Yes David, I do get temporary relief and am able to breathe better thru the mouth and nose when smoking..

however.. I understand the dangers of smoking, and will refrain..

plus, its a nasty feeling to smoke besides the breathing...smoking gives me anxiety and makes me feel "rotten" afterwards.... and if i continue smoking as "relief"..... well then, i am looking at worse problems down the road such as empysema and lung cancer...

I think TE is right about the fact its going to take time for the turbinates and sinuses to start working right again....

I went a whole year pre surgery where I could not use my nose at all due to turbinate hypertrophy, due to Afrin use (I would suspect I had problems already and the Afrin was the final straw for me)...

Anyway, I breathe better now post-surgery. The doctor told me that he did a very conservative turbinate reduction and also he said he did a "sinus scrape"....

Another ENT agreed that the original ENT did not take too much turbinate off....

Dr. Houser agrees I have a normal amount of tissue... Dr. Houser says that the nerves may have been damaged but can grow back over the years... he said he could do implants, but he and I both agree its too early to make a decision like that..... i will wait another year or so before even contemplating a surgery...

So maybe its just going to take some time....

I am not a doctor or a health care professional. My posts reflect my personal opinions only, are informative by nature and are not to be seen as medical advice of any sort.