I'm new to this forum, and new to my diagnosis of Samter's Triad Syndrome. I'm hoping there are others on the board with Samter's who can share their treatment stories - especially the successful ones! Here's mine:

I developed adult onset asthma at 20, was hospitalized and had several ER visits in the early days, but for the last several years my asthma has been very well controlled and seldom bothers me much.

Since childhood I have had severe allergies to many medications, icluding antibiotics such as penecillin and sulfa.

I have been on immunotherapy for seasonal and environmental allergies for the last 3 years. First year 4 shots a week, currently at mainenance of 2 shots a month.

I have had chronic congestion and sinus infections for years and finally had sinus surgery 2 years ago for polyps/septum/turbinates.

A year and a half ago I started having unidentified allergic reactions. I thought they were some kind of environmental allergen break through, but after having several, some quite severe (throat/ear itching, swelling, and asthma attack) my allergist and I were able to determine that I was reacting to the ibuprofen I was taking for sinus and back pain. I often took it at the same time as an antihistimine for other allergies, which masked the reaction somewhat and made it more difficult to conclude the culprit. Needless to say, I have not had any of these attacks since discontinuing use of aspirin related products, though I have reacted to red wine.

So now I am a triad patient. My lates CT shows that the polyps are back with significant thickening of the mucosal membranes and I recently spent 4 months on antibiotics for sinus infection. Becuase of the NSAID allergy I cannot effectively treat my sinus pain. The pain is the hardest parts for me. It makes it hard to do my job and to be a mom and a wife. When I am on a steroid burst and for a while following I can smell and taste my food, but not the rest of the time. Occasionally I don't have ringing in my ears, but most of the time I do. I always feel like I'm wearing a heavy mask and sometimes the pain is just awful. I get tonsil stones and sore throats from the post nasal drip. It takes up to a week for my ears to "open" after flying or driving over the mountains, if they do at all. I am frequently dizzy and sometimes get vertigo.

It sucks.

I'm scheduled for consultation on aspirin desensitization at National Jewish next month. I have high hopes for this as I have heard that it really reduces the recurrance of polyps and congestion. If it goes well and some of the swelling abates I won't have to have a second surgery just yet. If not I'll be back on the table with the halo screwed to my head for round 2.

What are you doing as part of your Samter's treatment?