Anyone Have Surgery for Nasal Polyps?

My husband had this qbout 3 years ago. He was down qbout a week or more. Lots of pain . Has had to have it done again a year ago. Still gets sinus infections around 3-4 times a year and has to get shot and steroids. Said he would never have it done again

On 3/30/2014 gillsburg said: My husband had this qbout 3 years ago. He was down qbout a week or more. Lots of pain . Has had to have it done again a year ago. Still gets sinus infections around 3-4 times a year and has to get shot and steroids. Said he would never have it done again

I don't think my son has a choice. The polyps are quite large. Any advice about choosing a doctor or managing the recovery?

Fortune,

My only advice is that your son find a good ENT he is comfortable with, to do this surgery. My daughter is consulting her ENT next week about possible surgery to widen her nasal passages. She has many issues with allergies and sinusitis, and I think she needs to have something done to help resolve some of her issues and relieve her suffering. She has been seeing her physician for many years; he removed her tonsils 5 years ago when she was 30, so she is comfortable with him. Sending best wishes to your son!

I have had that surgery twice. In the early 80's when I had it first done, it was pure torture. At that time they did a packing which when taken out was like a magic trick of pulling out the scarfs tied together, pulling and never ending. It was so painful.

When I had it again 10 years later, with medical advances it was a piece of cake in comparison. No packing, just round little gauze things stuck up your nostrils (like what the dentist puts in your mouth).

The only thing I can say that was uncomfortable the last time was I swallowed a LOT of blood but once I was able to vomit the blood, I felt fine.

I can honestly say I have not had one sinus infection since my last surgery which was in the early to mid 90's and I am sure since then, techniques have gotten better than.

My son had this plus a correction of one of the small bones in his sinus cavity about 5 years ago. Very smooth surgery and not perfect result, but MUCH better than before the work was done.

After many years of avoiding it, my husband had this procedure done about six years ago & is very glad that he did. He let it get to the point that he was 100 percent impacted, could not breathe through his nose at all, lost his sense of smell, sounded like he had a cold when he spoke & his snoring was atrocious. Waiting so long, also led to dental issues due to dry mouth. The procedure took about an hour & he came home the same day. He has a pretty high tolerance for pain & as I remember it, the worst part was the first 24 hours due to the nasal packing which was removed the day after the procedure. Once the nasal packing was removed, he was much more comfortable & returned to work two days after that. For awhile, he used Nasonex once a day, every day as prescribed by his ENT and has had no recurrence. If let go too long, some do not regain their sense of smell. My husband still can't smell a thing although, he breathes much clearer, sleeps much better and feels more rested. He sounds better when he speaks & also said at the time that food tasted better. When asked if he would do it again, its a resounding yes. His only regret is waiting so long to take care of it in the first place.

Thank you all so much for your input! I feel so bad for him, because he can hardly breathe, has a headache most of the time, and is tired all the time. The only thing I can do to help him is to get as much info as possible. I just hope Kaiser will let him choose his own surgeon!

Why? every surgery I have had at Kaiser went GREAT!

On 3/31/2014 Fortune said:

Thank you all so much for your input! I feel so bad for him, because he can hardly breathe, has a headache most of the time, and is tired all the time. The only thing I can do to help him is to get as much info as possible. I just hope Kaiser will let him choose his own surgeon!

I had polyps at one time that lasted for about 2 yrs.

When I finally found a competent dr (NOT an ENT) he did an old fashioned q tip swab of my sinuses. I'd been on round after round of various antibiotics. All the antibiotics were doing was making my liver very unhappy. Not one dr, including 2 ENT's had swabbed my sinuses. It's call a culture and sensitivity.

Well, the results came back that I had a fungal infection, not a bacterial infection. My dr recommended a compound pharmacist who worked up a nasal spray (avoiding my liver) to treat the infection. OMG, within weeks I was amazingly better! $24 for a nasal spray. After nearly 18 months of antibiotics.

Sinuses are very hard to treat. Get a 2nd opinion, even a third before you put him thru this.