This is ruining my life, any help would be greatfully received!!!

[Leepy]

This is my first post so please be gentle with me :o)
For the past 6 years my quality of life has been terrible. I shall quickly explain how it started and then i shall list the symptoms.

I used to get a sinus type headache when ever i lent over my bench at work so i decided to use my private healthcare and go and see a consultant and they suggested i had my lower sinuses done and also to straighten my deviated septum. Everything went well for about a month and then the same symptoms started again so i went back to the consultant, he then suggested we did the upper sinuses and to straighten the septum some more.  And this is where i have really suffered ever since.  I have seen so many consultants since then (NHS) and they have all said the same "we cant see anything wrong, its just one of those things". I am so angry because nobody is coming up with any helpful ideas, its just like they dont really care or even worse, cant be bothered.

This is a list of my issues:

constant pain behind the eyes
constant feeling of congestion in the nose particularly on the left hand side
feel very lethargic
nose feels tender at times
eyes are quite sensitive to light


The only relief i tend to get is if i am outside in the fresh air.  I have tried things like neti pots and nasal sprays etc but without much success. Strangely enough the neti pot drains through quite well when i put it in the right nostril but when i try it on the left it really struggles to drain through, also, and i dont know if this is typical of neti pots but i tend to find a few hours later i am still getting the solution coming out of my nose when i put my head in different positions.

Now ive bored you to death with all of that, I am hoping one of you will have some kind of magical cure that will make my life bearable.

Thank you in advance :o)

[friggy]

Hi Leepy

I don't know if the Hydro Pulse reaches the very upper sinuses or not.  I'd buy one and test it, but unfortunately (well, at least for testing purposes) I only have had a sinus infection in that region once in the last three years.  Other people seem happy with the device, but then I read that they have been using it for months, so I can't tell anything from that.

Another picture that is emerging is that there are fungal infections of the sinuses, and that saline has no lasting effect on it, and sufferers are getting allergic reactions to the fungus.  Some asthmas may follow the same model.  There are researchers working on anti-fungal sprays, especially Dr. Jens Ponikau, so you may wish to check his progress on Google.

You may also wish to try some nettle leaf capsules, which contain magnesium, and some vitamins with zinc, 2 elements that sometimes relieve allergic reactions.  However, under no cirmcustances should you ever use a zinc-containing nasal spray.

[Leepy]

Thanks Friggy,

i recently purchased a Grossan Hydro Pulse Sinus System after reading several recommendations and after using it for a few days now my observations are that my nose becomes much easier to breath through for about 20 minutes and then it feels like it starts to swell again and im back to square 1. I am not getting any kind of thick mucous coming out and to be honest i dont think it is a sinus infection, although after blowing my nose a couple of times i am getting a little bit of bright white stuff coming out but not much.

So i am wondering if there is an actual physical blockage of sorts going on, is it possible for the ENT guys to miss something on the CT scans and are the scans conclusive proof because to me it definately feels like a physical blockage that is causing the problem.

I look forward to your reply

[friggy]

The neti and nasal sprays don't work well in the upper sinuses, because you are fighting gravity, and gravity always wins.  The technique I developed uses gravity to get lots of saline in the upper sinuses.  If you try it, make sure you use the hypertonic saline formula, which will shrink any swollen tissues and help with drainage.

Follow the directions about looking up and down after a flush to help get the remaining saline out.  Some is inevitable, so always keep a tissue handy.

After about 2 weeks flushing maximum, walk around outside and breathe deeply through nose to repopulate the good microbes in your nose.

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

The Flip-Turn Sinus Flush is mildly risky, because you have to bend over to do it, preferably in a shower, but you can also do it outside on soft ground, or you can kneel down and lean over a bathtub with the shower running.

Don't get miffed at your doctors. Some researchers recently did some DNA testing of the microbes in people's noses and found all manner of unidentified creatures, which indicates we know very little about proper sinus function.

If a flush doesn't work, then it's probably not an infection, try some different ENTs, maybe they'll have other ideas, like allergies or neurological.