Can A Sinus Infection Cause Night Sweats

Some Steps You Can Take

Whether your sinus infection turns out to be viral or bacterial, you can help to ease your symptoms early on with supportive sinus care:

If your symptoms arent improving after one week, its important to see your doctor. If a bacterial infection is suspected, youll probably need to take an antibiotic to clear up the infection and prevent further complications.

If your infections occur more frequently, and your doctor really wants to establish if they are bacterial or viral, your Otolaryngologist or ear, nose and throat doctor can sample the snot from your nose when youre infected and send it to a laboratory to know for sure.

Note: Antibiotics wont help a viral infection, and taking an antibiotic unnecessarily can do more harm than good. You risk possible side effects and increase your chances of developing antibiotic resistance, which can make future infections harder to treat, says Dr. Sindwani. So its important to wait and see how long your symptoms last.

Candida/fungal Overgrowth Another Cause Of Night Sweats

• Sleep

Night Sweats are very common in fibromyalgia, and to a lesser degree in the general population. In two recent newsletters I talked about the role of reproductive and adrenal hormone deficiencies as causes of night sweats. Today I’ll discuss another very common problem that triggers night sweats: infections.

Candida is an overgrowth of yeast/fungi . It is a major issue In fibromyalgia and the general population. Unfortunately there’s no medical test for this, so a diagnosis can only be made clinically which to most doctors means that it doesn’t exist. And you can’t diagnose and treat something if you don’t even know it exists!

So how can you tell if you have it? One way is that if you have nasal congestion, sinusitis or irritable bowel syndrome without any apparent causes, then there’s a reasonable chance you have Candida overgrowth and should treat it to bring its level in your body back into balance. This not only helps improve your other symptoms, but also helps eliminate your night sweats and even helps decrease your pain, fatigue and brain fog.

So balancing Candida is critical. Now let’s discuss how to do it!

Runny Nose And Postnasal Drip

When you have a sinus infection, you may need to blow your nose often because of nasal discharge, which can be cloudy, green, or yellow. This discharge comes from your infected sinuses and drains into your nasal passages.

The discharge may also bypass your nose and drain down the back of your throat. You may feel a tickle, an itch, or even a sore throat.

This is called postnasal drip, and it may cause you to cough at night when youre lying down to sleep, and in the morning after getting up. It may also cause your voice to sound hoarse.

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When To Seek Emergency Care

The following signs and symptoms can be caused by a serious infection.

• Fever above 101 degrees
• Swelling or redness around the eyes or eyelids difficulty opening or moving your eye a protruding eyeball
• Changes in your vision, including loss of acuity or double vision
• Confusion
• Excessive sleepiness or difficulty waking up
• Stiff neck
• A severe headache in the front of your head, one you might classify as one of the worst of your life.

How To Handle The Issue

Sleeping with a humidifier near the bed and taking over-the-counter nighttime decongestants may help with sinus symptoms.4 However, in the case of a serious infection, they may not completely resolve the problem.

If you have a sinus infection, or any sinus symptoms that are severe or that persist for longer than a couple of weeks, then you may want to see a doctor. They will have the ability to diagnose the problem, recommend a solution, and get you breathing correctlyday and night.

References

Read Also: What Medicine Is Good For Sinus Allergies

Can Your Wisdom Teeth Growing In Make You Sick

There may also be other symptoms to look out for. It is possible to experience headaches, jaw pain, and tenderness after an infected wisdom tooth. There may even be red, inflamed, swollen tissue near the affected tooth that you can see. A fever and difficulty swallowing are possible side effects of severe cases.

Acute Subacute And Chronic Bacterial Sinusitis

Bacterial sinusitis can be grouped into the following subtypes based on the duration of symptoms:

• Acute, which lasts for less than four weeks
• Subacute, lasting for between four and 12 weeks
• Chronic, lasting for more than 12 weeks
• Recurrent acute, occurring four or more times a year, for more than seven days, with symptoms resolving completely in between bouts

Recommended Reading: Can You Take Tylenol Cold And Sinus While Pregnant

Advising Patients About Sinus Infections

W. Steven Pray, PhD, DPhBernhardt Professor, Nonprescription Products and DevicesCollege of Pharmacy

Edmond, Oklahoma

US Pharm. 2014 39:8-11.

Sinus infections are common and painful. Patients may attempt self-care without seeing a physician. Pharmacists must impress upon patients with suspected sinus infections that it is imperative to visit a physician for a differential diagnosis and an antibiotic prescription if the cause is bacterial.

Other Remedies For Symptom Relief

Staying hydrated can help thin mucus to ease congestion.

Drinking hot liquids such as tea and broth may help relieve your symptoms. Breathing in moist air may also help relieve the discomfort that comes with nasal congestion. Try breathing in steam from the shower, a bowl of hot water, or a mug of tea.

If your voice is hoarse, rest it by avoiding yelling, whispering, and singing.

Placing a warm compress over the inflamed area can help reduce pressure and provide relief.

damages the natural protective elements of your nose, mouth, throat, and respiratory system.

If you smoke, consider quitting. Ask a doctor if you need help or are interested in quitting. Quitting may help prevent future episodes of both acute and chronic sinusitis.

Wash your hands frequently, especially during cold and flu seasons, to keep your sinuses from becoming irritated or infected by viruses or bacteria on your hands.

Using a humidifier during the cooler, dryer months may also help prevent sinus infections.

Talk with a doctor to see if allergies are causing your sinusitis. If youre allergic to something that causes persistent sinus symptoms, you will likely need to treat your allergies to relieve your sinus infection.

You may need to seek an allergy specialist to determine the cause of the allergy. The specialist may suggest:

• avoiding the allergen
• doing allergic immunotherapy

Keeping your allergies under control can help prevent repeated episodes of sinusitis.

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Certain Autoimmune Conditions Like Rheumatoid Arthritis

Notice a pattern with tuberculosis, brucellosis, and HIV/AIDS? Theyre all bacterial or viral infections that can lead to a fever, and thus be one of the underlying night sweat causes. It makes sense that anything that can make your temperature spike with a fever can also lead to night sweats. That includes causes beyond infections, like rheumatoid arthritis.

This condition happens when your bodys immune system mistakenly goes to battle with your synovium, the lining of the membranes that encase your joints, according to the Mayo Clinic. You may be most familiar with the joint-related symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, like having achy, swollen joints that are stiff, especially in the mornings or after not moving in a while. But thanks to that inflammation, the condition can also cause issues, like a fever, that lead to night sweats.

If you have rheumatoid arthritis, your doctor can recommend the best medicine to help soothe pain and inflammation, along with slowing the progression of the illness, the Mayo Clinic says. They can also weigh in on whether or not physical therapy or surgery makes sense for you.

Chills Seek The Advice Of Your Doctorcauses Of Sinus Infection Vertigo Or Dizziness 2008

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Surgical Treatment For Bacterial Sinusitis

Surgery is not usually needed for acute bacterial sinusitis. It is only necessary in some cases of chronic sinusitis that do not respond to other forms of treatment. Endoscopic treatment, where a small camera-equipped probe is used to guide and perform the procedure, is one option. In this surgery, the endoscope is used to widen the natural drainage pathways in the sinuses and nose, which improves mucus drainage and cuts down on congestion and the chance of infection.

Rarely, acute bacterial sinusitis may cause an abscess to form near the eye or the brain. In these cases, surgical treatment will be needed to drain the abscess.

Good to know: Complications from bacterial sinusitis are rare, affecting only about one in every ten thousand people with the disorder. However, they are more common among children than adults, so caregivers of children with suspected bacterial sinusitis should exercise caution and be alert for worsening symptoms, swelling or redness of any area of the childâs face.

Decreased Sense Of Smell And Taste

Congested sinuses will also affect your sense of smell. Breathing through your nose will be difficult, and you will be unable to smell as well as you usually do. Your sense of smell affects your ability to taste. While you will likely still be able to tell salty apart from sweet, food may taste somewhat bland when you have a sinus infection.

Recommended Reading: Why Do I Get Sinus Headaches Everyday

Night Sweats: 7 Reasons You May Be Sweating At Night

Whether you’re exercising, it’s hot outside or you’re just overdressed, you expect to sweat sometimes a lot. When you’re sound asleep, you do not.

If you experience night sweats, you’re probably all too familiar with waking up damp in sweat. You’ve probably also said to yourself, more than once, “This can’t be normal.”

“It’s normal to experience variations in your body temperature while you sleep, and sometimes this can lead to sweating,” says Dr. Aarthi Ram, neurologist and sleep medicine expert at Houston Methodist. “While they’re understandably annoying, night sweats are sometimes harmless and there are steps you can take to reduce the amount you sweat while you sleep.”

Here are seven things that may be causing your night sweats, as well as ways to counteract them.

Find Out Why Allergic Rhinitis May Cause Excessive Sweating

Excessive sweating is one of the more unusual symptoms of allergic rhinitis, but it is no less uncomfortable than say, congestion, which many with the condition experience. To help you understand the issue, and to provide you with more information about it, here our allergy advisor Louise Baillie goes into the problem in detail.

Louise BaillieAsk Louise

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An Overview Of Sinus Headaches And What They Feel Like

Sinus headaches are caused by an inflammation of your sinuses, the air-filled cavities around your nose, eyes, forehead and cheeks that help to humidify the air you breathe in and secrete mucus. This swelling may decrease the ability of the sinuses to allow mucus to drain, increasing pressure around your nose and eyes and leading to a sinus headache. Common causes of sinus inflammation include allergies or colds.

Sinus headaches can feel like a vise is squeezing the inside of your head behind your nose, eyes, and forehead. They may occur on one side or both sides of the head and the neck is typically not involved. Sinus headache sufferers may also experience nasal congestion, thick nasal discharge, watery eyes, internal ear pressure, swelling in the face, fever, chills, and sweats.1 Pain often worsens when you bend forward, cough, or when you wake up first thing in the morning because mucus may have collected in your sinuses during the night.

Many people confuse a sinus headache with a migraine because pain and pressure in the sinuses, nasal congestion and watery eyes often occur with both conditions.1 Sinus headaches, however, usually arent associated with nausea or vomiting or aggravated by noise or bright light all common symptoms of migraines.

References:

Antibiotic Treatment For Bacterial Sinusitis

Antibiotic treatment is usually only needed if the infection does not improve within 7-10 days, the person has another medical condition which may affect recovery, or if:

• Severe pain is present
• Swelling at the front of the head, cheeks or around the eyes occurs
• Nasal discharge contains blood
• High fever is present

These are indications that the bacterial infection is severe. Antibiotic treatment is usually prescribed for about 10 days, but shorter courses may be as effective, depending on the bacteria involved. The choice of which antibiotic to use will be based on which bacteria the treating physician thinks are likely to be involved in the infection.

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Lying Down Makes It Hard To Clear Sinuses

When we stand or sit upright, gravity is pulling downward from our sinuses to our esophagus. This means that when mucus drips down the back of the throat, it can go down the esophagus and drain effectively, simply because thats the way gravity works.

But when were lying down, gravity is still pulling toward the groundwhich means that it isnt pulling mucus down the esophagus anymore. Rather, mucus may pool in the back of the throat, irritating the tissue and causing a worse sinus infection.

Your Sleepwear And Sleep Environment

Everyone likes a cozy sleep environment. But, sometimes, there’s a fine line between being cozy and overheating.

Dr. Ram says that the most common reason for night sweats are:

• Bedding, sleepwear or even a mattress that doesn’t “breathe”
• A sleep environment that’s too warm

“In fact, if you’re sweating excessively at night for these reasons, we don’t actually consider it true night sweats,” says Dr. Ram.

Dr. Ram’s tips for avoiding overheating while sleeping:

• Keep your bedroom cool. Lower your thermostat and/or leverage a fan.
• Dress light. Don’t overdress and choose moisture-wicking materials if you need to.
• Choose lightweight bedding. Avoid fleece, flannel, down and synthetic fibers.
• Consider your mattress. Foam materials can limit airflow.

Also Check: Can You Flush Out A Sinus Infection

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Blood Flow Means More Inflammation

One possibility is that the change in blood flow may increase inflammation.1,2,3 When you lie down, blood pressure changes and blood may remain in the upper body longer than it does when you sit or stand. In addition, the pull of gravity on the bodys internal tissues can compress blood vessels in the sinuses. This can cause tissue to swell up, leading to worse sinus symptoms.

We tend to lie down toward the end of the day, particularly when we go to bed. Its the change in physical position that can contribute to a worse sinus infection at night.

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Killer Sinus Infection How To Tell If Yours Is Viral Or Bacterial

You know the symptoms: nasal congestion, facial pressure, pain, fever, too much mucus. Ugh. Its probably another sinus infection.

But is your infection caused by a virus or bacteria and does it really matter?

It does matter. Doctors treat viral and bacterial sinus infections differently. Here is what you need to know about both kinds of infection and how to treat them.

Viral or bacterial?

Most sinus infections are viral, and most are caused by the virus that causes the common cold. How can you tell, based on symptoms, whether your infection is viral or bacterial?

Normally, you can’t.

Symptoms like bad breath, yellow or green mucus, fever and headache are not reliable signs of a bacterial infection. They can be present with viral infections, too. Even your doctor cant tell if your infection is viral or bacterial based solely on symptoms or an exam.

Instead, your doctor looks at symptom duration to determine the source of your infection. A viral sinus infection will usually start to improve after five to seven days. A bacterial sinus infection will often persist for seven to 10 days or longer, and may actually worsen after seven days.

4 steps you can take

Whether your sinus infection turns out to be viral or bacterial, you can help to ease your symptoms early on with supportive care:

What to do for chronic sinusitis