So for the past 7 or 8 years I started suffering from sinus infections. I was getting them 2-4 times a year. Last year I only got 2 bad ones. The doctors keep giving me antibiotics which do work (amoxicilin not so much), nasal sprays, saline irrigation, and claritin. In November I had it pretty nasty and I was given a "strong" dose of amoxicilin which wasn't doing much. I went back a week later and for the first time ever I was given a steroids for inflammation and an inhaler. The infection has not gone away!! The pain and pressure in the face, the fevers, endless snot, and feeling like landed on my head after a bike crash feelings are getting f-ing OLD!! Even doing the rinses have been horrible since lots of the water has been getting trapped up in there. I have been told before that if I continue to get it more than 4 times a year they would consider surgery. I have heard that there is a possibility that surgery can make it worse!! I have an appointment for next week. I know this isn't and MD website, but have any of you had similar problems? Anyone gone through the surgery?? I have also wondered if this is all caused by being exposed to the pollens and dusts out on the trail. My sinus issues started around the time I started mountain biking. Thanks
Have you tried sinus rinses after every ride? http://www.neilmed.com/usa/sinusrinse_isotonic.phphttp://www.neilmed.com/usa/sinusrinse_isotonic.php My kids use it regularly with great results.
What templar said. I've been rinsing for about a year now, and am pleased to report I have had no sinus issues in that time.
^+1 yes, i have been using those for years. They work awesome especially when symptoms first show up. This time around though the saline solution gets trapped in my sinuses and makes me feel worse.:?:
I used to have those issues all the time. That, and every time I wanted to go wine tasting, my nose was so congested I could barely smell anything. Finally the doctors recommended turbinate reduction surgery. It was pretty uncomfortable for the week after surgery, with the nose packing and everything, but when the packing was removed, it was much better. After that, things progressively got better. The biggest benefits came soon after, but it took around 3 - 4 months until I was totally healed...not that there were any real issues, I could just tell I was not 100% until that time. I had the surgery over a year ago and would not look back. I am hardly ever congested now and haven’t had one sinus issue since my surgery. If you decide to do it, do yourself a favor and do not look online to see what the removal of the packing looks like. I did the day before getting it removed and it kind of freaked me out. I didn’t know they could stuff so much stuff into your nose. The removal was painless, just a bit uncomfortable. I would do it again based on all the benefits I have seen.
allergies/congestion is one thing - I suffered terribly each winter and spring due to pollen/hay fever and have to live on allergy medication and saline washes... that said, bacterial sinus infections are something entirely different. If I were your doctor I would be very concerned about the prolong use of antibiotics and the reoccurrences of your infections. I assume you are treating with a specialist. It appears you have a compromised immune system and maybe something more insidious is occurring... with that ruled out, if you just have bad allergies... than a saline rinse will be your friend... just remember it needs to be used regularly, not after getting an attack but before one developes. The issue with allergies is to prevent an attack not allow one to occur (ie be proactive). Once the attack comes on little can be done. I just know in winter/spring I will have bad allergies. I religiously take my allergy medication each morning whether or not i have any systems and I rinse each night, before there are any systems. I still get attacks where only large doses of Benadryl help but they are now few and far inbetween. Good luck with everything - I know how miserable one can be!
+1 for the Neti Pot. Although, if your nasal cavities are already stuffy/blocked, it can make it a bit more annoying and more trouble than its worth. I have noticed that it does help to make sure to blow your nose thoroughly. I have never had any allergies or sinus issues my whole life until a few years ago, around the time I started riding as well. The pressure and pain was unbearable, and I noticed that if I stayed consistent with my rinses, I have had ZERO issues since. Even when it "feels healthy", I make sure to rinse in the morning, and sometimes after a big dusty ride.
Ocdingbat, I had surgery last year, to open up my sinus openings, and I have done really well until yesterday when I guess the Santa Ana's got to me... Sinus pain, fever, lots of snot (sorry). I've had all the symptoms you had as well and after countless amount of antibiotics (nothing helped) I did the surgery. Very uncomfortable, but after 2 weeks, I was good to go. Except for the last couple days, it's the best i've felt in years! I also recommend the sinus wash as I do this either once or twice a day and seems to help me as well. I'm glad I'm not the only one having to deal with this. Good luck to you!
I will add that i have not had any of the allergy symptoms that u speak of. But iv had this cold thing from october and its been miserable sinus stuff and pressure was miserable. Iv blown out more buggers in the last month then iv blown out since 2007 my whole Mt biking experiences all put together. I will say that this cold and cough thing thats been going around is bad this year.
Neti. Daily. Multiple times a day if you're bad. Wash all that infected snot out of your head, otherwise it will just sit up there festering. Yum. Surgery? Heh, heh, heh. I had a rather gruesome crash years ago, which required several surgeries over the course of about two years. I told the doctor that since he was in there anyway, I wanted to breathe better than ever before, I wanted a performance enhancing turbo boost. He said, suuuuure... It's really cool what he did. He shaved some cartilage off the inside passageways, about the diameter of little toothpicks. Cartilage has a natural "bend" to it, so he turned the "toothpicks" around, making them like little "springs" that would keep passageways open. The downside is that for one week, you have giant rubber stoppers up your nose. They're about the size of my index fingers--and I don't have pansy hands. It's truly absurd when he pulls these giant things out of your nose. Then you can't blow your nose at all for another week or two. Surgery is not pleasant, so if you can fix yourself another way, definitely try that first.
(boy i can really use that thanks button right about now) Wow!! Thanks for the the responses:clap: The neti pot/saline rinses are quite popular! I just got to the point this time that the saline gets trapped in my head and makes me feel like hellish sh*t! I can even feel it cause my ear drum start to pop instead of draining, and yes its pretty gross stuff. I really never though that surgery was that popular of an option. I am so sick of being miserable all the time that I rather endure some pain for a few weeks due to surgery and just get rid of this forever if possible!! I looked at pictures and symptoms of deviated septums and I am about 99.9% sure I have one! come to think of it, I took a blow from a scaffolding plank to the face about 8 years ago that knocked me flat on my back and maybe even k.o'd me…i dont remember. I never had it checked out and i did have pain in my face for like 2 months!! Definitely gonna chat with my doctor!!!
My siinuses are so bad I have no sense of smell, none at all. I had the nasal polyp surgery done in 2005. Within a week, my asthma which had been dormant for 30 years came roaring back. I could breathe through my nose for the first time in almost forever, but the asthma never went away and got worse. Here it is 9 years later, I have no sense of smell, my asthma is back (but better controlled now), and the polyps have all grown back (as they are prone to do). I would not do the surgery until you know exactly what the cause is for your sinuses. It is polyps, don't do it, they can and will grow back and additional surgery is not a good option. I use the NeilMed bulb rinser, and yeah, water gets trapped in the sinuses.
duhno if this will help, but this is how i solved my own sinus infection winter issue. i am a life long sufferer of allergic rhinitis. first thing is the why? i theorize, after years of inhalers, steriods and allergy medication, that my winter sinus infections were caused by dry air friction. climate, heaters, they all add to the dry air situation. my sinuses were raw due to breathing dry air. the infection comes from having them exposed as open wounds or abrasions. i compare it to what lips suffer in altitude. i addressed this by installing a few cool mist humidifiers in my home and a small one at my desk at work. that plus a combination of sinus moisturizers and allergy medication, I am able to live a relatively normal life. the key here is to heal the sinus. this happens slowly. you need to sleep in a relatively normal humidity environment. anti biotics if you need it. i used to measure humidity, now i just pump mist into the air as long as the floor doesnt get wet. it takes a few days, with the help of moisturizers and the humidifier before relief. the sinuses have to heal naturally. seriously, if i could get a chapstick up my hose, i'd do it when i feel normal, i just need to remember to keep putting water in the humidifiers. if i sleep a night or two in dry air, thats another week of getting better this works for me, and now my kids follow the same regimen and it helps them too.
I walked into a glass door while living in Switzerland about 20 years ago. It gave me a deviated septum which over the years got worse and worse and caused chronic sinus infections, sinus headaches, blah blah blah. A year ago this Christmas I had surgery to repair the deviated septum as well as a turbinate reduction. I haven't had a sinus infection since. As Colin said, every now and then when the Santa Ana's whip up, I'll get a little sinus pressure and sometimes a slight headache. But it's no where near the pain and discomfort from before the surgery. The one downside I've noticed is that since the surgery, my nose gets really dry.
I've had pretty bad sinus issues for well over a decade similar to what you're describing. I'd go in when it got really bad, often at the same time I'd get some other flu or bad cold that aggravated it my general practitioner would prescribe antibiotics and nasal sprays but at best it might help a little but never fully make me feel normal. I also have hay fever/allergies but the symptoms are noticeably different and respond well to over-the-counter medication that would help the runny nose and itchy eyes but I'd still have the massive sinus pressure and feeling that everything was clogged up. At its worst I was very sensitive to light and noise with ear pain. I'm not a big fan of overuse of antibiotics and after the same cycle and never truly fixing the issue I pressed to see an ENT specialist. This led to an eventual surgery to correct a deviated septum and also to open up the passages to allow for better drainage. It helped quite a bit but never completely stopped the sinus problems (which are starting to get bad again some ten years after surgery). Some of the suggestions are worth trying, but if you're not sure of the root cause they might be helping or just a Band-Aid. If you haven't seen a specialist yet that's the first thing I'd do and see what they say. Surgery might be an option but I'd want to research what type they suggest, long-term prognosis and if there were other options available before deciding.
UPDATE: First of all thanks to all for your suggestions My doctor ordered a CT scan and learned a few things. Turns out that an injury I sustained the same year that I started getting infections caused a few issues. (I ran into a scaffold plank at work and it closelined me right under the nose!)#-o 1) badly deviated septum and must be corrected 2) Turbinates are way too big and must be shaved down 3) there appears to be a csyt in one side of my nose 4) one last antibiotic treatment to make certain if my sinus cavities need work done I am not lookin forward to surgery but I am finally glad the problem was found!! oh and that fackin camera up the nose sucked soooooooo bad!!!
Have you been tested for allergies? I realize you have gotten some diagnosis on your anatomical challenges, but if you have allergies you will continue to have swelling issues. I had about 9 months of chronic sinus infections and swelling so bad that the nasal rinse didn't work for me either. Got to the point my doctor was reluctant to keep giving me antibiotics (and I don't blame her). I also went on the roids to try and bring the swelling down. Keep in mind I NEVER had allergies before in my life. What the ENT told me was some people grow out of allergies, some grow into it. I had Radio Frequency turbinate reduction (basically they electrocute your turbinates vice cutting them) before I got properly diagnosed with allergies. In retrospect I didn't need the procedure. All I needed was to get my allergies under control. Been on allergy shots about 3 years now, and I swear by them. I rinse every morning, and if I have a cold I know it's gonna go bacterial. Just kicked the sinus infection that followed my last cold by rinsing 4 times a day, taking astronomical doses of vitamin C, mucinex, and managing the pain/swelling with motrin.
I had the surgery and they used wax packing that disolves on its own so you don't have to get it removed.
@Aviatrix- Yes they did test me for environmental allergies and the test came back negative. They are also reluctant of having me pumped up on antibiotics all the time. They switched me up this last time cause amoxicillin seems to have little effect on me anymore :-( I kinda wish i had taken a snap shot of the CT scan…it was gnarly. Or even better film the camera up the nose procedure
UPDATE- So back in the beginning of april I went through with the surgery. I had my septum straightened, turbinates reduced, and both sinus cavities drained and cleaned. I was nervous as hell. Turns out my body didn't react too well to the Norco and had to stop taking it immediately. Needless to say it was pretty painful but I had to suck it up and make tylenol work. The recovery was longer than I wanted. My smell, equilibrium, and taste was toast for the first 1-2 weeks. Bleeding sucked. It is absolutely insane how much wax packing is crammed in there(and how much disgusting shit came out whoaaaa!!). I cant believe how many stitches were on my septum and how far into my head they were placed all without cutting my nose open!!! Result: No more pain or pressure in the face, so far no infections, no more post nasal drip, fevers are a thing of the past, breathing through the nose is amazing. I still have random spurts of dizzy spells and very temporary blurry vison. Its is becoming less frequent but I hear it may take up to six months to fully recover. Would I do it again? HELL YES!! Would I recommend it? If your quality of life is affected like mine was, then it is a no brainer. Thanks to all who gave their opinions and tips for being diagnosed and what to expect. I look forward to getting back to racing and better health!!:clap::wave::beer: