posted 05-19-2005 04:23               

Any of you suffer with these? What antibiotic worked for you? Did you have surgery? Did it help?

Thanks for any advice!

Sharon

posted 05-19-2005 07:37               

The family doctor caught on to what was happening, put us both on the same antibiotic medicine at the same time, cured us both, & that was that.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.

posted 05-19-2005 07:50            

My wife had problems as a child, due to a deviated septum, and it wasn't fixed until she was in her 40's. In between, a lifetime of repeated infections, sleep apnea, and headaches.

If your son has such issues, IMO, aggressive treatment at a young age would be beneficial.

You might suggest a regime of antibiotics, including Cipro and Zithromax, along with nasal irrigation. Some of the folks on our health board have tried a combo using sterile saline, sodium bicarbonate and 3% hydrogen peroxide (1 to 10 in the solution) to irrigate the sinuses daily or bi-daily. I've done this (got a sinus infection last year) and it helped a bunch. Also, in my case, an expectorant like Mucinex helped get things moving (mucous had dried hard and the cilia weren't working).

Also, keep an eye on his ears....

Good luck! Sinus problems are no picnic...

posted 05-19-2005 10:05               

I have lots of allergies and consequently chronic sinusitis. I am also allergic to lots of antibiotics so treatment is also a problem.

Last year I had a cat scan of my sinuses and they were totally blocked. I was put on prednisone and an antibiotic and referred to a specialist because my GP said I needed surgery. The specialist put me on biaxin daily for 30 days, which seemed to help but I had no sense of taste or smell for 3 months which was a big issue for me.

I didn't have surgery and I get 3 or 4 sinus infections a yr. Good luck to your son.

posted 05-19-2005 10:33               

My son is 13. He does apparently have a slightly deviated septum as well as loads of scar tissue from previous infections. However, this has only been diagnosed through x-rays.

He has severe allergies to dust and mold, and receives allergy shots.

He cannot even blow his nose at all when he gets an infection, since the tissues are so swollen.

He has been treated with every antibiotic under the sun. Some don't work. The one that has worked most is Spectracef. This time around, working with the pediatrician, we tried Augmentin (didn't work), then Vantin (worked a little but then the infection came right back as soon as he went off) and now, as of this morning, the ENT put him on something I've never heard of called Tequin. He is also starting Prednisone because everything is so swollen...so I know that will make him feel better soon but steroids are temporary. The reason the ENT had to give him Tequin instead of Spectracef is because Vantin is very similar to Spectracef and he was just on that...so he needs to be on something different. (The pediatrician had just started him on Spectracef, which the ENT said wouldn't have worked.)

He is on a steroidal nasal spray every day of his life. He also has an inhaler for when his asthma flares up.

It's all very frustrating!

Sharon

posted 05-19-2005 15:01               

Irrigate, Irrigate, Irrigate!

posted 05-19-2005 17:32            

You mentioned the tissues being swollen. That was my issue. The CAT Scan showed that I had swollen turbinates. I had never even heard of turbinates. First doctor said I'd probably need a turbinectomy. Again...had never heard of such. Second doctor said we would do that as the last option.

Second doctor really helped. After many years of stuffiness, I have now been stuffy-free for 2-3 years! I started with the steroids and antibiotics to get everything clear then I started my nightly regimen. 1 Zyrtec, Flonase and Saline spray to irrigate-every night. It has been a miracle.

I hope your son finds the right combination for him.

posted 05-19-2005 17:44               

Regarding irrigation...is there some kind of tool that people use to do this? And do you mix your own irrigant?

Thanks,

posted 05-20-2005 18:21               

quote:

---

Originally posted by readyalready:

Irrigate, Irrigate, Irrigate!

[/B]

---

I have to admit it but this is EXACTLY what I was thinking! My son had Chronic and persistant sinitus that never resolved...until I finally (out of frustration) took the hand held shower head and pinned him against the wall and shot the water up his nose. (I know it sounds mean, but he was on like a 12 hour crying jag about how he couldn't breathe....which of course made his nose more stuffed and this was the child that has never, ever blown his nose even once {says he just can't do it}). Anyway...it worked that a charm and he actually started to ask me to do it whenever it recurred.

posted 05-23-2005 17:52            

and to buy:
http://xylitolnow.com/
This latter site is run by a very nice fellow in Southern California.

It does work.

posted 05-23-2005 21:10            

I recently heard a radio health show discuss the subject and the host mentioned that research currently being done is pointing to a fungal infection (candida in particular) as the cause of many chronic sinusitus problems. As a fungal infection it doesn't respond to traditional antibiotic and steroid therapy. It made sense to me, especially considering all the many courses of antibiotics I'd been on over the years (which almost guarantees some type of yeast problem), so I started doing some research and ended up trying a supplement that contains an extremely high dose of allacin, the fungal-killer found in garlic. I ordered my supplement online, but there are some garlic/allicin supplements available at health food stores as well. These are different from typical garlic capsules--it is not the whole garlic so there is no odor or, um, burping problem.

It's way too soon to tell how permanently effective this could possibly be, BUT, my nose unclogged after a couple of days. After taking quite a large dose of the supplement every day for about 10 days, my bedtime coughing session (guaranteed 15 to 30 minutes per night from post-nasal drip) suddenly stopped. Over the past couple of weeks, it has stayed gone, and some chronic draining problems with my eyes/tear ducts has also gone away. I've experienced more improvements with the allicin than with ANY medication I was ever prescribed. I just hope it keeps working!

Might be worth a try for some of you to check out.

posted 05-24-2005 02:48               

Also when my daughter was 1 and kept having recurring sinus infections it was not until the ENT did a culture to grow the bacteria and test it with antibiotics that she got better. It turned out she had a strep infection in her sinuses and the antibiotics the other dr's kept giving us it was immune to.