Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 3/13/2010

Question
I received oxygen/anesthesia via cannula yesterday, 3/12/2010, for a sigmoidoscopy.  Upon awakening, the left side of my nose was very stuffy and starting to run. By the time I arrived home, it began to run like water on the left side, with eye draining as well.  It is now over 28 hours since I received the anesthesia and it is still running. I called a couple of hours after I got home to let them know, and just got a "call us on Monday if it is still running".  No solution, nothing.  Am at my wits end and cannot afford an ER visit. Is there anything I can try to help this subside?  I irrigated with saline, took NyQuil to sleep last night with a Kleenex blocking that side of my nose.  Read your prior posts on similar incidents.

Answer
There is not much to do. It is caused by an irritation of the mucosa of the nose and will heal on its own. If it does not or gets worse, then you should see an ENT specialist to make sure that something else is not causing this.


Ronald Levy, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston