It was a headache that didn't go away - for an entire decade. Each day, schoolteacher Tracy MacDonald would contend with an awful congestion in her nose and a throbbing, debilitating headache.

'I saw neurologists, allergy specialists, and even chiropractors, but there was no improvement,' said the 38-year-old who hails from Nova Scotia in Canada.

At first, she was convinced that it was a bad case of allergies - so she took multiple pills and at least six decongestants a day - just to clear the 'stuffiness' she felt in her head and nose.

'The pills would help with the watery eyes, but everything else was still bad,' she said.

Even at night, there was no relief, said the mother of two girls, aged seven and five.

'I'd lie on one side and I'd feel one side of my nose cavity fill up, then I'd roll over and that would drain but the other side would fill up. I was tossing and turning all night,' she said.

And the headache simply wouldn't go away.

There was always that heaviness I'd wake up with and sometimes it would get worse during the day.'

It just got worse when she and her family relocated to Singapore three years ago - the extensive air- conditioning in buildings here seemed to exacerbate her condition.

It affected everything in her life - even her daughters had to tread softly when she was going through a bad bout.

'They knew that when Mummy had a headache to close the doors and keep quiet,' she said. 'I cancelled so many things because I felt so bad that I just couldn't go out.'

She was desperate for relief by the time she started seeing Dr Adrian Saurajen, a ear, nose and throat surgeon, at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre three years ago.

He diagnosed that her headaches were due to chronic sinusitis, an inflammation and blockage of the sinuses around the nose.

During the examination, DrSaurajen found acid reflux in her throat.

She had developed a small hernia, where the weakened muscles of her abdomen wall allowed stomach acids to come back up her food canal and into her throat.

Because the food canal is connected to the nasal passages, this could have added to the constant infection in her sinuses.

But after her hernia was surgically repaired, there still was no relief from the symptoms and the headaches.

She went back to Dr Saurajen in tears, she said.

'I...couldn't go on like this.'

Then, Dr Saurajen offered her the option of a brand-new procedure - balloon sinuplasty.

The procedure, which only made its debut in the US about two years ago, involves pushing a balloon into the sinus opening. The balloon is inflated to push open the blockage and allow the infected mucus to drain away.

'He showed me a video of the procedure and I said, 'Let's do it'.

'How could I not try?'

Her two daughters were also enthusiastic when she told them about the procedure.

'Ever since they were born, I've had this problem.

'When I told them about the operation, they were so excited for me,' she said with a smile.

On April 30 this year, she became the first patient in Asia to undergo the process.

The relief was immediate.

'I could breathe and the headache was gone.'

It has been a couple of months now and Tracy has definitely got her life back.

'Before, I could never leave the house without taking my bag of drugs with me. Now, I feel liberated!'

E-mail: elainey@sph.com.sg