Woman spends years struggling to breathe and smell. Then a doctor confirms the broken nose her mom always denied
Her broken nose went untreated for years. Now her quality of life is breaking down.
A broken nose can be painful enough when it happens. Discovering years later that an old injury may have contributed to longstanding health problems can be an entirely different kind of pain. One woman says she spent much of her life struggling with sinus problems, only to learn that a childhood diagnosis her mother dismissed was apparently correct.
As told by u/Glass-Tart7729 in Reddit’s r/GirlDinnerDiaries community, she’s had difficulty breathing through her nose for years. Her condition also included recurring sinus infections and a diminished sense of smell. She shared that doctors identified an old injury on two separate occasions, but her mother had insisted the first diagnosis was wrong.
Now facing substantial medical bills, the Redditor is questioning why the problem wasn’t addressed when she was younger, calling her mother out on it.
Her childhood diagnosis was dismissed
According to the woman, she was around 12 or 13 when severe allergies and sinus infections prompted a doctor to order an MRI. The scan reportedly revealed that her nose had been broken when she was much younger, possibly between ages 2 and 5. She said the doctor recommended surgery because the injury had left one nasal passage almost completely obstructed.
Not on board with the idea, her mother allegedly dismissed the physician as unreliable and convinced her that the break had never happened. “For whatever reason my mom decided that guy was a quack, and made me believe I didn’t really need surgery,” she wrote.
The account raises questions about what happens when a child’s reported medical needs go unaddressed. Another family faced a different struggle when doctors denied a child a specialized bed despite his mother’s concerns about his safety.
Last year, the Redditor who experienced a nasal condition finally consulted another doctor about correcting what she believed was a deviated septum. The doctor confirmed that without surgery, her quality of life would continue in that state.
Years of symptoms bring fresh anger
The woman described frequent headaches, difficulty breathing through her nose, a loss of smell, and sinus problems that she said aggravate her asthma. On top of that, she reported spending seven days in intensive care last month with bronchitis. The postnasal drip from her sinus problems had worsened her condition.
The hospital stay left her with more than $100,000 in medical debt. Looking back, she believes earlier treatment might have spared her some of the suffering and expense, although the post does not establish whether surgery would have prevented her later illnesses.
Medical experiences can also leave families questioning how their concerns were handled. In another case, doctors initially dismissed a mother’s concerns before tests identified her daughter’s hereditary fructose intolerance.
For this Redditor, the unanswered question is how her nose was originally injured. She wrote about how she was a clumsy child but could not remember the incident. Some commenters speculated about abuse, though there is no evidence in the post establishing who or what caused the fracture.
What troubles her most is the decision she says her mother made after the first diagnosis. “Honestly I am more pissed that she didn’t get it fixed when she had the chance,” she wrote in a comment. Her mother reportedly stands by the belief that she was simply doing her best and considers her daughter’s anger unfair.
Commenters expressed warmth and empathy for the years she spent dealing with her symptoms, while others shared their own experiences with undiagnosed childhood injuries. Some Redditors even offered advice on getting the surgery for the betterment of her health and overall quality of living.
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