responses so far here are great advice. A terrible, non-responsive infection let to my FESS, which was very similar to yours (ethmoidectomy, enlargement of maxillary ostia). The FESS itself doesn't clear the infection. It cleans a good deal of the surface bacteria out, but it's main benifit is to open up the passageways that let your own immune system clear the infection. About 3 weeks after my FESS, the same infection flared up bigtime, and culminated with one of the worst frontal vacuum headaches I'd had in 15 years. My doc then put me on a tough regimen of prednisone, levaquin, and bactroban irrigations. This regimen finally knocked the infection out and i've been doing better since. You may still be infected. Are you still on post-operative antibiotics? Are you using saline irrigations? Have you seen your ENT recently and discussed these problems with him/her? Tyler
|
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.