Any experiences with chronic sinusitis?

I've suffered from sinusitis for about 2 months. I have pressure around the nose and eyes, headache, worse than usual brainfog, some nausea and tender lymph nodes in the throat.

About three weeks ago I had a course of antibiotics. I got better, but then it worsened again after. The nasal discharge has been reduced, though.

I few days ago I had a CT scan and the doctor said there is no pus or signs of an infection. It's only inflammation. However, my trust in doctors these days are not great. I use a steroid nose spray and saline rinses, but it doesn't help much.

I'm considering whether I should order antibiotics online. Would it help? Is there any infection left? Why doesn't the inflammation go away if there is no longer any infection?

Anyone have experiences?

 

Drinking milk kefir regularly appeared to cause chronic sinusitis.

 

Ok, I don't drink that. Or regular milk either.

 

Thanks, @Trish. It's probably more likely the nose spray is causing the aggravation. I just looked up some of the side effects:

Hmm.

Edit: seems it can also raise intraocular pressure.

 

Unfortunately, I have lived with Chronic Sinusitis for the past 26 years.

Ninety percent of sinusitis is not bacterial and antibiotics won't work. The best way to determine if you need antibiotics is by your sleep. If you are sleeping around the clock and just can't stay awake during the day then you need antibiotics. If you aren't sleeping around the clock then it isn't bacterial and you don't need antibiotics.

Chronic Sinusitis can last for months to a couple of years. I've had my current headache for the past 4.5 months and the malaise for the past 3.5 months and there is no end in sight. I've done next to nothing for months and even something as simple as making breakfast just about wipes me out.

For me, the sinusitis is much worse than the ME. I can function with ME; I can't with sinusitis.

I hope that you are feeling better soon, Adreno.

 

When I used the nasal spray (Flonase) on a regular basis I got the absolute headache from hell. It made my sinus headache a walk in the park.

 

I get sinusitis a lot too. Some sprays are okay for long-term use, others aren't. Antihistamines and antidepressants, which many of us use for sleep, seem to dry you out and that may make them worse. Dehydration is under the side-effects usually. But I get intense allergies with my ME sometimes anyway. Sorry you're struggling!

 

Yes, similar experience here. I have both chronic and acute sinusitis. 3 spots for chronic, 1 spot acute. I took antibiotics in december and thought I was better for a few days. But it didn’t last and the migraines and head pressure came back.

Next week I have a follow-up scan following the antbiotics and will know if the sinusitis has improved. I doubt it though because I had a cold that lasted 3 weeks after taking the antibiotic and I think it actually worsened.

Do you want to know what is the best relief I have found for migraines ? So far it has worked 100% for me. One migrained lasted 2 weeks prior, the second 8 days and both were relieve within a few hours.

With what ? Massotherapy ! You need someone with experience with chronically ill people and gentle massage, and you tell them about the head pressure and migraine. If you don’t have a lot of money, it only takes a few minutes, so maybe you can ask if possible to only pay for 15 or 30 minutes.

 

I've had good experience over the past 3 months with a nasal probiotic called Apothex Nasobiotex L. Sakei Powder. It's cleared up about 60% of my chronic sinusitis. This product only ships in the United States, but perhaps there is a similar product where you are?

Antibiotics and sprays only provide short-term relief for me. My favorite spray is Nutribiotic Nasal Spray Plus.

 

I used the Bactoferm which has the L Sakei bacteria, however, I didn't get any improvement at all.

 

That is an awful long time. Sorry to hear that.

 

I truly hope you find something that helps, @TigerLilea.

All I can say is I tried a lot of sinus products. 90% of them did nothing or made things worse. Most of the rest only helped short term. Just the probiotic seems to be helping long term. But it's only been 3 months.

Edit: I've had chronic sinusitis for about 15 years.

 

Tons of histamine producing strains in kefir.

 

Same here, sinusitis -- off and on, but mostly on -- for about 20 years. I did find this intriguing study/overview the other day that suggests that antibiotics, even if they might help acutely in some situations, may, in the long run be just making things worse. And of course it could be related to other things...bioflims, fungal infections and even environmental issues.

Anyway here's the study:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3836217/

"Although, clearly, additional investigation is needed, this remarkable study suggests that antibiotic treatments, including those given for acute rhinosinusitis (but presumably also for any reason), could paradoxically promote the development, persistence, and/or severity of CRS."

 

@adreno Sorry you have joined our club. Hope it is just temporary and you pick back up eventually.

I'm not keen on sprays, due to a bad experience with one over 20 years ago. It caused a rebound which was so much worse than the original. The spray was for drying things out while in the first stages of a cold. Never again. There could be other types of spray that may be helpful though.

Something I have been missing to mention regarding my sinuses in connection to my ME is that I can remember my chronic sinusitis starting years before my mild ME and POTS onset. It was 1990 when I first began to notice something not right with my sinuses. Five years later, 1995, my ME was triggered by a flu/cold. I now think it was an early sign of my ME, the slow progression into ME. Something not right with the immune system. Whatever is causing my PEM is causing my sinuses to flare up because every time I overdo it my sinuses get even more chronic.

I have been on quite a few different antibiotics over the years but this same chronic sinus thing still keeps coming back. For me this is all caught up in the ME PEM process.

I probably should experiment a whole more than I do.

*I've tried neti pot - this doesn't suit me because I can't get the sinuses to drain properly afterwards.
*Seawater - I thought this would help but nope.
*Crushed orange juice - I think this does help a bit. A bit is not enough though, but I guess a bit is better than nothing. I sip on a half a glass of crushed orange juice in the afternoon through evening.


I can't think of other things right now but I will add if I remember.

 

I tend to get sinusitis twice a year, once in late spring and once in late summer/early fall. It's pretty clearly an allergy to something. Sometimes my ears get stuffed up at the same time and sometimes I get tinnitus. It usually only lasts a week or so.

Also, anytime a doctor looks in my mouth at the back of my throat they invariably say that I have "post nasal drip," or mucous coming from the sinuses. It's also probably an allergy, but, unlike sinusitis, I wouldn't even know about it were it not for doctors mentioning it incidentally in the course of an exam.

 

I've had it about 5 years I think. It went away while I was on antibiotics, but came back afterward. The one lasting benefit after the antibiotics has been that I don't get sinus infections anymore.

 

When I'm having trouble, my ENT does a sinus culture to see whether I'm having a fungal infection, bacterial infection, or both. If it's bacterial, she can prescribe an antibiotic that treats that specific bug. I use medicines for sinus infections topically by putting them in my Sinugator.

The Sinugator is cheaply made and doesn't last a long time, but upright pulsing irrigation is more effective for getting into the upper sinuses than gravity methods like the neti pot. The SinusPulse Elite seems to be a much better product, but I don't want this big thing on my bathroom counter. The Sinugator is much smaller.

I have very dry, sensitive sinuses. My ENT recommends Simply Saline to keep things moist since dryness contributes to sinus infections. Simply Saline is just water, salt, and baking soda. It has no preservatives or side effects. Another spray she likes is Xclear, a saline solution with Xylitol.

She also recommends Nasogel spray. It's a thicker saline solution, so it lasts longer than a spray. It doesn't go up into the sinuses as well, but does keep the nasal passages moist. I just use it every 3 hours or so because using it too often makes me feel more congested because it's so thick.

Allergies also contribute to my sinus infections. I'm on prescription allergy drops from my allergist, but they take a long time to become effective. They are more convenient than allergy shots, though.

I never use decongestant sprays because even 1 dose gives me terrible rebound congestion. It's too bad. I'd love that decongestant effect.

 

How was your sinus culture done? When I asked about getting a culture done, my ENT told me it would have to be done under anesthesia in the operating room. I never get the impression that this is how other ENTs do their cultures.