Polyps in the nasal passage are really fleshy swellings. These can develop inside the nose’s inner lining and in the air-filled spaces called paranasal sinuses, but they are largely non-cancerous growths. If you can educate yourself about the symptoms and warning signs of nasal polyps, you can prevent the condition from affecting your sense of smell or causing breathing problems. The polyps can be of different sizes but largely pink or yellowish-brown in color; they look like teardrops.
Common Symptoms and Warning Signs of Nasal Polyps?
When you suffer from symptoms and warning signs of nasal polyps, it means that the interiors of your nasal passages are inflamed. If the polyps are very large in size and they are present in clusters, then your sinuses and nasal passage may be completely obstructed. For people with smaller sized polyps in the nose, there may not be any visible symptoms or signs, but many suffer from the following conditions:
- Persistently blocked and stuffy nose which may be so severe that you might have difficulty breathing when you sleep at night.
- Some people suffer from a runny nose that may be as a chronic condition and the patient feels as if he has a cold perpetually.
- People with polyps often have a very poor or practically-negligible sense of smell. Even after the treatment of the polyps, this condition may not improve.
- Even the sense of taste gets affected when a person has nasal polyps.
- A patient can often feel mucous running down all the time at the back of one’s throat
- Besides these common symptoms, a patient can also experience headache and pain in his face
- Itchiness near the eye region can be a symptom of nasal polyps.
- In some severe cases of polyps, the patient may also experience obstructive sleep apnea; in such a situation, he can stop breathing while sleeping.
- Again, in another severe case, there can be a double vision problem and this usually happens when the patient suffers from cystic fibrosis or allergic fungal sinusitis.
Who Gets Affected by Nasal Polyps?
If you suffer from symptoms like sneezing or runny nose, you can get nasal polyps. Moreover, nasal polyps may develop as a sign of cystic fibrosis. The polyps can be linked to asthma, allergic rhinitis, acute chronic infections, sinus infections, or even if something has got stuck inside the nose.
Warning Signs You Should Not Ignore
You must contact your doctor at once if you find any of the above-mentioned symptoms persisting for more than 10 days at a stretch. A 10-day wait is recommended since the symptoms often overlap with symptoms of other medical conditions like regular cough and cold. However, in case you are short of breath or if any of the symptoms appear to deteriorate all of a sudden, you must contact emergency services right away. When there is acute swelling in the eye region, double vision, or severe headache with high fever, you must not wait any longer.
It’s crucial to know the symptoms and warning signs of nasal polyps so that they are dealt with promptly.
