The Story of Rachel Jordan: A Struggle for Every Breath
Rachel Jordan, a woman from the UK, tragically ended her own life in 2021. She battled severe nasal and breathing issues that fundamentally impacted her life. Her story, as revealed through her posts in a support group on Facebook, provides a deep insight into her daily struggles and the measures she tried to alleviate her symptoms.
Rachel described how every breath was a struggle. She explained that her nose was so dry and damaged that she couldn't breathe normally through it. There was no functional mucosa left on her septum and inferior turbinates, resulting in a complete lack of sensation and resistance in her nose. This absence of normal breathing function made every breath an effort that she couldn't even feel, leaving her with a constant pounding pulse and dizziness. Her situation became so desperate that she expressed concern about not being able to see her young daughter grow up.
Rachel asked other group members for recommendations on anxiety medications to help manage the constant fight-or-flight feeling that her condition caused. She had previously tried Sertraline (known as Zoloft in the US) but couldn't cope with the initial side effects it caused.
Rachel’s struggle was not limited to her waking hours. She found that her symptoms were particularly severe in the early hours of the morning. She would wake up in a state of extreme anxiety, unable to control her breathing due to the lack of sensation and resistance in her nose. Although she took mirtazapine to help her sleep, she often woke up between 3 and 5 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. Her anxiety remained high throughout the day, accompanied by noisy and difficult breathing, as well as lightheadedness and dizziness. In the evenings, after around 8 pm, she noticed that her turbinates seemed to swell slightly, giving her a bit more sensation and reducing her anxiety somewhat, although the sensation was still unpleasant and noisy.
No matter what she tried, Rachel couldn't get any moisture into her nose. Her septum remained permanently dry, and she wondered if some kind of metaplasia had occurred, leaving her without any functioning mucosa. She tried various remedies, including rinsing, NeilMed, Xlear, Ayr gel, coconut oil, Bapanthem nasal cream, Vaseline, but nothing worked.
Rachel’s symptoms first appeared after years of crusting in her nose, which she used to remove. She had (regrettably) undergone septorhinoplasty to try to solve her airflow problems, but the surgery only made things worse. The inside of her nose was numb, and she had no resistance to her breathing. She couldn’t sense airflow or temperature changes and felt like she couldn’t breathe. She was constantly manually breathing and couldn’t sleep at night without mirtazapine, which only gave her four hours of sleep on a good night. Her nose was bone dry, and she believed that years of crusting had caused metaplasia.
Rachel shared with group members that mouth breathing felt unnatural, and her body would try to continue breathing through her nose, even though it sent her into a fight-or-flight response because she couldn’t feel it properly.
She wondered if anyone else had experienced internal valve collapse and what their symptoms were. Her nasal breathing was noisy and difficult, and her automatic breathing had almost stopped. She felt pressure across the valve area of her nose and experienced a lot of accessory muscle pain, as well as difficulty sleeping at night without medication. She asked if fixing the valve could cause Empty Nose Syndrome (ENS).
Rachel sought advice on vitamin A nose drops or nasal spray available in the UK and asked if anyone had noticed physical improvement over time through measures such as sinus rinses and moisturizing the nasal passages, or if it was just a matter of learning to manage the symptoms mentally.
Rachel was desperate to find a way to retrain her body to breathe automatically. She manually breathed every breath unless she was asleep, which made her constantly dizzy and woozy because she couldn’t get the rhythm or depth right as her body would. She couldn’t concentrate on anything else.
Rachel's condition made her life unbearable. She asked for advice on how to deal with the fight-or-flight and panic symptoms, which made it difficult for her to eat, and she regularly gagged and even vomited if she didn’t work hard to keep her breathing under control. She took a beta blocker to try to manage her pounding heart.
Her breathing was completely disordered and under her control because she couldn’t sense the air going in and out of her nose. Her body wouldn’t let her sleep much at night because of this, and she often jerked awake covered in sweat.
Rachel’s symptoms had developed over a decade, starting with what she suspected was atrophic rhinitis, characterized by daily large patches of crust on her septum. She admitted, with embarrassment and regret, that she had picked off the crusts, leaving her nose sore and prone to bleeding.
In the last five months of her life, she began experiencing dizzy spells and waking up in the night feeling like she had been over-breathing and hyperventilating. This progressed to feeling suffocated during the day and night, unable to feel the air going into her nose, unable to take a satisfying breath, constantly manually breathing, lightheadedness, and panic. She was prescribed a corticosteroid spray by a doctor who thought she was congested, even though she felt the opposite, and this seemed to worsen her condition. She used saline spray daily, naseptin antibiotic cream, and coconut oil to moisturize her nose, but saw no improvement.
Rachel asked if it was possible for the nasal mucosa to "grow back" or if she was stuck with these debilitating symptoms. She prayed that her nose picking had not damaged her inferior turbinates irreparably.
Rachel Jordan’s story is a heartbreaking account of a woman who struggled immensely with a debilitating condition. Her efforts to find relief and her desperate pleas for help in the support group paint a picture of a life dominated by suffering and anxiety. Despite trying numerous treatments and seeking advice from others, Rachel’s condition continued to deteriorate, ultimately leading her to take her own life. Her story highlights the importance of having a functional nasal mucosa with mucus production and sensory ability.
About the surgery - septorhinoplasty
Rachel underwent septorhinoplasty, a surgical procedure that combines septoplasty and rhinoplasty. Here's a description of the surgery: Septorhinoplasty, is a procedure that addresses both functional and aesthetic concerns of the nose. It involves the following components:
**Septoplasty**
**Purpose** Corrects a deviated septum, which is the cartilage and bone that divide the nasal cavity into two nostrils. A deviated septum can cause breathing difficulties, nasal congestion, and recurrent sinus infections.
**Procedure**
- An incision is made inside the nostril to access the septum.
- The surgeon repositions, reshapes, or removes parts of the bone and cartilage to straighten the septum.
- The mucous membrane, a soft tissue lining the septum, is then repositioned back over the newly shaped septum.
**Rhinoplasty**
**Purpose**: Alters the shape and size of the nose for aesthetic reasons, such as improving appearance or proportion, or to correct deformities resulting from trauma or birth defects.
**Procedure**
- It can be performed either through an open approach (external incision at the base of the nose) or a closed approach (incisions inside the nostrils).
- The surgeon reshapes the bone and cartilage to achieve the desired appearance.
- Cartilage grafts might be used to reinforce and reshape the nose structure.
- The skin is then redraped over the newly shaped structure
**Risks and Complications**
- Infection, bleeding, or adverse reaction to anesthesia.
- Difficulty breathing through the nose if complications arise.
- Unsatisfactory aesthetic results requiring revision surgery.
- Potential for scarring, numbness, or persistent swelling.
Atrophic rhinitis worsened after septorhinoplasty
In Rachel's case, the septorhinoplasty worsened her situation caused by Atrophic rhinitis and she experienced a debilitating condition known as Empty Nose Syndrome (ENS), where the nasal passages feel too open and dry, causing significant discomfort and breathing difficulties.
Most likely, a nasal valve surgery was performed during Rachel's rhinoplasty. This procedure involves the destruction of the nasal valves with spreader grafts in a so-called "nasal valve repair." This severely opens up the nose and causes ENS symptoms to an extreme degree, as the first gate to control airflow is destroyed.
We make an average of 15,000 inhales and 15,000 exhales through the nose every day. The nose is a high-traffic area, and exposing unprotected mucous surfaces to erosive airflows leads to rapid atrophy of the nasal cavities.
Think about it this way: the turbinates and internal nasal valves in the respiratory system are like heart valves in the circulatory system. The removal or destruction of heart valves will soon lead to a heart attack. Similarly, the destruction of nasal function (turbinates and nasal valves) sets off a destructive domino effect for all body systems that cannot be stopped.
Rachel’s suicide is one of about 50 suicides and 10 failed attempts we have registered in recent years following septoplasty, turbinate reduction, sinus surgery, or septorhinoplasty. These surgeries have one thing in common: they all destroy the nasal mucosa and the sensory ability to sense airflow. They all open up the nose and remove natural air resistance needed to inflate the lungs fully. Surgeons and society keep laughing while patient after patient gets their lives destroyed.
Below you find a word document with all the info we found about Rachel. It can be printed or downloaded at the right bottom corner of the embedded document.
