Did I damage my nose?

Ok so about 3 weeks to a month ago now, I was having difficulty breathing through both nostrils. I waited a day or so and it didn't stop. So eventually I started fooling around with my nose. I think even before this is when my right side cleared up all of a sudden. I began pushing on my nose/trying to bend it to get my left nostril to clear up. Somewhere along the line I had a somewhat weird smell in my nose when I was pushing. I stopped after a few times of pushing. Thinking about it afterwards I know it was stupid, but I'm an anxious person and didn't stop until I tried applying pressure a few times/trying to bend my nose back into place.

I went to the doctor and she said I had an inflamed turbinate in the left nostril. I started taking a nasal spray prescribed (don't have insurance, a sliding scale clinic, regular doctor). After I spent about a week doing it wrong, I found out later, I started doing it exactly as prescribed for about a week. I went to see the doctor again and she didn't say I had any issue, mostly congestion on the right side, with which I was having no problem. I was still having problems breathing through my left nostril. Now it still feels obstructed when I breathe and I'm afraid that I did some sort of damage to that side, maybe to the upper turbinates? Or somehow applied enough pressure to push my septum?

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

It’s unlikely you could have damaged the nasal septum, as with injury you should have pain. The nasal block could be due to a sinus infection, a cold or a chronic allergy. It could also be due to a deviated nasal septum. Sinus infections can cause stuffiness of the nose with nasal blockage, which can make breathing through the nose difficult. Sinus infection causes blockage of flow especially when a person lies down. The blockade is affected by the side to which the person turns also. Sometimes it could be due to nasal polyps. Please discuss these options with your doctor am sure he will provide further assistance.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.