Sinus infections: Do you ALWAYS need an antibiotic?

[luvwinnie]

I always get one, but I'm wondering if others are able to just "ride it out". If you do get antibiotics, which one doyou think works best for you? I'm allergic to Zithromax now.

 

[winniedapooh]

I am supposed to always get one because of the problems I have if I do not. In early February I forgot the 3-5th day of my Z-pack at work and headed to WDW for 4 days. A week later it had turned into bronchitis, sinusitis, pneumonia, and an ear infection...I will always take my medicine from now on I promise!

 

[Christine]

What have you done on your own to clear it up? My mom gets a sinus infection about once a year and it is truly horrendous. Her doctor is a real *stickler* about giving antibiotics. He begs her to try some prescription decongestants for a week before giving her the antibiotic. She always cooperates and it ends up going away (and believe me, she is BAD off). So, I guess for some people, you can do it without antibiotics.

I've always taken Augmentin for mine. Zithromax isn't the greatest for sinus infections anyway.

I think Augmentin, Biaxon, Levaquin are the sinus infection "choice" drugs.

 

[luvwinnie]

What have you done on your own to clear it up? My mom gets a sinus infection about once a year and it is truly horrendous. Her doctor is a real *stickler* about giving antibiotics. He begs her to try some prescription decongestants for a week before giving her the antibiotic. She always cooperates and it ends up going away (and believe me, she is BAD off). So, I guess for some people, you can do it without antibiotics.

I've always taken Augmentin for mine. Zithromax isn't the greatest for sinus infections anyway.

I think Augmentin, Biaxon, Levaquin are the sinus infection "choice" drugs.

I've taken Sudafed and my usual Zyrtec every day since Tuesday. Today the pain was worse and I had to put an ice pack on my face. Also using Vicks...the old standby!

 

[luvwinnie]

I am supposed to always get one because of the problems I have if I do not. In early February I forgot the 3-5th day of my Z-pack at work and headed to WDW for 4 days. A week later it had turned into bronchitis, sinusitis, pneumonia, and an ear infection...I will always take my medicine from now on I promise!

Oh no!

 

[THE HAT]

i have serious sinus problems. after 3 months and a cat scan and mri later i was diagnosed about 5 years ago with chronic and acute sinusitis. this can't be taken care of with surgery. so i have a running prescription for good old amoxicillian. when i have a bad flare up it takes about 6 weeks on amox. for it to clear up. all the other short term antibiotics just don't work, i have to have the long haul dose.
i am fighting a cold right now that i can tell is heading to cause a major flare up, rats!!

 

[DisneyPhD]

What have you done on your own to clear it up? My mom gets a sinus infection about once a year and it is truly horrendous. Her doctor is a real *stickler* about giving antibiotics. He begs her to try some prescription decongestants for a week before giving her the antibiotic. She always cooperates and it ends up going away (and believe me, she is BAD off). So, I guess for some people, you can do it without antibiotics.

I've always taken Augmentin for mine. Zithromax isn't the greatest for sinus infections anyway.

I think Augmentin, Biaxon, Levaquin are the sinus infection "choice" drugs.

I am allergic to both Pencilin and Sulfa based (so that rules out Augmentin, and Biaxon, not sure about Levaquin, but as I get sinius infections alot and never been prescibed it I am guessing that too.)

Z packs are my friend. Kelfex otherwise.

I hear some of the sinius rinses are a good way to prevent colds from turning into sinius infections. I use ocean spay (salt walter) daily and that seems to help prevent them.) I know sometimes older kids can get over ear infections with out antiboics. Not sure about adults and sinius.

Good luck, I hope you feel better soon.

 

[YourMajesty]

What have you done on your own to clear it up? My mom gets a sinus infection about once a year and it is truly horrendous. Her doctor is a real *stickler* about giving antibiotics. He begs her to try some prescription decongestants for a week before giving her the antibiotic. She always cooperates and it ends up going away (and believe me, she is BAD off). So, I guess for some people, you can do it without antibiotics.

I've always taken Augmentin for mine. Zithromax isn't the greatest for sinus infections anyway.

I think Augmentin, Biaxon, Levaquin are the sinus infection "choice" drugs.

I'm taking Levaquin right now(14 days) for a sinus infection. I've never taken it before. Augmentin works good for me too. I've had trouble for the past ten years or so. The ENT mentioned surgery and I had to give him the I was ten days post-gallbladder surgery...I'll try the drugs for now! Even he kind of laughed....

 

[gradtchr]

When I started building up a resistance to the antibiotics my doctor started to have me wait as long as possible before getting an antibiotic. I have now been 3 years without needing a prescription. It's miserable for a couple of days but I am getting over them much quicker now. If it starts heading to the lungs I will get something but thankfully I haven't had that problem recently.

 

[disney funseeker]

Dh recently got over his first sinus infection ever.

He suffered for 3 weeks before seeing the doctor and was prescribed Biaxon (sp?). Amoxicillin was not going to be strong enough. Is it ever expensive for a few pills but what a lifesaver it was.

I have not seen him so ill and miserable as when he had this sinus infection.
If this ever happens again, to the Doctor and antibiotics immediately.

 

[momsgonwild]

The Dr told me to mix sea salt and warm water, and inhale the solution into each nostril 4x per day. It stings like crazy, but really works! He also told me to use the 24 hour Claritin. Also, he had me try using the Advil Migrane medication for when my head is throbbing. The Advil Migrane worked much better than the tylenol or the ibuprofen. I avoided using antibiotics the last two flare-ups that I had. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the future.

 

[THE HAT]

Dh recently got over his first sinus infection ever.

He suffered for 3 weeks before seeing the doctor and was prescribed Biaxon (sp?). Amoxicillin was not going to be strong enough. Is it ever expensive for a few pills but what a lifesaver it was.

I have not seen him so ill and miserable as when he had this sinus infection.
If this ever happens again, to the Doctor and antibiotics immediately.

the stronger antibiotics just won't touch mine as it is a chronic problem, so i need the longer time on it and amox is the only one that is safe to do that with.
i have tried all the other ones in hopes that it would work but just wasted money for me. they are sooooo expensive and amox is 17.00 for 6 weeks.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Lauri gets a good amount of sinus infections due to allergies. She can usually get them to go away on their own if they aren't too bad. She just takes some OTC Decongestants and sleeps with a heating pad tucked into her pillow case with the affected area lying on it. The heat seems to loosen the infection up a bit and helps the decongestant dissolve it. It at least definately takes away the pain. There are some infections that are just too strong and she has to do antibiotics - always this time of the year too. Funny story - she went to her doctor 2 weeks ago for a sinus infection. First time she's seen her primary doctor since the year before. When he was writing her prescription for the antibiotics he looked at her chart and laughed. He said "do you realize that the last time you came to see me was 1 yr ago from this exact date... for the same thing?"

 

[THE HAT]

The Dr told me to mix sea salt and warm water, and inhale the solution into each nostril 4x per day. It stings like crazy, but really works! He also told me to use the 24 hour Claritin. Also, he had me try using the Advil Migrane medication for when my head is throbbing. The Advil Migrane worked much better than the tylenol or the ibuprofen. I avoided using antibiotics the last two flare-ups that I had. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the future.

ds also has sinus problems like myself (though not half as bad since we had his tonsils and adnoids removed, finally!!). the last time he had a major infection, they dr put him on the saline nasal wash, and he ended up bruising his ear drum from it. he squeezed very gently but it just traveled up his eustation(sp) tubes and caused him severe pain (he would scream every time he swallowed). we didn't go back to that ent but, ended up seeing one of the best in new england in mass. and he said that no one under the age of 16 should ever use the saline washes as their skulls are not formed properly to handle it. just thought i would put the fyi out there.

 

[momsgonwild]

ds also has sinus problems like myself (though not half as bad since we had his tonsils and adnoids removed, finally!!). the last time he had a major infection, they dr put him on the saline nasal wash, and he ended up bruising his ear drum from it. he squeezed very gently but it just traveled up his eustation(sp) tubes and caused him severe pain (he would scream every time he swallowed). we didn't go back to that ent but, ended up seeing one of the best in new england in mass. and he said that no one under the age of 16 should ever use the saline washes as their skulls are not formed properly to handle it. just thought i would put the fyi out there.

The way I use the saline solution is to mix it up, and pour the solution into the palm of my hand. You actually inhale the solution into the nostril without using any type of syringe or bulb. I didn't know about the age thing. The allergist I see prescibes the saline nose spray for children. I would be concerned about using this on a child too given what happened with your son.
Thanks for the info.

 

[yeartolate]

I try real hard not to use any decongestants. I find that they dry me up too much and that ends up "clogging me up" when all is said and done. I stopped the decongestants about two years ago and I rarely get sinus infections any more. I really think stopping the decongestants helped for me.

I take my claritan(plain) and drink plenty of fluid.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

I was a chronic sinus infection sufferer. I finally had my lower turbinates amputated and the middle ones trimmed...and then had my septum trimmed as well.

I had a horribly nasty infection after the surgery that required me to be hospitalized for three days, but since then, I haven't had to be on antibiotics at all.

Talk about freedom!

 

[YourMajesty]

I was a chronic sinus infection sufferer. I finally had my lower turbinates amputated and the middle ones trimmed...and then had my septum trimmed as well.

I had a horribly nasty infection after the surgery that required me to be hospitalized for three days, but since then, I haven't had to be on antibiotics at all.

Talk about freedom!

I hear sinus surgery is very painful. Did you have a chronic infection? Sounds like your surgery was very successful (minus the infection).

 

[ADisneygirl]

I asked about this a couple of days ago. I too am suffering from a severe sinus infection. I had it for at least 2 weeks before going to the Dr. on Friday, 3/4. I was desperate for relief since OTC stuff was not working. Both sides of my nose were completely blocked, my right eye teared up constantly, my cheek ached and I was unable to even sleep at night. Being a mouth breather is very difficult I think.

He put me on methylprednisolone to reduce the swelling in my nasal passages. I finished this in 6 days. And I am taking avelox 400mg. After 3 days of meds. I could breath out of one side of my nose! It was a miracle!

Now, 8 days later, my right side of my nose is still stuffed. Every once in awhile during the day it clears, so I have hope that it will go away eventually. It is a miserable illness. As I find my allergies are acting up quite a bit lately, I think maybe I should go back on Allegra. In the meantime, should I try Claritin? Does Claritin help?

 

[Tiffann4k]

I have had them clear up without antibiotics but I give it a set time frame before I go in and get some.

I usually get a really big one once a year. One year I did not go to the doctors and the infection started to spread to my brain, very very dangerous. I ended up in the ER. I couldnt get out of bed for 3 days, and the pain was so intense ( even with rx pain killers) that I literally wished I was dead so I wouldnt hurt anymore, it was that bad.

So now needless to say if it hasnt cleared up on its own in a week then I go in for antibiotics.