Sinusitis

There are two main forms of Sinusitis infections. Firstly, a short term infection known as Acute Sinusitis and when the infection lasts 3 weeks or longer it is known as Chronic Sinusitis. While these sinus infections have much in common, it is important to understand that their treatments have some differences.

The main symptoms you may experience in both types of sinusits are similar with the main difference in chronic sinusitis being that the symptoms last longer. The symptoms include pain over your cheeks and forehead, sinus headaches, blocked and stuffy nose, clear or yellow/green nasal discharge, loss of smell and feeling hot or feverish.

In some cases os sinusitis allergies to certain substances may be an important underlying factor and if you think this might be the case then you should see your doctor to consider allergy testing. As treatments for allergies may differ from those required for infective sinusitis, allergies should be excluded before considering other treatment options for sinusitis.

Some simple steps can be taken to ease the symptoms of sinusitis, such as drinking lots of fuids to maintain hydration levels and simple painkillers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen to lower your temperature and ease the pain and discomfort, if you can tolerate these.

If your symtoms persist despite these measures then there are a range of other medications available from your pharmacy. These include antihistamines in both tablet or nasal spray forms, nasal steroid sprays, nasal decongestants, saline irrigations, inhalational substances and mucolytics, which break down the mucus. There are also a number of devices that can assist with nasal irrigation and flushing such as the neti pot.

If your sinusitis symptoms still remain after these measures for greater than 7-10 days, then it is worth seeing your doctor, who may consider using antibiotics to clear any underlying infection that may be present in your sinuses. There are a number of different antibiotics that can be used for sinusitis and your physician would discuss these in some detail with you.

In cases where the infection still remains after 3 weeks then this is Chronic Sinusitis infection and in some of these cases sinus surgery may be required to resolve the symptoms of the sinusitis infection.

Find out more about the various treatements options available for sinusitis by browsing some of our other articles here.