The Morning Blend: Good Night’s Sleep

Host: Welcome back to the Morning Blend. Millions of Americans struggle with chronic sinus and nasal issues. Those problems can leave us feeling tired and unproductive. So today, in-office procedures to help diagnose the problem and fix it. Dr. Hilel Swerdlin and Dr. Nicole Burnett are with Sinus & Snoring MD and Misty here, is a medical assistant there, who also had an in-office procedure to help her breathe easier. Good to have you guys. Hi Everybody.

SSMD: [Greetings]

Host: Yeah, I think that’s interesting, because as we understand it, you’re not only a member of the staff, Misty, but you also had the procedure done. We were kinda joking during the break often times when you work in a medical office you take care of yourself last, so..

Misty: That’s right.

Host: Yeah, so it was good that you decided to do it. What kind of problems were you having?

Misty: I was having horrendous sinus headaches and it persisted for several years. I had sinus blockage, sinus pressure and like a lot of our patients, I tried over-the-counter medications, I tried nasal sprays, antibiotics. Nothing was working and the symptoms persisted and I just wasn’t getting any relief. 

Host: Did you kinda think “Hey, I’m  just going to have to deal with this? This is just my life”?

Misty: I was for a little bit, but then I realized I work for an ENT, this is ridiculous. You know, I should be getting treated too. So I actually set up an appointment with Dr. Burnett and had a consult with her, and she ran a couple tests, did a little in-office test to see what’s going on with my sinuses, to see why I was experiencing such horrendous, horrendous symptoms. She did diagnose me with chronic sinusitis and she determined I’d be a good candidate for the balloon office dilation procedure. 

Host: Is this a common diagnosis? Do you see a lot of people with that sort of chronic sinusitis and living with it?

Burnett: Day in and day out.

Host: Yeah, so what kind of symptoms. I mean obviously she said it was difficult breathing, kind of that pressure. What’s the problem in there? Is that environmental? Is it anatomical?

Burnett: It’s a combination of all of the above, actually. Triggered a lot of times by allergies in the environment. Whether it’s in the house or out seasonally etc. and then there’s anatomical considerations that we take into our decision process.

Host: There’s so many people who I think just kind of resign themselves to living with chronic sinus issues. What do most people say at the time they come to your office, are they just fed up with the over-the-counter medicines, and all the different kinds of things they’re doing--dealing with sinus headaches as well as probably sinus infections.

Hilel Swerdlin: Yeah, they’re not sleeping well because they can’t breathe through their nose, they’re having sinus pressure, so they want to fix their sleep because they’re there today. (hard to understand) 

Host: Talk about the procedure then she had, the in-office dilation.

Misty: The procedure that I had was really quick and easy actually. It was 30 minutes long. I was put under with, I wasn’t put under, [I had] laughing gas.

Host: Oh yeah

Misty: Which was awesome.

Host: I love laughing gas! To help you relax a little bit, right?

Misty: So I was really relaxed, I was totally at ease. Doctor used an anesthetic spray to help kinda numb, numb up my nose. Make sure I was nice and comfortable and the procedure itself was painless. After the procedure, it was a little bit of discomfort, but it was controlled with Mortin, and I was able to go back to work the next day. 

Host: Wow

Misty: Yeah

Host: Now you had, is that right that you had the procedure done in December.

Misty: That’s right.

Host: Okay, so now several months later and after the recovery, you were able to go right back to work, are you still experiencing relief?

Misty: Yes. It was life-changing and I was kind of upset that I waited so long to do the procedure because I had seen patients come in and get relief and seen their journey through the whole--their first visit to their surgery date, to their post op and they’ve always had such positive outcomes and I'm like “I want to feel like that too”.

Host: “I need to do that!”

Misty: “It’s my turn”

Host: Yeah, exactly! Well I think that’s so true. You said, you see all these patients all the time, and you guys see them too, and they’re probably nervous about actually doing a procedure,but then the result and the way it changes their lives, I bet you see this every single day.

Dr. Swerdlin: Misty actually, it was interesting because she was nervous about it so she decided to send her husband first.

Misty: I did.

Host: Haha, guinea pig!

Dr. Swerdlin: Yes.

Misty: I did. He was having actually worse symptoms than I was and he is a horrible snorer, so he had a little bit more than I did. He had a septoplasty and he had a utilectomy(?) as well and his quality of life is so much better and so when I had seen him go through it, he had great results, I’m like “It’s my turn”.

Host: We always say that opposites attract but you both had sinus issues so maybe similarities attract. So let’s talk a little bit about diagnosis and then treatment because you mentioned a couple of different types of treatments. So she, Misty needed something different than what her husband required. So first address diagnosis. How do you diagnose sinus problems?

Burnett: So when Misty was coming to us in the patient role, I evaluated her. So I talked about kind of what her journey was, what she has tried, what worked, what didn’t work, symptoms associated with what was going on. Then I used a little camera device to actually look inside the nasal passages. It’s a very minimally invasive diagnostic tool, if you will. And then based on that we moved forward to doing some allergy testing because we needed to identify if there were triggers in the environment that was leading to these chronic symptoms. Which we identified some, confirmed a few others, then in order to determine from the anatomical perspective if there was something also contributing, we do a very minimally invasive low radiation CT scan of the sinuses and that at least then gives us a very clear blue print as to what might be contributing to this. So based on that, tried a few different medicines to get some immediate relief and then this is where she goes to Dr. Swerdlin, our surgeon. And he comes up with the plan. Looks at my assessment, looks my treatment plans, sees how we can best optimize what’s going on to give her her quality of life that she’s been waiting for. 

Host: And the million dollar question is how do you feel now?

Misty: I feel great and I wish I would have done it sooner.

Host: Yeah, and I feel like spring is already getting some of us so it’s like I know everybody is starting to feel a lot of that and I want to make sure they can come in and for a limited time right now because you’re going to be offering free screenings for nasal, for sinus and for snoring. All you have to do is call the Sinus and Snoring MD Office, it’s 262-652-2887 or visit SinusAndSnoringMD.com that’s how you can make an appointment and again the free screening is right now, just right now for those of you who call and get in to see the doctor.

Host: How’s your husband feeling?

Misty: Great. 

Host: Does he snore?

Misty: He does not snore anymore, yes.

Host: Awesome! See? Saving lives and saving marriages. That’s what you guys do! That’s fantastic. Thank you guys. Thanks to all of you.

SSMD: Thank you so much.