Logan’s Story
Living with CRS for 9 years
“All the treatments I was trying weren’t helping.”
Logan is a transplant nurse who enjoys the beach, live music and travel. Her CRS began in college, with recurrent sinus infections. She had sinus pressure, headaches, and constant congestion. “My sinus infections got more frequent and I could never get rid of them.” She drove four hours every two weeks to see her ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist, and she tried many over-the-counter and prescription medications to get relief, with no impact.
What a new treatment would mean to her
“Of all the medication options I tried, I didn’t get much relief from any of them.” Throughout her treatment, Logan accepted that CRS was a chronic condition that she would just have to deal with, and she thinks more can be done to help patients like her. “I think surgery should be your last resort. Another option besides pills, sprays and rinses would be great.”
How CRS impacts her daily life
While in college, Logan had terrible headaches, constant pressure in her face, congestion, postnasal drip and she was tired all the time. “I lost my sense of taste and smell for three years.” She remembers falling asleep in class and not being able to exercise because she couldn’t breathe. She scheduled her life around constant medical appointments while working full time and trying to be a normal college student. She describes choking in her sleep from the drainage, and she sleeps on a wedge cushion as a result. “I had symptoms pretty much all the time. It was a constant.”
When her symptoms were unbearable, she missed class. “Some days, the headaches were just so, so bad I remember being miserable, almost to the point of tears sometimes and with just no relief.” She says it was hard for friends and family to understand, and she just did what she needed to do to get through each day, get through her nursing program, and get through life.
Her challenges with treatments
Logan tried a variety of treatment options, including over-the-counter sinus medications, pain relievers, allergy pills, nasal sprays and sinus rinses with steroids and antibiotics added. In addition to her ENT, she saw an allergist and an immunologist, who added allergy shots, a vaccine to boost her immune system, and asthma injections and pills (even though she does not have asthma).
In desperation, she had the first of two sinus surgeries with septum reconstruction, but all her symptoms returned. “I was ‘back to the drawing board’ with congestion and sinus headaches within two months.” After a second sinus surgery, she still experienced debilitating symptoms and resumed use of previous medications that had not worked, trying to get relief.
A new ENT prescribed an eight-month course of a strong antibiotic, which has finally offered some improvement for Logan’s CRS. However, she still needs to manage her symptoms daily. Logan uses a special-order steroid rinse and over-the-counter antihistamines (which she alternates every few months because they stop working). “If I miss my sinus rinse for even one day, I wake up miserable, and it takes a few days to get my CRS under control again.” When her symptoms flare, she also takes antibiotics and/or oral steroids along with more over-the-counter medicines. Managing her CRS requires significant time and expense.
