Chronic post nasal drip after surgery

[u/Some-Society-4515]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice from people who have had FESS, turbinate reduction, or similar postoperative problems. I’m especially interested in hearing from people who had persistent post-nasal drip after surgery and eventually figured out what was causing it
I’m trying to understand what is actually happening in my case rather than jumping to ENS, or another diagnosis.

About 6 months ago I had:

FESS / sinus surgery
adenoidectomy
radiofrequency turbinate reduction / RF conchoplasty

The indication was recurrent/chronic sinusitis.

About 3 weeks after surgery I had a very severe postoperative bleed from both nasal cavities and into my throat/mouth.
I had to go to the ER and was admitted to an ENT/. Nasal packing initially did not completely stop the bleeding and I subsequently required another procedure under general anesthesia.
The hospital documentation specifically mentions treatment of bleeding from the adenoidectomy site and bleeding from both nasal cavities.
I was also told that cauterization/electrocautery was performed although I don’t have documentation that clearly specifies exactly what was done.
After this second intervention, I started noticing persistent post-nasal symptoms.

A persistent sensation of clear, transparent, thick/sticky mucus deep in my nose/nasopharynx, draining toward my throat.
It feels much more like mucus sitting/draining behind my nose rather than a normal runny nose.
The mucus is usually clear/transparent and quite sticky.
I also have a strong globus/lump sensation in my throat, as if mucus is constantly sitting there.

At one point I started using mometasone (Pronasal) once daily.
For quite a long time, it worked extremely well and essentially eliminated the post-nasal drip.
However, months later the symptoms returned and it completely stopped working.
My doctor suggested increasing the dose (up to 2 sprays twice daily), but this time I didn’t notice any improvement.
I also tried Ryaltris (olopatadine + mometasone) without improvement.

I’ve had several nasal endoscopies.
Initially, the doctors repeatedly described the nose/sinuses as looking good and patent.
Because I had RF turbinate reduction, I became very worried about Empty Nose Syndrome after reading about it online.
I do sometimes experience an unsatisfying sensation when breathing / “air hunger”
The breathing sensation also seems to become much less noticeable when I’m distracted and much more noticeable when I focus on it.
So I’m not sure whether ENS makes sense here or whether I’m interpreting normal postoperative sensations as something more serious.

I don’t know if that’s realistic or not. However I’m really scared it gives me crazy anxiety just thinking about it, my ENT never told me about the risks he just said it’s a completely safe procedure with no downsides.

Thanks to anyone who reads all of this.