What Can I Do About Recurring Sinus Infections?
So many people across the United States and even the world are dealing with painful sinus symptoms and living with chronic sinusitis. Sinus infections are not only painful they are also distracting. They can put you in a sour mood, impact your relationships and just make life more difficult to navigate. Symptoms like headaches, fatigue, and sinus pain can impact careers, family time, sleep, trips, and so much more.
Will My Recurring Sinus Infections Go Away Untreated?
Human bodies are efficiently equipped to fight sinus infections and can use their natural healing processes to get rid of about 75% of all sinus infections. Most of the time it takes the body 7-10 days to get rid of a sinus infection naturally. However, for people suffering with recurring sinus infections the symptoms can feel never ending. Chronic sinusitis can also lead to greater long-term health implications, some of which may be severe.
Severe conditions such as, abscesses or brain infections, are very rare but the normal symptoms still impact your everyday life:
Career Performance: Sinus symptoms like fatigue and pain can impact anyone's career. The symptoms can cause a lack of focus and lead to bad performance, accidents, and career loss.
School Performance: Kids already have enough distractions to deal with at school so when they are sick their focus is almost nonexistent. A child with recurring sinus infections will struggle to focus and suffer academically.
Relationship Impact: Chronic sinus symptoms can also impact relationships. Sinusitis can make it complicated to focus on children, partners, or family members. This could put a strain on a relationship and lead to a myriad of problems.
What Are Some Sinus Infection Causes?
Sinus cavities are the empty areas around our eyes and nose. They help us to manage the air we breathe and help our ability to speak, breathe, and sing. Our sinus cavities are where our mucus is produced and where sinus infections occur.
The mucus in our sinus cavities trap things like mold, bacteria, viruses and dirt. When working correctly our mucus traps the foreign substances and our bodies drain it out so that it can not make us sick. Sometimes; however, the trapped substances will cause our bodies to react with swelling and inflammation. The mucus then gets trapped due to the swelling and an infection develops.
What Is The Best Treatment For Recurring Sinus Infections?
The best treatment depends on the situation because everyone’s infections are unique. Sinus infections all have very similar symptoms but can be caused by viruses, bacteria, or funguses. The fact that sinus infections have these different causes means that doctors must take a catered approach when dealing with sinus infections. Some of the approaches the doctor might take are:
Sinus Infection Home Remedies
The doctor may want you to try home remedies if the infection can’t be cured with antibiotics. There are many products out there that claim to cure sinus infections naturally but they aren't typically backed up by any science. Instead, you may want to try a few tried and true methods listed in our other blog post.
What are some natural remedies for symptoms of chronic sinusitis?
Sinus Infection Antibiotics and Medications
Most people believe that antibiotics will always cure a sinus infection but this just isn't the case. In fact, antibiotics only cure sinus infections that are caused by bacteria and do not work at all on viral or fungal infections. Antibiotics also do not get to the root of the problem which is the inflammation and swelling of the sinus cavity. They are only good at treating bacterial infections, but will not help with chronic sinus issues in the long run.
Over the counter medications like decongestants and nasal sprays are also used to relieve the symptoms of sinus infections. But like antibiotics, they will not get to the root of the problem and only get rid of the symptoms in the short run.
Sinus Surgery
Sinus surgery can be a more permanent fix to chronic sinus infections but it comes with some complications. Sinus surgery involves taking out bone and tissue that would previously be blocking the mucus from getting out. This leads to longer recovery times and risk from the anesthesia. There is a safer and less expensive procedure called Balloon Sinuplasty.
Balloon Sinuplasty: Chronic Sinusitis Treatment
Balloon sinuplasty is a procedure that was developed in 2005 in order to treat patients with recurring sinus issues in a safer and easier way. Balloon sinuplasty is quicker, safer, cheaper, and just as effective as surgery with less recovery time. The best part is that balloon sinus dilation has a 95% success rate and is so safe that it is covered by most insurances.
Tell me more about treating recurring sinus infections with balloon sinuplasty
Get Treated For Recurring Sinus Infections At Lubbock Sinus Doctor
Our doctors are compassionate and professional. We work with all of our patients carefully to provide them with their own individual treatment plans. We are committed to quality care and our goal is to exceed expectations and provide the best quality possible.
