Ugh..Sick- is this a Virus or?

[Suezer]

It started 2 days ago, pain in sinuses;over left teeth . Then unpleasant nasal discharge that has grossly increased over night. Can barely breath out of nose ,general fatigue.

Is it still a good idea to use the sinus flushes with so much congestion?

Can this be killed off using flushes,ect? I am so frustrated/worried. I have not had this much discharge/congestion with past sinus infections..
Has anyone else gotten something like this "while still on meds"? I am pulsing and worry it may effect things.

I am praying this is just a virus that will run its course, but how can one be sure? I feel just awful!

[beth22]

In Jan/Feb I had two sinus/respiratory infections in a row. The last one sounds pretty much like what you describe. I had really bad sinus congestion and ugly looking discharge and pressure. My daughter had it too. She took Sudafed and then Musinex and hers went away faster. I can't take decongestants because I get a rash, so I used Afrin nose spray and breathed steam. I also put one of those steam vaporizers in my room at night. One thing that seemed to help is to drink a lot of fluids - I drank mostly water and some cranberry juice diluted with water and it made the discharge not so thick and it came out more.

Most of my friends use the irrigation system, either the Neti Pot which is supposed to be quite mild or the spray by Neil Med. I have the Neti Pot, but never got the nerve to try it. I did use a saline spray that was just for moisture - doesn't come out the other side - and it helped. I thought for sure that mine was a bacterial infection - even my ears hurt, but it got better without antibiotics. I also put warm compresses over my sinuses after I sprayed with the Afrin and that helped it drain. Hope you feel better soon. The only good thing about when I was sick, was that my intestinal symptoms were actually better! It might have been that my body's immune system kicked in to fight the infection and helped with the bacteria in my gut too. Anyway, I hope you feel better soon - lots of people here have been ill with colds and such. Call your doctor if you don't feel better though.

[Bobbie]

Sounds like a sinus infection, but I am not a doc. See a good ENT if your symptoms persist.

See FAQ-Infections for more info. on saline irrigation, etc. I use the Neil Medi method & do it twice a day -- more if I have an infection. My ENT says you don't need to boil the water or use distilled water - tap is OK unless you are in another country. (The NeilMed has all kinds of dire warnings on the instructions -- probably in case of med. mal. Mucinex is good, too. Also Afrin (extra moisturing) but don't use it for more than 3 or 4 days or you'll have a "rebound effect."

I've had 3 sinus surgeries & live in the Sinus, Asthma, and Allergies Capitol City -- KC. The last one was a Godsend.

Don't panic. Some sinus infections can be viral.

[sks001]

Suezer - Naturally I'm not a doctor, but thought I would pass on what an old friend used to do who used to get horrible sinus infections.

Boil water and let it cool just a bit so you don't burn yourself, but water is still steaming. Add 4 drops of eucalyptus essential oil and 2 drops of peppermint essential oil (sometimes would use sage if was out of the oils). Put towel over head and breathe in steam for about 10 minutes - do this 3 or 4 times a day. These oils can also be added to a vaporizer at night. She would also drink lots of hot peppermint tea and hot chicken soup. Would even put the oils in bath with curtain closed and soak and breathe them in, instead of taking a shower, which was also very relaxing. Stay away from milk & dairy products.

After doing this for a couple days, if did not clear up, would boil the water and add cut up onion and/or garlic which are natural antibiotics & breathe in 3 or 4 times a day for two more days.

If that didn't work, then she would have to see doctor, but it worked practically all the time.

I'm sure others will chime in with more of their experiences.

[Suezer]

Thanks for the replies. Spoke to my ID today, was supposed to start pulsing 1 pill every 3rd day but he agreed to wait,stay with 1 every other day until this sinus thing resolves.
He told me if I am forced to take an antibiotic I will have to go back to the original 3 X a day of Vanco.

I am going to give this a few more days and hope it clears. I am so close to the end of the Vanco treatment. I dont want to have to start all over with this.

I hope it is not possible that I could relapse while pulsing simply due to another illness.. I am worrying about everything again (sigh) any one with some encouraging wisdom ?

[trob25]

I have had two sinus infections since January, I know they were infections because I used to get sinusitis like 5 times per year when I was under 18. I beat both of them without ABs and to top that off there are recent studies indicating that most sinus infections do in fact get better after 2 weeks and antibiotics, except in more severe cases.

How I do it? Tons of fluids, I stick to water and other juices because Cranberry causes me to have an IBS reaction. Next, I use the Neilmed irrigation system because I can't get the solution to come out the other nostril when I pour it lightly, I need to force it through. Someone on here recommended to me that I then add 2-3 drops of grapefruit seed extract (hard to find, got it at Whole Foods) to the Neilmed mix before using as a naturopath indicated it was a natural antibiotic. I wouldn't drink the stuff, but in my nose I felt it was safe to use.

Anyway, I drink a ton of water, use the neilmed saline/grapefruit seed extract mix once per day, take mucinex and use afrin nasal spray (fine mist version) to clear the nasal passages.

I've read that it's not good to do irrigation with a blocked nose, nor is it good to use it right after using nasal spray! So I use the Afrin 3 or more hours before doing the irrigation, that way the nose is clear and it will get through safely. You should not overdue the irrigation either, doing it to often is harmful, I believe the recommendation is once or twice per day max.

[Suezer]

Thanks Travis, I believe it was me that told you about the Neil Med sinus flush =).
Well, I use that 3-4 times a day at the moment,however prior, and after I used/will only use it 1 time daily. With as much "stuff" as I had/have it is really helping. I read about the Grapefruit seed extract, was curious about it as well. I will check into that.
I too am using the Afrin nasal spray, but only once daily. Drinking tons of water as well.

I also have a LONG history of sinus infections and even had surgery once to remove a polyp and fix deviation of the septum,was not fun,but neccessary.

I appreciate the input here alot.. I knew eventually I would have to face some kind of sickness, I just was hoping it would not be so soon!

[cindym]

Better be careful with the Afrin as it is highly addictive to some people and they get to where they can not breathe without using it- or so they think. I have a friend with severe allergies and uses it continuously and after going to ENT he is trying to wean her off it with other nose sprays (like Astelin) with little luck. Breathing steam several times a day, moist hot packs a couple of times per day and taking robitussin or mucinex on a continual basis during a sinus siege usually does the trick---but slowly!

[trob25]

Better be careful with the Afrin as it is highly addictive to some people and they get to where they can not breathe without using it- or so they think. I have a friend with severe allergies and uses it continuously and after going to ENT he is trying to wean her off it with other nose sprays (like Astelin) with little luck. Breathing steam several times a day, moist hot packs a couple of times per day and taking robitussin or mucinex on a continual basis during a sinus siege usually does the trick---but slowly!

Yeah you probably did tell me about the Neilmed Sue, sometimes I forget who has given me what advice on here! lol. Anyway, the grapefruit seed extract mixed with that seemed to have a positive effect at 3 straight days of usage.

And Cindy, yes, Afrin can be addictive to some people, I don't have an addictive personality and I only really use it at night when I have severe sinus blockage as I cannot sleep with a stuffed nose or as mentioned above, so I can use a saline rinse later on. But yes, it's wise to be mindful of becoming addicted to it. I normally stop using it as the cold dissipates because if you read the warning on it, using it for more than 5 days or over using it can actually cause the nose to become more blocked. Of course I've had to use it for over a week with certain colds, but I don't typically use Afrin more than once or twice per day, at the worst part of a sinus cold.

[beth22]

Cindy - I do the same with the Afrin - usually only at bedtime so I can sleep and only during the worst part of a cold. I have used this in this fashion for over 30 years and never had a problem. But, I also only spray once and ONLY if I don't get unblocked do I do a second spray. The bottle says spray 2 or 3 times, but I only spray once usually.

Beth

[Suezer]

Well its day 6.

The facial pain/pressure is gone. No fever.

The infectious colored junk is still present, a bit in my chest as well. Taking robitussin, sinus flushes, nose spray with Grapefruit seed extract(started that yesterday)-->thanks Travis for reminding me about that stuff!

I cant tell if this is going away,...about how long does one let things go their course before becoming concerned?

So worried it wont clear and I will have to take an antibiotic..

[beth22]

I had a sinus infection in February and so did my daughter. We both had the nastiest looking stuff coming out - mostly postnasaly for me. I also thought I had to take antibiotics, but my ID doctor said to do a culture on the stuff, so I did it on what I coughed up and it turned out to be normal bacteria - so he said it was viral. I always assumed in the past that when you had nasty looking drainage it meant a bacterial infection, but I learned that it didn't and mine went away on its own, but it took about 2 to 3 weeks. If you have no fever that is a good sign. If it seems to be improving that is also good. Call your doctor if you're not sure what to do, but if the pain/pressure is better, then maybe you're turning the corner!

Beth

[trob25]

sinus flushes, nose spray with Grapefruit seed extract(started that yesterday)-->thanks Travis for reminding me about that stuff!

I cant tell if this is going away,...about how long does one let things go their course before becoming concerned?
.

No problem! And the time frame is two weeks, that is the course of a normal sinus infection, it should become significantly better at the two week mark, if not, then you may have something more serious going on.

As I mentioned before, I used to get sinus infections constantly and always went straight on antibiotics for them, never had a problem with abs then, but I realize now it was a mistake. There were only two sinus infections that actually required antibiotics now that I think back, one was so bad a round of low level keflex didn't even touch it, so then I had to go on stronger pills to knock it out, total time sick was 1 month straight into late June. No fun being sick in the summer and I believe I was in 8th grade at the time, so double no fun with summer break lol.

But it sounds like you are getting better already :)

[Suezer]

Thank you for the input, I feel so overly worried all the time about EVERYTHING its making me nuts..

Anyway, Travis I can SO relate to you on the fact that every time I had a sinus issue I was put on Antibiotics between the years of 2001-2003 I was on an antibiotic at least monthly,I have taken Biaxin,Cipro,Levaquin (numerous times) all the big dogs,makes me wonder why this didn't happen to me sooner(C Diff) Then after my surgery, my ENT told me anytime I needed an antibiotic to just call him he said I could practically diagnose myself.
Well the past year I was so worried about missing work that everytime I felt some sinus pressure I would run for the phone.
Now I am finally doing what I should have done all along..giving my immune system a chance to fight something..I am not used to that, I actually have no experience with this stuff..minus the antibiotics . I think the main thing I need to have is patience..as if the C Diff hasn't tested that enough!

Thanks again for the support/advice.

[Bobbie]

Muceinex is also good for upper resp. infections. It's an OTC med. Check with your doc. & pharmacist.