Neti Pot and nasal irrigation

[matilda09]

When I try to use a neti pot my head hurts so much I have to stop. Its like a bad headache. A CT scan years ago showed my sinuses were blocked. So is Nasal Irrigation not suitable for blocked sinuses?

[matilda09]

Hello
I finally got my scans back and their report is
yes deviated septum 1998
Septum  not so deviated in 2009
Dr believes straighter than in 1998 ?????
I have put up pics here to compare
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matilda2009/3361476031/

I am seeing ENT specialist tommorrow.
I still have pain just above my nose between my eyebrows

Matilda

[matilda09]

Hello
I couple of days ago I  finished a course of  anti biotics Doxycyline Hydrochloride but pain/ pressure still with me.

Dr gave me Avamys spray which I have only just started using. Interestingly this spray I feel fluid? in my throat whereas the Rhinocort I feel nothing
Rung the Radiology place to find out why it has taken them nearly two weeks to re ***** my scans. They apologised and said the top radiologist will look at them.

I explained I wanted them back !
I still have pain/pressure accross the top of my eyes and cheeks but also

I have pain at the top of my head and back of my head that comes and goes. This has happened for a while so may or may not be related to the sinus headache?

I then thought yesterday is all this problem from the OA in my cervical spine ?
Pics arent very good but here are the links

Report summary 2007
Loss of normal cervical lordosis noted
Deg changes discs throughout CS
Osteophytes vertabral plates discs C3/4 and C5/6
Left neural foramen C3/4  and the right  NF C4/5 are sig indented

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff168/kjl07/Osteoarthritis/IMG_2808.jpg

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff168/kjl07/Osteoarthritis/IMG_2809.jpg

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff168/kjl07/Osteoarthritis/IMG_2810.jpg


Matilda

[Ashie2009]

Yeah , I agree! I think those nasal irrigations things dont provide enough relied to endure that pain everyday. Again, I would probably suggest talking to you Ent and askin him about using an anti biotic to treat the infection? I actually take  my antibiotics through a nebulizer its really nice cause i never expierence any reactions or side effects. I think its called aerosolized medications. It so easy to do to! I hope this helps, i def sympathise with you.

Good LUCK!

Ashley

[tomsant]

And what was the reason to take this scan in 1998?

Rgds,

TA

[tomsant]

I happened to come online now, and I thought I will give a fast reply :-)

I think waiting to see the ENT sp after you know about CT scan is like putting the cart before the wheel. Scans are pictures by machines made of black, gray and white and have to be assessed in the clinical setting, which only the ENT (if that is of nose and sinuses) can do. Sometimes we just ignore the findings/ report by the radiologist if they are not relevant.

Consent for surgery: :-) I agree the wordings are scary. When you fly, buying an air-ticket means you have consented to their terms and conditions. No surgeon/ doctor will purposefully do any harm. But if a blind man is helped to cross a road, and if both get hit by traffic, the helper can be sued. Litigation has reached artful imaginative proportions, that one is required to picture unpleasant details to the patient which can scare even the surgeon's kin away. (In fact that is what is done in some free hospitals to keep the workload bearable, I understand) There is a debate about how much should the patient be informed. Scary details serve only negative purpose and the patient can land up with more scary complications.

In your particular case, a septoplasty wouldn't have led to such a risk, but a FESS (endoscopic sinus surgery) could have. Your scans show that you required such a surgery too; yes your sinuses are blocked. Some surgical clearing was required in your ethmoid sinuses (that between the nose and eyes) which can rarely encroach into the orbit or optic nerve.

The scans: You have given only three pictures. I can make out a mild septal deviation to the right side. Your sinuses (maxillary and ethmoids are visible here) are blocked, either with fluid, pus or swollen mucosa. In one picture (2724 & 2726) I suspect concha bullosa (air filled middle turbinate) on right side touching the septum, but only succeeding cuts can say if I am imagining this. This contact might have caused a headache, but I would expect this on the right side. Concha bullosa on the left is ‘blocked’. But since you had a bilateral involvement of sinuses, your pain, if you had it, would have been on both sides.

We order such scans only after giving a course, perhaps a longer one, of antibiotics and decongestants, sometimes steroids included, so that whatever 'reversible' shadows would have disappeared, and only those requiring surgery would have shown up. If the sinuses are clear in the present scan, there are two possibilities. One is a spontaneous resolution of the condition, and the other is that your scan was done during an acute illness?

We will have a better idea once we have the new scan pics as well.

Hope this helps. Thank you for all the nice words :-)

Best,

TA

[matilda09]

Another scan photo 1998

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff168/kjl07/Osteoarthritis/IMG_2726.jpg