Patient Story: Sinus Surgery Corrected Her Chronic Rhinosinusitis
“Toward the end of 2018, I started having trouble breathing, I had no sense of smell, exercising made me cough, and I would lose my breath after walking for a couple of minutes. I was always tired,” explained Liz Haberkorn, the Academy’s Senior Editorial Manager for the AAO-HNSF journals. And, like most of us at one time or another, she’s an ENT patient.
“I consulted my primary care physician, an immunologist, and an allergist who diagnosed me with asthma. I even saw a Reiki expert,” she explained. “I tried acupuncture treatments, I took Claritin® and FLONASE®, and I got two weekly allergy shots for two years with little results. Nothing seemed to help. At one point before my surgery, I was coughing so badly and so frequently that I cracked a rib.”
Liz Haberkorn talks about her struggle with chronic rhinosinusitis.
Finally, a friend recommended her ENT specialist, AAO-HNS member Ravi S. Swamy, MD, of Metropolitan ENT in Alexandria, VA. “He looked up my nose for about 10 seconds and said, ‘Yeah, you need surgery’,” Liz said. “After reviewing my CT scan, he told me that there was practically no open passage in the nasal cavity and he didn’t know how I had been able to breath for so long. Apparently, I had a 75% deviated septum and a ‘face full of nasal polyps.’ Turns out I had been breathing through my mouth without really realizing it. So, I was in pretty bad shape!”
Dr. Swamy recommended endoscopic sinus surgery, which he performed on Liz in 2021. He also prescribes DUPIXENT® for Liz’s condition to help keep her asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps under control. “Dr. Swamy told me that I would feel like a completely different person after the surgery, which was comforting,” Liz said. “Afterward, I could breathe again and while I didn’t get 100% of my sense of smell back, it was still much improved. It was amazing!”
I never really thought about the science of breathing until I couldn’t do it anymore.
As a new ENT patient, Liz was nervous before her surgery because she had never been through one before, and she was anxious about going under anesthesia. “Dr. Swamy was understanding and encouraging, but he also made it clear that I was only going to get worse if I didn’t have the surgery. He took the time to explain everything to me, and I had a really good experience and outcome.”
It can be easy to take for granted how the fundamental functions of life often originate in the ears, nose, throat, etc. “The mental health factor of being sick with the added stress and feeling of always being tired and unable to catch your breath can have a significant impact on a patient and even their families. Having this surgery improved a lot of areas in my life.”
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