Congestion back after adenoids removal

[Anonymous]

My DD had her adenoids removed last May due to chronically being sick - runny, stuffy nose that went on for months and months. Immediately after the surgery we noticed a huge change. She could breathe through her nose, she was sleeping better (no more snoring), eating better, etc. However, here we are 9 month later and the congestion is back big time, although interestingly her nose does run at all anymore. She can't breathe through her nose at all, and snores like crazy at night. She isn't sleeping well again because of it. This has been going on since December maybe. I kept thinking maybe she just had a cold that needed to run its course, but it has been 3 months

We have an appt with the ENT in a couple weeks, but I am curious if anyone else experienced this with adenoids removal. Not sure if I can just blame it on winter, but poor DD always complains about her stuffy Jose and it's definitely affecting her quality of life again.

[Anonymous]

Allergies most likely. Dust or pollen or who knows.

[Anonymous]

Make an appointment with an allergist to find out what she's allergic to.

[Anonymous]

We did extensive allergy testing before we had her adenoids removed and she has no known allergies. We also tried Claritin and Nasonex and neither helped at all, unfortunately. That is what ultimately led us to have her adenoids removed.

[Anonymous]

Adenoids can grow back, maybe that's the issue?

[Anonymous]

What’s the follow up? My DD is the same way.

[Anonymous]

I had my tonsils and adenoids removed as a child and have struggled with low grade nasal congestion and related issues all my life. I’ve seen multiple ENTs about it and they’ve never been able to figure it out. From my own layperson’s reading of medical journals over the years to try to figure it out I’ve seen some evidence that removing lymphatic tissue can cause compensatory overgrowth of other lymphatic tissue in the mouth like the lingual tonsils, which can then collect bacteria. Removing lymphatic tissue in the mouth also alters the flora in the mouth, which can lead to fungal and bacterial overgrowth in the nose and sinuses causing chronic inflammation/congestion.

Again, I’ve never had a doctor confirm this for me, but I have found peer reviewed studies on this (just can’t reference them here because it was years ago I was looking into it. I’ve since given up trying to fix it). Have a Google and talk to your ENT.

[Anonymous]

Same thing with my now 3 year old ds. We had his adenoids removed in June 2023. He was perfect in August 2023 - by December 2023 there was a ton of snoring, mouth breathing, drooling and congestion. The ent felt it was allergies (but not specific) and did a course of antibiotics and nasescort (not clariton). We're still doing nasecort daily and it seems to be working.

Adenoids take years to grow back - if they do.