reijo

I live in one of the allergy capitals of the world.........Atlanta, GA. To my knowledge I don't have any allergies BUT for the last 10 years it seems that I get one or two (maybe more) sinus infections a year. Prior to that, maybe one every five years (I'm 56). In the beginning it was early spring when I would get sick which is typical for allergy sufferers around here. Then the times just started changing....... October, January, May, etc. For the last three years I have had the infections in January. It always starts out the same. Suddenly I feel my throat getting scratchy and by bedtime I know I'm in trouble.

When I switched doctors, he keeps telling me that I have the flu. I REALLY don't believe it's flu, I think it's the same old thing that I've had for the 10 years, Acute sinusitis (according to my old doctor). I also run a high fever. One time I had the problem and ran a fever for a month. The doc finally did the "up your nose" test checking for pylops (sp) I think. But finally just got better.

I got sick two days ago and started taking Sudafed (which the doctor told me to take last year) and I BELIEVE that I have it under control which will be a first.

Now, after all of this info, my question is about irrigation. How do you do this? The thought of spraying a saline solution up my nose for it to drain out sounds really wierd. I've also been told that you can spray it up one side and let it drain out the other. Also have heard about taking magnesium. I'm just trying to determine how I can "head" off an infection before it comes full blown. This just seems to be something that I will get every year for the rest of my life. Thank goodness it isn't as often as many people.

Also, does anyone have any idea how to stop the throat tickles that goes along with the drainage? It gets so bad sometimes that I have thrown up.