Your face is loaded with holes. Kind of. Well, maybe it’s more precise to say that your face is full of hollow places, four of them to be exact. These are known as sinuses. (Or sinus cavities.) Your sinuses help eliminate allergens and germs by aiding mucus discharge from your nose. You remain healthier and breathe easier consequently.
This system functions really well most of the time. But sometimes… well, sometimes, your sinuses can themselves become infected.
What is a sinus infection?
When you’re dealing with a sinus infection, these hollow places get inflamed and swollen. This traps the germs and mucus that need to be draining, and this mucus blockage leads to headaches, stuffy noses, and other symptoms that can cause you a great deal of suffering. Sinus infections can become chronic because they inhibit the drainage of mucus.
For some people this chronic inflammation and swelling can prolong the agony for months and months. It’s a condition called chronic sinusitis.
What is chronic sinusitis?
A standard, non-chronic sinus infection will resolve itself in a few days or so. In some cases, if the sinus infection is more persistent, it can persist for up to a month. That sounds really annoying, but it isn’t quite a chronic sinus infection at this point.
Chronic sinusitis is typically classified as an infection that persists for 12 weeks or longer. And over the course of these twelve weeks, your sinus infection will never clear up. When it goes away and returns that’s known as recurring sinusitis, which is a similar but distinct ailment. Your symptoms could ebb and flow, but they will persist and they’ll feel constant. This will impact your everyday life and make you feel pretty miserable.
Risk factors for chronic sinusitis
So who gets chronic sinusitis? As with any illness, there’s a great deal of random variability here, but there are some risk factors that can make you more likely to develop this condition. Those risk factors include:
- Chronically blocked airways, often related to asthma, allergies, or cystic fibrosis.
- Repeated illness (whether caused by bacteria or viruses).
- Mucus is unable to because of an abnormal nasal structure like a deviated septum.
- Nasal polyps.
This list isn’t complete. But you can think about it like this: anything that increases inflammation and or makes it difficult for mucus to drain in a normal will increase your chance of developing a chronic sinus infection at some point.
How are chronic sinus infections diagnosed?
So how will we know for sure that you have chronic sinusitis? Here are a few things we will do to make sure this condition is what you’re coping with:
- Imaging tests and diagnostic procedures: We may do an X-ray, CT, or MRI scan to get a better understanding of what’s going on in your sinuses.
- Medical history and physical exam: We can get a lot of pertinent information from a physical exam and medical history.
- Sinus cultures: We might take a culture to determine what’s generating your infection. Whether the infection is viral or bacterial can be identified by this test.
- Nasal endoscopy: In some cases, we might use a tiny camera known as an endoscope to have a look inside your nostrils.
There are lots of ways to treat sinus infections, but they’re not all correct for all types of infection sources. It’s essential to get the proper diagnoses, in other words.
How are chronic sinus infections addressed?
Our initial approach will probably be somewhat conservative due to how common sinus infections are. Frequently, getting over the illness simply requires a little help. Usually, the more intense and invasive treatments are saved for later when they are really necessary.
Conservative treatments
The most conservative treatments might include the following, most of which patients can do at home:
- Humidifiers and steam: Your symptoms can be alleviated by trying not to breathe in dry air and a humidifier can be very helpful with that.
- Avoiding allergy triggers: You can get considerable relief from your infections by staying away from allergy and asthma triggers if they are causing your nose to be running. If you’re allergic to cats, for example, stay away from those feline friends.
- Nasal irrigation and saline sprays: This will help drainage and decrease dryness and irritation.
Medications
We may prescribe some medications if these more conservative treatments aren’t working. Here are several possible medications:
- Decongestants: These medications are created to get things (mostly mucus) moving again!
- Antibiotics: This will only help when your sinus infection is a consequence of a bacteria. It won’t work with viruses, sadly. We might take a culture for this exact reason.
- Corticosteroids: Swelling in the body will be decreased by these. Drainage will be promoted by reduced swelling.
You can get the majority of these medications in nasal spray or pill forms. Which one works best and which you prefer is something we can help you with.
Surgery
In some circumstances, surgery may be necessary to provide relief. Surgical solutions include:
- Functional changes: Drainage will be improved also improving symptoms with these surgical procedures (This type of procedure would include fixing a deviated septum, for example).
- Balloon sinuplasty: Additional space is created as this surgery helps dilate the sinus cavities encouraging drainage and relieving the symptoms.
Speak with us in advance because surgery isn’t for everyone.
Managing your chronic sinusitis more successfully
In some cases, treatment will only get you so far. For some people, simply controlling chronic sinusitis can help alleviate symptoms by combating a flare-up before it starts. There are a number of important ways you can change your lifestyle to help promote sinus health. They include the following:
- Lower your overall stress levels: You may be shocked to learn that stress can increase the likelihood of developing a sinus infection and can also make it more difficult to clear them up. Get into activities that help you relax, like yoga, meditation, or whatever will help alleviate stress.
- Improving your environment: You can take measures to minimize your exposure to irritants and allergens (avoid seasonal allergies, for instance). You should also be certain that you’re changing your indoor air filters and preserving good indoor air quality.
- Modifying your diet: Drink hot tea and eat foods like pineapple and citrus which are good for your sinuses. Also, drink as much water as you can. Dehydration is your enemy! Symptoms from your sinus infection can be reduced by staying hydrated.
We will be there to help you successfully control your chronic sinusitis. So be certain to talk to us about steps you can take at home to steer clear of sinusitis symptoms.
Mental health care
Don’t forget that your mental health can be affected by any chronic sickness. Obviously, you will feel mentally depleted when you’re in constant pain. So find peers, support groups, and mental health professionals for help. If you’re having a hard time coping with your chronic sinusitis, it’s understandable and you aren’t alone. And it can take a toll. So if you need some help, make sure you seek it out.
What’s in store for the future?
Chronic sinusitis is an issue for more than 11% of the US population. So physicians and scientists are always developing new treatment solutions. New treatments could include novel nasal sprays and brand new drugs (including Dupixent, an injectable treatment that aims at reducing nasal polyps). Depending on your particular infection and outlook, some of these new remedies might be right for you.
Providing results with minor incisions is also something that surgeons are always developing.
Get the help you need
For many, chronic sinusitis won’t be something they can defeat on their own. They’ll need help, and that’s okay! Instead of focusing on how bad your head hurts or when your stuffy nose may clear up, effective treatment will get you back out engaging in the things you love to do.
Is chronic sinusitis getting you down? Give us a call right away for a consultation.
References
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/sinuses.htm