My '冷淡な' was 原因（となる）d by a growth in my nose

Updated: 16:52 BST, 23 April 2008

大きくする ?

Alexandra Reather had endoscopic nasal 外科 to 除去する polyps in her nose

Around six per cent of adult Britons will experience nasal polyps - growths in the lining of the nose. Alexandra Reather, 59, had hers 除去するd. Here she 述べるs her experience and her 外科医 explains the 手続き...

THE PATIENT

For eight months I thought I had a 冷淡な I just couldn't shake off. I was taking paracetamol, ビタミンs and the herbal 治療（薬） echinacea but nothing made my symptoms better.

I wasn't in 苦痛 but was feeling 負かす／撃墜する with my nose running all the time.

After three months, I went to my GP who 定める／命ずるd 抗生物質s. She thought I probably had a ウイルス, but 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 除去する the 可能性 of a bacterial 感染.

She also gave me a nasal ointment, but still my nose continued to stream. Then she decided it might be an アレルギー, so gave me さまざまな nasal sprays, but they didn't work either.

Six months after it all started, one of my 注目する，もくろむs started watering. My husband said I was snoring even louder than usual, which was no wonder as I was so bunged up.

My sense of smell was 影響する／感情d, too, as I was breathing through my mouth all the time.

My cardiologist, whom I was seeing for an 不規律な heartbeat, sent me to an ear, nose and throat specialist to see if my 封鎖するd nose was having an 影響 on my heart.

I saw the specialist, Mr マイク Thomas, a couple of months later. He had a 予選 look with a たいまつ and gave me a 塩の 解答, which I had to squirt up my nose daily for si x weeks.

He thought my symptoms were 原因（となる）d by a piece of bone 妨害するing the 航空路s from an 傷害 I'd 支えるd as a child.

The 塩の made no difference, so I was sent for a CT ざっと目を通す, which 明らかにする／漏らすd a large growth inside my left nostril - the size of a cocktail sausage.

Mr Thomas said this swelling was a nasal polyp, although he didn't know whether it was 悪意のある or cancerous. I had a 永久の "冷淡な" because polyps irritate the nose and sinuses, 封鎖するing the nasal passages.

Mr Thomas told me he would have to 成し遂げる endoscopic sinus 外科 to 除去する the polyp because if left untreated, it would grow and might protrude out of my nostril or 負かす／撃墜する the 支援する of my throat, making breathing through the nose impossible.

It's more ありふれた to have clusters of smaller polyps on both 味方するs of the nose which can be shrunk with steroids. But I needed a general anaesthetic to have the polyp 削減（する） out.

When I （機の）カム 一連の会議、交渉／完成する I couldn't breathe through my nose as it was packed with a foamlike dressing to help stop 感染 and bleeding. I wasn't in much 苦痛 and I left the hospital after about five hours.

However, in the car on the way home my nose started to drip with 血. When it began running profusely an hour later I became so worried that I went 支援する to hospital.

I was given a special nose-gag with strings to tie around my 長，率いる. This soaked up the 血 and a few hours later my nose stopped 漏れるing.

明らかに, it's normal for the nose to bleed after this 操作／手術, but when it streams continuously like 地雷 did it's 脅すing.

Mr Thomas told me my polyp had been 2cm x 4cm in size - one of the biggest he'd ever seen.

He also said it was unusual to have a 独房監禁 polyp on one 味方する of the nose and had sent it for 分析 to make sure it was nothing 悪意のある. I remained anxious for the next week, but fortunately the results were 罰金.

It took me a few weeks to 回復する but two months on, I can breathe far more easily, my nose and 注目する，もくろむs don't run any more and my sense of smell is 支援する to normal. My brain seems more 警報 too, probably because I'm getting a good night's sleep.

THE SURGEON

Mr マイク Thomas is an ENT 外科医 at the Gloucestershire NHS Hospitals 創立／基礎 信用 and does 私的な work at Cheltenham Nuffield Hospital. He says:

Polyps are swellings that develop from the sinus lining. They usually grow in clusters internally in both 味方するs of the nose, but Alexandra had only one high up her left nostril.

Polyps tend to be 頻発する, so it was unusual that Alexandra hadn't 苦しむd from them before. 平等に, she could を煩う them again.

Symptoms of polyps - a 封鎖するd nose, stuffiness, and the loss of smell or taste - より悪くする as the polyp grows.

The 原因（となる） is not known but those with 喘息, chronic rhinitis and aspirin sensitivity are at greater 危険. They inflame because of the delicate lining of the nose and sinuses.

Polyps can also be 関係のある to previous illness, such as sinus 感染 or facial 傷害.

If left untreated there are usually no serious 複雑化s, but they can lead to 頻発する nasal 感染s.

These, in turn, can lead to abscesses in the sinus cavity and 注目する，もくろむs, which can 原因（となる） blindness, although again this is rare. いつかs polyps can change the 形態／調整 of the nose and grow so big they protrude.

Endoscopic sinus 外科 is minimally invasive and 正確な, so 危険s are low.

First, Alexandra had a CT ざっと目を通す, which is 必須の to understand the anatomy of the nose and sinuses.

Then she was given a anaesthetic. Most 患者s go home the same day. The 手続き takes between 30 minutes and an hour-and-a-half.

An endoscope, a thin tube 含む／封じ込めるing a ビデオ camera, is 挿入するd into the nose and images from inside are 陳列する，発揮するd on a TV 審査する. Then, while watching the 審査する, I 除去する the polyp using 罰金 器具s: a little suc ker to draw out 血 or mucus and tiny forceps to 除去する the polyp.

The old-fashioned technique was to wear a 鉱夫's lamp on your 長，率いる and root around with a pair of forceps. Endoscopic sinus 外科 is far more 正確な and 減ずるs the 危険 of 傷害 and 過度の bleeding.

Once polyps are 除去するd they are sent away for 分析. Alexandra also had a wonky septum, the central partition that divides the nose, probably as a result of a childhood 傷害, so I straightened it (known as a septoplasty).

I then packed the nose with a dissolvable gelatine dressing, which disappears in about five days.

The nose will feel sore and 封鎖するd and may drip 血 or 発射する／解雇する for four to five days afterwards.

I recommend 患者s take a week off work, and 避ける cigarette smoke and 接触する with lots of people to minimise the 危険 of 感染. Steroid or saltwater sprays are used after the 操作／手術 for several weeks to help （疑いを）晴らす the nose.

The 操作／手術 costs around £1,500 個人として, 含むing the septoplasty. It is also 利用できる on the NHS.