on-going sinus issues for almost 2 years...nothing helps!

[paradoxenygma]

I'm a 22 year old healthy male.  I work out from time to time, eat pretty healthy, not overweight, and Ive never really had any major health problems.

This whole situation started about a year and half to 2 years ago.  It started when I quit smoking marijuana.  After about a week, I began to feel really anxious ( i figured it was withdrawal ) and then I started to feel really terrible.  turns out I was getting a really bad case of the flu...probably the worse I've ever had.

While I was sick, I was having terrible sinus pressure and headaches, clogged painful ears, the whole nine yards.  this was accompanied by panic attacks and really bad anxiety.  I went through antibiotics and tamiflu, and after about a month, the flu was gone, but sinus pressure remained.  I went to the ENT, who gave me more antibiotics, which did nothing.  Went for a CT scan, and it all came back normal, aside from my severly deviated septum due to an accident that broke my nose.  Doctor said the only option was surgery.  During this whole time, i was really anxious and felt wierd because of the constant sinus pressure, headache, pressure in temples, and clogged ears.  i felt off balance, and not myself.  I was so anxious and felt so bad all the time I rarely wanted to leave my house. I suffered through all this for months and months, hoping that one day it would stop and resolve itself since my doctor told me there was nothing wrong.  I went to a second ENT recently for a second opinion, and he too said that surgery would help.  I broke down and got the surgery.  Its been 2 months since I had my septum fixed, and its still the same deal...except slightly less intense.  I still have sinus pressure, temple pressure, headache, clogged ears...mostly on the side that was deviated.  I don't really have any kind of discolored discharge, if any.  I can breathe better, but my cheeks usually always feel pressure, along with all the other stuff.  I've never really had allergies, and I've been taking Claritin-D everyday at the recommendation of my doctor.   I use a neti pot with saline rinse everyday.  Throughout this thing I've also tried vitamins/herbs, acupuncture, nasal steroids, antibiotics, mucinex, sudafed, claritin, sinusbuster spray, hot or cold compresses on my face, herbal tea, meditation, collodial silver sinus spray, breathe right strips while i sleep...pretty much everything i could think of.  Luckily, I'm not anxious like I was before, but when it gets really bad and I have to go to work/go out with friends/go shopping/etc, it makes me anxious because i just don't feel good and its hard to function normally when you ALWAYS feel like ****.  I sleep fine, but sometimes even wake up in the morning with the pressure.

i went back to the ENT yesterday, and he gave me another course of antibiotics, but longer in duration.  he said if it doesnt go away i need another CT scan.  I'm nervous that the medicine wont work, and the CT scan will show up normal again.  what then?

anyone have any suggestions?  im desperate to get my life back!

[kjelltp]

I'm happy to hear that worked for you.  Western medicine never cure anyone, they just put out fires (which flare up again).   Alternative methods probably cure a lot more, but are seldom recorded.   I personally believe for every ailment, nature has a remedy.   Drugs are toxic, foreign to the body, and just make us sicker in the long run.

A lot of people with sinus problems , also get symptom relief via acupuncture.

[friggy]

I'd still recommend a sinus flush, as it would clear out the remaining sinus infection, and soothe the inflammation and shrink swollen membranes better than the steroids.

I'd also recommend stinging nettle leaf for the allergies.  There's some evidence that the high magnesium, and some other mystery ingredient, lessen allergic reactions.  It cured my allergies, with no side effects, and seems to do so in about half the people who try it for 2 weeks.

Don't know much about cysts, refer to ENT.  My theory is that they're caused by chronic sinus infections.

[Mahmoud1429]

I have been diagnosed with Chronic Sinusitis since 1990 until 2002 and during those 12 years i endured tremendous bouts of pain, allergies, sinus Migrain headaches,lack of sleep, dizziness. This disease has altered my life style completely and i have looke everywhere for a cure but to no avail, needless to say that i have also tried every medicine there is and nothing worked, until i moved to Egypt, and i learned about cupping therapy ( hijama in Arabic ), which is basically blood letting, and i swear that only after one session i was cured for a period of one year, then i kept getting Hijama done once every 4-5 months and that by itself ensured that the sinus attacks NEVER came back, and if need be in between those sessions, i learned to squirt inside my nostrils a little bit of the chamomile tea after making an infusion of it and then i let it sit to cool down for like 15 mins then i use in on nsotrils, each side at a time, twice once first thing in the morning, and at night rightr before going to bed, and that has almost eradicated my chronic sinusitis. if anyone has any questions or need to explore more, please contact me via email. Cheer up, at least now you know the cure.

[kjelltp]

Heh, antibiotics aren't the devil, prednisone is!  Sure, ABs have a use when a quick fix is needed, but is a double edged sword.  I have more concerns about how often, and easily they are prescribed.   Look at all the "antibiotic" products out there.  Soon maybe we will have "smart food" with antibiotics.   People eat meat, full of anti biotics.  We use soaps with antibiotics.  Antibiotic wet cloths, antibiotic detergents, etc, etc.   No wonder we get so sick, our immune systems are confused, poor thing....then we bombard it with stress, vitamin deficient processed foods, man made toxins and lack of sleep.  It's amazing we're still around! lol ..ok ill get off the soapbox. ;)


Prednisone is like weeding your rosegarden, with a lawnmover.  Sure, it will probably get at what it needs to get rid of, but then there is not much left of your rosegarden.    Or like bombing a whole city, to take out 1 building.   :)    Jokes aside, they will prescribe oral prednisone for a week, since they claim it is not long enough to cause permanent "damage".   Long term usage of prednisone is indeed harmful.  After all, it takes down your immune system.   My MD wants me to take a week worth (for my AI disease) but personally scared to even take 1 pill. That's me though :)

I hear you about supplements.  I take an arsenal of them, and they seem to do" nothing", but I can only trust that it does something.  Sometimes that's not enough, however.   But we do need supplements sorely, it's proven that our diets do not meet the requirements.   Not to mention the substances that we don't produce in our bodies, like the essential fatty acids (you should take omega 3 if you don't..)

I know the cysts are fairly common, but they shouldn't be.   As anything else, they got there for a reason.    :(

[paradoxenygma]

Yes, antibiotics are the devil :) (unless they work of course, lol)

She looked inside my nose and could see it was really swollen.  She prescribed the prednisone to cut back significantly on the inflammation to allow my sinuses to drain.  So far, I haven't had any side effects from it, and I'm only taking it for a week.  The day after taking it my pain wasn't as intense, so I assume its doing something.  Is prednisone something I should be worried about?

Yea, I'll ask the doc next time about the cyst when he sees my CT scans.  I'm curious if it is still there or not.  I read that they are pretty common, and alot of people have them and don't even know it.

I do take a whole foods multi-vitamin, and occasionally will take a B-complex vitamin if I'm feeling stressed out or something.  I use Claritin-D everyday.  I've also been taking Quercetin and additional vitamin C.  When I was getting acupuncture, I was given a bunch of very specific vitamins and herbs, etc., and I have a bunch of those lying around, but don't take them regularly.  I've also been occasionally taking Milk Thistle, and a goldenseal/echinacea supplement, but haven't really noticed any differences.  It seems I have a million and a half vitamins or supplements that are said to do something beneficial when it comes to sinus care, but I never really noticed a whole lot :)  I always preferred to do the natural route over synthetic drugs when possible.

[kjelltp]

Gotta hate antibiotics huh?  Often cause more problems, than they fix.

I'm pretty confident that if you address the underlying issue, it will take care of itself.   I'm suprised they prescribed prednisone, just like that (oral ?).   This is not a drug to be taken lightly.  

Keep an eye on that cyst.  I had one too (in the sphenoid sinus, the "hidden" sinus in the back of the eyes.   It was not mentioned to me at one CT, but another CT 10 years later showed a COMPLETELY filled sinus cavity (good thing it was benign!).   It had to be surgically drained (endoscopy).   I think the other sinuses are more trivial to do surgery on, less risks.

Anyways, keep on the probiotics and supplements (do you take any other?), and stay off typical allergi aggrevators, even if tests showed no food allergies.   It should easen your symptoms (if not try another type)...