how to get rid of a sinus infection?

[nfowife]

A few weeks ago DS went to see an allergist for chronic congestion. Turns out he has no allergies- he did not react to anything on the test. The allergist determined he has chronic rhinitis and probable acid reflux. He also decided to do an X-ray to rule out an underlying sinus infection. Well, wouldn't you know, DS has a sinus infection. We have no idea how long it's been there as he has not complained of any symptoms, ever. He is pretty much always congested and snotty so we didn't realize there was something else going on!

Anyhow, we are now on our 3rd round of antibiotics and I fear this one's going to be a bust, too. As an infant DS had a reaction to amoxicillin so we have avoided penicillin based meds ever since (even though we don't know for sure he has an allergy). The first 2 rounds of meds we did clarithromyacin. When it still wasn't gone (though dr. said it was improved) I asked for a different med for the 3rd round and now we are on seftinir. It's a week in and DS still has a green snotty nose. What can we do? Is this typical for a sinus infection to last this long? I'm starting to feel really frustrated. And, I don't feel like the other meds he's now on- flonase and prevacid- can really do their best job to improve his situation when the sinus infection is still there, causing congestion problems.
Any insight? I've never had a sinus infection so I don't know what is the norm. help!

[Tondi G]

How old is your DS? Is there any way you think he would tolerate a neti pot? Saline nasal rinsing is really helpful... if he is little I wonder if something like a nose frida would be helpful to flush with saline and then suck all the gunk you can out?

I had a sinus infection that needed 3 rounds of antibiotics to finally clear... omnicef, then augmentin then back to Omnicef. While on the 3rd round of abx I went really heavy on the netipot and I broke down and tried Colloidal Silver nasal spray. I also had bumped up my use of probiotics big time.

I have a cold right now and I've been using Xlear nasal spray and it does seem to help. It's Xylitol and saline. You can read some reviews on Amazon if you want to try it.

I have heard that sometimes sinus infections can be fungal rather than bacterial so it might be worth trying to culture and see what bug you are actually trying to fight. The ENT would have to do that.... if you haven't seen one yet I would try to see a pediatric ENT.

[cilantromapuche]

We went through this with DS and several years and many rounds of antibiotics (and some scans) we discovered that it was food allergies that were causing the lining of his sinuses to swell. He was highly allergic to lots of things (especially eggs and chicken and nuts).

[Momit]

I had chronic sinus infections and tonsillitis in high school. None of the antibiotics worked, and it finally cleared up after I had my tonsils and adenoids out. I know not everyone wants to consider that option but it did work for me and I haven't had trouble since.

[echoesofspring]

2nding the neti pot or some other type of rinse. I've heard antibiotics are often not very effective with sinus infections. Poor little guy! I had my first sinus infection about a month ago and it was miserable. I just kept neti potting, putting moist towels over the sinuses, lots and lots of liquids, etc.

[HIU8]

When my kids get sinus infections (read OFTEN) they routinely get omnicef, augmentin and or zpack. Normally omnicef doesn't work (although ped prescribes). ENT skips that and goes right to augmentin or zpack. They also use nasonex and a nasal rinse.