recurrent sinus infections... pain and now pregnant

[nia82]

Ive had a fair amount of sinus infections. Three alone this year. I usually just wait it out, but this one is very painful. We all got a viral cold: DS has a runny nose with clear mucous, DH too with a dry cough and I have a slightly sore throat and intense sinus pressure. It is all over, my cheeks, temples, forehead, engulfing my eyes, putting pressure on my eyeballs even and extending to my inner ear. When I lie down at night it gets unbearable! Very little nasal discharge so far, TMI, it is thick and yellow which indicates a secondary bacterial infestaion. I cant take Tylrnol, my liver cant process it.... so do u know any other remedy? Has anyone experience with recurrent infections like that? Is there something that can be done or is my physiology just an invitation to those infections?

[catinthehat]

That sounds horrible, I hope by now you are feeling better. IMO you either need to be proactively treating these infections at home, or you should go to the doctor. I don't think you should just let them go away on there own, that is probably why they keep coming back b/c they are not fully gone.
I would suggest using a neti pot to rinse your sinuses several times a day and then once a day once infection is gone. You can take echinacea tincture every couple hours until infection clears. Take probiotics or real cultured plain yogurt daily. Use a humidifier maybe in your room at night if the air is really dry. Breath in steam from a freshly boiled pot of water with ecalyptus oil in it(only a couple drops). And then maybe you need to change your diet. Focus on fresh veggies, whole grains and beans, soups, healthy meats, some diary; cut out processed foods, sweets, soda, coffee, alcohol, white flour products, and fired foods. Make sure you drink LOTS of water too, and a vitaimn c supplement during infection. Also make sure you are getting enough rest! I hope those things help, if not, go to the doctor.

[Angela512]

I definitely second the Neti Pot. I used to get 2 or 3 sinus infections a year until I started the Neti Pot. I rinsed 4 times a day when I got an infection and then once a day ever since. My last "full blown" sinus infection was 10 years ago. I was getting the "sinus infection stuffiness" a few years ago and just upped my Neti Pot usage to 2x's a day and the stuffiness was gone in 2 days.

Vitamin C and D and plenty of fluids and rest are also great!

Hope you feel better soon!!

[SAmama]

Also a Neti Pot fan, or one of those nasal irrigation thingies that works the same. When I have a really bad infection I HAVE to do it almost hourly, otherwise the pressure and pain drives me nuts. I am just getting over a nasty infection, same thick yellow gunk. I would also do cod liver oil, zinc and some b vits.
Hope you feel better soon.

[nia82]

Thanks - I got a netipot! I've been taking a higher amount of vitamin D3 and sodium ascorbate type vitamin C, echinacea tea and lots of hot steam (my parents' old recipe, peppermint tea and some sea salt in hot water, and you hold your head over it and breathe it in). I drink a lot of water by nature, plus the pregnancy tea (4 cups a day), yet the mucous didn't want to thin out... The pain this time was unreal... I also took some Belladonna. Last night was the first night with moderate pain... It feels like the mucous won't come out, but rather is being absorbed. I feel a very thick discharge from my nose dripping into the back of my throat, yikes!!!
I still think I might want a specialist to look at my nose and sinuses after pregnancy, I remember when I had one with DS my MD sister didn't like how it spread and how long it lasted and suggested a MRI or something similar to look at the sinuses. My mom suffers from them too, a lot, so I think there must be something that makes it easy to catch them!

@ SAmama: which brand CLO do you buy?

[Marnica]

Ive suffered for many years with sinus problems. Used to be on the antibioticv merry go round for years.

Most sinus infections are actually fungal, so antibiotics will make them worse in the long run.

Neti pot is a must, but never helped me 100%. Colliodal silver spray is what has taken a 85% success rate with the neti pot and other stuff to 99.9 %. Here is what I use. It totally works and is very safe to use this way.

www.silversinus.com

[SAmama]

Nia, I have used a few different ones - Green Pastures high vitamin CLO - original and fermented, which is supposed to be better, just don't do cinnamon :Puke. We have also done Carlson's and Twinlab, which isn't high vitamin, but still seemed great.

Oh, and this time I also did a Silver type spray that someone gave to me when I was super miserable after three weeks and the Neti and supps and herbs didn't help. That probably did the trick!