Sinusitis FAQ

Just got back From California Sinus Institute

Question:

Hi,I have sinus problems also. Mine are getting better. Here is a few things that helped my friend that gave up:For 30 days (not 29) No Milk, No wine, Humidity in your house 30-35% Never above 40% never below 20%. Hepafilter insleeping area. Dairy products at a low.No colas (pepsi,coke, ect. 4oz of water over what you drink now, add daily for a week. Dustmite covers on pillows and mattress.I know this seems a lot. But do it for 30 days. And 100% NO OTC NASAL SPRAYS.. Good luck OTC are the worst thing because the make a rebound affect and makeit worse I did iit and my friend also is 100% better,,, Good luck, I know it s hard. also good diet and cleanwater. Its hard todo. But I did not need surgery for 2years now and only have 2 polyps after my2ndct scan

Response:

I do have some pain in my eyes, cheek, forehead. Not too bad though. Its tolerable. I notice fatigue as well. I feel that is more a mental fatiuge than anything battling my sinuses all day is tireing to me some days. At the end of the day I’m worn out alot of the time. At this point my trust in doctors will not allow one to just go ahead and do surgery to see if they can find one. I don’t think I will ever do that again in my life but you never know. I may get desperate some day and get lucky! I have not heard anyone mention colonizing fungi in my case as of yet. I’m not to familar with that myself. I think you may be refering to one of the recent mayo studies? I did try the Mayo nasal wash a few months ago. After using it I developed another infection and it kind of scared me to continue its use. I haven’t tried it since. David Sacramento, CA

Response:

David,    Do you have other symptoms with this besides the PND, like fatigue, pain, etc. or are you pretty much able to function normally when you don’t have an actual infection? I was told over and over again that I only had vasomotor rhinits, CT scans "looked" normal, and even endoscopy has looked normal most of the time, but I was barely able to function and totally nonfunctional at one point.  I had even gone to Mayo Clinic and an allergy doctor there was the first to do an endoscopy and I had purulent drainage and he suggested chronic sinusitis then (1998), but when I went back to see an ENT there, he just looked at the CT scans and said everything was fine and I didn’t have sinusitis.  Then I did have surgery in 1999 somewhere else and I did have chronic ethmoid sinusitis that wasn’t showing on CT scans, but I never got better.  It turns out that I now  have osteitis of my ethmoid bones, not a good thing and very difficult to diagnose if the radiologist or ENT is not specifically looking at the bony structure.   Hopefully, this isn’t your situation. Also, has anyone mentioned to you the idea of colonizing fungi causing the problem with getting the bacterial infections? (see recent discussion under sinusitis).  Have you ever tried an amphotericin nasal wash?  It can be made by any local compounding pharmacy and with my insurance only costs $5.00 for a month’s supply. Kathy

Response:

Thanks for passing this info along, David. I don’t have PND, just a left sinus that jams shut every night . That causes sleep apnea, fatigue, and the inevitable sinus infections. I wish someone would invent a nasal stent we could shove up our noses at night. Something that would expand and force the sinuses to stay open, yet let them "breath" and cool down the brain, etc. What have we got to lose by trying something? I don’t think our Doctors know how much we suffer with this " oh, its just a stuffy nose " syndrom. It’s slow torture. At least now I know there is no magic bullet.. yet. Maybe we should list the things we have tried so that others can give it a shot? Here is mine: -septoplasty -nasal spray -The steroid sprays with irrigation -raising the head of the bed -losing weight ( doctors LOVE that one.. most of us don’t lose weight and the doctors are thus off the hook. It’s a brush-off ) -using a humidifier ( this does help a bit, I have to say ) -a vibrator under the pillow (that helps when seeking a fast draining of one sinus. trouble is, the other gets congested ) -a battery of decongestant pills -a cold room ( at least it’s better than a hot one..) -ice on the forehead, sinuses, nose etc. Tom Turner – "Dball63" <dbal…@yahoo.com> wrote in message

news:1133297144.105848.233560@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Just and FYI – I went out to Palo Alto yesterday to see Dr. Winston > Vaughn about my chronic PND and sinus problems. He was very nice and > the clinic is fantastic. He had no help for me though. He has said the > same thing every other ENT has told me. Diagnosis; Vasomotor Rhinitis. > No known cure at this time! So thats it for me. I guess I’m just going > to have to adjust to living like this long term. Hope and pray for new > medicine or new discoveries.

Response:

I too have tried both Astelin and Atrovent. They do help some and I continue to use them but they are not perfect. David Sacramento, CA

Response:

David,     How did Dr. Vaughn decide that you have vasomotor rhinitis?  What kind of symptoms do you continue to have?  I think I remember you posting before, but can’t remember the details.  Did he do a CT scan or endoscopy?  If so, what did they show?   What color is the PND?  It seems to me that  vasomotor rhinitis is kind of a "waste basket" diagnosis, when the doctor doesn’t know what is wrong.   Kathyw

Response:

Yeah, I have posted here before. I agree Vasomotor Rhinitis means that they don’t know what the cause is. I hate that. At this point I’ve been to every specialist I can get to and afford and each of them has had the same opinion. I brought my own ct’s to Dr. Vaughn for him to look at. They were fairly old but they have not changed much over the last few years so I’m sure a new one would probably look about the same. My symptoms continue at this time to be clear, white PND, and runny nose. 3 infections in the last 5 years. All of those cleared with antibiotics. We did do the endoscopy. That was pretty cool! He put these glasses on me and I could see everything he was seeing. Very neat but we didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. That part sucked. For now I may try some more homiopathic treatments but I think at this point western medicine would be a waste of my time and money. David Sacramento, CA

Response:

On 11/29/05 12:45 PM, in article 1133297144.105848.233…@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com, "Dball63" <dbal…@yahoo.com> wrote: > Just and FYI – I went out to Palo Alto yesterday to see Dr. Winston > Vaughn about my chronic PND and sinus problems. He was very nice and > the clinic is fantastic. He had no help for me though. He has said the > same thing every other ENT has told me. Diagnosis; Vasomotor Rhinitis. > No known cure at this time! So thats it for me. I guess I’m just going > to have to adjust to living like this long term. Hope and pray for new > medicine or new discoveries.

What about Atrovent nasal spray?

Response:

> On 11/29/05 12:45 PM, in article > 1133297144.105848.233…@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com, "Dball63" > <dbal…@yahoo.com> wrote: >> Just and FYI – I went out to Palo Alto yesterday to see Dr. Winston >> Vaughn about my chronic PND and sinus problems. He was very nice and >> the clinic is fantastic. He had no help for me though. He has said >> the same thing every other ENT has told me. Diagnosis; Vasomotor >> Rhinitis. No known cure at this time! So thats it for me. I guess >> I’m just going to have to adjust to living like this long term. Hope >> and pray for new medicine or new discoveries.

In news:BFB2947E.2BD2%hydromed@adelphia.net, Murray Grossan <hydro…@adelphia.net> typed: > What about Atrovent nasal spray?

I’ve tried the Atrovent nasal and it just seemed to thicken the secretions of the PND and make it more difficult to hack the mucus up. Same thing with Astelin nasal spray. Just keeps coming down. …Allen

Response:

Just and FYI – I went out to Palo Alto yesterday to see Dr. Winston Vaughn about my chronic PND and sinus problems. He was very nice and the clinic is fantastic. He had no help for me though. He has said the same thing every other ENT has told me. Diagnosis; Vasomotor Rhinitis. No known cure at this time! So thats it for me. I guess I’m just going to have to adjust to living like this long term. Hope and pray for new medicine or new discoveries.

Response:

Filed under: Ethmoid sinusitis

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