[health] sinuses

[wispfox]

My sinuses are evil. This is the third time of more or less exactly the same sinus related syptoms since Falcon Ridge in August, when this started. So, today, I get to talk to my Primary Care Physician to see what can be done. I'm really rather tired of the random dizziness and exhaustion and sinus headache and other stuff, and want it to _stop_ already.

I do wish my body had been able to get rid of this on its own, though!

Comments

[wolfkitn.livejournal.com]

flonase!

it has saved me from at least 3 sinus infections in the last year -- i'm prone to them (having had The Surgery in 1989 to correct a deviated septum) and i'm allergic to or react poorly to antibiotics.

i wish there were a more holistic option, but for now i'll use the flonase to avoid the anitbiotics. if you learn of a better one, i'm all ears! er, noses! :)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Antibiotics aren't a problem for me (thankfully).

Flonase is actually one of the things that my PCP perscribed for me the last time I had this happening, but I interpreted it as a 'use as needed' rather than 'use regularly to make this go away', so perhaps that's why it didn't completely go away. _Is_ it a 'use regularly to make this go away' type thing?

Holistic would be nice, yes. I never used to have such problems with my sinuses (although there is a suspicion that I've always had very low level sinus stuff, since it seems like I'm almost always at least mildly sniffly), so I wonder what changed...

[wolfkitn.livejournal.com]

my PCP told me to "use it regularly to make it go away" but i interpreted this as a CYA move (because of my history of sinus issues, and because i have asthma and somehow it's all connected) and so i didn't follow it -- also because i hate putting anything foreign into my body unless i *have* to.

however, i do know that it doesn't even start to work until you've used it for about 2-3 days. my usual practice is to start using it once the sniffling becomes regular enough to be bothersome, or once i feel like i'm on the sinus infection trajectory. i use it for about 4-5 days, then stop for a day or so. if the sniffling comes back, i use it for another 3-4 days. i've never had to go beyond that.

[brynndragon.livejournal.com]

Doesn't that sort of thing potentially lead to resistant germs, because you've killed off the weaker ones and let the stronger ones flourish?

I avoid pills like the plague, but anything whose purpose is getting rid of germs (as vs. dealing with symptoms) I always take every last bit. But I don't know much about Flonase - maybe it's for symptoms rather than germ-death.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I thought it was for symptoms, myself, but now I have no idea. I shall have to ask my doctor when I see her later today.

The info thingy in the container seems to imply that it's for symptoms, and it also says it's a corticosteroid.

[wolfkitn.livejournal.com]

it -is- for symptoms. but the way it was explained to me is this: it reduces inflammation, and to really do that it has to be there for a couple days. my physical experience of it was that my sinuses opened up a little the first day, more the second day, and by the third day i was able to blow my nose. the first day i could barely get the stuff up there. so i stop using it as soon as i think i can work the rest of the symptoms out on my own, but if the inflammation comes back, i use it again.

my GP wanted me to use it every day, and i said heck no! believe me -- i hate taking medicine... but i have allergies to 3 types of anti's due to having them overprescribed to me when i was younger. when i started limiting my use of them, my overall immune system seemed to improve greatly. so if i can keep myself from needing antibiotics, i'll do that, with the hopes that something i'm not allergic to will still work when i actually need to kill off something icky.

in any event, ymmv. :) good luck! i'm curious to hear what your GP says.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Ah...

See, my problem was not that I was stuffed up in my nose, but that my _sinuses_ are/were.

I very rarely can't breathe out my nose, and sinus infections don't do that to me. But then, I also don't tend to have sinus infections _stick around_.

And my GP gave me antibiotics. :) Totally as expected.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

doesn't even start to work until you've used it for about 2-3 days

Uh... odd. Because I had useful effects the first time I used it, or I'd not have used it again. I wanted to deal with the dizziness far more than the sinus headache - I'm more accustomed to and able to cope with headaches than dizziness.

Weird.

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

Another option to consider is saline solution spray. It helps to keep things moving as it were, which will prevent infections from getting started. A doctor recommended using it regularly, during the dry season, after I had a series of sinus infections a few years ago. It is a bit early in the year but it has been dry lately.

[wolfkitn.livejournal.com]

good point -- i do use this also. look for something *without* preservatives if you can -- many of them are truly nasty (e.g. thimerosal (sp?) ), and if you don't need them, don't ingest them....

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

I don't think my problem was dryness. I first got this damn thing in August, on a very very rainy day.

Also, I _hate_ saline sprays. I thought I hated all sprays that go in the nose, but Flonase didn't bother me as much as most of those things do.

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

*Nod* you know what works best for yourself.

Any chance you are going to the Diesel this evening? I can actually make it down there today.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Nope. Not going to Diesel tonight. Resting.

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

The wiser course of action. Less headaches that way I'm certain, while fighting off a sinus thing.

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

Also, I _hate_ saline sprays.

Me too. Luckily, I don't really need them.

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

PCP! *snerk*

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

*laugh* Yes. :)

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

It's illegal to go see the PCP, y'know, let alone have one of your very own. ;)

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

But I _like_ my PCP! :)