Candela, 35, has had trouble breathing all her life, but had no idea why
A mother-of-two was left stunned after doctors removed a blob of tape from her nose, which had been there for 35 years. Candela Reybaud cannot remember how the tape ended up in her nose. She suspects it was left behind after a nasal tube was inserted during “an episode of respiratory distress” as a newborn in the hospital.
Candela has been breathing through a partially blocked nostril all her life, without even knowing about it. The health influencer, who has 105,000 Instagram followers, said she had just gotten used to it. The 35-year-old said: “For as long as I can remember I have had trouble breathing through my nose.
“On the right side, hardly any air came through when I inhaled. I’ve always had trouble with physical activity because I had to breathe through my mouth, and the same thing happened when I slept. I never paid much attention to it because I got used to breathing this way from an early age.
“And at that time there was not as much information about the consequences of mouth breathing as there is now.” Candela said she had a severe case of sinusitis about a year ago.
“At that time, I didn’t get a CT scan because there wasn’t a scanner in my city and I didn’t want to travel,” she said. “When my symptoms improved, I let it go.”
But a month ago the symptoms returned, causing severe pain in her right cheek. “This time I decided to take action because I noticed it returning,” she said. “During an external examination, the doctor thought he saw something that could be a polyp.
“He ordered another CT scan, and this time I got it done. The report noted a ‘partially calcified focal image of approximately 8 x 6 mm’, reminiscent of a rhinolith, which is essentially an encapsulated foreign body.
“When I brought in the scan, the doctor examined me with an endoscope and located the obstruction.” She added: “After almost an hour of trying to remove it, he finally managed to get it out with tweezers.”
But neither knew what the object could be or how it got there in the first place. Candela said: “At first we didn’t understand what it was, but when I got a closer look I quickly realized it was a piece of tape that had been folded and rolled up.
“I was incredibly surprised. I can’t remember how it got there, let alone how long it had been there. I think it must have been there since early childhood, or even when I was a baby. When I spoke to my mother, she remembered that when I was born in 1990, I had an episode of respiratory distress in the neonatal unit.
“She assumes that they had a nasal tube inserted at the time and that the tape was on the equipment. I don’t know if that’s possible, but it’s the only logical explanation we’ve come up with. My family is as surprised as I am.”
Candela said the change was “incredible and immediate.” “There’s still some swelling from when the foreign object was there,” she explained, “but I feel like I’m breathing better every day.”
“It will take a little longer for the swelling to disappear completely, but the difference is already noticeable. I am still surprised, but also very relieved that I have finally found the cause, and even more so because it was resolved without surgery or invasive procedures.”
She added: “The thing is, at the age of 35, I’m discovering what it’s like to breathe normally through both nostrils. And I am the protagonist of the most bizarre anecdote I have ever known.”
After sharing her story on social media, Candela received an outpouring of support from around the world. “I never thought that by sharing my experiences on social media, so many people would open up or be curious about what happened. It completely surprised me and at the same time made me realize how important it is to pay attention to complaints that we sometimes consider ‘normal’.
“If my experience helps someone else to seek medical advice in time or stop normalizing lifelong symptoms, then all this will have been worth it.”
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