Been sick for the past 3 Weeks...HELP

[syganhill]

Hi, Background bad allergies all my life, especially nasal.
I have been on zyrtec and rhinocort for the past 5 years and except for an occasionaly medrol pack to get things in control I have been doing pretty good. I am allergic to all pollens molds, etc., etc.,..Allergy shots do not work for me. But back on the subject, three weeks ago, I started with such head congestion and post nasal drip and coughing...just so tired and achy, my doctor put me on a medrol pack 6days, still zyrtec, and rhinocort. Did not improve like I normally do, got off the medrol pack, still sick, but now coughing up little yellow balls along with clogged ears and just a very fatigue person. The doctor put me on Keflex 500 mg 3x a day along with singulair, so now I am taking zyrtec, singulair, rhinocort, keflex, and had the medrol, it is now three weeks of this, I have had to work everyday, but I come home and collapse, I am on my 8th day of anitbiotics, I still have clogged ears, and alot of congestion....What else is there.....????any one have any suggestions??? I am not longer coughing up yellow, it is back to the lovely post nasal drainage.
This has been the sickest I have been in years. I have also started the Proventil tooo.........HELP

[tordek]

Seems like you've tried everything.
I`m also suffering from as suspected congestion headaches... Even though my nose is usually not drippy my turbinates are indeed swollen.
I`ve been using this flxonase and it's no use..
So what I`m going to do is the most obvious and helpful way of preventing allergy... avoiding the allergan.
I`m super allergic to dust mites And I think I`m going to move to a place with very very low moisture..
You must see where it's better for you to be.. you also need to concider alternative treatments in my opinion if nothing has helped you...
My biggest problem is the headaches and eye allergy.. stuffy nose and cloggy ears are bearable things to me , but the eye and the head... damn it's just freaking me out, Making me very obsessed with allergy

[syganhill]

The post nasal and constant coughing is what is making me crazy the most

[aswander]

You may have developed "laryngopharyngeal reflux" (LPR) . This is is different than sinusitis, but the symptoms are virtually the same, if not worse. Chronice, unrelenting cough, stuffiness, chunky phlegm (sometimes), sensation of a post-nasal drip. Symptoms can also include hoarseness, sensation of lump in the throat/difficulty swallowing, metallic taste in the mouth).

The severe, unrelenting cough is often the biggest problem. LPR occurs when backflows into the esophogous and acid droplets hit the larynx. This causes burning, and you develop a compulsive cough, because you are compelled to remove the acid from the larynx, which has no natural defenses against acid, but has lots of nerve endings. People with LPR usually don't get heartburn (which is when the acid does most of its damage in the lower esophogous). Instead, our problems are with the upper esophogous. If the acid hits the larynx, you can also be assured that it gets into the throat, mixes with throat mucous and causes erosions througout the nasal passages. These erosions cause even more mucous to be produced, and you get stuffed up.

To control LPR, you need to take 2 doses of a medication called a Proton-Pump Inhibitor (PPI) every day. PPIs will lessen the amount of acid your stomach produces, which means there is much less acid that can escape the stomach and hit your larynx. It doesn't treat the cause of the disease, but it's the only pharmaceutical therapy for managing the disease.

You need to get a prescription for the PPIs: (BID means 2x daily)
-Nexium, 40 mg BID
-Prevacid, 30 mg BID
-Aciphex, 40 mg BID
-Prescription Prilosec, 40 mg BID
-Zegerid, 40 mg BID

Nexium works the best for LPR usually.

And visit the acid reflux message board. Lots of LPR sufferers there!

You can get a prescription for a PPI from your PCP or your ENT. But you should visit an ENT to get a diagnosis. To diagnose LPR, the ENT will "probe you" by numbing you, then inserting a thin wire probe with a tiny tiny camera at one end up your nose and down your upper throat. The image will be relayed to a video monitor. A red and swollen larynx is the telltale sign of LPR.

The procedure is done in-office, and does not require any anesthesia or pre-approvals. Prior to inserting the probe, you just inhale a little numbing spray up your nostrils.

[sneezydiva]

Demand a sinus CT, the antibiotics should be working better than this. Also, I highly suspect your shots were working some, but sinusitis was masking the progress. This happened to me. I was still so horribly congested, I didn't think the sots were working at all. Then I had sinus surgery. The following spring was my best in over a decade--the shots had been helping all along, I just had severe sinusitis.