How I got Relief from Empty Nose Syndrome - ENS - Turbinate Surgery diet

Turbinectomy is damaging the nostril mucosa which then becomes dry and very sensitive to the amount of blood it receives - when we eat, more blood accumulates around intestines', and the nostril mucosa receives less blood and becomes drier in persons with turbinectomy. Make sure to drink a little bit of water every hour (dry nostrils cause the lungs to loose more humidity than normal, through breathing).
I try not to eat several hours before going to bed. A few of the foods I stay away from: any dairy (it's the worst), potatoes, pizza, nuts, regular bread, mayo, soy, spices (including pepper), honey, chocolate with soy lecithin (or emulsifiers), dietary fiber, food with oxalates (kidney damage - all nuts, spinach, rhubarb, sesame, tahini, hummus, beans, cocoa and chocolate). I have a diet based on pasta, toasted dry naan bread, green salad (great against constipation), berry fruits, fish, among other things. I usually eat breakfast then dinner around 12pm. These are my meals for the day. In the evening I would chew some fresh salad. I go to bed at around 8pm then wake up around 2am and chew a little bit then go sleep for another 3-4 hours. Be aware that some foods can cause serious heart and kidney problems on people with long term ENS condition. Because of nostril dryness, the lungs dehydrate very easily which puts strain on kidneys. If on top of it you also eat foods that put strain on kidneys (rich in potassium, salt or oxalates) the kidneys will then trigger high blood pressure especially at night time when you cannot drink water. This can cause kidney damage, see my later video on this subject. I also experienced violent leg cramps at night time due to dehydration
Some specific food can give high anxiety when waking up at night (chocolate, cookies, etc). Also drinking orange juice late in the day caused a bad feeling the next day
Link between breathing air humidity and lung function https://www.vingmed.se/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Broschyr_EN.pdf
Sleeping on your back may also help. I usually sleep with some light in the room, to prevent from sleeping too deep, which blocks the nostrils even more. I also had heart palpitations at night (strong continuous heart beating), but these went completely away since I breath better through the nose. If you happen to have these palpitations, it is important to pay attention because it can weaken your health in the long term.
My side effects from ENS (these appeared years after the surgery)
- finger nail clubbing: nails grown curved
- blood circulation stops on the tip of the fingers in cold weather, fingers get completely white (Raynaud's phenomenon)
- eyes get very sensitive to bright white light such as computer or cell phone screens. This is stronger after dusk. Cannot go outdoors for long periods in bright sunny days even with sunglasses
- teeth hurt after walking outside, drink a full glass of water prior to going outside
- strong and continuous heart pumping in the chest when waking up at night. this beating may affect tiny blood vessels inside eyes, tip of fingers, teeth, etc, causing the issues above
- very 'clear' dreams
- panic attack at night when waking up due to anxious dreams and blocked nostrils
- very affected night sleep. I usually wake up every time I turn in my bed, and often I can only sleep 3-4 hours at a time. this is very probable to affect your professional life
- I usually sleep with a dim light. The idea is not to have a too deep sleep which lowers the heart rate and aggravates the nostril dryness.
- when waking up at night, I feel only my very upper part of the lungs are getting air, like only the chest near my shoulders is inflating
- sudden tiredness when exercising, suddenly get short of breath
- I have constipation because of the food diet, so I need to take dietary fibers. The fun part was to realize that the dietary fibers also cause bad breathing at night! I now only take fibers very early morning
I also noticed that taking longer walks outside seems to help with the night sleep breathing - just be sure to drink constantly water when outside including winter time. Because of this, keep in check your kidney function and don't eat foods that are hard on kidney
The condition worsens in dry summer days and it's less bad during winter
I recommend this ENS forum, plenty of people and always good to talk and ask
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/guestfr/general-discussion-f7/