Yesterday I had nasal cautery for recurrent nosebleeds. I wasn't told about the ache/pain I would get afterwards in my teeth and jawbone, nor about the continous dripping from my nostril. It's still there today over 24 hours later. I think it was the anaesthetic that has caused this by somehow affecting the nerves of the face and teeth. Does anyone know what anaesthetic they would have used? Has anyone had similar problems after cautery? How long can I expect these issues to last? Also, to top things off, I had no aftercare advice!
Hi roger99, I had cautery 2 weeks ago with no advice about what to expect. Same pain as you with a very blocked nose, mouth breathing is awful. It is getting a bit better but it does get you down, Thinking of going to see my GP to ask if he can give me any help. I would love to pick but it is to sore lol. do you have any advice as you are now 3 months on?
maggie99 . . . the main issue I had was with pain that extended from the side of the nose into my upper jaw bone and teeth. On top of this was the nasal dripping/weeping. In spite of regualr doses of painkiller, including a prescription from my GP for a stronger painkiller, the pain didn't subside for a week. After about 10 days, things more or less returned to normal, although even months on I can still feel the scar tissue when I waggle my nose! I did actually complain to the ENT department because I wasn't warned about any of these after effects. I was told by one nurse that "even babies and young children have this procedure done and she has never known of issues such as I was reporting". I explained to her that in my view, such symptoms were quite common and that there are plenty of examples of this reported on various 'medical forums'.
I came to the conclusion that ENT departments do not provide leaflets regarding the procedure or aftercare advice because if they did, a lot of people would refuse treatment!
I hope I never have to go through the pain and discomfort again . . . but . . . my nosebleeds have stopped and so in fairness, this has been a big plus.
(Whatever you do, don't pick or try and dislodge the scab . . . let it eventually work itself out . . . this might take 10 - 14 days).
Roger, I'm so glad to have found your thread! You could have writen this as my biographer.
I'm on day 5 of the recovery and it has been "trying" to say the least. I'll tough it out another week before going back to my physician.
I was in admitted to hospital with severe recurrent nosebleeds and had a lot of cautery, its not a nice procedure so I feel for you. I had my right side cauterised five times and its been swollen ever since. The dripping is common, so is staining if you had silver nitrate cautery so make sure you wipe away the drips. It lasted around 2 days for me, the pain wasn't that bad, it stung quite a lot, I didn't get pain in my teeth or jaw, I didn't have any anaesthetic though could be related maybe?
Russell - you had this done 5 times? Ouch.
My doc said I may need several treatments if this first doesn't hold - could be in days, months or years. I'm hoping never again. I have a fairly high pain threshold but I don't want this procedure again if at all possible.
Yeah by a medical student as well it was not pleasant, kinda pain that makes your eyes water.
The mixture of dissolvable packing and tranexamic acid stopped my nosebleeds, I've been referred to have surgery to have my adenoids removed, they're hoping that gives me some relief from the bleeds.
Well, that didn't take long. Just got back from the doc - another cauterisation. I had episodes every day last week, one day had five.
Man this trings, enough to make my eye water.
Had the flood gate open on my nose to call 911! Bathroom looked like a crime scene. Went to ER, after 2 hours, still bleeding, they tried to cauterize with silver nitrate with NO success. Had the lovely balloon shoved in my nose for 2 days. Went to ENT, and pulled out balloon.... still more blood, so he cauterized again, and this time a success. Nurse- no -info, didn't answer my questions and gave me a useless flyer about how nosebleeds occur...NOT anything about cauterization AFTER CARE. (Maybe she was new, as she sprayed my cheek to numb my nose...)
Anyway, all the info I found that was HELPFUL was patient experience and my own. My teeth hurt and the side of my head. Tylenol relieved NOTHING. Had to have the helpful friend that has prescription Percocet to relieve pain, and I'm not a fan of narcotics but this pain was unbearable! Slight bleeding for a day, but I was ok with slight. I coughed out the blood that was draining to my throat, as I didn't want to swallow. I did not touch my nose for 2 days as I didn't want to disrupt nothing. Day 3, all the crusty crap drove me nuts, so sprayed saline and took a hot shower. It took over an hour to drain out. I did not pick, but as it reached my nose opening, I pulled ever so slightly. Gross, but I could breathe better. I still have gunk around the cauterized part, but I'm not messing with that as I've read others who messed with it and it started to re-bleed. I try to saline as much as I can, but there are moments I'm still congested. So I use gravity to lean my head back and let the crap run down my throat and than cough it out. Sounds gross, but better than touching that tender sore!! Hope this helps someone....idk why ENT office doesn't give more AFTER CARE info.
I had this done 4 days ago. My upper teeth and roof of my mouth are in extreme pain. It feels like a horrible sinus infection or toothache. I wonder if it’s not an anesthesia reaction, as well. Tylenol does nothing to help it. How long before your pain went away?
Sadly, it took a good five or six days for me I seem to remember! I do believe that the anaesthetic was the ultimate culprit in that it affected the nerves going into the face and upper jaw, for sure.
Thank you for the info. I think anesthetic is the culprit too.
I am glad that I found this thread of discussion. Today is my 9th day after the cauterization and the pain in my mouth is still unbearable. Tynanol doesn’t relieve the pain. I had running nose on the first two days. Afterward, i have felt pain in my face, in the front teeth, roof of my mouth, and lips. It’s awful. I called the doctors office, but they say this is normal and I should keep using nasal sprays, antibacterial ointment, and Tynanol. The pain has not relieve at all. After reading this thread, i am hoping the pain will go away after 10 days. Otherwise, i will see a different doctor.
It took exactly 10 days for my pain—exactly like yours—to go away. Tylenol was useless for me. I have read that it’s really nerve pain from the cauterization, which makes sense. I also tried the antibacterial ointment, and that burned so I stopped that. Prescription strength pain pills helped some, Also saline spray and gel made my nose feel better. Hope your pain goes away soon!
Thank you for your reply. I am feeling worse on my 11th day. The pain in my mouth has become worse. A bump has formed on the roof of my mouth behind the front teeth and this bump is growing in size. It gives so much pressure on my teeth. The pain has also expanded to the left jaw of mine. I went to see the doctor who did the cauterization. He said in his 30+ years of practice, he has never seen a patient who had symptoms like mine due to cauterization. He thinks I should see my dentist instead. I will need to see a different doctor.
I had a nasal cauterisation for my nosebleeds three days ago. The doctor didn't numb my nose or warn me about the pain. They just went in with silver nitrate cautery pencils and rubbed it all on the inside of my nose. As soon as they put it in, it started burning really badly, my eyes got filled with tears and i wanted to sneeze. They did the first side, then let me sit up and sneeze because i could not hold it in anymore. After they did the second one, i started sneezing again and im pretty sure i sneezed about 15 times. It was the most painful thing ever and i would never like to do it again. Although the pain has gone now, i have a painful scab in my nose which is the one thing they did warn me about. But the day i had it done was pretty bad. I has a very drippy but blocked nose, a painful burning feeling and a migraine which kept me up all night. Im not sure if the migraine had anything to do with the cauterisation, but it was definitely the first migraine id ever had and it was on the day i had my nose cauterised. Who knows? maybe its another side effect. Anyways i am very grateful the pain has gone, just waiting for the scab to heal and hopefully I will never have a nosebleed ever again. Although I am still very annoyed that no one has produced an information leaflet of some sort, warning everyone about the pain and any possible side effects. Hopefully they will make it very soon so that anyone else knows what to expect.
Apart from the intense pain I had for about 10 days (and I do believe that the anaesthetic was partly to blame) it was the fact that nobody (hospital staff) believed me when I made the complaint and the fact that there were no leaflets about what to expect. It's a barbaric procedure in my view!
Just had this done yesterday. I've had regular/frequent nosebleeds all my life but yesterday it bled profusely, as in drops falling down faster than my heart beat. Since it didn't stop or show any signs of lessening in severity after an hour and a half I went to the local emergency.
Waited all night (it's good, in the ER having to wait means you're lucky - you don't wanna be the person who gets help right away).
At 4.30 am I was greeted by a very tired doctor who didn't tell me much about the procedure (probably because I talked nervously I don't know)
And a stick with liquid that I by googling identified as silver nitrate was then inserted into my nose
It hurt like hell. Holy s**t pardon my French but that hurt like f*****g hell. I've got a VERY high pain threshold; I used to self harm, and I tend to be able to kinda remain calm and not think about pain. But this was a completely different type of pain. It was like it regenerated, like it contuously begain all over again - the pain was like the first moment after you hurt yourself.
I've gotten undiluted 12% h2o2 in my nose and it was much less painful than this. I've gotten chemical burns in my armpits from mistaking the spray cans. The only thing similar in sensation was these things, except continuous like when you get sour powder/ citric acid in your eye.
I'm in so much pain still. The stinging is less, but my front teeth feel like ive got a bad infection, or that something is wrong. The only relief is pressuring the teeth.
As well, when I run my eye it's like liquid collects in the bag underneath my eye and there's this pressure inside my head that just doesn't go away.
My face feels like that one time my brother accidentally elbowed me in the face; it feels like the whole mid section is bruised from the inside out.
I've got a pretty small nose so I guess maybe the liquid isn't running fast enough to drain the eye area.
Oh and the best thing about this bulls**t?
I just had a new nosebleed. (Alas only for like five minutes or so, but still, the f**k did I do this s**t for???? I've had stitches much less painful)
Oh damn that sucks.
My pain has not gone away and the condition has become complicated. I am now taking antibiotics. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will feel better tomorrow. I also feel that both the doctor and the nurses had ignored my symptoms when I called to report on the unusual pain. They still believe it’s not caused by the cauterization, which I don’t want argue about. I only hope the pain in my mouth and teeth will go away. I saw my Dentist today and my teeth are fine, my dentist is also very puzzled.. I have taken more painkillers in the last two weeks than I had taken my whole life before this happened. I cannot say enough how regretted I am. My nosebleeding was not even serious .