Bad Breath Halitosis Forum

Hi there,
About a year ago I started to suffer from excess post nasal drip.
My GP gave the wrong diagnoses (Sinus infection), and the treatment (antibiotics + nasal steroids) didn't do anything.
I've had my blood checked: no allergies.

Yesterday I went to an ENT doctor and he looked with a little camera. My sinuses look completely healthy, no infections or polyps.
The only thing is that the inferior turbinate is enlarged.
A turbinate reduction will definitely help in breathing better (left nose drill is blocked during the night), but he can't guarantee that it will also reduce my post nasal drip. He says that my membranes or sinuses are just overly reacting on heath, cold, dirty air etc.

I don't know if I should do this or not. Could anyone shed some light on this? Thanks.

Please be careful with your turbinates. I had a "partial" turbinectomy 20 years ago and it caused far worse problems. They took out too much tissue and caused a chronic problem called ozena (which means stench) or empty nose syndrome as it's called today. I used to belong to a support group for this issue. It's a nightmare if they take out too much tissue because it can never be replaced. This caused breathing problems, bad odor, headaches, nasal scarring, bleeding, pain. I had mine done at a well-known teaching hospital in Seattle. I'd never have this procedure done again--ever.

Thanks. I heard something about this empty nose syndrome before.
I decided that at this stage I will not go for the operation, because the doctor could not even guarantee it would give me the result I am hoping for. In fact, this operation could make things even worse. It means that from a medical perspective, there is nothing left to do about my problem.

Smart decision. You can always change your mind, but you're wise not to jump into surgery.As you probably know, turbinates filter, warm and offer resistance to air as you breathe in. Once you take that away things get a whole lot worse, including post nasal drip if you had that issue already. For the first 5 years after surgery I had to have a scarf around my nose to act as a filter. Breathing in air without turbinates is painful. I'm not saying everyone who has a turbinectomy has the same poor result but it happens more frequently than people hear about. For those who have enlarged turbinates, if they are inflamed there are sprays like Flonase to shrink the tissue rather than remove tissue.

Thanks Archimonde. I have got the same problem (one nostril is always blocked, PND). Dr. Aydin says swollen turbinates could be a reason for bad breath and sticky mucus in the throat. My ENT will reduce my turbinates in february. If I don't do it, I will never know ... I will give you a report after this time. And I have to say sorry for my English. My German and Spanish is much better than English, but this is the best site in the web.

Gelo, I decided not to got for the operation first of all because it is not sure that my turbinates are the cause of my PND (as I said, the mucus is probably a result of overactive sinuses), and second the blockage isn't that bad (I mean during the day my nose drills are not totally blocked).

Thick mucus can also be a result of the climate you live in, on cold and humid days my breath is much better as my mucus is thin.

Like Liza said, your turbinates have a function and if you remove too much, it can actually cause a dry nose and thick mucus. I think it is good to take these things in consideration.

In the topic someone refered to, they spoke of a smell of rotten eggs which can be caused if your mucus stagnates due to enlarged turbinates. I don't know if you have this problem but it doesn't sound familiar to me.

Oh, I live in a cold and humid climate zone and I haven't got allergies... But PND the whole year.

The odor which comes out of my nose smells like rotten eggs or cheese. I don't have really bad breath out of my mouth. I can smell it sometimes, I fill up rooms with this stench. I had visit about ten ENT's, they found nothing else... Only this big concha bullosa (+ polyp, cyst in my sinus maxillaris and a fibroma in the throat). My tonsills are removed... ***k.

Much greetings

Gelo, I hope your surgery goes well. I felt the same way you did about not knowing unless I had the surgery. I felt my condition was bad enough to take the risk. After the surgery I developed a horrible nasal odor (did not have nasal odor before surgery) that lingered in a room even after airing the room out for hours. The smell of necrotic, dried, infected nasal tissue is not something I wish for anyone to go through.