The sinus infection nightmare continues as I patiently (or some days…not so patiently) await my appointment with the ENT doctor this Thursday. I have been sleeping very little due to the pain in my mouth, gums, ears, and head. My mouth, teeth, and gums don’t start bothering me until I lie down at night to try and sleep. Last year when this neverending bout of sinus infections started, it began by my mouth and teeth hurting. Fortunately, I was scheduled already to go to the dentist the next day and I thought I had a bad tooth but the cloudy X-rays showed it was a sinus infection. Here I am again…a little over one year later, with no relief. I am going back to the dentist today and I will have him double check to make sure I don’t have a bad tooth, but I’m 99% sure he is going to tell me it’s my sinuses.
My ears don’t feel like they have as much fluid in them but they hurt like crazy. My throat feels raw, sore and I am noticing that I am having trouble swallowing certain foods. I guess maybe all of the sinus drainage has irritated my throat pretty badly. I have been using heat, ice, and everything you can think of to try and relieve some of the pain and pressure but nothing has worked. I hope the doctor has a better option for me than antibiotics because that course of treatment has miserably failed and I don’t want to continue taking them and killing off anymore good bacteria by taking them – especially when they’re not helping.
I am praying that I will find out something that will be beneficial and that the specialist will be able to do something to help me. I really need some relief from this.
As another chronic sinusitus, chronic fatigue, fibro, blah-blah-blah sufferer, I can endorse warm ear drops (Auralgan it was called) for the pain. One or two drops directly in the ear canal, followed by a small cotton ball–this when I was quite small, 1940s-50s. I managed to get something similar a year or two ago. The heat soothes not only the ear canal but the nearby sinuses, bones and teeth.
Best wishes,
Rebecca
Sinus infections (especially chronic ones) are no fun at all and can definitely lead to other issues (not to mention pretty much take over your life). Nasal irrigation is a great place to start, IMHO.
Dealing w/ chronic sinusitis is another story. Sinus surgery has long been the only option when all else fails. However there are now some other ways to turn. Balloon sinuplasty is gaining traction – lots of info out there.
Anyway. Knowledge is power – do your homework and talk to your doctor. Find the solution that fits your condition best.
Take care.
It sounds like you are suffering from lack of movement of your nasal cilia. Normally nasal cilia move the bacteria out of the nose and sinuses. Until you see your doctor try Tea, lemon and honey to increase cilia activity.
Ask your doctor about using proteolytic enzymes such as Clear.ease to reduce sinus swelling and thin the mucus for better cilia action.
Normally your nasal cilia pulse at 14 pulses per second, therefor you should consider the Hydro Pulse Nasal/Sinus irrigator which is tuned to restore good cilia movement. It also reduces the bacterial count in order to allow your immune system to handle the infection. See http://www.grossan.com
Any time you have an accumulation of bacteria toxins you will have fatigue. Makes sense to reduce that by clearing the sinus infection-restore cilia and wash out the bacteria by pulsatile irrigation.
Chronic sinusitis can also be a sign of Primary Immune Dysfunction. Do a Google on PID and check out Primary Immune Dysfunction patient groups. Seems like you might want to get a workup from an immunologist knowledgeable in PID?
Thank you so much everyone for all of the great information. I really appreciate it. I have been trying everything I can think of to help.
I never heard of PID so I will definitely look into that also.
Yes on neti pot. It takes some getting used to but well worth it.
It is also nice that there are other options out there when the cat scan comes back not so good. It used to be sinus surgery was the only option but now there are less invasive options like balloon sinuplasty and I think a few others.
I hope you feel better though.
—-JT
I have been battling sinus infection for six months. I developed it after a third lumpectomy(three surgeries within two months). I have been on several antibiotics, steroids, rinses and finally they did a culture and it showed pseudomonas bacteria. I had sinus surgery about three weeks ago and feel a lot of sinus pressure, nose hurts , very nauseas and tired. But my ENT said everything looks like it is healing nicely. He put me on steroids to help the inflammation. I had my immune system tested and they say it is ok.