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So, after a really bad sinusitis, I've gotten antibiotics for the first time I think ever. At least I can't remember getting any. I've always been quite wary of most medication and doctor visits, and I've been healthy enough to do anything I want.
It felt amazing. On the second day of the antibiotics course I already felt as well as I normally do. But only a few days later, after my nose healed fully and I also was done with the antibiotics itself, it's like I'm a new person. We have a toddler so I get little sleep, but I feel very awake anyway. I normally have significant motivational issues, but now I get things done, and if my wife tries talking me into just going outside to meet with people instead, I tell her I'll get it done ASAP anyway and join up later. My skin is normally very unclean, but I haven't had a single pimple the last two weeks. My nose normally felt moderately clogged pretty much all the time (which I though was unavoidable due to a birth defect), but now it's been completely free.
I strongly suspect now that I've been having a chronic sinusitis - maybe even more generally some kind of bacterial infection - that I didn't notice bc it has been so long, pretty much all my adult life if not longer. I feel borderline manic.
My wife also noticed that I just seem significantly more present, fast & active and told me I need to schedule a meeting with my GP to make sure I don't fall back, which I did. But we're in germany and this isn't acute, so the next open date is in October.
I'll still go anyway, but since we have some doctors here I thought it might make sense to ask here what are my options for things I can do proactively to not get a sinusitis again in the first place. My nose malformation birth defect is real, and I know from MRI that I have absolutely giant sinuses, so I probably have some susceptibility to it. From what I can gather long-term antibiotics are a bad idea, and I'm quite hopeful that it's not necessary anyway. At the moment I'm trying a few things:
Vitamins / Mineral Supplements every day. Probably not super effective, but also pretty much no downsides if dosed moderately.
direct nose cleaning with spray every evening before going to sleep, mostly salt water based but also tried some essential oil based ones. Seems to work well, but also some noticeable irritation up to minor bleeding if I overdo it so I've gotten a bit more careful.
Ultrared light every few evenings. Just generally warms up the face and is pleasant, but doesn't really feel very effective (but also probably little side-effects)
menthol and similar sugar-free drops. Not sure how much they really do, but they feel good.
I generally have had a bad experience with antihistamine- and corticosteroid-based nasal sprays, and they're a bad idea to take long-term anyway. I'm also playing with the idea of getting Lumina Probiotic despite having never struggled with cavities (but I probably won't). I also want to do some sports again to keep healthy, but I'm quite time-constrained due to our small kids at the moment. But I do get some decent amount of activity thanks to them already, so it's not that bad.
If anybody has any recommendations, please tell me. In the worst case I have some weird susceptibility to bacteria that isn't actually nose-specific, in which case I'm at a loss on what to do. Obviously in the best case, I've gotten rid of it for good and am just worrying unnecessarily. But the difference is big enough that it feels worthwhile to think about.
Do not use tap water if you are. It must be sterile water.
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If you don't mind my asking, what sort of birth defect? I ask because I was born with a cleft lip (possibly palate? unsure tbh) which was treated quickly after I was born, but I've got the "dad cough" and I apparently snore like a lawnmower. "Moderately clogged all the time" sounds familiar enough for me to wonder if I should get my nose looked at.
Yeah, I also had some kind of cleft lip (not palate AFAIK) and my nose is visibly crooked, a bit like a boxer's nose. It also had malformed airways inside so that I basically couldn't breath through the nose at all at birth. As I was told by my parents, both were fixed in one surgery, but some difficulties remained. For example, I can't play most wind instruments that require one to shape the lip a certain way (which actually was good for me, since it meant that instead of having to play trumpet I got the saxophone when I joined a big band as a kid). I also can't speak a regular "r", just the rolling "r", etc.
I'll probably get it re-checked as the other posters recommended. It's likely that everything that could be done has been done, but it's been 30 years so there's also a good chance that there's some new possibilities.
You should do as well imo. Checking costs nothing (or at least, comparatively little) and lip/mouth birth defects are often associated with nose birth defects AFAIK.
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Hold up, what sprays exactly are you using? I have a bad history of sinus infection and headaches(and large sinuses), and once I discovered saline sprays, it was as if I stumbled across a magical elixir that cured all my ills.
I can't imagine such things ever causing irritation or minor bleeding. If anything, they're rather soothing. Maybe I'm just being a bit paranoid, but if I had minor bleeding from using a saline spray I'd be consulting a doctor to make sure there isn't something very wrong with me.
Edit before posting: Ah, re-reading had me stumble across you noting a nose malformation birth defect. Sorry boss, that's probably what's causing it.
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Use a neti pot regularly
Look up on Youtube exercises you can do to clear your sinuses (they really work) and do these regularly
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Ask your GP about surgery.
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I had this experience too! Sinus infections like clockwork every spring, awful green mucus, and a sense of head pressure that I never recognized until it was gone. And it wouldn't go away on its own.
Eventually I saw an ENT specialist who said something like "wow your turbinates are obstructing drainage, so whenever you get a cold, it triggers a sinus infection." No, I'm not sure how the pathology works. But the solution was a minor surgery to deflate two of those turbinates.
Point is, it's probably worth talking to a specialist.
I should have mentioned it in the OP, but I already had surgery as a newborn to open up my nose airways as much as possible, so probably there's nothing further that can be done. I'll get it checked anyway in case there's some new development, though, so thank's for the recommendation.
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Most sinusitis cases are viral (I tend to get it when a cold takes hold in my sinuses) so antibiotics aren't a general solution. (A chronic bacterial sinusitis that doesn't get cleared until you finally get it tested during a flare-up, determine it's bacterial, and take antibiotics is pefectly plausible though). If the next sinus infection you get is viral (and it probably will be) you are stuck with strong decongestants (you need something more than phenylephrine, which is a fine placebo when all you need is a placebo, but apparently nothing more than that) and old wives' remedies.
The old wives in the UK recommend steam inhalation, which helps a bit for me. (You can just put a towel over a jug of boiling water and stick your nose under it, but steam inhalers of various levels of complexity exist. You can also put a drop of menthol or similar in the water).
A lot of my friends swear by salt water nasal spray, which appears to work for you, and might work well enough for a future viral sinusitis.
The good news is that if your next sinusitis is viral it will be less serious and should clear up on its own after a couple of weeks, and if it is bacterial you are aware of the possibility and will be able to get antibiotics sooner.
You're correct that most sinusitis is viral and I should have been clearer with my language - I suspect, and want to avoid, chronic bacterial sinusitis in particular. Yeah, steam inhalation is something I also had on my mind since my mom swears by it, though it's annoying enough that I don't really want to do it very often.
My understanding was that people who were susceptible to sinusitis were susceptible to both types, but that viral was much more common. (I had bacterial sinusitis once as a child, but I have viral sinusitis about twice a year)
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