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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Sinus Surgery and harmonica playing.
Sinus Surgery and harmonica playing.
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cliffy
123 posts
Dec 10, 2014
5:41 AM
Hello everybody,

I suffer from frequent sinus pain and headaches and get three or four sinus infections a year requiring antibiotics. I'm getting pretty sick of this and am considering sinus surgery. I basically live on Claritin-D and am miserable without it, and the pain affects both my ability and desire to play harp.

Have any of you had sinus surgery, and if so, did it affect your harmonica playing? Can any of you offer any perspectives on this?

Playing is one of my absolute favorite things to do in the world, so if having the sinus surgery would mess with that, I'll just put up with the pain and take more Claritin-D.

Thanks,

Bill
Uptonk
6 posts
Dec 10, 2014
3:52 PM
I had two sinus surgeries in 2011. The first was an endoscopic (?) procedure that was fairly noninvasive, but unfortunately it didn't do the job. It was followed within a few weeks by a Caldwell-Luc procedure. It required an incision behind my upper lip.

It took about 3 weeks to get over it. During the healing process, I had a constant headache and had to use saline solution frequently to keep the affected area moist. Once the healing was complete, I could breathe better than I ever had.

Neither surgery affected my harp playing once I was healed. During the healing, I was not even tempted to play as my head hurt too much.

Do what your doctor tells you, don't rush to start playing too soon, and you will probably not notice any difference in your playing. If anything, you may have better breath control.

I don't know your situation but for me, the surgery was the best thing I could have done. I would do it again in a minute. No more pills, sprays, etc. Just air.
jbone
1824 posts
Dec 11, 2014
3:46 AM
I've noticed myself that in the past few months my right nostril is becoming more blocked. A year ago I was diagnosed with a deviated septum- common as one ages- but told it was not a big problem. Now I'm wondering if it actually is a big problem. Something is shifting in my frontal sinus area. I was prescribed Allegra and Imeprazole for a reflux issue and that has helped but there is this blockage.

As long as we're on the subject!
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Kaining
69 posts
Dec 11, 2014
3:46 AM
Since my teen i have had a constant difficulty to breathe through the nose with one nostril always blocked and half of my capacity cut.
One day it was the left, the next one other.

I made some alergy test and my IgE are through the roof. The problems is i am allergic to nothing (except aspirin which i haven't taken since i was 3 days old).

And so, i have allegic polyps in my nose that prevent me from breathing with my nose. Just like KC, i saw an allergist that did gave me nasonex and some others drugs i don' t remember.
It was pretty much the only druged that helped.
However, steroids are still steroids and within 3 day of taking them, i could fell myself being more agressive, on the edge, and so on...
And chirurgy is not an option since the polyp would simply grow back.

The thing is, because of a bad case of asthma i developed after hitting 20, i have been reserching all there is to know about asthma. I found it weird to appear after so long. Also, by that time, both my sinuses were blocked 9 days out of 10.

Turns out that cereals (glutten) and dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt) can cause asthma and seriously impede your sinuses. Or it's more like the other way around. Start with the sinus and a very big congestion of the upper body (bad headache, blocked sinus, greater sensitivity to cold and simply catching more cold) and can later turn into asthma. The time table vary a lot. It took 5/8 years for me, it could take 40 or 80 years for you. If you are already 40, it's not gonna happen soon.

Anyway, it's a long post because my advice to you Cliffy is quite simple. Avoid any dairy product. If there is milk in it, your body will fight it and for most people try to expulse it from the upper body. did you had acnea when you were young ? It probably came from it (for most people it's mostly that).
And then, if you can, seriously reduce your cereals intake. If you can go glutten free, do it. If you can't, try to limit it.

This year i have been glutten and dairy free in and off (you don't simply snap your finger and decrete "i'll never eat those again. It's a process) and when i am, i can breath through my nose. It still take time to expulse all that mucus and i can't say that i am completly "cured" at the moment but i came back from having both my synuses completly blocked to just one in a very short time and now, there are even time when there is absolutly no obstruction and i can breathe though my nose without any problem.
And i don't make that Dark Vador sound anymore those day.

So yeah, on the long run, you'd be better off by stopping glutten and most importantly for respiratory problem, dairies.
The operation will also probably solve instantly your problems but there is still the possibility of your problems coming back in a few years or decades if you don't go to the root of the problem.

If it's not simply mecanical and your nose isn't just bent. If it's "just" that, then a surgery is the way to go.

Long post but the subject is important and we are all being kept in the dark by benevolent but poorly informed doctors.
KingoBad
1572 posts
Dec 11, 2014
4:27 AM
After that, perhaps you should develop an advice allergy...

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Danny

Last Edited by KingoBad on Dec 11, 2014 4:29 AM
6SN7
490 posts
Dec 11, 2014
5:36 AM
Yes, I had the surgery after years of what you are describing. The nasal sprays and pills as described were only a temporary fix.
My doc removed two small handfuls of polyps from my sinus cavities.
It was out of work for a week. It was painful, but stopped taking meds after 2 days because they didn't agree with me.
I didn't start playing for a month. Why, because of all the residual junk coming out of my sinuses. I was back to "normal" within 45 days.
Now the good news: I haven't had a polyp issue since and have had to take antibiotics 3 times times in the ten years plus since the surgery. That was important to me as the antibiotics had stopped being effective and I was afraid that someday I would need them to save my life. I have broken the "cold leads to sinus infection" cycle. To help my sinuses today, I irrigate them daily with saline solution, avoid diary products, and stopped smoking.

Good luck.

Last Edited by 6SN7 on Dec 11, 2014 5:38 AM
BronzeWailer
1540 posts
Dec 11, 2014
5:07 PM
I used to get two-three bad sinus infections a year requiring antibiotics. I'm not into alternative medicine, but one doctor suggested garlic and horseradish pills, which I now take daily, and haven't needed sinus related antibiotics for 8-10 years now. I also take Nasonex when I start to feel nasty up there. I also take Claratyne daily because I sneeze a lot if I don't.


BronzeWailer's YouTube
nacoran
8154 posts
Dec 11, 2014
5:49 PM
I haven't had nasal surgery, but I've dealt with breathing problems my whole life. As a kid I was hospitalized 3 times with pneumonia by the time I was ten (requiring oxygen and croup tents.) Even when I wasn't hospitalized, every spring in allergy season I'd get sick.

I take claritin, nasonex, and QVar every day and have a rescue inhaler too. I also use a saline nasal spray whenever my throat starts to tingle. I started taking that when I didn't have insurance to afford the other stuff, and although it doesn't help with basic runny noses it did knock out all the sore throats and infections that came with it, at least for me. My sick cycle was, 'get runny nose, get post nasal drip, get sore throat, get infection, get pneumonia.'

I have had oral surgery- a couple teeth out when I needed braces as a kid. They tell you 'no straws'. Anyway, I thought my teeth gaps were healed, or at least clotted so I used a straw and started bleeding again. I imagine harp would do the same thing. Suction is not good on what is basically a scab in your mouth. Make sure it's all healed up first.

Once things are healed up though, you should be fine. I do really recommend saline nasal spray. I used the isotonic version, two squirts in each nostril 2td. It's weird, but a runny nose, especially at night can really dry your throat out; that leads to a sore throat and cracking which lets the bacteria in. I tried the hypertonic solution and it dried things out too much.

http://www.sinomarin.com/sinomarin_3_1.htm

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Nate
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