How quickly should antibiotics treat a swollen nose?

Today is Friday 7/31 and I have a progressively more painful infection in my nose and sinuses since Monday.  I think it started when I was shaving over the weekend and plucked a nose hair.  On Monday I had a sore swollen area on the bottom of my nose.  I tried to squeeze it, to make it erupt, but I couldn't -- instead I probably made everything worse?  On Tuesday my entire nose was red and swollen, and in the afternoon the area where I'd plucked the hair finally erupted.  So I hoped that would be the end of it.  But I was unable to sleep that night because of sinus pain.  I went to the doctor on Wednesday morning and they said I had both a nose and sinus infection, and prescribed Augmentin (Amoxycillin).  They also told me to take Claritin-D (antihistamine plus decongestant) to minimize the sinus pain.  It's now been 48 hours and my nose is even more painful.  The only positive change has been my sinuses, which hurt much less but which start to hurt again near the end of my Claritin-D cycle, i.e., I'm only treating the symptoms, the antibiotics are not helping.

How long should it take for the antibiotics to work?  I've always heard (and experienced) that it takes 24-48 hours.

I'm probably going to call the doctor again this morning and ask if they can switch me to a MRSA-effective antibiotic.  They originally said they wouldn't unless they could culture it, and since the original wound had already erupted, it wasn't possible.  But the wound has since formed a scaly 'scab' so I suspect they could peel it off and get a good 'fresh' culture underneath it.  There may even be a fresh eruption building.

Any other advice is greatly appreciated!

P.S.  I haven't been able to work since Tuesday and I've been taking the maximum dose of ibuprofen (every 4 hours) since Tuesday night.

[sdsalsero]

FYI - I was right, the antibiotics *SHOULD* have had an effect within 48 hours.  I went back to the doctor and this time he admitted me to the hospital!  It turned out that I had MRSA (as I'd suspected) and it had spent the previous 4 days colonizing my nose and my sinuses, and so my brain would've been next...

I ended-up in the hospital for 4 days on IV vancomycin (sp?), after which my sinuses and most of my nose were clear.  I still have a sore 'nodule' in the tip of my nose and so I'm on a 10-day prescription for Bactrim DS.