Sinus infections every 3 months

Wife had this problem a few years back. Ended up having a deviated septum. Had that fixed and now she only has 1 maybe 2 a year.

Andilynnselderberries.com

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Last couple of days I woke up with a runny nose and like clockwork, now have full sinus inflammation with green snot and the works. Making a doc appt for tomorrow, I looked on my calendar and realized this happens every 3 months. Almost to the day.

I recently started getting allergy shots again hoping it would curb it but no avail. Maybe I'm just not giving it enough time to kick in, but man. I hate this shite.

Anybody else have this problem?

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I did and it sucks arse

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If so, what did you do?

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I want to an ENT and he tried different sprays and antibiotics for about 6 months to try and cure it. Finally I told him that the sprays and antibiotics were not working what were my other options and he ordered an MRI. My right middle turbinate had grown and was blocking my right nostril and drainage. My left inferior turbinate had grown to where my nostril only had about 20% pasage and drainage. So I had surgery to opem up the airways for air passage and drainage. It was a rough surgery and it took awhile to get over, but I can breath better than ever and I still have sinus and allergy problems, but I use a netti pot everytime I start to get that dried up mucus feeling in the top of my nose or sinus pressure and it works 9/10 times. I have only had one true sinus infection since the surgery and it much easier to deal with than before the surgery.

So if I were you I would make an appointment to go see an ENT.

I used to get 3 to 4 sinus infections a year but that stopped as soon as my doctor prescribed Flounase for me about 3 years ago. One spray in each nostril a day and I haven't had an issue since.

Sounds like aids

Allergy shots (they can take a long time to work, sometimes more than 1.5 years, ask about an accelerated schedule), Zyrtec/Claritin/Allegra, and flonase/nasacort/nasonex/dymista (dymista also contains an antihistamine so if it's cost prohibitive you can get astepro and flonase separately). Throw in some nasal rinses, but don't do it if one side is completely clogged. If it is, go for a run or take afrin (amazing stuff) then do the rinse.

If you feel a sinus infection coming on or currently have one, take afrin twice a day for three days (and no longer, trust me) while doing the rinse. This should take care of things.

Keep in mind that flonase and whatnot can actually take several weeks to completely take effect. Sometimes different nasal steroids work well for some people and not for others (same with antihistamines).

Now, getting a sinus infection every three months is certainly not normal, especially once your allergies have been addressed with the shots. Ask your allergist about doing blood work just to be certain. Also ask about the pneumovax vaccine, it addresses the most common bacterial culprit of sinus infections. There are a few other vaccines to consider but you should have them and your allergist should test you for them just to be certain.

That being said, see a good doctor (PM me if you'd like) and make sure no structural abnormalities are present. If they are severe enough, nothing aside from afrin will give you true relief (maybe not even then and it will still not be ideal for your breathing and sinus health). Procedures to consider: functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS), ballon sinuplasty, septoplasty, and turbinate reduction (preferably with a microdebrider and a possible outfracture).

There are other potential causes to consider, but they are rare and should be considered after all of this has been addressed.

I started seeing an allergist about 15 years ago and got allergy shots for a few years. Seem to remember them working, but obviously a lot of time had passed. Since then, I've maintained a pretty regular regimen of zyrtec and flonase. Didn't really dawn on my how bad they were till about 6 months ago, when I realized every 3 months I'd go in for a z-pac, antibiotic injection, and cortisone shot. That literally knocked the infection out almost immediately, except for the fact it would return every 90 days.

So I went back to the allergist, got a new scratch test, and he got some new shots made. Still on the zyrtec and flonase, and he got me to get a pneumonia shot. Thought I'd turned the corner but was pissed to get another infection (almost on schedule) 3 months after that. Even more pissed getting ANOTHER one now at this point.

To the poster that mentioned waiting 8 months to a year for the allergy shots to work, maybe I should give it a little more time before I write it off. But I'm eager to see what happens 3 months from now. Another infection and I'm gonna lose my shite.

I take a Zyrtec daily. Shots might not be cutting it alone. May be worth investing in a daily antihistamine.

Also, do you have a deviated septum? That's what I've got and probably the major cause for the sinus infections I get.

Nasacort fixes all and is now OTC