I need ENS Prevention Advice
I know the first thing people will say is, "dont get a turbinate reduction". But please consider my current predicament. It is simply a fact that my turbinates are swollen and I have a slightly deviated septum. Three ENTs have said so and is clearly visible in a CT scan. When I'm in bed it feels like I am breathing through a cocktail straw. I have lived with this for my whole life until this past year when I developed severe daytime fatigue. I'll be honest, this has since ruined my life. I cant work or function like myself. I have since been diagnosed with OSA with a baseline AHI of 22. I have been using CPAP for 9 months and it has effectively dropped my AHI to 1.8. Although, because I am always huffing for air through my nose, I have extremely disruptive aerophagia that wakes me up multiple times a night. I also suspect UARS. 90% of my fatigue remains on CPAP. I was a week away from getting a turbinate reduction and tonsillectomy before I told my surgeon my concerns about ENS and opted to just get the tonsillectomy. He clearly conveyed that these concerns are overblown, but accepted my decision. This operation was successful, dropping my baseline AHI, fixing my snoring and reducing my fatigue to 75%. Although, this is still not enough to work or be a contributing member of society.
I am not considering this operation to breathe better for the fun of it, rather I am hoping it can fix a truly life altering concern. The stakes are incredibly high, I simply cannot live with such consistent, disruptive fatigue. All evidence points to a turbinate reduction being an obvious next step but because my life is already so challenging, I genuinely could not afford another condition like ENS. Because it has been a year of chronic fatigue, I have non-ENT doctors suggesting I have CFS/ME. Although, I cannot in my right mind restrict my activity level and write off having a normal life before doing everything I can first. It also seems insane to consider MMA, palate expansion, inspire, and other incredibly invasive surgeries before trying a turbinate reduction.
I have been considering trialing nightly afrin to see if addressing my nasal breathing could even help with my fatigue. Although I have experienced afrin "addiction" years ago, and I know that is an extremely short term solution and I may need more time to see an effect.
In a nutshell, this surgery is like going all-in at the poker table with a 80-90% chance of nothing happening, 10-20% chance to give me my life back, and an ambiguous chance to develop ENS.