Empty Nose Syndrome 

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this condition steals people’s lives including mine. I am feeling intense suffocation as I write this yet I can’t go to the emergency room, or take medication because there is nothing medically anyone can do in the absence of my turbinates. ENTs need to stand up and make a change.

After five years of breathing misery, I finally have the answer to what is happening to me. Thank god and thank you every one of you responsible for uploading this video. I had no idea by passageways were actually open.. everything makes perfect sense now Even the doctor telling me my nose is open when I feel like I'm asphyxiating. From hyperventilating to sleep apnea and constant cortisol and permanent mouth breathing, controling it manually, forgetting how to breathe without controling it, and holding my breath over and over and over to avoid inhaling particulates of dust and dirt into my lungs after inhaling toxic materials from my construction job, It finally all clicks. I've had three nose surgeries, a deviated septum and turbinate reductions. Now I can breathe despite the sensation of lack of air. Just knowing that I am getting air gives me the courage to breathe through my nose anyways I don't know how long I can do this for, but I definitely can say I will from now on breathe through my nose as often as I can handle it. And this will make gardening enjoyable again. *For anyone reading this with bad lungs, I HIGHLY implore you try Mullein. It is a miraculous herb for lung health. It coats the inside of the lungs, opens the passageways and removes toxins. It is consumed as a tea. (After researching more on this i realize how much worse other people have this. I literally couldn't fathom having Zero sensation of breathing in my nose. Anyone going through this is courageous beyond what i can understand)

There's a video called form vs function by Dr. Houser that explains this well. Some people with hollowed out noses breath just fine and others with 10% reduction have terrible ens. The issue seems to be, some people's turbinates don't heal correctly causing the terrible symptoms. The practice of reducing turbinates should be banned until we know more about it.

its not controversial, once you cut inside the nose organs and you operate on it, if your nose doesn't do superhuman healing after it being altered you open it gives dryness and suffocation because your nose cant keep moisture in anymore, all these ent doctors talk about the "safe"procedures yet none of them will ever do the surgery

I would never ever have any kind of nasal surgery ever!!! In my fucking life.. I truly sympathize with people who go through it and they cant get to live there normal lives anymore. I have some allergy which gives me a stuffy nose, although i can still breathe the inflamed lining of the nose is causing a horrible stuffiness and sometimes if you dont have right medication you can just suffer all the time. In my case there is a lot of ways to find a relief or medication to eventually cure it.. but u guys? You’re real heros to me. All my thoughts and prayers are with you and your families and I hope you will definitively find a cure for this terrible condition! Once again! Im glad im watching these videos for awareness and I will never in my life let anybody operate on my fucking nose!!!!

Turbinate surgery should be avoided unless there is a cancer on the turbinate. It just isn't worth the risk. I would gladly keep the chronic stuffy nose over ENS. You can still get a decent sleep with a stuffy nose. You can't with ENS.

You really should get a patient with ENS to be there with you to describe what they are going through. Very hard to really understand what is going on without that real life testimony as to what they are experiencing from their viewpoint.

What can go wrong during a 'routine' sinus surgery? PLENTY.

ENS/turbinate injury is very real and far from psychological. Well respected Dr.s within the field of Ent have already blown the whistle on the true dangers of turbinate surgery procedures. It is a common fallacy spread by those in the field who continue to fool the public that altering an essential organ can diminish chronic stuffiness or inflammation. One of the biggest contradictions is that patients are screened thoroughly before a surgery (Both for physical and mental aptitude). What occurs when a patient has a bad outcome and most of the time misled about the safety and efficiency, these very "Dr.s" who patients put their trust in have no back up plan to reverse the damages. They do not want to be held liable for any wrong doing. This is not the first or last time medical professionals who perform and market overly routine procedures have caused harm, then use the "psychological disorder" card.

I'm so happy and sad to see this!!! It means I'm not going crazy and I'm not alone, since my surgery I have been only getting worse I regret getting the surgery and I feel hopeless and miserable, literally the only way to put it!!!! I can still feel congested even just blowing it out you can tell that I am, even my ent has confirmed I'm really wide open. Then there's the feeling that my nerves has been destroyed leaving to feel like I can't breath and literally controlling my breathe and I can't feel my breathing at night, which makes me suprised that I'm still alive the very next day. This is awful and to top it off I've been very very dry so it makes it worse... I cannot tell you enough how awful I feel... Especially doing nasal rinses, ponaris drops, nasal sprays and so many other antihistamine pills just to feel somewhat normal and only for just temporary relief. I have lost so much sleep, my health went from bad to worse and I have never experienced anything like this and I truly feel hopeless.

If I was the doctor that did the surgery and left a person with this horrible condition I would never forgive myself

The hyperventilation portion of the video is incorrect. It was a biased study conducted to deflect from the blood vessels, tissue, mucosa, and nerves that are damaged from surgery.

There should be more awareness about empty nose syndrome, maybe if it was a well-known syndrome, I wouldn't have come to this with surgery, I don't understand how a disease that seriously reduces the quality of life does not come to the fore.

It's been 3 years , any updates or medical advancements/ treatments? This has to be brought to light. There are many medical advancements for growing tissues and organs. Can groups of professionals start coming up with treatments or start coming up with ideas ?

"no reliable objective tests" This is the problem right here. Better diagnostic tests need to be developed and implemented. CT scans, endoscopic exams, and whatever else is currently employed cannot gauge if a patient is getting adequate air intake, or if the nerves in their nose are impaired. Appreciate the video.

I've underwent an also "risk free" radiofrequency turbinates reduction operation in 2016 (my death sentence with post-poned execution) the symptom that gets me the most is the gritty grating sensation in each aspiration of air. My observation and takeaway of the current state of affairs: any and all nasal surgeries should be reserved only for life or death or critical situations when the doctor decides that the benefit outweighs the side-effects as in cancers and tumors. We weren't cancer patients when we had these absurd operations.

you cant trust ent surgeons they dont always tell you the risks of surgery on nose. mine didnt. and i got EMPTY nose syndrome and pain. then ent drs ignore and pretend its in my head and never help me

Controversial because it’s inconvenient for doctors to admit and accept? Hmm 🤔 nothing else seems controversial about it.

i got Empty nose syndrome and severe nasal nerve pain from this exact method!!!! from RAVOR CURIS radiofrequency to turbinates and septoplasty. THE ENT SAID IT WAS TOTALLY SAFE.

I have a borderline form of ENS caused by two supposedly "risk free" procedures (with laser and radiofrequency, respectively). I had an absolutely hellish 2 years with horrible sleep (waking up every 2-3 hrs and many nights just getting 4hrs in total) until things finally improved (especially with the help of PRP, an infracture and a huge amount of daily supplements). But whenever I am in an environment which dries out my airway (either air condition or heating) my sleep deteriorates severely due to what is explained in the slide shown from minute 1:33. This is EXACTLY what I experience. My remaining turbinate tissue swells, secretes more mucus and i get post nasal drip...which does not allow for adequate and restful sleep. All I can do is turn off the heating (even in winter time!!), use a humidifier and moisturizers for the nose (they often irritate it more than they help though). And irrigations with Xylitole from time to time, to fight bacteria. After a holiday in the tropics (with lots of A/C) this year i encountered a really bad respiratory infection which left me with endless unproductive dry coughing (and sound of a person who smokes 5 cigarette packs a day), like bronchitis. Previous to the procedures I was physically healthy, but due to the greedy doctors, my airways are now extremely vulnerable to such exterior conditions. It is an absolute shame doctors are still allowed (what's worse, even supported by the health care system) to mutilate patients in this way, especially since the majority of them are unnecessary and mostly a way of generating money from insurances instead of healing a patient. I must mention that during the 2 first and worst years of my ENS i also tried the Buteyko breathing technique and actually had some relief from it, as I remember. Thanks for spreading the word, this is a condition which MUST be taken seriously. It has such serious life-changing effects.

Absolutely real thing, doctors try to steer it into the direction of the psychosomatic and so on and I would agree that the issue how brain behaves, but brain behaves in such a way now because the wrong signals about breathing coming from the nose. The turbinate reduction surgery done in November 2019 ruined my life. I cannot work, cannot do sport, almost do not go outside, simply spend my time as a plant. Since that surgery I did not have any single good day. Dry nose, it only becomes more or less ok if I sit direct to quite powerfull humidifier that works 24*7, concentration issues, issue to detect scents, etc. After reading an information from a lot of sources (also reading about people complaints on different forums after surgeries where turbiantes have been touched) I could say that it is much more common than it is presented to the world by majority of ENT doctors. P.S. I had "only" around 25 percent of Inferior turbinates reduced with scissors and some doctors say that ENS could be only after total removing of IT......and these doctors are allowed to do surgeries.....

had a fess 8years ago. on one side of my nose they opened it right up and the other just a little, i was supposed to have a septoplasty done atbthe same time for a deviated septum but they chose to break my nose and reset it instead. the deviated septum is still there butbthe nostril that was opened up is fantastic, so much air flowing, its lovely, but the other side is horrendous, constantly blocked, no air flows at all, andy cold or flu is horrendous pain on that side, i cant wait to get that side done, and the septoplasty, oh to be able to breath again fully

I have been diagnosed with ENS. And the Buteyko ideas are the only thing that is helping me improve a bit. I mouth-tape, prevent sleeping on my back and eat a low-carb paleo diet. This gives me a huge improvement in quality of life compared to before. It puts me from suicidal to "almost okay". But is uncomfortable and takes immense discipline.

radiofrequncy and septoplasty gave me ens empty nose syndrome

I had a big turbinate removed. The right side of my nose is dry but it’s not bad. I feel good. I have no breathing problems. I will consider myself fortunate.

A year ago I had this surgery and I was left with a lot of nerve pain. I have been prescribed tegretol but have not taken it yet. Someone has tried? If you have any recommendations, I'd appreciate it.

Please anyone knows about any treatment for it? 😔 I’m in disbelief, I was an athlete and such an active person even with a deviated septum, and I also ignored all the signals and red flags before surgery by just trusting my doctor’s perception and not researching about this horrid side effect which becomes a silent torture with people labeling you as crazy, I can’t believe this happened but I refuse to give up.. if only people realized that nobody is going to victimize themselves this way with lies about something so scary.. I’m devastated and slowly debilitated in addition to the psychological exhaustion of this brutal situation

Dr I wanna chat with u,I wanna discuss about this problem. I'm helpless my ENT Dr r not competent

I was not warned of this being a result from surgery until after I've done all of them and even then my ENT mentioned it vaguely after I requested a fourth surgery, saying it would dry my nose out and impair normal function if any more was reduced. But then why did he not suspect this before he gave me surgery, for he was the Third ENT I went to. Or suspect this After the surgery and the same symptoms persisted? And how come everyone here in these comments weren't warned about it either?

هل عملية تعديل انحراف الحاجز الانفي تؤدي إلى مثل هذه الحالة؟ انا احتاج لعملية تعديل الحاجز الانفي ولدي تضخم في قرنيات الانف.

Let me tell you from the beginning, I first had an operation in 2009 because there was a mass in the pituitary gland. This operation was performed on the nose due to the location of the mass, but the shape of my nose was distorted after the operation. It turns out that they took most of the middle cartilage (septum) of my nose, a big hole was formed in the septum (and No explanation was given by the doctors about why it was taken) Later, the ENT doctors that I was examined said that it could be taken to close the operation area. However, I couldn't get used to my nose shape, moreover, I had a post-nasal drip, my nose was constantly swollen. Anyway, I had the operation in 2019,the doctor said that the operation was successful However, in the first days of the operation, I couldn't sleep because my throat was drooping, no examination was made for 7 days even though I called the doctor's assistant, 7. When I went the next day, the plaster was removed and a spray was given for the sagging in my throat. Even though I only informed that the hole in the septum would be closed, the doctor had already filed my already small nasal bone, lifted the tip of the nose and expanded my nose to the sides, making it almost like a black nose. The main problems appeared on the 14th day when the tampons in my nose were removed, my breathing changed strangely, I was constantly short of breath because I could not feel my breathing, I was trying to breathe deeply, this caused me to be busy with my breathing and not be able to focus on anything else during the day, My sleep at night was also often interrupted, when I told the doctor about this situation, I opened your nose like a cave and he said you need to be able to breathe very well. I came back from Istanbul and started to continue my work, but there was still abnormality in my breathing, my nose hurt while breathing, I started to breathe through my mouth constantly during the day, I had no solution for the night, I would fall asleep at night, I would wake up with panic and heart palpitations, this situation always happened. It was repeated at least 10 times a night, my under-eyes collapsed, my body began to weaken, I was sluggish and tired every day, I couldn't focus on my work, my social life was over, I was forced to come and go between work and home, I spent the rest of my time trying to sleep, I didn't even have to clean my house. Moreover, because I was constantly sleepless, I started to lose my health day by day, my heart could not stand the sleep apnea I experienced at night, it became tired, now I had constant heart palpitations and I was on my way to heart failure. 3 years after the last surgery, in 2022, when I was examined by an ENT professor and told my complaints, he looked inside my nose with an endoscopic camera and your 2 lower turbinates were completely removed, the hole in the septum was reopened over time, you can't feel your breathing because the turbinates have been removed, and there is also a feeling of pressure because the inside of your nose is very wide. It does not form, so when you fall asleep, you wake up in panic because the brain cannot feel that you are breathing. Moreover, there is no cure for it, just as a severed finger cannot regenerate, so do the turbinates. He said to use a nasal humidifier, but the room did not work. And when I was a person who loves life and tries to stand up in all circumstances, I even thought of committing suicide, I don't know how many times I will end up, think about it, you can't feel that you are breathing and this is a situation that repeats every second. I am only 30 years old, but I collapsed for 10 years. I have a heart disease. When I searched foreign sites for empty nose syndrome, I saw cases of suicide and even cases of heart attack. All I can say now is this: How is medical education given in Turkey, how can the doctor who operated on me, knowing that I will have empty nose syndrome, can take all my nasal passages completely, we entrust our lives to these doctors! I wish I had never had that pituitary surgery and hadn't fallen into this situation. I have no right to such doctors, they ruined my life. Of course, there are good doctors, but I have always had bad ones. No matter how much I rebel, this life will pass like this, this is my test in life, I have no choice but to be patient. I hope that a cure will be found as soon as possible for those who have ENS syndrome like me and myself.

I had Deviated septum and did the surgery 5 years ago... My nose canals are very small so with deviated septum i coudnt breath with my right nose almost at all. They couldnt get to the bone whitout removing part of the right turbinate and that was probably what triggerred ENS. Was in endless reasearch for 4 years untill i found: Empty Nose Syndrome. Now atleast i know how to soften the symptoms and i feel a little bit better... Safe to say doctors never know anything about it and never make research for their patients. 1 time My family Doctor said that: Its all psychological! I called it bullshit cause all my life i was always a positive guy! It was before i knew about ENS and i was heartbroken😟. Its good thing i never gave up on the issue and did my reasearch. Had i knew and if i have been informed about ENS possibility i never would have done Septoplasty!

The major item here is nerve damage and airflow receptor destruction or malfunction, would it not? I am waiting to hear of studies to dig into the nerve paths and airflow receptors in the inferior turbinates. The root cause of ENS is an obvious destruction of nerves, sensors, and mucus producing glands in the turbinate. It is pretty clear to me if a person has 50% of the turbinate yet experiencing this the obvious direction would be investigating the nerves and rest, why are people so focused on stuff like breathing fast? Sure that can worsen it but the breathing is a direct result of the brain saying I cannot feel air so breath more, its not a mental issue folks. The answer is right in front of everyone, the disease is a direct result of destruction to organs that tell the brain we are getting air, simple right. Same as if the foot telling the brain I feel the ground, take away sensation of feel and the brain never feels your walking and you feel off balance, that is fact and seen in practice. I suggest the ENT community consider any alteration to the lower turbinates will result in impaired breathing and each patient will vary, some minor issue some major, its a crap shoot. There needs to be a NEW method of allowing more air that keeps the turbinates in tact 100%, I would focus on Nerve reduction thus lowering reactive behavior in allergic disease and non-allergic. Swelling takes place as a result of the nerves, they are the root cause and the future of correct treatment. I would recommend a spray that can calm the nasal nerves to see if there is a change, once observed then a therapy can happen to keep the nerves down either with meds or freezing thus sparing the tissue and your no longer dealing with ENS and can offer relief to millions of us suffering, you want solid advice consult with chronic suffers we are beyond versed in nasal function lol. Cheers and hope to see progress so I can breathe again. On a side note, has anyone tried Botox or another item injected into the nasal nerve to see what blocking it does to chronic inflammation? That would be a simple procedure that can be repeated to offer relief and calm the nose down, just curious.

Hi, I'm experiencing similar symptoms but I haven't got any surgery since about two months I had a strong flu, lost of smell (not covid positive) after using some treatment with nasal washes my nose turned so dry, on the beginning I had some difficulty to breathing now after some treatments with thermal waters (inhalations) breathing and antibiotics aerosol is ok, my turbinates are still little inflame or little big but the nose is dry I only feel good on the outside where my mucho start to reproduce, I do not longer use my heater at home to keep humid the rooms but the worst is in the morning dry noise, mouth and dry eyes ... I use some nasal creme moisturizer with hyaluronic acid... So as you can see this empty nose can occur without surgery... Don't know what to do, I will see other doctors in the next days ...

I had septoplasty turbinoplasty with microdribder. I am having trouble sleeping. I am feeling burning in my lungs. I am feeling lumps of dust in my throat. It has been 2 months now.Is this empty nose syndrome? I am feeling very scared There was fluid accumulation in my ear, the doctor said that DNS or Inferior turbinate enlargement should be done and he advised me to undergo septoplasty turbinoplasty with microdribder.😢

La junta medica otorrina mundial tienen que encontrar una solucion a este problema, muchas personas que lo padecen estan sufriendo! Es generalmente un problema generado por una mala practica quirurgica!

Never had surgery on my nose but the last two years have been agony. It may be due to an injury I had a while ago but I CANT BREATHE. I go to sleep suffocating and unable to breathe every single day. I can’t do activities, I can’t even go up stairs without being completely gassed. I went to my ENT and they recommended turbinate reduction/septoplasty, then I do research on it and OF course, it sounds awful. But a part of me thinks it can’t get any worse than it is already. I’m stuck and don’t know what to do.

I had surgery for my deviated septum 1.5 years ago. Ever since then I can only breathe through one nostril at a time (no air comes through, I can feel no air if I hold my hand under my nose). Whenever my right nostril is open, I feel fine, but the instant it switches to the left nostril, I get a suffocating sensation. Is it possible that I have developed ENS on one side or could this mean that the passage way is too small? I would appreciate a response

Not all have that problem, some will breath much better after removing some layer of the tissue in the nose

I just had a turbinate reduction reduction yesterday. What the ENT doctor/surgeon did was to insert like a scissor with 2 pointed radiofrequency that he described as burning the tissue of my turbinates (both left and right). Are you really saying I will suffer from ENS eventually? I'm just on my 1st day of healing and right now, everything seems fine. Nothing alarming or whatsoever. Can someone tell me what to expect after it completely healed?

So what do you do when your congested and been on every medication

I’m feeling like I have these symptoms from taking a shot of perseris, I feel like sometimes I’m not getting enough air and my anxiety gets bad so I take Xanax to calm me down

I'm one week out of septoplasty and turbinate reduction. I can't feel the censation of air going through my nose even though it's open. Is this to soon to determine I have this?

Interesting

I am worried about this coz i just had may RF turbinoplasty yesterday and it's only now that I know about this complication. I feel ok right now. Do anyone know when is the onset of ENS after surgery?

What about baloon sinuplasty?? Is this the same as turbinate surgery? What is the risk of ENS from the baloon procedure?

I’m set for surgery I had deviated septum surgery 2010 and recently my ex punched me so now I have it again and I also have cyst in sinus and fluid around eyes And I have huge turbinate bottom maxillary area So they want to do surgery again... My nose is always dry they think sjorgens or accutane did it.. I don’t want to get empty nose syndrome not sure what to do

Hi sir I'm from India and i suffering with ENS have some treatment to do

Can only septoplasty cause this condition , because I need to get my deviated septum corrected . Please someone help please I'm so confused

Not every one get ENS

Has this caused my sleep apnea and insomnia I wonder?

can we get ENS without having any surgery?, For example, inhaling hot air from an active boiling water while the fire is still on

So what should I do ? I have rhinitis vosomotor and swollen turbinates, I don't know what to do, every ENT in my city suggested turbinates radio frequency n not scare about ENS, I'm fucked up n don't know what to do

Any patient of ENS who is from Pakistan and if he has been treated for this disease from somewhere in Pakistan, let me know..Thanks..

Researchers and doctors neglect empty nose syndrome unfortunately, so no more advancement for empty nose syndrome.

I had my Septoplasty yesterday and today I found out about this. What is the percentage of this happening to me?

Please reply.....i never had surgery on mY nose in my life ...last year December month i have strong flu my trubunate swelling doctor prescribed me nasal spray i only use this spary one week and i lost my air sensation...i am scared what happen with me please reply...i consult with a ent doctor she says my lest nose turbinate swelling and right nose dry mucous i tried everything but i not got any relief what should I do for dry mucous....please reply😭

I’m getting a turbalent reduction ( I’m to lazy to spell rn im stressed) tomorrow and I’ve asked my doctor about this and he said that it’s when too much is gone and my chances of getting it are 1 in 10,000

Ens treatment is possible in india

You all reply on this video wrong...you only think nose trubunate reduction can cause of ens....i got ens using of nasal spray and my life hell last 3 months

4:00 There is a mistake here. The study says, 29 patients were screened. 22 were eligible to participate in the study. 17 had HVS. So it should say 17 out of 22 (77,3%), not 17 out of 29 (58,6%). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28407251/