About 6-7 years back, I went to see an ENT and discovered I had nasal polyps.
I had endoscopic surgery to remove the polyps. However within a few months afterwards, my sinuses clogged and again, my polyps have grown back despite my efforts to flush my sinus cavity with a saline/baking soda solution as instructed by my ENT. Using the flush was difficult because it would burn the back of my throat and if my sinuses were clogged, it felt like I was drowning myself.
The other aspect to polyps are the allergies that led to them. Therefore efforts to reduce allergens may help some. Being allergic to dust mites, it seems like a never-ending battle that I lose more often than not. I have tried all sorts of air-purifiers and even changed my flooring to hard wood flors, etc. Washing bedding more often than others, vacuuming and cleaning constantly. It doesn't seem to matter, the polyps come back.
Topical sterioid sprays have not made much impact and seem to only support the pharmacutical industry. I'm sorry, but I am not wealthy; buying expensive sprays on a bi-weekly basis or so is not economically feasible for my income.
Polyps and allergies affect my life in many ways:
1) My nose runs and feels congested 24/7
2) My voice sounds different. It's even hard to speak clearly sometimes.
3) I cannot smell anything and haven't for about 9 years now.
4) My sleep is affected, I cannot breathe easily while sleeping and suspect sleep apnea
5) I snore louder than ever and it disrupts my wife's sleeping.
I find it extremely frustrating to be afflicted with this, and not have a real solution available to resolve the problem. Instead it seems the only answer is to spend a lot on nasal sprays in hopes to get some minor relief or have surgery every so often.
I fail to see those as real solutions.
There has to be a better way.....
Hi
Thanks for writing to the forum!
Today, very sophisticated masks are available that you can wear to take care of dust mites. Polyps are notorious for their recurrence. “Oral corticosteroids are the most effective medication for the short-term treatment of nasal polyps, and oral corticosteroids have the best effectiveness in shrinking inflammatory polyps. Intranasal steroid sprays may reduce or retard the growth of small nasal polyps, but they are relatively ineffective in massive nasal polyposis. Antifungal agents have no role in the management of nasal polyposis, but these agents may be useful in cases of allergic fungal sinusitis with polyposis.”
“• Intrapolyp steroid injections: Intrapolyp steroid injections have been shown to reduce polyp growth and nasal symptom scores compared with intranasal medical therapy and appear to be a safe alternative to surgery in select patients. More studies are necessary.3
• Leukotriene inhibitors: Leukotrienes are formed during the breakdown of arachidonic acid by the enzyme 5-lipoxygenase. They are inflammatory mediators and have been implicated in the pathogenesis of asthma, allergic rhinitis, and nasal polyposis. As a result, they have become targets for therapeutic modulation. Early studies of leukotrienes synthesis inhibitors have shown improvements in nasal airflow and reduction in nasal polyps on endoscopy and imaging studies. Benefits appear to be greatest in patients with concomitant allergic rhinitis and eosinophilic infiltration of the nasal polyps on histology.
• Other agents: Other agents with a possible role in management of nasal polyposis are macrolides antibiotics, topical diuretic therapy, and intranasal lysine–acetylsalicylic acid.”
Try these. It may help.
Refer: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/861353-treatment
Hope this helps. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!