Asking for advice on what do to next
Hello folks. I want to prefix this by saying that I don't have ENS and I am sorry for the ones that do.
For about 1 year, I've been having issues where I sleep about 7-8 hours, but I wake up during the night and feel very tired in the morning and throughout the day. This genuinely affects my day to day as I feel like my mental clarity is significantly reduced and I struggle with remembering things. I also wake up with very dry mouth and throat. My weight is normal, I am 25 and exercise about 2 times a week.
For some context - for the last 2-3 years (before this last year where my issues started), I had been using xylometalozine drops pretty often (maybe every other day to once every 3 days). I also had really bad summer allergies and would frequently wash out my nose with cold water and I'd pretty often bleed out of my nose due to sneezing so much.
This last year I basically kind of stopped xylometalozine almost fully and the issues began. The weird thing is that my issues almost always only appear at night. I lay down and usually the side im laying on completely blocks (100%, cant feel any air going through). Ive done all of the standards - did dymista for 2-3 months, I have a 45° pillow, I use breathe right strips, I avoid eating too late and eating oily foods, too much sugar, etc - nothing seems to help. I don't have a deviated septum nor nasal polyps, my air passages are pretty clear when standing.
Many of my ENTs suggest a turbinate reduction using RFA. While I know it may not ALWAYS cause ENS, my last ENT said that they don't perform this and they don't believe in it as you don't know how your body will react to the scarring and healing. I agreed with her, I am now doing a new set of steroid sprays, but honestly I don't really have high hopes. I believe my issue is vasomotor, my doctor even said that she saw I had blueish turbinates which from research shows that its due to venous blood swelling (which makes sense in my case).
I have tried what is usually suggested on this subreddit (buteyko and CP) and my CP is pretty good (30-40s).
I really dont want to have a reduction (my ent that could do this is very respected and is on the ENS aware list), but I feel like I have exhausted basically everything else. I am just looking to see if anyone else has similar symptoms and any suggestions/ideas for going forward.
I cant imagine what having ENS is like, I assume only the worst, but my symptoms are now making me feel like I can't really live a normal life anymore and I am in a state where I feel dreadful all the time.
Thanks!