Allergies or sinus?

[sneezydiva]

Originally Posted by Tesss

Hey SneezyDiva
Thanks for the reply. Ive posted a few times on this board now and you always answer. I never used to even think my breathing probs were due to sinus/post nasal drip until you mentioned ages ago what happened to you a long time ago. So thank you for all the advice you have given me.

Hmm so sounds like it is possibly allergy then. It is funny though how it started so suddenly which made me think it could be sinus. I get a bad smell in my nose a lot, I spose that also could be due to the build up over time rather than an infection? There is a lot of thick gunk too suddenly rather than steadily over time.

So have you come across any ways to treat this apart from taking drugs? Im not keen on taking drugs. I have been on Nasonex from October until recently and although it made a difference initially the effect soon wore off and I was taking a dose twice a day. Id rather treat the source but I guess that isn't an option?

What was your sinus surgery for?

Sorry about all the questions. Hope you are well.

Best wishes
Tesss

Hmm well a bad smell very well might be an infection. But again it is hard to say.

I do take a lot of meds, but I also get allergy shots and do nasal irrigations. The allergy shots are working well, and I am at the point where I am usually just a little sniffly as opposed to feeling horrible all the time. The nasal irrigations help keep me clear also. Before the shots kicked in, the nasal irrigations were my salvation from severe congestion.

At some point I will hopefully reduce my meds, but to be honest, I have a feeling I will always use my Flonase nasal spray. One thing you can do to help your spray work better is to either irrigate before or use a saline nosespray before and blow your nose. It helps the spray reach your nasal tissues instead of just coating the mucus in your nose.

The main part of my sinus surgery was a turbinate reduction. The turbinate was so big it was blocking sinus drainage on my right side. So he went ahead and clean some stuff out of my right sinuses also.

[Icky_Metal]

Originally Posted by sneezydiva

The main part of my sinus surgery was a turbinate reduction. The turbinate was so big it was blocking sinus drainage on my right side. So he went ahead and clean some stuff out of my right sinuses also.

SneezyD. - Was it evident from a CT scan that the turbinate was actually blocking the sinus drainage? I've had an ENT suggest a turbinate reduction ... but others tell me that the CT scan showed that my sinuses were open, so it wouldn't be worth it. The opening are very small though and I'm considering surgery to make them bigger.

[sneezydiva]

Icky,

Yeah the turbinite was huge, and almost toching my maxilary sinus. My surgeon went ahead and increased the opening of the sinus on my right. It helped drainage alot, I really widh he could've done it on the left too.

The turbinate reduction, if nothing else, will help you breathe better. My right nostril always felt blocked before my surgery. After surgery, even with packing, I could breathe better.

[Tesss]

Glad to hear the surgery worked so well for you SneezyDiva. Which reminds me that my dr looked in my nose and said that my right nostril was really shut at the top due to inflammation. I guess thats not making my symptoms any easier.

I will start to irrigate as you all seem to have such success with it. I do actually have a neti pot and have irrigated in the past for hayfever. I currently do use a nasal saline spray at night which seems to help me get through most of the night. Does anyone out anything else in their nasal wash apart from salt/pulmicort to irrigate with to help? I don't see that I could get pulmicort easily from my dr for this!

But thanks for all the responses. Its good to see that you are all having some relief too.
Best wishes
Tesss

[sneezydiva]

I use a product called Neti-wash plus to irrigate with. It has some natural mucus thinners plus zinc to help prevent infections.

Sometimes, I spray a little Nasalcrom in there, and it helps when my allergies are really bad..