Sinus/Odor Problem

[jgw4nm]

Periodically I smell a musty odor. I kept thinking it was in my home but I smell it anywhere I go. I've told friends about this and they say I don't smell musty, so it must be a smell only I can smell. It's a dusty/musty odor and sometimes keeps me awake at night and makes my throat tickle. Could this be a sinus problem. I've asked my family also and they do not smell it. I do have some problems with sinus congestion from time to time.

[Anata]

Hi, I too had this "bad smell from nose" problem for over a year. And yes, it is so embarassing that it alters your social interactions. I searched the web high and low for answers but NOTHING helped.

I made a promise that if I found a cure that I would post it immediately. So here we go:

After one particularly grossly disturbing day, I purchased a Netti Pot. I began by using the saline solution provided but when it didn't help I added 1/2 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Although this burned like hell, I saw yellowish/greenish stuff flow from my nostrils during the treatment and I could breath so well! I noticed that after each treatment that I could rely on not having that aweful smell for at least an hour.  I used the vinegar solution 3 times a day for a week. During this time I blew LOTS of mucus from my nose in between treatments. (Although the smell was only in the left nostril) In addition I also dropped a few drops of straight apple cider vinegar into my ears because they began to ache and get clogged after the Netti treatments. (I studied that if your ears feel clogged and ichy inside frequently that it may be a fungal infection and that apple cider vinegar works like clock work.

In between the vinegar treatments, and sometimes right after, I used the saline solution provided with the Netti pot because it is very soothing. As a matter of fact for that 1st and second week I used this saline or sea salt solution to flush my sinuses anytime I even thought that the smell was returning between the vinegar treatments.

This is week 3. The smell has been gone all week. I rinse at least once a day, still, with the vinegar wash and still wash with sea salt as I feel stuffy.

My hypothesis says that this mucus is of a fungal nature and it gets trapped deep inside the sinus cavaties. This fungal mucus is sticker(for lack of a better word) than normal mucus and needs to be flushed with an antifungal prepation of some kind that is not harmful to avoid crusting and clogging.....i.e. stinky nose breath!

I hope this helps EVERYONE who reads this. I am THANKFUL for my own relief.

Blessings

[whatiswrongmewithme]

I am on Pantoprazole which helps my acid reflux, but am concerned as to why at night and until 1 hour after rising my ears are VERY squelchy when pressed, plus I have worse tinnitus as well. Also skin either side of nose gets very greasy at night and smells "off" .
I am getting a lot of mucus( well I think is mucus) dripping down throat and my sinuses are blocked often.  Is it possible the eustachian tube is blocked ?

[pakrbakr]

I had routine chest surgery (ICD lead replacement) under general anesthesia over a month ago and ever since about 2 days after the surgery I have had a foul odor coming from what I assume is my sinuses.  The odor sometimes smells like burnt tissue but sometimes smells like dog poo.  It has been accompanied with a green mucous, worse in the am, which has decreased since using antibiotics.  I tried Cipro for a month and am currently on Ceftin about day 8.  There has been a decrease in the severity of the smell and mucous but I would think by now it would all be gone.  I experience the smell more when I bend over or lie down.  Can this be fungal?  Is it somehow associated with the general anesthesia?  No allergy meds or steroids. I have had sinus infections in the past but this is the worst one of my life. Please help!  pakrbakr

[friggy]

No, you're not going to die from that smell, it just goes on and on (and on) until you get rid of it.  A neti pot is useless in your instance, and a Neilmed Sinus Rinse squirt bottle only reaches your Maxillary and Ethmoid sinuses (it says so on the box), and the bad smell infections seem to be in the Sphenoid or Frontal sinuses, which are higher up in your head, so you have to bend over to get the saline into them.

http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/2322

The Flip Turn Sinus Flush is risky, because you have to bend over, but you can do it outside in a bathing suit in grass if you wish to be absolutely safe.  It takes several days before the smell starts going away.

[hanti]

can you die if that smell goes longer than 5 months even when ive used the neti pot, and the squirt one and another kind of neti pot?

[Enoch Choi, MD]

Cool, who's your pulmonologist?