please help, how to reduce sinus swelling/pain??

not so much in the nose, but in the other sinuses (maxillary sinus - cheek area, forehead, near eye). i have literally had a non-stop sinus headache for 4 days, and it's starting to affect my sleep. i've tried ibuprofen, nasal rinse, etc already. a steam bath or shower makes it worse..i feel better though walking out of a shower into fresh, non-stuffy air. i don't have a runny nose at all..just pressure.
bac/kground: following 3 back-to-back colds this season...i have been having daily headaches for a few months now...negative allergy testing, on Monday i had a CT scan at my ENT showing that my sinuses were very swollen which indiciated chronic sinusitis. he said i would be a good candidtate for surgery to open up the sinuses. i still said i would think about it, though i'm leaning towards getting it. 3 years ago a different ENT dr did a CT scan and told me the same thing.

however now with my headaches just getting worse and worse (i have had the same headache for 4 days, no break) im at a loss of what to do..even if i go ahead and schedule the surgery in a few weeks..i cannot go on like t his. i have been taking 600 mg ibuprofen and it helps maybe a little...and i can't take more doses in a day because my stomach gets upset. tylenol doesn't do anything. i haven't tried stronger pain meds because i am a SAH to 1 yo and 2yo, we have no family in town to help and DH has been out of town and i can't be groggy during the day driving them here and there to their dr appts, etc. i did try taking Sudafed and it helped maybe a little...but i only take one dose bc that stuff makes me crazy wired and shaky (i can't take it at night).

anyway if there are any suggestions on what i could do, let me know. i am feeling downright awful. :( my former preemie DD"s birthday is today, and instead of being happy i just feel like i want to crawl in a hole and die. My DH is out of town until very late tonight bc his grandfather passed away and he had to fly back to his hometown for the funeral which of course was today, so he will be missing DD's birthday (he missed DS's birthday this year also for work related stuff). sorry to feel so negative and selfish, but it's hard to focus on anything else besides the pain i'm in right now.

I don't have any good advice, but lots of commiseration. I have been dealing with the same issue this past month. The weather here is very screwy (extremely warm, like today it's 59 degrees, normally it would be in the 30's or 20's) and I have had such bad sinus pressure. Same with DH. We keep blaming the weather.

Mucinex has helped me greatly when I have had sinus pressure - usually get it under my eye around the cheek bone area. Felt like I have been punched.

I would ask for a script for Flonase, it has helped me a lot and it works quickly.

Mucinex and a wet washcloth microwaved and put right over your face.

thx everyone. i just took some extra strength mucinex along with ibuprofen and sudafed.hoping it does something.

i've never tried the warm washcloth thing..i have been doing ice on my face/eyes since eyes felt like they were BURNING and i thought ice was supposed to decrease the swelling. but it never really helped, so am gonna try heat next.

i do have prescription nasal spray and while it does help the nasal stuffiness, it doesn't seem to do anything for swelling in other areas..

btw, i agree Hellokitty that it does seem to be affected by weather.my headaches/stuffiness are worse in fall/winter and has gotten worse since moving to TX a few years ago. last night and this morning i was so stuffy and in pain and i walk outside and it's so incredibly muggy and warm and i think just started raining. bleh.

i am leaning more and more towards getting sinus surgery. as it is now, i am just so hyper-sensitive to any change in weather, fragrances in the air (i get headaches/sinus pressure almost instantly from things like walking into a stuffy or scented room) and it would be so great to not have that as much.

Have you been given any steroids? Seriously when I get feeling like that, the only thing that helps is either prednisone or a cortisone shot. Both reduce swelling. I'd ask your doctor. I'm really surprised he hasn't tried to get the swelling down. When I finally found out I had chronic sinusitis, they first treated it and then let me decide if I wanted surgery. I will admit though that the surgeon did not want to treat only operate. So I went to another doctor for treatment. I hope you can get some relief until your surgery!

ETA the warm washcloth will help at least a little. I like mine hot. Oh, and are you using your nasal spray consistently? If its a steroid it should help with swelling, but may take a few days to start working, especially back into the deeper sinus cavities.

thanks, i was given prednisone pack back in January or so, and i think it helped but then shortly after i got a cold AGAIN and i think having 3 nasty colds back to back really screwed me up for a while and made me worse than when i started!

i just called my ENT asking about possibly getting a steriod shot sometime soon and left a message. i too was wondering about possibly getting one more steroid shot until i had time to consider surgery, find out more, schedule it etc. i know you can only get the shots so often, so we'll see.

my first ENT that i saw 3 years ago for same problem (lots of headaches in fall/winter time, seemed sinus related) gave me a steriod shot + medrol pack right away, and i remember it helped a ton at first..then months later when i still had issues had me do a CT and said i definitely needed surgery bc i had chronic sinusitis. i didn't like the guys' bedside manner and i thought he was too quick to recommend surgery and a little knife happy so i left. i saw a different ENT who i liked much better, but now after trying everything, years later and seeing my CT this guy is telling me i could use surgery as well...so i'm more inclined to believe him.

Aw I'm so sorry. I am a sinus sufferer also so can totally commiserate. On the advice of other BBBers, I recently bought and have been using Nutribiotic Nasal Spray. It's a grapefruit extract. I had a minor sinus infection when I started using it, and I really think it helped kick it to the curb and keep it gone. Maybe that would help?

My chiro taught me a tapping/pressure technique for sinuses and she said I could do it with or without lavender essential oil. Basically using your middle finger with pretty firm pressure (enough that a person next to you could hear it) you tap across your brow bone from the inside out then from slightly below your orbital bone under your eye beginning at the side of your nose from the inside out and do both sides. Then using your pointer finger and thumb massage in one smoothing motion under your jaw from your chin to under your ears and then down your neck.

I am a fellow queen of sinus infections and a candidate for surgery. I currently do two nasal sprays daily - Astepro and Nasicort. I also take Singular and Allegra. With this cocktail, I am in much better condition than this year. I don't have constant pain either.

I take goldenseal. It's kind of a natural antibiotic and I'vefound that taking about 5 capsules a day for 3 or 4 days will totally clear my sinuses. I consider it a wonder drug. :)

I've been thinking about you because I've been where you are. If you really want to avoid surgery, have you talked to an allergist about your sensitivity to the weather and fragrances? I had a conversation with my allergist about a year ago about relief of the headaches caused by the weather (because I get them too) and I remember him telling me he treats many patients who have fragrance/weather sensitivities with allergy meds (I think) even though they don't have true allergies. I do remember him saying he was able to treat a lady who had suffered over 20 years. Just another thought. You said you were checked for allergies, so maybe you've already covered that.

Something else that might be related. A couple of years ago I began to have childhood asthma symptoms coming back (wheezing, etc.) and didn't want to treat it with the typical cocktail of meds that might reduce the frequency of attacks but possibly make them more severe. I began to take Quercetin (I think it's jarrow) and I just take one 500mg pill a day. I have no more wheezing and since it's a bioflavinoid with antinflammatory properties it helps as a maintenance thing.

I agree that fragrance especially artificial fragrance can be an irritant. For unrelated reasons I began to phase out fragrances from the home except for essential oils several years ago and it's done a world of good.

For a great quick fix demulcent you can make a quickie thyme tea (yes with the dried herb) and drink it liberally. Your nose will begun to run like a faucet but better out then in kwim?

I did not read the other post, so i dont know if someone else has posted this. I was beyond miserable with my sinuses back in 2009. I was put on my 6th different antibiotic for my sinus infection and then told to go see an ENT. I got my CT scan done, but the weekend came. I went from miserable to miserable times 100. It was a long weekend and I ended up in the ER twice. The second time some smart doctor gave me steroids. It truly, truly saved me until I could get in for surgery a week later.

I would ask your doctor for a steroid shot or take pills for a few days to decrease all the swelling going on in there. My swelling got so bad, it was starting to affect my vision and I started throwing up. This is what lead me to the ER to get some much needed relief.

WHat did your CT scan show?

Susan

thanks everyone. i wish i could reply to all but i can't right now, my head is so foggy, and i can't spend much time in the computer.

my CT scan showed that i had significant swelling in my sinuses, primarily in my right maxillary sinus. like 1/4 or 1/3 of it was really swollen. he said its the chronic type where the lining is swollen, even though the cold symptoms (runny nose, etc have long gone away). right now, the pain there is the worst..i feel a deep burning pain behind my right eye.i also get pain int eh cheek and in my jaw. i got these similar results 3 years ago from a different ENT doctor who said i had chronic sinusitis and recommended surgery

i have been using astepro spray for a while now prescribed by this ENT. i've also taken claritin or zyrtec in the past daily..for weeks on end, but not sure it really helped much..i would often still get headaches. the asteopro spray seems more effective, and does helps my nose feel better, but doesn't do much for the other areas. i think it helps some but not enough.

i do agree that i right now i'm trying to focus on getting swelling/inflammation down ASAP. this is not typical it seems..i've literlaly had the same headache for four days now and it's just getting worse. ibuprofen helps a little bit but it's not going away, at all. i've tried massaging the area, my shoulders everything. am trying to get a hold of my doctor right now so i can get a steroid shot to get it under control..dont' want to have to go to the ER this weekend (i've had to do that when pregnant when headaches got really bad and i could not stop vomiting)..i have no idea how i can manage it since DH when he gets back would have to watch the kids. argh. this is maddening.

It definitely sounds like an immediate course of steroids could help you. In your other post I mentioned my success with a daily steroid rinse to avoid sinus surgery. You may want to mention that to your doctor as well as a longer-term solution.

Good luck, I know what living h*ll it is, having chronic sinusitis!

I just thought of ome more thing that helped, acupuncture. It was truly amazing and cured me of sinus problems for years. She also taught me an accupressure technique that helps. Basically you bend your pointer fingers, run them down the side of your nose and when you get right under that little bump about halfway down you go outwards across your cheekbones applying pressure the whole time.