Severe Chronic Sinus infection

[JR1]

oct04 painful sinus infection lasted 1 month 10 amoxicillian-1zpak-10day ceftin. Went away for 4months. feb05 Pain again in frontal sinus area, put on ceftin 9days-levaquin 10 days then augmentin 10 days worked after 2 pill then on 9th day broke out in hives. given metholypredinsone 6 day pack for hives also worked great for sinuses draining. 4 weeks later little pain put on clindamycin 10day-levawquin 14day. Off to ENT continued clindamycin 20 days still had green drainage. Got CT scan. Report siad completed opacification of left maxillary, left frontal, and most of ethmoid but not left spenoid or anything on right side. ENT reccomended surgery only way to treat and cure. Also siad he thinks I may have poylps or something blocking, GP read CT report and siad it did not show any poypls or anything out of ordinary just bad infection and filled with fluid. Ent put me on 20day avelox with 2 steroid 6 day packs then clindamycin 20 day- then just finished cipro 10 day with 2 6day steriod pack. all with about a week break between each antiboitic Also been on 2400mg gufiatussin and 240mg sudafed. Bought Grossam irrigartor. Feel better and have good drainage. ENT got upset at me when I siad I did not want to do surgery. I am scared of surgery. I feel stupid. Can medication take this away or is surgery the only cure. I would prefer longer treatment with medication. Would stronger steroids work along with a better antiboitic for longer term? Please help me Doctor.

[National Jewish]

Medical therapy without surgery may still provide the cure.  You should not continue on this same path of one course of antibiotics after another.  The cause could be allergic.  It could be infectious caused by bacteria or fungi.  It is also possible that the cause is not an infection, but inflammation.

You may need surgery eventually.  For now you should be cautious about agreeing to it.  Do not agree to it until you get another opinion from an infectious disease specialist, not another ENT specialist.  This specialist could determine what is causing your severe sinusitis.  Also the specific treatment needed to treat that specific cause could be determined.

[bactitech]

You've been through myriads of antibiotics. You are increasing your chances of getting a really really resistant bug up in your sinuses. You also are risking fungal overgrowth in your sinuses due to all the antibiotics. With all the antibiotics you can get diarrhea from overgrowth of Clostridium difficile toxin in your gut. I work in microbiology and am a clinical microbiologist. I see these resistant bacteria on a daily basis.

The advantage of surgery is that they can actually get into your sinuses and culture it to see what is actually growing, rather than treat empirically which is what they are doing now.

You are playing a dangerous game here. Your doc will run out of options to treat you. If your ENT is suggesting surgery, probably to drain your sinuses, I would strongly suggest you consider it, but I would ask him what the risks are, recovery time, chances of full recovery, etc. There was another thread from another patient that had terribly resistant bacteria in her sinuses. I'm sure it's in the archives. I believe it was in May. She was also being treated for Blastomycosis, which is a very unusual fungus that can be very deadly.

You can also ask your ENT for an infectious disease referral.

Good luck.

[bactitech]

http://tinyurl.com/d2k8y

Check out this thread in the archives.

[Pakman]

I have done the surgery and it helped with the sinus pain a lot.  I was also scared of surgery,  You feel all depressed in the waiting room but once they put you to sleep, it's a breeze.  The recovery from the surgery will take about a couple of weeks but you'll notice a big difference when your sinus get infected again.  Not as much pain as before.  Hope this helps.

[dorothyblueeyes]

Hi; My problem is,I have Medi-Cal(California)and Medicare,and none of the private doctors or clinics will take it.I haVE had combined sinus infection,and bronchitus (bronchitis),now,3 times in a row,and I have had to request to go to the county ENT clinic;my doctor would not do it himself. If my general pract.give me trouble,I'll go to another county doctor,until one of them referrs me to ENT.

   None of you ever talk about what happens"if you do not have good money,or very good insurance." I am retired,and disabled,and believe me,you never wanta get disabled,and retired,cause you get no decent medical coverage.Private doctors will not take you;you could go to NAACP,and get them for descrimination,it is so bad.(If you could prove it,and you proabably could.)

   This means,I have to go to a medical center,with clinics that take my insurance,or go to the county.I am stuck with the county.I am so scared of dying from simple repeated sinusitus&bronchitus (bronchitis),it is not funny. 3 times in a row,and the idiot will not refer me to ENT!!! (This is north.CA,Contra Costa County,USA.)Which is why,I am reading all of WebMed here,and trying to get myself better,cause these doctors DO NOT CARE if you get so weak from repeated infections,that you die from them.And that's how I'm getting now;3 times this year,sinus infection with bad bronchitus (bronchitis),and it comes back a couple months,or one month later. Don't retire,or be poor;you'll die.

[EntropyofMe]

help.  a year ago i started to have sinus problems.  off and on for a while, antibiotics, allergy meds etc., increasing pain and pressure, ended up having surgery for an infected sphenoid sinus and deviated septum back in late april.  moved to hawaii late may, and about a month later started having sinus problems again.  this time they felt different.  did 5 day ketek, no help.  did 10 day augmentin with a 6 day prednisone steroid pack, felt a little better, but it came right back.  did another 10 days of augmentin, THEN another 10 days of augmenting WITH a 9 day course of prednisone.  a ct scan a couple weeks ago confirmed an infection in my right ethmoid sinus.  throughout i've been taking nasonex, and zyrtec.  on the last course of prednisone i started to feel better, but i finished that and the antibiotic on wednesday.  it's saturday and i've felt like i was going to die all day.  i went to the doctor this morning and they gave me an Rx for avelox, and said i should see an ENT this coming week.  i'm really scared.  it feels so bad.  the paid is getting worse, and the foggyness in my head is really disturbing.  i'm 22 and the last thing i want is to die from a sinus infection.  if i have another surgery is it really going to stop the problem?  i have other sinuses that COULD get infected.  what should i do??

[Modglin]

A related discussion, Sinus infection was started.

[mark413]

A related discussion, chronic sinusitis was started.