The weirdest thing happened last night .......

[Denisex2boys]

On top of the 1.7 (or so) cm AN - I was also told by my ENT that my sinuses are really bad - which was the whole reason in the first place that I went to the ENT a year ago - (he is the one that caught the other stuff) and suspected the AN.

ANYWAY - I went back to him a couple of weeks ago for a consult and he recommended that I start doing a nasal irrigation to help relieve the pressure and congestion.  I am using the 'Neil-med' kit.  So, I have been irrigating every evening now for about 3 weeks - last night my youngest son was in the bathtub and I did the whole nose thing - I then blew my nose and my ear 'popped' SO loud that it seemed to actually 'clear' and that congested feeling went away - I could actually HEAR the tub water as my son played in it - everything was almost too loud - it was just really strange - for a brief moment I was excited but of course, after 4-5 mins. everything 'shut-down' again - but for that brief moment I actually thought the fullness would go and the hearing would come back.  Oh well, wishful thinking .....

Has anyone experienced this?

[HeadCase2]

Hi Denise,
  Yes, I've experienced moments of heightened hearing after a "pop".  My guess is that it may be related to a momentary increase in air pressure inside the ear drum, that is trapped there, and transfers sound better.  Once the increased pressure re-equilibrates back to normal, hearing returns back to normal.
Regards,
  Rob

[OTO]

That is one of the things post-surgery that you cannot do...  no blowing your nose for several weeks.    They don't want you to pressurize your sinus and ears by blowing your nose.    It's to avoid CSF leaks.

Also if your facial nerve gets tweaked or stressed, the sinus on that side can feel clogged.   It's because the muscle that keeps the sinus open is affected by the nerve.    When I was post-surgery I really wanted to blow my nose.   Instead the doctor suggested wearing those "Breathe Right" strips.   I wore those when I slept, and it made my sinus feel open...  it help the ear fullness feeling too...