My doctor said I have a deviated septum, how come I can breathe from both nostrils?

I just feel my nose, no the part I breathe with, but like behind it, is stuffed, I don't know how to describe it. One nostril clogs up when I sleep. But normaly I have no such problem when I wake up. The only problem I have is that when I laugh or talk a lot "the back" of my nose is stuffed....if you know what I mean. Are these the symptoms of a deviated septum? I just didn't know that. The doc said it's just slightly deviated, by the way.
Answer:
Deviated means that it's not going straight up the center. If it's only slightly deviated, then you should still be able to breathe through both sides of your nose.

Here's a drawing:
http://healthgate.partners.org/images/si...

If it gets bad enough that it bothers you a lot, you can have surgery to repair it.

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Basically the cartilage down the middle of your nose is slightly bent, probably way in the back. I had surgery to have mine fixed because mine did cause me lots of problems, but I recognize the symptoms you are talking about. One side of my nose would get more stuffed up than the other, particularly when I was lying down.

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Stop snorting the coke and you'll be back to normal in no time.

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Because you have only one standard deviation.

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