Time tested remedies | Most affordable prices

Sinusitis

Condition Overview:

Sinusitis refers to an inflammation of the sinuses, airspaces within the bones of the face. Sinusitis is most often due to an infection within these spaces.

Anything that causes swelling in your sinuses or keeps the cilia from moving mucus can cause sinusitis. This can occur because of changes in temperature or air pressure. Using decongestant nasal sprays too much, smoking, and swimming or diving can also increase your risk of getting sinusitis. Some people have growths called polyps (say: “pawl-ips”) that block their sinus passages. When sinusitis is caused by a bacterial or viral infection, you get a sinus infection. Sinus infections sometimes occurs after you’ve had a cold. The cold virus attacks the lining of your sinuses, causing them to swell and become narrow. Your body responds to the virus by producing more mucus, but it gets blocked in your swollen sinuses. This built-up mucus makes a good place for bacteria to grow. The bacteria can cause a sinus infection.

The location of your sinus pain depends on which sinus is affected.

• Headache when you wake up in the morning is typical of a sinus problem.
• Pain when your forehead over the frontal sinuses is touched may mean that your frontal sinuses are inflamed.
• Infection in the maxillary sinuses can cause your upper jaw and teeth to ache, and your cheeks to become tender to the touch.
• The ethmoid sinuses are near the tear ducts in the corner of your eyes. Therefore, inflammation of these cavities often causes swelling of the eyelids and tissues around your eyes, and pain between your eyes. Ethmoid inflammation also can cause tenderness when you touch the sides of your nose, a loss of smell, and a stuffy nose.
• Infection in the sphenoid sinuses can cause earaches, neck pain, and deep aching at the top of your head, although these sinuses are less frequently affected.

Most people with sinusitis, however, have pain or tenderness in several locations, and their symptoms usually do not clearly show which sinuses are inflamed.

Other symptoms of sinusitis can include

• Fever
• Weakness
• Tiredness
• A cough that may be more severe at night
• Rhinitis or nasal congestion

In addition, the drainage of mucus from the sphenoid or other sinuses down the back of your throat (postnasal drip) can cause you to have a sore throat. Mucus drainage also can irritate the membranes lining your larynx (upper windpipe). Not everyone with these symptoms, however, has sinusitis. On rare occasions, acute sinusitis can result in brain infection and other serious complications.

It can be difficult to determine the cause of chronic sinusitis. Some health experts think it is an infectious disease, but others are not certain. It is an inflammatory disease that often occurs in people with asthma. If you have asthma, which is an allergic disease, you may have chronic sinusitis which may make it worse. If you are allergic to airborne allergens, such as house dust mites, mold, and pollen, which trigger allergic rhinitis, you may develop chronic sinusitis. An allergic reaction to certain fungi may be responsible for at least some cases of chronic sinusitis. In addition, people who are allergic to fungi can develop a condition called “allergic fungal sinusitis.”

If you are prone to getting chronic sinusitis, damp weather, especially in northern temperate climates, or pollutants in the air and in buildings also can affect you. If you have an immune deficiency disorder or an abnormality in the way mucus moves through and from your respiratory system (for example, primary immune deficiency, HIV infection, or cystic fibrosis), you might develop chronic sinusitis with frequent bouts of acute sinusitis due to infections. In addition, if you have severe asthma, nasal polyps (small growths in the nose), or a severe asthma attack caused by aspirin and aspirin-like medicines such as ibuprofen, you might have chronic sinusitis.