We know that people are sometimes desperate to stop the snoring of others, such as the woman who stabbed her husband over his snoring, but it’s a marker of how disruptive snoring can be that a man would attempt his own sinus surgery to stop his snoring.
Of course, unless you are a trained surgeon, this is not advised, and in this case it led to a drunken rampage and arrest.
Drinking to Dull the Pain Backfired
John Novak, of Buhl, Idaho, apparently had a very bad snoring problem, which would require nasal surgery to correct. Rather than pay a doctor, he decided to attempt the surgery himself. His plan was to insert straws his nose, then break his nose by opening a door rapidly toward himself. The hope was that then his nose would heal with wider, less obstructed airways.
This was not a plan likely to work in any case. Although plastic surgeons may break the nose when reshaping it and insert tubes to help guide reshaping and healing, it’s actually a very delicate operation. Especially if you want to reshape the airways, great care is necessary.
But then Novak added an additional complication: he decided to use alcohol as an anesthetic. To prepare himself, Novak decided to drink for a week straight. Although it works, alcohol is not the best anesthetic because of its other effects on judgment, coordination, and more.
Needless to say, when it came time to perform the “surgery” he was highly impaired. In preparation, he brandished a rifle with fixed bayonet, which frightened his sister, who called the authorities.
When authorities arrived, they followed blood trails to find Novak in bed. He was bruised and had broken his nose. Now, apparently feeling embarrassed, he first said someone beat him up, and only later admitted to the self-surgery scheme. As he was being cuffed and removed from the house, he informed officers that he was going to urinate himself, but he defecated instead.
He was turned over to paramedics. He was found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.5, about six times the impaired limit. When he was medically cleared, he was put in jail.
Not Much Crazier Than Some Snoring Solutions
Although we can look at Novak’s self-surgery and easily see the flaws in his plan and the danger to himself and to others, we may not be able to see how similar it is to many of the snoring solutions that people use all the time.
The market is flooded with hundreds of anti-snoring pills, devices, sprays, ointments, and more. Most of them don’t work, and those that do work will work for only a limited number of people. Although you might try some limited interventions, such as sleeping on your side or cutting down on alcohol in the evening, you should talk to a doctor or dentist about your snoring before attempting any type of snoring remedy.
After all, undetected sleep apnea is even more dangerous than attempting nose surgery on yourself.
Don’t try to treat your snoring yourself. For help with a snoring problem, please call (402) 493-4175 today for an appointment at the Advanced Dental Sleep Treatment Center in Omaha.
