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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2005 >> nasal surgery
        
(Message started by: bigred on Apr 23^rd, 2005, 9:05am)

Title: nasal surgery
Post by bigred on Apr 23^rd, 2005, 9:05am

My cat scan showed complete blockage of my right nasal passages and sinusis. The doc plans on surgery may 10th. It should help get me more O2 after everything is cleared out. I am at 720mg of verapimil daily and I still wake up an hour after bedtime with my ch creepers. If I sit up or stand up they subside somewhat, if they dont then I go with the imitrex.
Has anyone had the nasal surgery, what kind of pain will I be in following the procedure and, how long were you out of work? Coincidently the ch are always on the side of the planned surgery.
Did this surgery help any of my fellow sufferers? [smiley=huh.gif]
Thanks for any help guys.
Bigred

Title: Re: nasal surgery
Post by Lizzie2 on Apr 23^rd, 2005, 11:02am

I had the surgery on March 8, but unfortunately I have nothing positive to report so far. On April 5 or 6, I had an MRI/MRA following a migraine with stroke like symptoms in the ER. A month after surgery, the scan showed pansinus disease with complete blockage of the right maxillary sinus. My doc said that's still normal for one month out.

My doctor said the surgery wouldn't be very painful - it triggered a CH like pain for me, and I threw up for 5 straight hours after it was over. I had to be admitted to the hospital overnight.

I had some major bleeds after that, which wound up being fairly well controlled with cautery in the office.

The bleed I had earlier this week (won't get into the discussion of possibly why) wound up with me having to go to the ER, and it took them about an hour to get it under control, and then I had surgery Tuesday evening.

I'm told that it will probably be up to a year before I've recovered enough from the surgery to notice any significant differences. I can't breathe at all. I'm still on antibiotics constantly. The worst part is that I can't even use Zomig NS or oxygen. Can't use anything but Saline NS up my nose due to the nature of the surgery, and oxygen is so drying that I can't use that because they don't want any bleeds occurring. To say the least, it has been difficult battling the beast without these tools.

My mom's friend had the surgery in December and just yesterday she told my mom that it was the first time she could breathe through her nose...4 months out. Ugh.

Sooooooooooooo...I'm sorry I don't have anything much positive to report. I had a vascular benign tumor 8 years ago on the left side of my nose, and the surgery to remove the tumor subsequently left a great deal of scar tissue and a deviated septum. I felt that, not only was it difficult for me to breathe, but the sinus congestion was also triggering headaches for me...not necessarily just a symptom of the headaches themselves. Due to the fact that there was a great deal of damage from the tumor, it was pretty much a sure bet that I needed to have the surgery.

Looking back, I wish if there were any way I could have avoided it, I would have! It has been absolutely miserable. :(

But on the flip side, I do know someone on one of the other posts about sinuses under CH specific said they had no problems with the surgery. Maybe do a search or scan through the CH specific board to find more positive info about sinus surgery over there.

Best of luck,
Carrie :)

Title: Re: nasal surgery
Post by haubels on Apr 25^th, 2005, 10:05am

I had the surgery about 8 yrs. ago and I can tell you that the pain I woke up with (after surgery) was horrible. In recovery I asked the nurse to do something about the pain and they increased my morfine as much as allowable; It had no effect at reducing the pain. the recovery took about a week (if memory serves) highlighted by visits at the ENT's office to reach up your nose with a pair of pliers and pull out spunges and stints; not fun.
Without going into all the terrible details I can tell you that I should have listened to two previous ENT's that said DON'T HAVE THE SURGERY !
The surgery had no effect on my CH's and was a terrible experience.
Good luck.

Title: Re: nasal surgery
Post by Gator on Apr 25^th, 2005, 10:44am

Is it always plugged or is it plugged because you are in cycle? I know that sometimes my sinuses on my right side plugs up like I'm fixing to have an attack and then I don't get hit. Kind of like the beast is screwing with me saying "Here it comes - not - psyke!" Make sure they are fighting a primary problem and not a symptom of a different one. I haven't had the surgery, but there is another post you need to read from one of our family here. She had a really bad experience with a klutzy surgeon. Moral of her story is if you have to have it, get the best you can get.

Quote:

Re: Why do sinus infections trigger cycles
Reply #30 on: 03-28-05 at 04:20:35

Sundancer,

Make SURE you have an otolaryngologist that is well versed in sinus surgeries if you choose to have the surgery.

In 1999 I went in for day surgery on my sinuses for some headaches of unknown cause..ch.

The surgeon allowed the instrument to go too far up into my sinus cavity and the instrument went right thru the ethmoid bone, tore the dura around my brain and perforated my brain. I woke to spinal fluid pouring out my nose continually. Since circular holes will not heal in bones of adults, I had to be transferred to another hospital for a repairative surgery where the specialist took skin, muscle and fascia from behind my left ear and glued to the bottom of my ethmoid bone in hopes of stopping the CSF leakage. I continued to leak after this patch surgery so a lumbar drain was placed in my lower back and 15cc of spinal fluid was drained from my spinal column every 4 hours in hopes of relieving some of the pressure off the the new patch and giving it time to adhere to the ethmoid bone. This finally did the trick but I was being treated for menengitis the entire time as a precaution as well. 17 days after the initial day surgery I was released from ICU. Today I live with only the skin patch separating my cranium from my sinuses in an 8x9 mm area and it the patch ever leaks I will have to have a craniotomy and a metal plate inserted under my brain and on top of the ethmoid bone to stop the leakage. Shocked

This botched surgery left my life with many limitations as I now have to protect the patch from any jolts or being jarred. I can no longer snorkle, scuba dive, ride or break horses, snow or water ski, lift more than 30 pounds, etc etc. Cry

PLEASE think hard and long before opting for a sinus surgery and make sure you are using the best surgeon around.

That headache that was the cause of the sinus surgery...was clusters. The surgery did nothing for the clusters but only added additional type of headaches. Angry

Let no day surgery be taken lightly! Cool
Renee

Not trying to scare you off the surgery, if you really need it - you need it.

Title: Re: nasal surgery
Post by Zephrah on Apr 25^th, 2005, 12:36pm

:) Well, I think he's effectively scared now. Hopefully you'll get a second opinion before undergoing the surgery and consider a few other alternatives. But in his case this sounds like it will you at least breathe a little better! [smiley=twocents.gif] Take care everyone!

Title: Re: nasal surgery
Post by bigred on Apr 25^th, 2005, 10:29pm

:-/ WOW :o
I love all your honesty, IF I just wanted to here all positive and good things Iwould just listen to the yes people I see every day.
Thats why I put this topic out hear amoung my fellow cluster buddies.
You all shoot from the hip and give it the way you see it. No sugar coating hear.
Anyway the surgery has to happen. My right side is shut down with or without the CH. The cat scan and scope showed all we needed to see for the proof.
I will keep ya all posted.
Thanks for your honesty.
LOL Bigred