A nasty fall left me with a terrible snoring problem

When Debbie Byers fell on concrete stairs, she broke her nostril and cracked her cheekbone.

Over the following week her face started to swell and bruise – and she or he developed a horrible loud night breathing drawback.

“I’ve by no means snored in our 18 12 months marriage however my husband says since my accident in March I’ve been like a fog horn,” she informed BBC Scotland News.

Doctors say the autumn prompted an issue along with her nasal septum – the bone and cartilage which separates the nostrils.

Now she hopes to bear surgical procedure to make sure each she and her husband can get a greater evening’s sleep.

The 51-year-old mentioned: “I wake myself up loud night breathing now or have a particularly dry mouth so I’m waking up with a choking sensation.

“I would like a full evening’s sleep as my loud night breathing is even disturbing me.

“My husband has been saying he is not getting any sleep as a result of my loud night breathing is monumental now and that I used to be by no means like this earlier than my accident.

“It’s as a result of I am unable to breathe by my nostril so my mouth is open and roaring and can be actually dry. It’s terrible.”

The mother-of-one was strolling up steps over a railway line in Edinburgh in March when her accident occurred.

“I actually landed flat on my face and everybody may hear the crunch in my nostril,” she mentioned.

She had “zero likelihood” to get her palms out of her pockets in time to interrupt her fall.

“Blood was gushing out of my nostril, not my nostrils however from the bridge of my nostril,” she mentioned.

The subsequent day Debbie, the director of a PR firm, woke with a really swollen face.

When the bruising received worse she was suggested to go to hospital the place medics informed her she had broken the cartilage in her nostril and fractured her cheek bone.

“I explored non-public choices realizing how busy the NHS is however the worth quoted was past my monetary capabilities,” she mentioned.

Now she is ready for a NHS referral to have a septoplasty – a process to reshape the septum by including or eradicating bone and cartilage.

“My nostril feels blocked on a regular basis now and it is laborious to blow my nostril,” Debbie mentioned.

“It wants a process referred to as septoplasty as a result of it simply would not really feel proper and that is why I’m loud night breathing.

“My loud night breathing has additionally been getting worse because the weeks go on since my accident.”

Dr Renata Riha, a medical sleep guide and honorary affiliate professor at Edinburgh University’s sleep analysis unit, mentioned Debbie’s loud night breathing drawback might be solved with medical intervention.

“It’s most likely because of the fracture in her nostril so she’s most likely impaired her higher nasal patency (a measure of how open the nostril is) and she or he’s utilizing her mouth to breathe.

“It’s like if you get a chilly and also you breathe by your mouth and she or he’s developed the loud night breathing because of that.

She added that she thought surgical procedure would work as a result of Debbie had not snored earlier than her accident.