Treatment for Sinusitis

Whether you have chronic or acute sinusitis, treatment will often be similar.  The most common treatments for sinus infection include:

• Antibiotic- If the doctor suspects a bacterial infection, he or she will prescribe an antibiotic such as Augmentin.
• Pain relievers- Sinusitis symptoms include headaches and facial pain.  Tylenol, Ibuprofen and other pain relievers can help relieve headaches and other pains.
• Saline nasal spray- Saline nasal spray can help clear nasal passages.  Doctors do not recommend decongestant sprays as some of them can trigger an inflammation.  If the nasal passages are swollen, doctors may prescribe a nasal spray containing steroids or other ingredients to reduce the inflammation.
• Decongestants- Doctors may prescribe a decongestant to help drain mucus from the sinuses.  This will help relieve sinusitis symptoms.  The use of decongestants should be short-term only.
• Antihistamines- Sinusitis symptoms can be triggered by allergies.  When the doctor suspects that the sinusitis is allergy-related, he will treat the allergy with antihistamines.  The treatment will reduce or stop the production of excess mucus and help relieve the pressure in the nasal passages.

How to Alleviate Sinusitis Symptoms at Home

There are several home remedies for relieving sinusitis symptoms.  You can use one of more of the remedies described below:

1. Steam. Steam or water vapor moisturizes the sinuses and nasal passages.  It causes obstruction to break up.  Steam also stimulates the movement of cilia or the hair-like structures in the nasal passages, helping the mucus to drain.  Steam or water vapor treatment can be done by boiling some water on the stove and leaning over the pot as the water boils.  Hang a towel over the head to form a tent and trap the vapor to be inhaled.  You can also take a hot shower and breathe in the steam.
2. Hot drink. Minor sinusitis symptoms can be relieved by drinking some hot coffee or tea.  This will help get some moisture into your sinuses and help drain the mucus.
3. Switch sides or change positions. Sinusitis symptoms such as pain can affect one side of the head or face much more than the other. One nostril may be congested while the other remains clear.  To relieve one-sided sinusitis symptoms, try switching sides.  Lie down on one side or the other.  You can also try lying down on your stomach or back.  Sometimes it helps relieve sinusitis symptoms when you lie in bed with your head elevated.
4. Cayenne pepper. Hot cayenne pepper is an effective way to drain your sinuses quickly.  You can get relief from sinusitis symptoms by drinking water with a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper in it.  You can also try adding hot cayenne pepper to your soup.  Cayenne stimulates blood flow and loosens the mucus, thus relieving sinusitis symptoms such as nasal congestion and pressure.
5. Ibuprofen. Ibuprofen is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID).  It reduces swelling in the nasal passages and can relieve pain and other sinusitis symptoms such as stuffy nose.

Health experts advise against taking antihistamines to alleviate sinusitis symptoms.  You may get temporary relief from sinusitis symptoms but it will not cure the problem and can even make it worse.  Antihistamines tend to dry out your mucus membranes.  This can weaken your immune system as your body produces too little mucus.

Antihistamines for the relief of sinusitis symptoms should only be taken as directed by a physician.  It’s best to look for other ways to ease the symptoms of sinusitis whenever you have a sinus infection.

Sinusitis Symptoms And Causes

Has your nose been stuffy lately and do you have difficulty breathing?  Are your sinuses inflamed and swollen?  Do you have headaches that worsen when you bend over or lie down?  These are just a few of the sinusitis symptoms.

Before you start thinking that sinusitis is only a trivial disease, consider the fact that millions of Americans spend over a billion dollars annually on non-prescription medications for the treatment of sinusitis symptoms.  It is a major health problem, with more than 30 million adults in the United States being diagnosed with sinusitis.

What Are Sinuses?

Sinuses are air-pockets in the bones of the skull and face.  Small channels connect them to the nasal packages.  Air flows from the nose to the sinuses through the channels.  These channels also allow mucus to drain from the sinuses into the nose.  Sinuses are located within the bones of the cheeks, forehead and eyebrows, sides of the nose, and behind the nose.

What Causes Sinusitis?

Sinusitis happens when your sinuses become swollen and infected.  The infection is often caused by bacteria, although it can also be caused by viruses or fungi.  Sinusitis can develop in people with weakened immune systems.  Sinusitis symptoms can also be triggered by allergies.

Sinusitis can be classified as chronic or acute.  Acute sinusitis is temporary, with the infection lasting 3 to 8 weeks.  The disease is considered chronic if it lasts more than eight weeks.

Signs and Symptoms of Sinusitis

People often confuse sinusitis with a cold.  It can also be confused with migraine headaches due to the similarity of certain symptoms.  Some of the common sinusitis symptoms include:

• Fever, which may be caused by infection
• Headache, which becomes worse when you bend over or lie down
• Pain in the upper jaw
• Pain or pressure in or around the eyes.  This usually worsens when you bend over or lie down.
• Nasal congestion due to inflamed sinuses
• Cloudy nasal discharge which may be green or yellow
• Diminished sense of smell
  • Swelling around the nose and eye

If you have a bad cold you may think you have sinusitis.  The symptoms are the same, including headache, runny nose, and stuffy nose.  Symptoms of sinusitis, however, are often caused by bacterial rather than viral infection. Antibiotics are often used in the treatment of sinusitis.

Diagnosing Sinusitis

It can take a while before a sinus infection is diagnosed because sinusitis symptoms are very similar to those of a cold.  Also, sinusitis often starts with a cold or allergic reaction.  A doctor will begin to suspect a sinus infection if the symptoms do not go away after about 10 days.

The most common form of the infection is acute sinusitis, which usually persists for around four weeks.  If there is no improvement in the sinusitis symptoms after 5 days, an antibiotic is often prescribed to fight a potential bacterial infection.

Chronic sinusitis is diagnosed when symptoms last more than 8 weeks.  Chronic sinusitis symptoms are often accompanied by bad breath and fatigue.

The Connection Between Sinusitis and Dizziness

Dizziness is a common symptom for sinus infections or sinusitis. A person experiencing dizziness due to sinusitis can hardly keep a balance of himself. This is attributed to the disorder in the vestibular system of the body during such sinus condition. In addition to, he also experiences blurred vision and lightheadedness that prevents him from doing any type of activity. Sinusitis dizziness is also known as vertigo.

The feeling we go through under sinusitis dizziness is very much like the feeling we get after hours of travelling on a zigzag road. The head feels like spinning and trembling; the surrounding is turning around you.

The most apparent symptom of sinusitis dizziness is the loss of balance which go along with vomiting and nausea. A patient suffering from dizziness may also be sweating excessively and has abnormal eye movements.

Dizziness Explained

The reason behind the condition of sinusitis dizziness and the state of being imbalance is the unequalness of air pressure on both sides of the eardrums caused by a blocked eustachian tube due to swelling. This affects the vestibular system of the body causing an instability, thus, the loss of balance.

The Eustachian tube (auditory or pharyngotympanic tube) is responsible for controlling the air in the middle ear and outer ear, making sure there’s equal pressure. Another function of the Eustachian tube is to drain accumulated fluids, secretions or debris from the middle ear space.

The Eustachian tube has a lining similar to that of the nasal cavities so that means any thing that can inflame the lining of the nasal passages is also capable of doing the same to the Eustachian tube. Since they are very close in location, they are most likely to complicate each other during infections.

Aside from dizziness, obstruction of fluid on the Eustachean tube may also cause ear pain or loss of hearing. It can further lead to other complications if not well taken care of.

What is Sphenoid Sinusitis?

Sphenoid sinusitis or sphenoiditis is the inflammation of one or both of the sphenoid sinuses. These air-filled cavities, which cover the sphenoid bone, are one of the four pairs of sinuses known collectively as paranasal sinuses; the other three pairs are ethmoid, frontal and maxillary. The sphenoids are located at the base of the skull, behind the eyes and the nose.

The primary cause of sphenoid inflammation are allergens that we breathe in through our nose and mouth. What happens is that, these small particles obstruct the passageways to the nasal cavities, hence, not allowing mucus to be drained. This results in bacteria build-up and eventually infection of the sinuses.

There are two types of sphenoid sinusitis: acute and chronic. Acute sphenoiditis is the more severe one. Chronic sinusitis is less painful although it can last for months as opposed to just weeks for acute sinusitis. Both type may need surgical therapy if not treated at their onset.

Symptoms

The most apparent symptom of sphenoid sinusitis in diagnosed patients is headache. Headache worsens when changing posture, or when hunching forward and lying on the back. Although the least common sinus condition, sphenoiditis makes a person agonize in so much pain. A patient normally experiences pain in the forehead, eyes, neck, ears and face. Also, sometimes, the patient suffers from runny nose and fever. Other symptoms: diplopia, chronic cough, nasal discharge, and dizziness.

Treatment

Sphenoid sinusitis is an aggresive condition which needs early attention and treatment by qualified physicians. Because the sphenoides are located on the head, it can infect neighbouring organs, such as the brain and eyes. In this case, viruses spread and complications may arise.

Treatment includes both medical and surgical therapies. Physicians prescribe antibiotics to the patient for the first 24 hours, when no changes occur, the need for a surgical operation comes in. Surgical operations are done on acute cases.

Understanding Sinusitis Antibiotics

The effectiveness of sinusitis antibiotics differ from patient to patient due to the varying causes of the illness. Sinusitis is not caused by a single class of bacteria, making it important that a person suffering from the disease consult a doctor or a specialist before starting an antibiotic treatment. Generally, sinusitis antibiotics, as any other antibiotics, are divided into two major classes, broad-spectrum and narrow-spectrum types. Broad-spectrum antibiotics are those that are proven to be effective against a wide range of bacterial infections, while narrow-spectrum antibiotics are those types that specifically target a class of bacteria.

Specialists and doctors’ first line of defense when it comes to sinusitis antibiotics are the narrow-spectrum types. Narrow-spectrum antibiotics are generally cheaper and are appropriate for sinus infections that are not severe. Azithromycin and stand-alone amoxicillin are two of the most common narrow-spectrum antibiotics prescribed for sinusitis treatment. Amoxicillin is, however, preferred because it is known to have the least side effects of all sinusitis antibiotics. Erythromycin and Clarithromycin, which are macrolides, are commonly prescribed against sinusitis. Macrolides stops bacterial reproduction, allowing the body’s natural immune system to defeat the infection.

When an infection is stubborn and treatment through narrow-spectrum antibiotics, ENT specialists usually proceed to prescribe broad-spectrum antibiotics. Prescription of broad-spectrum antibiotics is discouraged as much as possible because there is a high chance of developing antibiotic resistant bacteria, especially when treatment is not allowed to finish the whole course. Cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones are two of the most recommended broad-spectrum antibiotics today. Fluoroquinolones, in particular, are the latest types of antibiotics and work by stopping multiplication of bacteria. Use of fluroquinolones should, however, be exercised with extreme caution because of the antibiotics’ strength and side effects, which may include serious damage to cardiovascular muscles. Sinusitis antibiotics may be effective against the illness, but only when taken the right way.

Types of Chronic Sinusitis Treatment

Millions of people around the world have been searching for the most effective chronic sinusitis treatment for the longest time now. Despite being one of the leading chronic diseases known to man, chronic sinusitis surprisingly remains to be the hardest one to treat. In recent years, not a few chronic sinusitis treatment makers have marketed themselves as the best remedy for this prevalent yet widely misunderstood illness. Treatment of the illness varies depending on its cause, especially since chronic sinusitis is attributed to a wide range of causes. The most common ways to treat chronic sinusitis is through nasal irrigation with the help of saline solution, antibiotic medication, and, in extreme cases, surgery.

The use of saline solution to clear the nasal passages is the usual recommended chronic sinusitis treatment when the manifestation of the illness is not severe. Saline is also combined with decongestants and antihistamines during the first week of treatment of mild chronic sinusitis. Doctors also prescribe saline solution as a long-term medication. This is particularly recommended when the chronic sinusitis is caused by allergy and not by an infection.

However, when the illness resulted from a bacterial infection, doctors prescribe antibiotics, usually a broad-spectrum type since identifying the culprit bacteria could take time. Antibiotic is avoided as much as possible in the first week of the disease. This is because of the belief that an antibiotic is not an effective chronic sinusitis treatment when the illness is only in its early stage. When saline solution and antibiotic fail to deliver the expected, the next recourse is to opt for surgery to clear the nasal passages. The surgery is drains and clears all obstruction in the nasal passages to restore these passages to their form prior to the infection. Whatever remedy one seeks, it is best to first understand the real extent of the disease before picking the type of chronic sinusitis treatment.

Information about sinusitis symptoms will be added shortly!