Coral In Your Nose
~ Ron Langseth
After surgery most laryngectomees seem to require more water. Many carry water with them in sports bottles or other containers (I know a man who carried water in a vodka bottle, just to confound the police - not a good idea!) Why is that? What makes us need water more than non-laryngectomized persons? The answer is that we no longer breath through our nose.
The nose is nature’s filter and humidifier. People (and most other warm blooded animals) have tiny coils of membrane-covered cartilage, resembling coral, call respiratory turbinates in their nasal passages. When a person breaths out warm moist air from his lungs, much of the water condenses onto the cooler turbinates. Then, when he inhales, it picks up the moisture and returns it to the lungs. The foam rubber filters many of us wear works in much the same way.
When their purpose was discovered in 1961, through a study of desert kangaroo rats, it was though they were needed only by mammals living in arid conditions. Further research has indicated that creatures in all climates need this humidification process. Warm blooded creatures, such as man, consume oxygen at a rate 20 times that of our cold blooded cousins, the reptiles. This requires a high rate of breathing, which means a high risk of losing water. Without turbinates you could lose as much as 75% of your daily water intake.
As stoma breathers we can no longer take advantage of natures humidifier, and so must resort to other means. Room humidifiers have been found useful by many laryngectomees, as have the above mentioned foam rubber filters. Also, there are commercial humidifiers on the market, designed specifically for laryngectomees and other neck breathers. All people being different, some may chose one or more of these methods, some may not.
But for all of us, there’s always the water fountain or the sports bottle… not the vodka bottle.