A Slight Bit of Whine

Possible Twitter posts about my third sinus infection this year:

“Damn Neti Pot isn’t doing anything except making my nose leak gooey/bloody mucous that scares my friends who are watching and terrified.”

“No I’m not senile, just congested.”

“My wife thinks I’ve lost my mind, but you try keeping your business together after you’ve just met the man who played Ian Faith in This is Spinal Tap!”

“The last two rounds of amoxicillin didn’t do crap.”

“No, I don’t have a brain tumor or a series of brain tumors. It’s a sinus infection. Again. Yay!”

* * *

For the uninitiated, I present:

070925_sinus.jpg

I have written about being sick (Los Angeles, 2002) before, but this year has been brutal. I blame stress, the move (dust galore!) and taking a business trip with an awesome yet very feisty and determined toddler who happens to be my daughter. I also blame global warming and Republicans.

I’m taking a third course of antibiotics and have been reading about a (slightly dated) new hope.

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  • Tess

    Jon,
    I suffered from this for years until my ENT doctor suggested a surgical sinus cleaning, worked wonders had it done in ’84 and haven’t had any sinus infections since. Good Luck!

  • theresa

    “the boyfriend swears by Nasaline (they have an animated demo on their website). he uses a solution of pickling salt & baking soda with distilled water. been using it for 2 years — no more Nasonex & Claritin. i couldn’t do it — too much like drowning but he is a pro. cutting out dairy and wheat has helped, too. best wishes.”

    (originally submitted as a comment to sundrymourning​.com, see July 31st post on her website. she ended up using NeilMed and it seemed to work for her — see her August 1, 2007 post).

  • http://www.earsquish.blogspot.com Sophie

    Snap. Although it’s actually the 4th sinus infection of the past 12 months. Best not to look down. Or eh, tap around your nose and head with remote controls, cutlery etc. Pleading with your own face doesn’t seem to help much either.

    I don’t know how all the other people know all those good but scary sounding things.

  • http://www.gnmparents.com Stu Mark

    Go for the surgery as soon as you can. Those antibiotics are going to make your body incredibly immune to future antibiotics when you’re older and really need them.

    Also, I totally dig Simply Saline, for what it’s worth.

    And, so as to give you some perspective, I suffer from a marvelous condition that causes rapid increases in barometric pressure to give me magnificent, and currently incurable, headaches. So, yay for the sinuses. Y’know, we could have been born 10,000 years in the future, when humans eventually evolve out of their sinus passages altogether, but nooooo, we had to be born during the time of Sigur Ros. Well, glass is half-full if you like.

    Feel better!

  • Scott

    Hi,
    Probably, lots of things help for lots of different people, since we are all unique…but, I will tell you what has helped the most for my chronic infections. I use a type of neti which is more like a squeeze-bottle full of salt water (lots of water pressure and flow!). I use it twice a day like clockwork. Also, my ENT prescribes Avelox, an antibiotic from the quinolone family (like Cipro). Your primary care physician is usually going to prescribe some sort of broad spectrum standard antibiotic, like amoxicillin, but an ENT will usually give you something which historically works better for chronic sinus infections…the right antibiotic really does make a difference. Best of luck to you…

  • http://blurbomat.com blurb

    Thanks everybody for the advice. I’m thinking that I’ll need another doctor’s visit and probably referral to an Ear Nose Throat specialist.

    Stay tuned.

  • karen

    i suffer from nasal dryness, nosebleeds and sinus infections. when it’s bad, i use the neti pot every night. ionic-breezing my room during the day and using a humidifier at night also helps. i also quit using the heater in the winter– i just bundle up. a tip for travel because god knows there’s so much crap in the recycled air on planes… swab the inside of your nose with some bacitracin ointment. it serves as a barrier from the nasty bacteria in the air.

  • Amber

    Like so many else to comment I too had so many sinus infections month after month.

    Went to the ENT, did the rounds of drugs and steroids. Finally agreed to the surgery, after the endless pills refused to do anything. It wasn’t an easy recovery, not going to lie about that one. Thing is that after about a month I could breathe like normal people and I haven’t had an infection in the 2 years since the surgery.

    I don’t know if they have a better alternative now, but that surgery changed my life.

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