u/Witty-Tap-6418

Hello. A couple of days ago, I decided to cancel my turbinate reduction. For context, I am 25 male, pretty active (used to be a lot more before) and about 7 months ago, I started having really bad sleep problems. I have had thick mucous in the back of my throat for years and I used to use oxymetalozine based sprays quite often until I quit like 1 year ago.

My issue is mostly really apparent during at night. Specifically, I have a pretty dry nose with one side (usually one im laying on) COMPLETELY blocked. I have done about 3-4 months of Dymista (nasal steroid + antihistamine), saline rinses, nasal gel, xylitol sprays, etc. I had 1 month treatment for LPR which I think was not enough.

The reason I cancelled my surgery is because of all the horror stories with people getting ENS. I believe I have pretty high health anxiety, so that didn't help much. Another thing that pushed me to cancel was the fact that the side where the nasal cycle isn't affecting feels perfectly open, only the one thats clogged feels bad. I also do Not have a deviated septum or polyps or anything like that. So it got me thinking that it should theoretically possible to get my turbinates to shrink naturally (maybe going to try capsaicin, LPR diet changes, etc) and only if that doesn't work commit to surgery.

TLDR: I think I have vasomotor rhinitis with bad sleep. I cancelled my surgery due to fear of ENS and potential of curing myself with meds/homeopathy.

Would love to hear opinions and experiences similar to mine!

Hello, I want to pretext this with the fact that I don't have ENS and I have sympathy to everyone that goes through something like that.

My story is somewhat long, but I'll try to summarize it as much as possible.

I'm a 25 yr old male who used to be very active. I live in a relatively humid place (Ireland). I've had nasal issues for a very long time, perhaps 7-8 years. One nostril would always be blocked (turbinate enlarged) and I wouldn't breathe ideal, but it was enough to sleep. I also suffered badly from allergies when I was a student in the Netherlands for 4-5 years, I had some summers where I would quite often sneeze blood out and would just ignore it without taking allergy medications (stupid, I know) and I would also quite often take Oxymetalozine based decongestants. Now, about December of last year, my condition got from uncomfortable to straight up terrible. I would wake up multiple times at night, wake up feeling terrible even after 7-8 hours of sleep and my mouth feeling completely dried out. At first, I had jaw pain so I thought it could be from a wisdom tooth I know I had to remove in my bottom jaw. But even after removing it, nothing improved ( I thought there might be some relation).

I got allergy tested and I found out I have allergies to pollens, but no dust mites, no nothing. I've also been eating everything my whole life, so I dont think I have glutten allergies and other food allergies. One thing that I do have (even from when I was a kid) is throat clearing. I did suspect LPR and I went to a doctor that said it might be mild, so I took 1-2 months of meds with not much help.

To keep it short, I have nasal valve collapse + one side over the course of the night gets completely blocked. This makes it extremely hard to breathe and I basically do a mix of sleeping with my mouth open and through the nose (really hard). I've tried breathe right strips, but those don't help too much. The weird thing is that when I get up, drink some water and stand up for a while, it gets significantly better. I've also been on Dymista (allergy + steroid) spray for 3+ months. One thing I havent tried is capsaicin spray, but idk what the evidence for that is. I also saw there is some kind of Buteyko exercise, but I get like 30+ consistent seconds on the initial test, so it probably doesn't apply.

Ive been to many ENTs, most of which who suggested RF turbinate reduction. I am pretty scared of ENS, but 6+ months of sleeping like 2-3 quality hours a day has lead me into a really dark place.

I know asking for advice on whether to get surgery in a reddit of people with ENS might be bad, but my life has been genuinely going downhill ever since this has happened, so I ask for help: Do I do turbinate reduction ( I have an appointment with an ENS aware doctor, I saw him in your enstips) or do I try capsaicin maybe or idk what else.

Not really sure how to proceed...so thanks in advance for any form of help or advice.