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是不是真的有「空鼻症」


是不是真的有「空鼻症」
空鼻症是真的吗？如果不是，那为什么人们通过自杀来摆脱它呢？
This medical mystery — a byproduct of common nasal surgery — has stumped many doctors and scientists, some of whom suspect the suffocating condition may just be imaginary. But that isn\u0026#39;t making the people who feel suicidal over its horrific symptoms feel any better.
这个医学界的谜题，这个常规鼻腔手术所产生的副作用，已然难倒了诸多医生和科学家。而他们中的一部分人，怀疑所谓的窒息感仅仅是患者的臆测。然而，这种说法却不足以说服那些因为术后并发症饱受煎熬甚至不惜放弃生命的人们。
Posted on April 15, 2016, at 9:37 a.m.
是不是真的有「空鼻症」
Joel Oliphint BuzzFeed Contributor
是不是真的有「空鼻症」
When Brett Helling turned 36 on January 29, 2015, he was living in his parents’ basement in Worthington, Ohio, a well-heeled suburb of Columbus. His mom made him his favorite dinner: roast beef and mashed potatoes with Texas sheet cake for dessert. Brett’s friends sent him happy birthday messages on Facebook. Some asked where he’d been, why they hadn’t seen him in so long. Down the road at Natalie’s Coal-Fired Pizza and Live Music, where Brett had been working fewer and fewer bartending shifts, his co-workers texted him, begging him to come celebrate. But he didn’t want to be seen. He couldn’t do anything but lie on the couch, listless, trying to ignore the sensation of suffocation that had been plaguing him for nearly a year.
在2015年1月29日，当Brett Helling （布雷特赫林）到了36岁的时候，他居住在他父母的在地下室中，俄亥俄州沃辛顿，一个在哥伦比亚富有的郊区。他的妈妈给他做了他最喜欢的食物：烤牛肉，碎土豆，和德克萨斯薄片蛋糕作为点心。Brett（布雷特）的朋友们在他的脸书中私信他生日快乐。有的人还问他最近怎么样，为什么这么久不和他们联系。在Natalie（地名）的Coal-Fired和Live Music的乐队，Brett曾经工作的地方，现在他越来越少去了。他的队友们发短信给他，请求他过来庆祝和他们一起庆祝他的生日。然而Brett不想见任何人。他什么都做不了，除了躺在睡椅上面，尝试着去忽略这个困扰着他将近一年的窒息感。
It started in middle school with allergies that only got worse over time. As an adult, Brett struggled with sinus infections that refused to go away. They clogged his ears, gave him headaches, and led to restless nights. It got so bad that in February 2014 he decided to have an ear, nose, and throat doctor perform a septoplasty, a routine sinus surgery to correct a deviated septum. His older brother had undergone the same surgery.
从初中时开始他就有了过敏的问题，随着时间的迁移情况越来越糟。成年后，Brett（布雷特）一直在和他的不愿意离开的鼻炎做斗争。鼻炎让他耳闷，给他头痛，并且让他晚上无法休息。 这些情况变得越来越糟糕，（终于）在2014年的2月份的时候，他决定在让一个耳鼻喉大夫来做一个鼻中隔成型手术，一个常规的鼻腔手术来修正他的鼻中隔偏曲。他的哥哥曾经经历过同样的手术。
After lying low for about a week, Brett returned to his bartending gig. He told his doctor in follow-up appointments that something felt too “open.” The doctor assured him that barely anything was removed during the surgery, but over the next several months, Brett couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong. His breathing was all messed up. In fact, he couldn’t even feel himself breathing through his nose. Instead of steady, rhythmic breathing, he felt like he was constantly coming up for air. And it was more than that. His senses felt dulled, like he’d had a lobotomy. Emotions he used to access easily now seemed far away, out of reach. Everything felt like nothing.
在休息了一个星期左右，Brett重新回到他的乐队当中。他在后续就诊中告诉他的大夫他有种太过“开放”的感受。他的医生确切得告诉他，手术中几乎没有取出任何东西。但是在他接下来数个月中，Brett无法改变关于有什么东西不对劲的感受。他的呼吸一片混乱。事实上，他甚至无法感觉到空气从经过他的鼻子。取代稳健和有规律的呼吸，他感觉自己在不断得在寻找空气。然而情况不仅仅如此，他觉得自己的感官变得愚钝了，就像做了前脑叶白质切除术一样。他过去可以轻易得感受到情感，但是现在却大大得不一样，几乎感受不到。一切（对他）都变得无关紧要了。
Brett and his girlfriend had recently moved into an old house, so at first, Carol Helling attributed her son’s symptoms to dust and other allergens. Plus, Brett could be a bit of a hypochondriac. He was always collecting vitamins and supplements to treat various ailments, and he was extremely sensitive to over-the-counter medications. He claimed he could tell the difference between Tylenol and generic acetaminophen.
Brett和他的女友最近搬到一个老房子里，在刚刚开始，Carol Helling（卡罗尔赫林）认为她的儿子的症状主要是由粉尘和其他的过敏引起的。另外，她觉得Brett可能有点疑病症。（Brett）他一直在收集维他命和其他补养品来对待各种各样不适，他对离柜的药物非常敏感。他声明他可以分辨出泰诺和通用的对乙酰氨基酚的区别。
Brett also tended to obsess over things, and Carol says obsessive-compulsive disorder runs in the family. As a toddler, he wouldn’t eat dinner until all the kitchen cupboard doors were closed. From high school through adulthood, he was notorious for his 45-minute-long showers; he had to wash in a certain order — neck, left shoulder, right shoulder — and if the routine got screwed up, he’d start over. He wore two or three T-shirts at a time, usually in hard-to-miss, lollipop colors.
Brett 对事物有种强迫性，Carol（卡罗尔）说家里面一直被强迫症笼罩着。在孩童时，他就以45分钟的洗澡时常而臭名昭著；他不得不以一种特定的顺序洗澡，— 脖子，左肩膀，右肩膀，一旦次序被打乱，他就必须重新开始。他把2-3件T恤同时穿在一起，通常是难以忽略的，亮亮的棒棒糖色。
是不是真的有「空鼻症」
Courtesy Helling Family
Brett and his nephew Preston in 2011.
Brett 和他的外甥2011
But for most of his life, Brett’s quirks were more endearing than concerning. In fact, other than his family and some close friends, no one would have suspected he battled anxiety and depression, which surfaced most often in winter. He drank frequently, and breakups could send him into an emotional tailspin. But no one was overly concerned about Brett before his surgery. He played guitar and bass, gigging often with several bands. He was a cheerleader for his friends, especially his bandmates and others in the Columbus indie-rock community. At work, regulars would come to Natalie’s just to see him.
但是在他的生活中，Brett的怪癖受到的欢迎胜过担心。事实上，不仅仅是他的家人和一些亲近的朋友以外，没有人会怀疑他在与焦虑和低落做斗争。（这些情况）在冬天出现的更多。他经常醉酒，分手可能把他带进了一个情感的混乱中。但是在他做手术之前没有人过多得关注他的这些问题。他玩吉他和贝斯，并且经常和几个乐队一起演奏。他还是他朋友们中的拉拉队队长，特别是对于他的乐队和其他的哥伦比亚的独立摇滚队友们来说。在他出演时，老粉丝们会只是为了见到他来到Natalie（地名）。
It wasn’t until summer that Brett’s friends and family started taking his complaints seriously. He worked fewer hours, spent more time at his parents’ house, and stopped showing up to band rehearsals. While researching his symptoms online, Brett came across something called empty nose syndrome, a rare, controversial condition that can occur after surgical procedures on cylindrical structures inside the nose called turbinates. At first, he was relieved — empty nose sounded horrific. Good thing he’d had surgery on only his septum, not his turbinates. And yet the symptoms these patients talked about sounded so much like his own. The nasal dryness. The paradoxical open-yet-suffocating feeling. Panic. Insomnia. Fatigue. Anxiety. Depression.
直到这个夏天，Brett的朋友和家人们才开始认真对待他的抱怨。他很少演出了，在父母家里花的时间更多，并且经常不在乐队排练得时候出现。当他在网上查找他的症状的时候，Brett发现了一个叫做空鼻症候群的，少见的有争议的疾病（英文简称ENS下文统称空鼻症，译者注），可能发生在在对鼻甲（一种鼻腔内的圆柱体结构）进行外科手术的并发症。在刚开始他很释怀，空鼻症听起来很可怕。但是好消息是他只在做了鼻中隔成型手术，鼻甲没做改动。但是他越发觉得这些病人讨论的症状挺起来喝他自己的很像。鼻腔干燥，矛盾的开放而又窒息感，恐慌、失眠症、疲劳、焦虑、抑郁。
In August, Brett dug out his surgical report. There, alongside the septoplasty, were the two words he feared most: “turbinate reduction.” He fell to his knees, hugged his dog, and cried. He hadn’t paid attention to the other, supposedly routine procedures his doctor had glossed over. They were presented to him as fine print, as nothing to worry about.
在八月份，Brett 翻开了他的手术报告。在那里，在鼻中隔成形术旁边，出现了让他最恐惧的两个词：“鼻甲缩减。”他跪下了他的膝盖，抱住了他的狗，开始哭泣。他之前没有注意到其他的东西（鼻甲缩减），他相信他的医生可以轻易做好这种常规手术。他们给他表述得很轻巧，就像完全不用担心得样子。
Brett was convinced his surgery had given him empty nose syndrome, but his doctor disregarded his concerns. Another ENT physician told him he was just having anxiety. It was a conservative surgery, nothing to worry about. “Breathe through your mouth,” the doctor told him.
Brett 开始确信他的手术给他带来了空鼻症，但是他的大夫无视了他的顾虑。另外一个耳鼻喉医生告诉Brett，他不过是有点焦虑罢了。这是一个保守的手术，没有什么可以担心的。“用你的嘴呼吸，”他的医生这么告诉他。
That fall and winter, all Brett could think or talk about was his nose. He was constantly fussing with it — rubbing it, wiping it. Co-workers who used to crave his attention began pawning him off on whomever had the time and patience to handle his obsessive rants about turbinates. By mid-October, he had checked himself into the ER and told the nurse, “I need to sleep or I’m going to die.” None of the nurses or doctors had heard of empty nose syndrome. They diagnosed him with depression, but Brett told them it was an ENT emergency. According to Brett, the ER doctor replied, “The head of ENT here doesn’t think so and will not see you.”
那个秋天和冬天，Brett所思所想都是他的鼻子。他不断得烦躁得擦它，擤它。他的同事们过去会请求他把注意力从急切得不停地抱怨他的鼻甲上面转移开。在十月中旬的时候，他来到急诊室并且告诉护士：“我需要睡觉，不然我将会死掉。”没有医生和护士曾经听说过空鼻症。他们诊断他是焦虑症，但是Brett 告诉他们这是一个耳鼻喉的急诊。根据Brett的口述，急诊大夫如此说：“耳鼻喉的主任并不这样认为，而且不会见你。”


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