Sharing my experience with Turbinate Hypertrophy

Hello , for the last 10 years I have had problems with my Turbinates which have affected my sleep . I have researched for all those years trying to find a solution and I wanted to share what I have found so far. I hope that this might help many of those who've not found relief and also inform those who are looking for solutions in surgical or less invasive therapies.

I want to point out that I am not a Doctor . I also want to let you know that this will be long because I could quickly tell you how I finally am on my way to solving my problem but then all those who have different types of a problem would not read on and loose out on a possible solution. When I first started having this problem I would be all night changing the side that I slept on. Every few minutes my nose would get stuffed on the side I was sleeping and again on the side that I changed over to. I hardly got any sleep. I saw an ENT who in my case diagnosed Turbinate Hyperthrophy caused by Vasomotor Rhinitis. He first suggested nasals-sprays and saline Irrigations, I tried probably most nasal sprays available. The only thing that works like a miracle is afrin but as we all know after a few days of using Afrin the rebound congestion is worse to a point were you can't use Afrin anymore. After giving up on sprays My ENT suggested Turbinate surgery to reduce the size of the Turbinates using a Type of Ultrasonic ( high Frequency )therapy in which an electrodes perforates in 3 or 4 places your lower Turbinate and causes a type of burn in the contact area that will cause the turbinate to contract slightly as the burns heal. For all the methods and therapies I will talk about here you can go to You Tube video and look for the video of the procedures and they will explain exactly what they are . This worked very well and after two days I no longer had congestion when I slept. BUT this only lasted 1 year more or less. It seams that the Turbinates grow again . Not sure ! Anyway here we go again looking for solutions. I had found a nasal stent something very similar to a heart stent except the nasal stent is larger and is used every night then removed the next morning. I first bought them In Germany because they were not yet approved for use in the USA. They are now sold out of Arizona by Alex Lito Company. They are not that expensive and you can use them for up to 18 Months. you have to get use to using them and it seams hard to do but believe me if you put effort Ito inserting and using them you will get use to them in a few weeks and then you barely feel them. You might get to depend on them and appreciate them a lot just like I did. BUT I am now 68 years old I was worried that in a couple more years who knows I might mistakenly be sticking those stents in my ears instead of my nose or somewhere worse.I tell you this because it requires a certain capability to insert the stents in your nasal passages and at least I know I am loosing a lot of capabilities as I grow older ! Just saying ! Anyway I continued to look for another solution to reduce my turbinates and red about a newer surgery using a special tool called Microdebrider. Medtronics is one of the makers but there are others. Your ENT will know about this procedure also. Basically they perforate your lower turbinate and cut away some of the growth inside the turbinate sometimes during this procedure they will also break the bony structure of the turbinate so that its size is reduced. After convincing myself that God was on my side and that because the surgery was on the inside of the turbinate I would not get Empty Nose Syndrome. This Syndrome you have to read about on your own. Its extensive and I dont want to scare anybody away from finishing this read. I can Only tell you that some ENTs dont believe this syndrome is real others will scare you. Because I am cautious I always believed it was a possibility. Anyway this worked even better that the first try using the Ultrafequency type surgery !! BUT it only lasts 6 years. When you read about these surgeries you will see that some people will permanently be cured but many others like me have the turbinate grow again back to square 1. Im tired of writing and Im sure that some will not learn anything from this but now comes the best part and the Therapy I have been using for the last few day and I am hoping that it will be the final solution in a good way ! So Im at square 1 again going back to my beloved Nasal Stents by Alaxo and My son reads about they company called Allermi. They are ENT Doctors and apparently Allergy Specialist who are creating formulations designed specially for Nasal Congestion caused by Allergies and other reasons. On their Web Site which you can find by just searching Allermi they will ask a few questions regarding your condition and then formulate a nasal spray and sen it to you. Cost is very reasonable around $40.00 for the special nasal spray and a saline solution you use also. So far I am very happy with the Allermi nasal spray. Only time will tell but I have a good feeling about this one, Finally I must tell you the I have no relationship with Allermi. I am only sharing this information because I know firsthand the hell I have been going through for the last 10 years I only hope that others will be able to benefit from this info. Be well!