Recovering from septoplasty surgery

I had septoplasty surgery 3 days ago and am still feeling miserable. My head and face feel so congested like it is going to explode and hurts very bad. I have been taking mostly a generic for percocet for the pain almost every 4 hours, and occasionally take (when I feel I dont need the strong percocet) tylenol extra strength with acetaminophen. Loud noises and bright lights really make my head hurt so all I have been doing is sleeping and getting up to get more pain medication or clean my nose with saline and put a new bandage on. I have also been iceing my face 3-5 times a day but have not seen any decrease in the swelling on my nose or cheeks. Is there anything else you can recomend to make me feel better? I thought after 3 days I would feel a lot better, but only feel a tiny bit better.
I am not getting the sutures and packing out of my nose for 3 1/2 more days. Anything you recomend to make that expierance less painful?
Please help!

Hi there AuburnTiger (I'm a Wolverine, but I won't hold that against you ) I would be willing to bet that by now, a full 10 days after your septoplasty, you're feeling 1000x better. I had one done in mid December, and it took about a week for my headaches to go away. I had additional complications immediately after my surgery (tons of bleeding, etc), so my recovery was even more prolonged. In case you're still looking for simple ways to relieve that crappy congested feeling, taking warm showers was money. It opened up my sinuses a bit, and allowed some of the harder musous buildup to soften (yum). I found the Vicodine I was prescribed to be generally ineffective, but the extra strength Tylenol (3 at a time) to work well for about 4 hours or so. And while the icing helps a little, the best thing I would to do while just sitting around was to remain elevated, even though it quickly becomes a pain. If you're fortunate enough to have a reclining chair, park your butt there to keep the blood from rushing to your head and compounding the pressure you'll already have. That's about all I can offer; it's going to stink for about a week, give or take a few days, but that goes with the territory. I can say, however, that despite the week of discomfort, the breathing that I now enjoy was definitely worth it. Best wishes to you with your recovery and your new nose!

Hello everyone, can you give me some advice?

I had septoplasty surgery on my nose on Jan. 28. No splints and disolveable packing. I had my return visit yesterday with my doctor. He says I'm healing fine but I expected him to take out any remaining packing since I still can't breathe well AT ALL. He said it's all gone, it's just swelling. I asked when it would de-swell and he said it could take up to FOUR MONTHS!!!

I am having trouble just breathing at all now and wish I hadn't gotten the procedure done at this point. Will it get better sooner and what can I do to help it along besides taking decongestants (like he suggested)? I was doing that everyday BEFORE the surgery! (I was hoping to avoid doing that everyday in my life.)

Any advice and suggestions would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! Thank you for your time. You can email me at mmurlin@yahoo.com also.

Once the swelling goes down you will be glad you had it done.
I had mine last summer (sinus, septoplasty, turbinates) and it was a ***to recover from but it was the best thing I did. I can easily breathe thru my nose now (couldn't at all before surgery) and haven't had once sinus infection (had chronic sinus infections and sinus disease).

Give it time....you won't regret it!

It has been 9 days since my surgery and I stilllll hurts! I can get around fine, in fact I went for a bike ride to get some fresh air today (which was awesome to get out of the house), but man is my nose tender and very stuffed up. Unfortunately I got a small superficial infection so I have been putting Neosporin on it daily (as the dr. prescibed) and because of the infection it still continues to stay swollen. Has anyone out there gotten an infection and was there anything you did to help relieve the soreness? I have to say that this has been the most uncomfortable thing I have ever gone through but I have heard that after the healing process is over it will be worth it. I hope so! As of now I still have some swelling and my dr. told me that it will take about another 2 weeks for the stuffiness to go away and about another 4-6 weeks for the sensitive feeling to go away. Is this true? Boy I hope it gets better soon because right now I can barely touch it. The good thing though is as of right now from the outside my nose looks straight...WOOHOO! I have lived my whole life with a crooked nose and I have never been able to breath through the right side. Any ways to all the fellow people that have gone through this procedure I commend you all! For the people thinking about having it done I would do it. Yes it is going to hurt but what surgery doesn't hurt a little. Plus, after it is all better I will be able to live a life time of being able to breath. Who knows...maybe my IQ will go up because of all the oxygen I willl be getting to the brain now LOL! Take care all!!!!!

I had the surgery done 2 weeks ago and they removed the splints 3 days after the surgery.

Today, and after 2 weeks I have difficulty breathing and sometimes I can breath good through one nostril and after an hour or so I can not, but then I can breath through the other one.

This alternating breathing pattern is killing me.

Any advice?

Thank you,

I just had septoplasty and terbinates trimmed. I was wondering if anyone noticed that it changed the apperance of theor nose. My nose looks stuck up.....

I just had a septoplasty done 6 days ago. My nose also looks like it is stuck up. I still have the splints and will get them removed next week.
I had this done along with a tumor removed and the septoplasty was WAY more painful, still is very tender still and stopped up. I know it will be worth it in the long run.. They say it will take up to 3 months up to get back to normal.

Hello, I've just returned home from having my septoplasty operation; I'm in lots of pain and feel like I haven't slept properley for some time but it's encouraging to read what other people have put on here- you have to think about the long term benefits. My nose seems to look straight but I will find out for sure when they remove the splint in about a week ; for anybody thinking about having this done I would encourage you to go for it and keep thinking about why your having this done and how much better you will feel in the long run if you have breathing problems like i've had.

I just had my septoplasty done yesterday along with drainage of my sphenoid sinus and some surgery on my turbinates. It was a lot of help reading through the previous responses, but I am indeed also in A LOT of pain. Although I had the packing removed today (wow, I can already feel a difference in my nose!!) I have had a really bad headache since yesterday and left ear pain. Why does my ear feel so swollen? Does it just need time to heal?

I had no sleep last night and when I went to change my gauze this morning, I got really hot and suddenly went blind for like 30 seconds, followed by fainting. I feel better now, but I'm wondering if anyone else has ever had that happen. I've never fainted before.

Also, does anyone know how to sleep properly without a recliner? I try to sleep in my bed with my pillows propped up against the wall, but then my headache gets worse. Please help me!


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