I think a full CT of the head is different, it focuses on everything. A CT of the sinuses focuses on just the sinuses. I've had a couple of these over the years. They are actually pretty cool to look at, my doctor showed me mine when he was talking with me about my treatment plan. He showed me my maxillary sinuses and what he was going to do, and my turbinates etc. He also showed me how my left sinus was slightly deviated since my surgery, but not enough that he wanted to do anything about it.
Brandy
Mouth Breathing
Moderator: bbsadmin
-
Brandyleigh35
- Posts: 1018
- Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2006 4:25 pm
- Location: Alaska
- Contact:
-
Brandyleigh35
- Posts: 1018
- Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2006 4:25 pm
- Location: Alaska
- Contact:
Well.....have you looked into allergies? In order to fix my issues, I had a full allergy workup done. Then began allergy shots. I had sinus surgery to reduce my turbinates and make my airway a bit larger on the right maxillary sinus to, however, I really think the surgery was unnecessary. That it was the issues below that were really causing the problem.
Something you might want to look in to though that I only recently became aware of is possible fungal issues. My doctor put me on a antifungal nose spray and massive amounts of live bacteria (I'm talking billions) a day for three months straight. I never have had any issues with yeast ever, but it turns out that my chronic sinus infections and breathing issues were due to the overproduction of yeast. Systemic yeast can cause major breathing and sinus issues, as well as feeling tired, etc. Many of the sinus allergy meds such as the new Veramyst can cause fungal infections too, so if you have a yeast issue then you are just adding to it with meds like these.
A pretty accurate test for yeast is to spit into a glass of fresh water, before brushing or drinking anything first thing in the morning and watch it for the next 15-30 minutes. If you don't have any yeast issues your spit will do nothing but float on the top. If you do, the spit will make long strings, disperse, or sink to the bottom.
Men can have systemic yeast too, so this is not just a female thing. Might be something to look into. At the very least its one more thing you can rule out.
HOpe this helps some!
Something you might want to look in to though that I only recently became aware of is possible fungal issues. My doctor put me on a antifungal nose spray and massive amounts of live bacteria (I'm talking billions) a day for three months straight. I never have had any issues with yeast ever, but it turns out that my chronic sinus infections and breathing issues were due to the overproduction of yeast. Systemic yeast can cause major breathing and sinus issues, as well as feeling tired, etc. Many of the sinus allergy meds such as the new Veramyst can cause fungal infections too, so if you have a yeast issue then you are just adding to it with meds like these.
A pretty accurate test for yeast is to spit into a glass of fresh water, before brushing or drinking anything first thing in the morning and watch it for the next 15-30 minutes. If you don't have any yeast issues your spit will do nothing but float on the top. If you do, the spit will make long strings, disperse, or sink to the bottom.
Men can have systemic yeast too, so this is not just a female thing. Might be something to look into. At the very least its one more thing you can rule out.
HOpe this helps some!
Brandy!
I definitely have that yeast issue, i believe! Look at the glass of water. It sank but also had the strings coming up about halfway in the cup.
What is the first thing i should do about this? Speak to my jaw doc or speak to a regular doctor or what??? Appreciate your help!
edit: i think its fairly clear the cup i used might not have been the cleanest in the bunch. i rarely use it in my bathroom. but nonetheless...
I definitely have that yeast issue, i believe! Look at the glass of water. It sank but also had the strings coming up about halfway in the cup.
What is the first thing i should do about this? Speak to my jaw doc or speak to a regular doctor or what??? Appreciate your help!
edit: i think its fairly clear the cup i used might not have been the cleanest in the bunch. i rarely use it in my bathroom. but nonetheless...
-
NoCPAPPleez
- Posts: 24
- Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2008 7:23 am
As a long-term allergy sufferer, I beg to differ.rosy22 wrote:Brenden,
As to allergy testing, I'd recommend two things. One, get SKIN allergy tests from a board certified allergy specialist. This will give specific info on what you are allergic to. Be aware NONE of this stuff is perfect but it is better than the blood testing judging from my experience.
Skin testing is great to test for environmental allergens, but for food allergies one needs serum food allergy testing. ImmunoLabs is the best lab for this.
NAET works but is only (quite) temporary -- my allergies came right back a few days later after the mandatory 25-hour avoidance (which I extended to 48 hours just for good measure). It's expensive too, so the cost can be prohibitive.
allergy testing
I've had both skin and blood tests. In my case, environmental allergies were my biggest problem. The skin tests seemed to do a better job of pinpointing them. The doctor that did the blood test told me this was the "best", the one who did the skin said this was. So I don't know who is correct. Maybe it would be best to have both in order to compare results. The NAET is controversial as is many alternative therapies. What was attractive was no risk of side effects. Of course, only you can decide if it is worth financial cost.
-
NoCPAPPleez
- Posts: 24
- Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2008 7:23 am
Wow, sounds like you've been through it all just like me.
The food allergies need to be tested by serum (blood) because reactions can be delayed as long as two to three days post ingestion. There's no way they can check for that with skin testing; they need a blood sample.
Actually, this is not controversial at all. I'm afraid you've just been misinformed on this one. Allopaths (M.D.s) who perform skin testing are going to promote it as the end-all and the be-all when in fact that is not the case; it has limited applications and is very accurate with environmental allergens. Serum testing is usually handled by naturopaths and other wholistic practitioners, but more and more allopaths are coming around.
The food allergies need to be tested by serum (blood) because reactions can be delayed as long as two to three days post ingestion. There's no way they can check for that with skin testing; they need a blood sample.
Actually, this is not controversial at all. I'm afraid you've just been misinformed on this one. Allopaths (M.D.s) who perform skin testing are going to promote it as the end-all and the be-all when in fact that is not the case; it has limited applications and is very accurate with environmental allergens. Serum testing is usually handled by naturopaths and other wholistic practitioners, but more and more allopaths are coming around.
Well I have news, my CT scan came back completely normal so now I am being referred to an ENT. I guess we will see what happens from there. I am wondering now if I should just stop trying to figure out what is wrong and see if the jaw surgery fixes it. Anyway I guess I will just have to see what the ENT says.
Have to disagree here. The only reliable way to confirm/test/deny food allergies is an elimination test, IE following the 6 week elimination diet that tracks through different foods in cycles and combos. I come from a family with several corn allergic, gluten allergic, and lactose allergic people, I've seen the reliability of the blood tests, skin tests, dna tests, and even stool tests, and only the elimination diet test program has been accurate thus far.NoCPAPPleez wrote:Wow, sounds like you've been through it all just like me.
The food allergies need to be tested by serum (blood) because reactions can be delayed as long as two to three days post ingestion. There's no way they can check for that with skin testing; they need a blood sample.
Actually, this is not controversial at all. I'm afraid you've just been misinformed on this one. Allopaths (M.D.s) who perform skin testing are going to promote it as the end-all and the be-all when in fact that is not the case; it has limited applications and is very accurate with environmental allergens. Serum testing is usually handled by naturopaths and other wholistic practitioners, but more and more allopaths are coming around.
Twinjoy, go see the ENT!! I had a deviated septum that was repaired during surgery and responsible for all my breathing issues, and that's what ENTs do:)
Hey Arvensis,Arvensis wrote:
Twinjoy, go see the ENT!! I had a deviated septum that was repaired during surgery and responsible for all my breathing issues, and that's what ENTs do:)
Was it your oral surgeon who repaired your deviated septum? I've read about someone else having that done as well during orthognathic surg. and am wondering if most/all oral surgeons are trained in this. I thought it fell under the domain of ENT. I'm hoping my surgeon can take a look at my most-likely-deviated septum when he cracks open my maxilla.
Yup, it was me. My OS did a septoplasty, rhinoplasty, and turbinectomy. He as came highly recommended by the best ENT in town, whom I also consulted with. Basically my septum was so deviated that I was looking at A) fixing it while doing jaw surgery or B) a full open rhinoplasty to fix everything. My nose was far too crooked in internal structure (not to mention external bone growth) to do just a septoplasty; in fact, the septo/rhino as the only "medically-necessary" insurance covered area of my surgery 
I do NOT think most surgeons do or are trained to do this, but a fair number seem to have taken it up. There was someone else here, Zou, who had a septoplasty internally minus the rhinoplasty part. It seems from my research on surgeons here pre-op that those who do the sinus work are more likely to be doing upper surgeries or bimax than purely lower. My surgeon did his residency in New Orleans and was trained by an ENT there in the 'post bar-fight noses' along with his jaw surgery residence, so apparently that's where his background began. I know my original surgeon here that I didn't go with (10+ years ago) had never so much as looked at a nose, much less done anything about one. I also didn't find another surgeon in Texas who would do both Upper and the sinus work, which for me was essential because it was how I was getting my surgical fees/hospital stay/etc covered through insurance was by killing two birds at once. Plus, I've heard the recovery from open rhino could leave scars and takes just as long to recover from, and why do in the open what my surgeon was able to do from the inside?
I had several surgeons suggest I could do the procedures separately, and one was willing to work with an ENT in the OR to do both, but only my surgeon here was able to do both. Might i also add that there ALMOST were complications with the whole thing before it even ended. He struggled with my nose for quite a while in the OR according to my doctor, was worried it wasn't going to come out straight because it had been so hard to fix the septum - a product of how messed up it was. Skill on this kind of thing def. matters.
A full head scan (as opposed to just a sinus one) should indicate whether your septum is deviated, whether its your turbinates, etc etc. My surgeon's scan was VERY impressive and it was VERY obvious from it what was wrong with my nose. It felt like a ton of bricks being lifted to finally, after all these years, see why I couldn't actually breath through my nose.
I do NOT think most surgeons do or are trained to do this, but a fair number seem to have taken it up. There was someone else here, Zou, who had a septoplasty internally minus the rhinoplasty part. It seems from my research on surgeons here pre-op that those who do the sinus work are more likely to be doing upper surgeries or bimax than purely lower. My surgeon did his residency in New Orleans and was trained by an ENT there in the 'post bar-fight noses' along with his jaw surgery residence, so apparently that's where his background began. I know my original surgeon here that I didn't go with (10+ years ago) had never so much as looked at a nose, much less done anything about one. I also didn't find another surgeon in Texas who would do both Upper and the sinus work, which for me was essential because it was how I was getting my surgical fees/hospital stay/etc covered through insurance was by killing two birds at once. Plus, I've heard the recovery from open rhino could leave scars and takes just as long to recover from, and why do in the open what my surgeon was able to do from the inside?
I had several surgeons suggest I could do the procedures separately, and one was willing to work with an ENT in the OR to do both, but only my surgeon here was able to do both. Might i also add that there ALMOST were complications with the whole thing before it even ended. He struggled with my nose for quite a while in the OR according to my doctor, was worried it wasn't going to come out straight because it had been so hard to fix the septum - a product of how messed up it was. Skill on this kind of thing def. matters.
A full head scan (as opposed to just a sinus one) should indicate whether your septum is deviated, whether its your turbinates, etc etc. My surgeon's scan was VERY impressive and it was VERY obvious from it what was wrong with my nose. It felt like a ton of bricks being lifted to finally, after all these years, see why I couldn't actually breath through my nose.
I saw an ENT today and guess what! He said my CT scan was not even close to normal. He said that my septum is broken (not sure if that is tech called a deviated septum or not) and my turbinates are large for my nose size. He will be doing a surgery to reduce the size of my turbinates and repairing my septum.
He said I had three options:
Option one: do it before my jaw surgery and risk the chance of the tube during my jaw surgery hurting my septum again (which he said this never happens).
Option two: do it during my surgery but the surgeon might not be able to fix my turbinates and only do the septum part.
Option three: wait 1-2 months after my jaw surgery and do the nose.
I decided on option 1 because my jaw surgery isn't for another 8 months most likely and who knows what will be going on by then. Being in the military things can change pretty quickly so when you get a chance to actually schedule something you have to take it. The surgeon that will be fixing my nose is going to be separating from the military like a week after my surgery so I will be one of his last military patients. I chose to stay with him because no one in the past 4 yrs has been able to finally say what's wrong with my nose until him.
So Arvensis if you have any words of wisdom on this (if you had any or all of these things done) I would love some insight!
He said I had three options:
Option one: do it before my jaw surgery and risk the chance of the tube during my jaw surgery hurting my septum again (which he said this never happens).
Option two: do it during my surgery but the surgeon might not be able to fix my turbinates and only do the septum part.
Option three: wait 1-2 months after my jaw surgery and do the nose.
I decided on option 1 because my jaw surgery isn't for another 8 months most likely and who knows what will be going on by then. Being in the military things can change pretty quickly so when you get a chance to actually schedule something you have to take it. The surgeon that will be fixing my nose is going to be separating from the military like a week after my surgery so I will be one of his last military patients. I chose to stay with him because no one in the past 4 yrs has been able to finally say what's wrong with my nose until him.
So Arvensis if you have any words of wisdom on this (if you had any or all of these things done) I would love some insight!
I had all of those done, Turbinectomy, septoplasty and rhinoplasty since the septo was so messed up on the inside!:) I think that combined with jaw surgery was what made my experience so much less enjoyable on the upper surgery, but both upper and septoplasty seperately will require you not to blow your nose forever and you'll get some very fun bruising (I looked like I had two black eyes) from the septoplasty. I'll be curious to see how long it takes for your swelling to go down when it's separated from jaw surgery - I have a patch of swelling on the right under my eye that I am convinced is still because of the septoplasty or jaw surgery, but not sure which is the cuplrit.
Ask your surgeon about if and when he'll approve you to use a neti pot! That really saved my butt, quite frankly, but since you're just nose I don't know what he'll say.
CONGRATS on someone finally figuring it out!!! I know exactly how you feel, WOW finally someone knows what's wrong, OMG fix it now now now!!
Ask your surgeon about if and when he'll approve you to use a neti pot! That really saved my butt, quite frankly, but since you're just nose I don't know what he'll say.
CONGRATS on someone finally figuring it out!!! I know exactly how you feel, WOW finally someone knows what's wrong, OMG fix it now now now!!
My OS removed my turbinates and straightened my nose at the same time he did my double jaw surgery. However the anestegeologist messed up my nose when removing the tubing after surgery. My nose now leans to the left and I can only breathe out of the right side. My OS was pretty mad, but says we'll fix it with an in-office procedure once most of my swelling has gone down.
I never knew mouth breathing caused so many things... the neck posture, lower back pain and bags under the eyes. I've always breathed with my mouth, have all those issues and have severe sleep apnea too.
I never knew mouth breathing caused so many things... the neck posture, lower back pain and bags under the eyes. I've always breathed with my mouth, have all those issues and have severe sleep apnea too.
~ Hedybleu
