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Chronic Sinusitus

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  • 01-12-2008 2:22am
    #1
    jonnycwh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 54 ✭✭


    Hi, Does anyone else here suffer from Chronic Sinusitus? I don't mean a bad cold but pain in the eyes, mad headache, nausia, vomiting, sinus pressure, sensitivity to light and sound and fatigue for days.
    If so do you have any help or success stories on how you got over this? I've been suffering from this for the last 4 years! I've tried antibiotics, steroid sprays, acupuncture, cat scan, spinology, well just about everything!
    HELP!


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    #2
    darling.x
    Closed Accounts Posts: 250 ✭✭darling.x


    Hi jonnycwh,

    I suffer from sinus infections badly regularly. Its gets so bad that i lose my hearing and it could take weeks to come back.

    Somebody (actually a lady i know whos a doc but not my doc) suggested to me last summer to give up dairy and wheat.

    I gave up dairy and changed to soya milk, yoghurt and butter/spread. I still have a little dairy milk in tea and coffee because soya milk is yuk in tea and coffee.

    I found since changing to soya it has help a lot.


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    #3
    darling.x
    Closed Accounts Posts: 250 ✭✭darling.x


    Have you tried giving up dairy products and if you haven't would you consider giving dairy up. It has helped me a lot.

    I didnt bother giving up wheat but i would have if giving up dairy didn't work.


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    #4
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    darling.x wrote: »
    Have you tried giving up dairy products and if you haven't would you consider giving dairy up. It has helped me a lot.

    I didnt bother giving up wheat but i would have if giving up dairy didn't work.

    hi there, yes i've given up both dairy and wheat before and it didn't improve the situation. you sound like you have it bad. i don't lose my hearing but everything is magnified so the smallest noise annoys me.


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    #5
    sunnydelight
    Closed Accounts Posts: 73 ✭✭sunnydelight


    hi

    like the other posters said dairy is the main thing to give up, I too suffer
    with my sinus for a long time now. I did invest in a Neti Pot its looks a bit like a tea pot and you fill it with salt water, and basically you insert it in one nostril and the water flows out the other, Sounds terrible i know, there is a breathing technique to dry up behnd your nasal passage after you use it so you dont get an infection from the water. google it and see what ya think.


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    #6
    donegaldiva
    Registered Users Posts: 13 ✭donegaldiva


    Hi Jonny, sorry to hear you are suffereing with the dreaded sinus pain.
    Do you know if you have a deviated septum (where the dividing part in your nose is not straight i.e. deviates to one right or left hand side)?
    I have been suffering with sinus problems for about ten years - have visited an ENT specialist in the past who said I have a deviated septum. I could have an operation to correct this and so far have resisted but today am thinking about taking the plunge.
    Has anyone else out there had a septoplasty (to correct d.s.) due to recurring sinus infections - and if so, has the procedure helped reduce your headaches, sinus pressure etc....
    Thanks in advance.


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    #7
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    Well I have had sinus surgery and they definetely fixed my deviated septum but I still suffer from sinus pain. I just had a ct skan and i am inflammed on my left side. I have recently tried giving up dairy and am not sure but I think it might Helped. basically I am resigned to this pain for the rest of my life. it is very discouraging. anyways,,the sinus surgery was pretty horrible and I will never do anything like it again. for sure I can breathe clearly but it did not help the inflammation of the sinus cavities.


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    #8
    Harris
    Closed Accounts Posts: 148 ✭✭Harris


    Suffered sinus for years. Very debilitating and little or no sympathy from anyone who has never had it. Toothache, face ache, and so the list goes on.

    My GP recently advised me to get a Sinus Rinse (similar to Neti Pot mentioned in an earlier post) and I got an over the counter thing called NeilMed Sinus Rinse. Cost about €22 for I think 50 sachets of the saline solution, bottle etc.
    You think you are going to drown or choke while using it but my God does it work.
    I think Oprah had a whole programme devoted to the NetiPot and this thing is similar.
    It's basically a saline rinse that goes up one nostril and out the other.
    Try it.
    I am totally clear now.


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    #9
    BraceFace1994
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34 ✭BraceFace1994


    i am 14 and have had really bad headaches for the past 2 years. suffered terribly and am missing many days of school i cant afford to miss as i am in junior cert. i went to doc who got me ta get a scan which showed a had a deviated septum and really bad infection in all my sinuses. so the doc gave me antibiotics, didnt work so he gave me stronger antibiotics , didnt work either so we made an appointment for ent. he gave me the strongest antibiotics he could and we hoped that would work but sure enough it didnt. so i got booked in for surgery. not a plesant experience. had operation in oct and was very sick for two weeks but alas i had no headache until december again. they are now gradually getting worse but i dont no what to do. THe worst part is that i have had headaches for so log that my body must be becoming immune to painkillers so none of them work . anyway i have a constant headache and am still doin honours everything for the jc!!
    THere is hope! At least the other poster's are adults can you imagine facing this for the rest of your life age 14?? Dont give up


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    #10
    jonnycwh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 54 ✭✭jonnycwh


    Harris wrote: »
    Suffered sinus for years. Very debilitating and little or no sympathy from anyone who has never had it. Toothache, face ache, and so the list goes on.

    My GP recently advised me to get a Sinus Rinse (similar to Neti Pot mentioned in an earlier post) and I got an over the counter thing called NeilMed Sinus Rinse. Cost about €22 for I think 50 sachets of the saline solution, bottle etc.
    You think you are going to drown or choke while using it but my God does it work.
    I think Oprah had a whole programme devoted to the NetiPot and this thing is similar.
    It's basically a saline rinse that goes up one nostril and out the other.
    Try it.
    I am totally clear now.

    Hi Harris,

    How are you getting on with this? Have you had an attack since? Do you get bad attacks that result in vomiting? Would love to know how you're getting on. I'm at my whits end here!


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    #11
    Semele
    Registered Users Posts: 753 ✭✭✭Semele


    I've had this for years now and have missed so much college and work over it! I haven't had a really bad attack in quite a while though which I attribute to a very low-dairy diet. I take vitamins and echinacea at the first sign of a cold because for me an attack always starts off with a normal cold and sort of kicks in once the cold starts improving...so the idea is to prevent the cold in the first place! For the same reason I get called in by my doctor every year for the flu vaccination...me and a waiting room full of old people!

    I remember I was first diagnosed over the phone by my doctor- my mum had rang him after becoming alarmed at the agony I seemed to be in and the fact that my "cold" had lasted around three weeks. The doctor told her to get me to touch my toes for 30 seconds and then straighten up quickly. No joke, I think I passed out briefly from the pain of that! It was like a sledgehammer to the face. Apparently that's the simplest way of telling whether you have a sinus infection!


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    #12
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    you can get surgery for this if it is chronic. they basically widen your sinus passages so that they can't get blocked up. you can only get this though if you are referred to a consultant by your gp, after you have exhausted the antibiotics and nasal rinse routes.

    the surgery itself only takes a short while but they keep you in over night. and then about a month later you go back to get scarred tissue removed and again a few months later.


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    #13
    BraceFace1994
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34 ✭BraceFace1994


    Unregistered wrote: »
    you can get surgery for this if it is chronic. they basically widen your sinus passages so that they can't get blocked up. you can only get this though if you are referred to a consultant by your gp, after you have exhausted the antibiotics and nasal rinse routes.

    the surgery itself only takes a short while but they keep you in over night. and then about a month later you go back to get scarred tissue removed and again a few months later.


    ya i had that & wos told that after i would be fully cured....
    it didnt work :(
    goin back to get the stitches out (in your NOSE!!!!!!!!!!) and gettin the supports out was the worst sooo painful.... i was in tears....
    my consultant is not patient at the best of times!


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    #14
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    I have had sinus issues all my life when I was 5 I had to have tubes in my ears. One time I got a sinus infection right after I had one. I am sick of taking antibitoics and have become immune to a lot of them. Every month I have issues with them and only go to the doc if they get bad. I talke to my GP and asked about seeing a specalist but he said there was no reason to. I asked about riseing my sinus and he said no to that as well. He is an older doc and I have no idea what to do. Do you guys use neti pots and did they work? I may just go a bye one to try it out.


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    #15
    sparkletooth
    Registered Users Posts: 54 ✭✭sparkletooth


    Firstly, I have had a deviated septum for years and have had to put up with the nuisance symptoms, especially 'post nasal drip'. This is a horrible sensation in the back of the throat where the mucous does not drain as normal. This PND has also affected my speech making it difficult to speak as clear as I did when I was younger.

    I saw an ENT consultant in a private clinic about 10 years ago but he put me off the idea of surgery when he told me that there was no guarantee it would work, and also the pain involved in the septoplasty procedure would be excruciating for days after, if not weeks.

    Then I discovered nasal irrigation and bought myself a machine that pulsated a saline/water solution up one nostril and out the other. The results of the irrigation were great but I would not recommend wasting money on any machine on the market today. All of the ones that I have seen on the internet including the one I bought are very cheaply made and do not last long at all. Don't let this put you off researching a nasal irrigation system but if there is a competent machine out there it's going to cost a lot of money.

    I have heard great things about these Neti Pots but have yet to try them. My symptoms have gotten really bad this winter so I'm going to buy one. Going by the reviews on amazon, the ceramic models seem to be far superior than the cheaper plastic ones. Any more suggestions on the use of Neti Pots from anyone?

    Surgery should be the very last resort after exhausting all options available. It can only really be considered if your conditions are severely debilitating.

    Finally, @BraceFace1994
    I am amazed that you were operated on at 14 years of age. As far as I know, the minimum age a patient has to be for septoplasty surgery is 18. This is because the cartilage and nasal bone in the septum can keep growing until the age of 18. I would ask a parent to have a solicitor look into this, especially if your condition worsens.


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    #16
    opinion guy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,001 ✭✭✭✭opinion guy


    You can buy a thing in the pharmacy that called Sinus Rinse and its basically just a plastic squeezy bottle that squirts stuff up one nostril and it come out the other. Comes with a bunch of sachets to make up saline rinse at the right salination.
    Have to say its pretty good. Just be sure if you buying it to know difference between the box that is just sachets and the one that includes the bottle


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    #17
    AARRRGH
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,382 ✭✭✭✭AARRRGH


    sparkletooth wrote: »
    I saw an ENT consultant in a private clinic about 10 years ago but he put me off the idea of surgery when he told me that there was no guarantee it would work, and also the pain involved in the septoplasty procedure would be excruciating for days after, if not weeks.

    Sorry, but that's rubbish. I had septoplasty last month and there's no pain whatsoever. A very small bit of discomfort, yes, but pain, no.

    My plastic surgeon also told me there's no guarantee it would work, but boy am I glad I went for it anyway. Previous to the operation I had to breathe through my mouth 24/7; now I have perfect breathing.

    A month off work, no pain, fixed breathing. Totally worth it!

    Seriously, the operation is no bother unless you're a total pussy.


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    #18
    torrid
    Registered Users Posts: 39 ✭torrid


    Hi. I have used the sinus rinse referred to a couple of times here but keep coming across the neti pots when I research this problem. When I get an infection it is always focussed in frontal sinuses (above one eye or the other). Can a sinus rinse like the neti-pot "reach" these? When I tried the medi-rinse bottle it felt like it was rinsing the sinus' beside nose only. Any opinions would be appreciated.


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