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Cocaine Septum Damage

I fell into a 4 month binge with cocaine and I just had an eye opener.  I basically lost control.  Yesterday I felt a little hole on the inside of my nostril against the septum.  It seemed like a layer of skin had deteriorated.  After that heart stopping find, I began to do some research into the connection of cocaine and my find and learned that cocaine can eventually cause serious damage to the septum and nasal cavity.  My question is...Is there a thin layer of skin that covers the cartlidge that is the septum?  I suppose I needed this discovery to open my eyes and I realize what I have done to myself.  Right now I am more scared that what I discovered is permanent and I may need surgery.  It must have appeared recently because I have never noticed it before.  I don't feel that it is a deep hole, but more like a skin had deteriorated and left the cartilidge bare.  This was enough of a scare for me to completely stop my use.  I had not known that this could occur until I did my research. Since I am stopping my use, is there a skin that will grow over the hole or is it bare cartlidge naturally there and I caused damage directly to my septum's cartlidge.  I feel that if a skin will grow back, I will have been lucky and need to use this as an opportunity to straighten my act.  I'm not looking for sympathy or lecture, just some help in understanding what is going to happen.  The thought of all of this is deeply concerning me and I need to know if I can let it heal itself. I know cartlidge does not grow back, but is there a skin that grow back over.  I don't believe that I caused damage to the cartlidge itself.  I keep repeating myself because this is a great concern of mine.  Does anybody know what I am talking about?  Please help.
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Avatar universal
I have been clean for 10 yrs. and still my "favorite", the left nostril, hasn't healed. The septum isn't deviated, but the fine mucous membrane covering it seems to actually be getting ever so slowly worse. My doctor prescribes a nice lanolin salve that is much better than vasoline; avoid all mineral oil products, they don't help! Still, I occasionally get a build up of thick cartilage that is annoying to just leave alone, so I remove it then it bleeds a little.
  Its all connected: the nasal passages, the sinuses, the teeth, the gums, all of it. When my nostril is raw, I feel it above and behind my eyes, I have tooth sensitivity/light pain, eyes get wattery yet dry in the corners.
Conclusion, a little coke is bad, a lot is worse, what it is cut with though compounds it yet more. Who knows what **** we've put into our systems? This and people's genetics determine when and if it ever heals. All the doctors I've tried say it probably won't ever heal in my case. I can only hope it doesn't worsen even more. There was a time I tried helping it by inhaling ginseng! Bad idea. I researched it and I now have what is called "atrophic rhinitis", they said that can be caused by inhaling ginseng, due to some irritating acids in the stuff.
My experience has been that living in a mild-to-moderate climate, outside of big dirty cities, is what helps the most. live clean, no secrets, be honest. Good luck to us all!
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Avatar universal
i sip cocaine every day 420 blaze it
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Avatar universal
Can you start a new post under ask a question you will get lots of response. Call abuse helpline get out of relationship now safely.
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Avatar universal
I recently fell back into smoking heavy I'm about to lose everything I worked so hard to achieve I'm in school getting ready to finals and start summer school I just blew money I didn't have and have managed to hang onto 300. My rent is 435. My landlord will work with me I didn't pay the cable/WiFi and I need the WiFi for school I've recently married a man that I've been with for3 yes major abuse  I keep trying and don't want to give up on him we can't give up or leave each other he's in prison again and the verbal abuse manipulation is unreal I real like I'm losing my mind and turned back to cram to escape I was doing really good for awhile when he was out on bond then 2 months before he went to prison he brought it back in our lives he left me with 2 months behind in rent and utilities I came away from that got a knew place that I can scrape by and live school money helps with bills the more he mind fu**s me and manipulates me it seem the worse I get I try but I feel like I'm just an investment so he taking care of he's promised to not do things he used to do to me he acts like I'm doing everything he did to me getting high is all I've cheated on him with and for the past 2months its gotten worse  I've been beat and abused by men from the age of 8-44 I can't seem to break the cycle why can't I overcome this I know that my heavy ness back on crack is due to all this plus I just want to be happy and loved for real  what do I do I go to church and I have good church family I'm scared that I'll be judged or they will run their back but the drug use is getting worse I want it out my life for good don't know where to turn I would go into a rehab but I have school don't want to lose everything I've come to far its going to be a struggle what do I doabout my husband  iI want him to understand but everything seems to get turned around I'm the bad guy  always apologizing for everything even when its our fault I can't take no more there is no one else that I'm not going to do its the damn crack  help me please
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Avatar universal
Touching story. I hope you are better now.
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Avatar universal
i am seriously gratified at finding this post , i had a very low period in my life in the previous four months and had the exact similarities to your post except my cocaine was methadrone (meth) , i have a deep hole inside my nostril but i can from my heart say that its all my own fault. I turned to drugs because i thought that was the only way to get a good experience in my pessimistic view of my life (created by comedown and effects on home for weeks of addiction). My family was addicted to it after my grandfathers death and it built a euphoric relationship reality between them all but it needed meph as a fuel. Once it went illegal and they stopped i was forced me to the streets due to the whiplash of the rehabilation to ordinary life for my mum , i was accused of using (and ******* dealing) although i was only 15 and i never touched until 2010 and that was the only time before my recent 4 period. Although the high was good and it was not actually meth but some other form of methamphtamine and this was my excuse for the hate and blame on the substances effect on my youth that i had. I was feeling good up but doing it irresponsibly and starting to go on life threatening binges for days and getting myself into payable but unaffordable debts.I told my mum after feeling like i was going to die on the home returning day after 3 days of sleepless and food deprivation to help me stop and yet i kept relapsing after promising her i wouldnt be near and feeling like i could and even persuading myself that the lie i was telling myself of not being an addict was soooo real. It took my mum crying and me seeing myself in her shoes in her episode to see i was hurting everyone around me aswell as giving up on my  normal life to lie hating myself after taking it thinking the high outweighted the consequences before but feeling like why did i just get into the same scenario again after . It got to the extent where my mum just looked at me with no respect or pride in her eyes everytime i came in and i had made her feel that her help and advice were nothing and that my promises were repetitive and had not a single bit of evidence. I have stopped and all because its not the physical effects but the emotional loss that it causes and the fact that i stopped trusting anyone because i didnt trust my own promises that i had made to them and myself everytime they done something to help , i had stopped getting support because they felt that i was just lost to them. I have still had relapses but with a far better mindframe with no consequences because instead of anytime is suitable but whenever i can do it without affecting anyone. I still hate myself but you must crawl before you can walk. I am scared now my nose will never heal and i will hate my ownself for damaging something i treasured and that i am lucky to have along with my body. I offer this advice to anyone here , although it is a good high and you might not upset anyone , the next time you let down your football team or call in sick to work and it is any sort of irregular action that is the whiplash of taking any narcotic that's when to stop . think about where if continued you would be in a year in reality , and also if your taking and thinking awk its worth it , think about how you would feel or judge someone you love or care about doing what you are or are thinking of doing and how their shoes would feel on your feet. I'll pray that you realise after reading this that its time to stop before you go to extent that i had of feeling suicide but only not my family's fault this time and that i can stop another life being destroyed and YOU might not have as much luck at getting your life repaired after like i have. <3 please take heed to my warning :/ i seriously mean that although i seem like another waffling ex-addict and i took all warnings as wise up its not as bad as their making it , you will do as i do and look back and say i wish id listened ....
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Avatar universal
ATTENTION!!! Man let me tell u some real **** son. I'm 35 yr old male. I did my thing fa yrs. and my nose started out w bleeding then the sores then the extreamly headaches that's unbearable. Real talk um going thru it currently. From using the triple anti to neo. To infalmatory Stuff. All the meds work n some sort of way but stupid me i kept using Along w the pain n at night and the early psrts of my days was bad cause um n pain N blowing my nose all day n night. Standing under the shower letting water run up my nose to blow out the junk. Yea I stop just recent cause it's painful. And I've had these sores n nasal problem a little over a yr now. I'm just starting to attempt to go into a healing process. The sores are all inside both nosrals I have two holes that lead to the other sided of each other. Once either they get real raw n hurts or form scabs crust that hurts the inside more so cause the nose is sensitive. Your nose as well as anyone else's probly has an infection in with the dr prescribe the meds and theyll start to work more than likely I'll need to revist to get more meds cause it's seems like a long process of healing. Be prepared to go thru the pain. Yea if u use cocain to dry out ur nose only take a few bumps then u can get to the scab to pick it out cause it hurt so bad at the time. If u use any more that u will keep worsening it. Trust me lady's and gentlemen I'm telling u this from real current experiences stop using now if u can. It was hard for me but **** it I'd rather stay heathy and alive. These nasal pains and headache and around the eye pains feeling like fluid around the head aint no joke. N I feel bad cause the people around u have to suffer also. Blowing n picking ya nose all night u can't sleep at all till ya body shuts down after all the pain n runny nose nights n mornings. COCAIN IS A HELL OF A DRUG LIKE SOMEONE SAID. THE ***** AIMT NO GOOD N THE END!!! It's sad I can't say to my ole lady n family what the real problem was but thank God I came to realize it was time to quite. Too much of anything will eventually cause u problems if u don't be mindful of the current and future case and effects. I could have lost everything a time or five if I wasn't in control some sort of way. I'm very successful n a way but far off cause I liked to party get high and **** the girls. Now that I'm changing some things my life will get a lot better. Make better choices people. Don't keep the choice to do cocain. I have pictures of the inside of my nose that I could sell to Dr.'s and universities that should scare off a cocain user I have pictures of buggers and hug scabs that shouldn't fit in you nose. If I could post them I would. It's real and I'm n a painful healing process massaging my head n face as I type people. STOP USING COCAIN PERIOD!!!!!
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Avatar universal
All cocaine is cut with additives/chemicals- from baking soda to dry wall causing horrible damage to mucus membranes. Does your nose make a whistle noise when you breathe? Chances are that its surface damage- but with continued cocaine use will result in further septal erosion causing a hole. Its true that the only treatment for a hole in the septum is surgery- an ENT (ear nose & throat) surgeon will put what we call a "Septal Button" in the hole to correct the issue. For now, get some over the counter antibiotic ointment and apply to the area 3 times a day with a q-tip- esp at bedtime- if its causing pain u can get the ointment with pain relief. Keep a close eye on it and keep ur fingers from touching it (finger nails are one of the top body parts that carry infection causing germs). The crusting is a result of the bodys natural response to treat the problem- dont pick at the scab or remove it. I know its hard and embarrasing to admit to your doctor that you have been a user- but please be honest with your doctor- it beats staying silent and risking any permanet damage to your body. Although the tissue damage is not life threatening- the damage cocaine does to your heart and blood vessels is. I lost my sister due to a brain aneurysm caused by weakened blood vessels on the brain from cocaine abuse, she was only 43. Dont beat yourself up over mistakes like this, despite 14 years in the ENT medical field I too fell victim to cocaine addiction knowing full well the risks involved- I know it makes you feel amazing for 20mins, but is it worth the physical, mental, and financial damage? One day i looked in the mirror and didnt recognize myself and hated who was looking back at me- I stopped using when i found out i was pregnant- but the withdrawl caused me to miscarry- it was an eye opener. I replaced my urge to use with activities that i love such as photography and taking my dog for walks and focused on training him. It helped a lot. I also found going on walks/runs while jammin to great ipod music helped. At the risk of sounding cliche'- loving pets are the best treatment- if you spend the amount of time you spent getting high on quality time/attention w/ your pets- and spend the money on taking them to training classes or even just a shopping trip to "Petco"- you will be amazed at the positive results for both you and your pet! Also NA meeting are very supportive and helpful. Again dont agonize over this mistake, look at it as a learning experience that someday may be useful in helping other addicts beat this addiction by being able to relate and empathize and share your story to help open thier eyes. I wish you well- good luck
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Avatar universal
Hey man. Sorry to hear the bad news about your nose. I am glad to hear to hear that you have quit. You and me are one the few. I have had sergery to fix my reputed septum at one of the most well known places. Thank God!
I was told by one of the top surgeons that if I got surgery to fix the hole in my nose, that it would be derimental and have a lot. There is basically no way to fix it. If you were to try it will make the situation a lot worse than it is now. Getting you ruptured septum fixed can me very beneficial!I had it done but I still have poll ups in my nose. I go see the surgeon every three months. They can only get some of it out every visit because it is so painful. One thing that will help is to buy you a squirt bottom and put salt packs inside the bottle with water, Do is twice a day, You can get both of the items otc at cvs I hope this helps!
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1959859 tn?1331741157
Davey,

This is a very old thread.  I would suggest you start a new ask a question thred so more people will respond.

I would definitely suggest seeing a doctor if you have an odor coming out of your nose.  That does not sound good at all and could mean infection.
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Avatar universal
hi i was snorting cocaine for a very long time and as a result have hardly any of the inside of my nose left.But now all the time i get a very nasty smell in my nose so bad that i dont talk to people incase they can smell it to does any boby know what this is and is there any thing i can do about it please
Helpful - 0
2016423 tn?1328331199
ive dont white over a year i am 16 now but if you stop doing it your nose will heal over time i have a hole on the inside of my nose from blowing coke its minor dont get stressed about it
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Avatar universal
Try hyperbaric oxygen.   The extra oxygen to the nose helps healing
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Avatar universal
it's incredible how you cokeheads or even other drugs addicts, just dont know how to use coke.

I'll tell you how, do it once in 4 months , if you just stop doing coke, you're obviously gonna do it again, and as you didnt even thought of doing it only less often, u have 2 options in your head: DO IT A LOT, or STOP IT.


The right way is always the midterm.... you can do it once each 4 months, 3 times a year, its ok ... you gonna have a great buzz, and  you dont get those long term effects
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Avatar universal
hello i am a 35 year old women i have been snorting for 15 years i have no inside to my nose i can see the hole to my skull when i look in the mirror so please stop or dont ever start i am so scared that i might have a bad infection i dont know what to do so please stop i beg of you guys STOP..
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Avatar universal
I found this interesting journal. http://www.entjournal.com/Media/PublicationsArticle/GREENE_08-05.pdf . I know the title is about snorting oxy-contin, but it thoroughly covers cocaine damage to the nose as well. I have the same problem. Snorted regularly for about 10 years the last 3 years of heavy usage were daily.  I am now done. It has been about 3 months and I have no desire to ever touch it again. I just grew out of it. The last three years I have only minimally "partied", but my nose seems to just keep getting worse. It's the left side as well. I turn 30 next month and am enrolled in college. I do get prescribed adderal for my adhd now that I am back in school and every time I take my adderal, my nose gets extremely dry and the sore gets severely inflamed. I do not have a hole, I had a doctor look at in in the E.R. last time I went and he said there is not a hole.  There is this insane mass of cartilage, though, and it just will not go away. Did anybody try the Aloe Vera and oatmeal remedy? I just don't understand how it is possible for a sore to NEVER heal. There has to be some relief.
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Avatar universal
I haven't been doing cocaine for a long time but over the last month i noticed i was almost getting high everyday.i notice my nose hurting and turning red but of course kept ignoring it,than i made a path to quit lasted 4 days..then the fifth day did hardly any and i took a flashlight to see what was wrong my nose is red all over and i have a scab that go's farther back and turns yellow i also notice a little hole in the middle ware its eaten away at my nose. am under age and cant go to a Doctor, i wanted to know if this was permanent damage? this has made me feel more like a druggie more than i ever have and has put an end to my addiction! anyone know how bad this is? plz comment
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Avatar universal
unfortunately, I will be honest with you. There is no way for it to heal. I have a hole in my nose and I have not used in just over three years, thank you Lord. I have been to all different Doctor's most recently a month ago. They used to have surgery where they could perform surgery on your septum or whole in your nose but they don't do it anymore. I am sorry to break the bad news to you. If you do not believe me, ask and Doctor you goto. They don't have any surgeries for a ruptured septum either. I Thank the Lord that you are alive.God saved us for a reason, find out what that reason is and share your testimony. God bless.
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1405544 tn?1331918701
Just because you don't smoke it, doesn't mean it's not an addiction. I was able to be a functioning cokehead ( I also just snorted) for 15 years. Until I got to the point where I didn't want it in my life, and I burned a nice hole in my septum.

FYI, I never had a full on nosebleed either. I had the same thing you did, occasional bloody snot. And I did end up with a hole in my septum. It will happen to you if you don't stop. It's the nature of the drug and what it does to you physically. It will do a lot worse than that too. It messes with your heart, your brain, everything.

Like Gizzy said, it doesn't sound like you want to quit yet. But the day will come that you do, because even though you just snort it and don't smoke it, it will still take your life away from you.

You have to ask yourself, why do you keep going back to it? You obviously miss it when it's not around, and that's a problem.

I hope you decide to take care of yourself and quit. Cocaine is a bloodsucking monster and it will slowly, but surely, bleed you dry.
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Avatar universal
Dude, this is an old post so feel free to start your own if you come back on. I am not sure what to tell you, since it's obvious your not ready to quit, but to answer your question, YES it is dangerous to binge on coke like that. Ive been down that road man and you dont' want this. I told myself too that it was under control, at first it seemed like a miracle drug, but that changes. Your sinus problem is the least of your worries with coke.

This drug will take you down and addiction is progressive. If you actually want help, send me a message or post. Best of luck.
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Avatar universal
I think it is probably important to add that I have never allowed myself to smoke cocaine in any way, only snort it. I think that would be really dangerous to my habits but I do not do cocaine solely for the high that smoking would provide and intensify. So all you crack heads out there i bet you wish you never smoked it and stayed strictly sinus, i'm glad i did.
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Avatar universal
do you think its that dangerous to binge on cocaine for about a week out of 6 months? At first I used coke about once in 6 months for 2 years. Then about 6 months ago I had made some extra money and binged for about 2 weeks, when I started that I was doing about 1/4th a gram a day, which gradually increased to about 3/4ths by the end of those 2 weeks. Then i was off coke for another 5 months, and snorted 2 grams in one night, and put it down for another 6 months, and for the last week I've blown between a half gram and three-halves grams of really good **** i've been getting on the discount, i know i need to take another 6 months off but i really think i can regulate myself to about a gram every 2 or 3 weeks since its probably going to be available I don't know if i can avoid it for another 6 months... well the good thing is i'm going away (not to jail just traveling) for a month so I'm pretty sure i'll be okay.

I won't lie, i love doing coke. But usually I become rather disappointed in myself at the end of these sporadic binges. Some of you binge for 4 months and I have to ask, is it really that easy to lose control? I know I care too much to not let it go overboard and stop after a week binge, but hell, four months? I used to say I would quit cocaine forever if i ever got nosebleeds, and i've blown out bloody snot and don't consider that a full on dripping nosebleed at all or in any way. so I guess i have my ways to justify my own problems... i'm just saying I don't think its that bad if I just binge on coke for a week when you all hit rock bottom and I stay on top of my life. but right now my sinuses are quite swollen and I have finished off what I had left. That's pissing me off because they were swollen before I took my last 4 lines and I would have been much better off going to sleep 3 hours earlier and waking up to a less stuffy nose and a pretty mirror, but then again I probably would have grabbed just one more gram to hold me over until i got to the airport, and make it at least another month without coke.
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Avatar universal
do you think its that dangerous to binge on cocaine for about a week out of 6 months? At first I used coke about once in 6 months for 2 years. Then about 6 months ago I had made some extra money and binged for about 2 weeks, when I started that I was doing about 1/4th a gram a day, which gradually increased to about 3/4ths by the end of those 2 weeks. Then i was off coke for another 5 months, and snorted 2 grams in one night, and put it down for another 6 months, and for the last week I've blown between a half gram and three-halves grams of really good **** i've been getting on the discount, i know i need to take another 6 months off but i really think i can regulate myself to about a gram every 2 or 3 weeks since its probably going to be available I don't know if i can avoid it for another 6 months... well the good thing is i'm going away (not to jail just traveling) for a month so I'm pretty sure i'll be okay.

I won't lie, i love doing coke. But usually I become rather disappointed in myself at the end of these sporadic binges. Some of you binge for 4 months and I have to ask, is it really that easy to lose control? I know I care too much to not let it go overboard and stop after a week binge, but hell, four months? I used to say I would quit cocaine forever if i ever got nosebleeds, and i've blown out bloody snot and don't consider that a full on dripping nosebleed at all or in any way. so I guess i have my ways to justify my own problems... i'm just saying I don't think its that bad if I just binge on coke for a week when you all hit rock bottom and I stay on top of my life. but right now my sinuses are quite swollen and I have finished off what I had left. That's pissing me off because they were swollen before I took my last 4 lines and I would have been much better off going to sleep 3 hours earlier and waking up to a less stuffy nose and a pretty mirror, but then again I probably would have grabbed just one more gram to hold me over until i got to the airport, and make it at least another month without coke.
Helpful - 0
82861 tn?1333453911
Thanks so much for sharing your story and more important for admitting you have a big problem and determining to do something about it.  If you will copy what you wrote, click on the "Post Comment" button and paste it in the new box, more people will see it - and they need to see it!  :-)
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