Medicine For Cold And Sinus
Headache, nasal pain, congestion, runny nose and fatigue.
There’s no doubt that these symptoms can make you feel miserable, but it can be hard to tell what’s causing the discomfort. Is it a cold or sinus infection? Both of these illnesses share many of the same symptoms, and treatment is often similar, too. Here you’ll learn about colds and sinus infections, including cold and sinus medicines.
When Should I Go To The Doctor For Sinus Pain
You should consult your doctor about your sinus pain if you continue to experience severe sinus pain after a week or if your symptoms start to worsen.
Severe symptoms may be a sign of a more severe sinus infection. You should contact your doctor if you are experiencing:
- Severe symptoms, including severe headaches or facial pressure
- Symptoms that worsen after initially improving
- Symptoms lasting more than 10 days without any improvement
- Fever lasting longer than 34 days
- Recurring sinus infections
Contact your doctor immediately if you have a high fever, confusion, vision changes like double vision, stiff neck, pain, swelling or redness around your eyes.
If you are suffering from severe sinusitis, your doctor may recommend sinus infection antibiotics, which treat your infection by attacking the bacteria causing it. Your doctor will determine whether you have a severe sinus infection by asking about your symptoms and medical history.
Most sinus infections get better on their own without antibiotics, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When antibiotics arent needed, they wont help you, and their side effects could still cause harm.
Natural Home Remedies For Chronic Sinus
A sinus infection occurs when the sinuses become inflamed and swell up because of a viral, bacterial, or fungal infection. The infection can be acute or chronic lying behind your eyebrows, behind your cheekbones, and between your eyes are your sinuses air-filled cavities lined with a mucous membrane that filters and humidifies the air you inhale. This membrane produces and circulates mucus into your sinus and nasal passages to help remove dust, particles, and microbes from the air that you breathe. Tiny hair-like cells called cilia sweep the mucus to the openings that lead to the back of your throat, allowing it to slide down into your stomach.
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Should You Visit A Specialist
If your sinus infection just wont go away or keeps coming back, it may be time to see an ear, nose, and throat specialist. An ENT treats conditions of the ear, nose, throat, head, face, and neck. It may be time to see an ENT if:
- Youve completed several courses of antibiotics without success
- Your doctor suspects nasal polyps or another blockage of the nasal cavity
- You have chronic sinusitis that lasts longer than 12 weeks
Living with a sinus infection is miserable and living with a sinus infection for weeks on end is worse. Contact your doctor or an ENT to get the treatment you need.
When To See A Doctor For Sinus Pain
If your sinus symptoms are not getting better with at-home treatments, and if your sinus symptoms last longer than seven to 10 days, you should see a doctor for treatment. Allina Health has many convenient care options for care, from online visits to walk-in care, to help you get better fast.
If you have frequent or reoccurring sinus infections, you may want to see an ear, nose and throat for your treatment options.
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Chronic Sinus Infection Treatment
chronic sinus infections typically have a more mysterious cause than acute infections people with chronic sinus infections often require life-long treatment to keep symptoms at bay.
In addition to the options above, treatment for chronic sinus infections may include:
- Lifestyle changes, such as quitting smoking and changing home or work conditions to reduce exposure to environmental toxins and allergens, such as dust mites, pet dander etc.
- Oral steroids
Pain Or Pressure In Your Sinuses
Facial pain is a common symptom of sinusitis. You have several different sinuses above and below your eyes, as well as behind your nose. Any of these air-filled cavities can hurt when you have a sinus infection.
Inflammation and swelling can cause your sinuses to ache with dull pressure. This is because inflammation may alter the typical path of mucus from the nose to the back of the throat.
You may feel pain in:
- your forehead
- on either side of your nose
- in your upper jaws and teeth
- between your eyes
This may lead to a headache. Headaches caused by sinus infections can occur where the sinuses are or in other places.
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Natural Remedy For Sinus Infection #4 Colloidal Silver
Colloidal silver is yet another very powerful viral,bacterial and fungal eradicator. Its actually one of the most popular remedies for a sinus infection because it works so well . And if you have a coldor the flu virus accompanying your sinus infection the colloidal silver,combined with the olive leaf extract, will get rid of the virus in a matter ofdays , rather than weeks!
Colloidal silver works in a similarway to olive leaf extract by binding to the protein structure surroundingthe virus or bacterial infection, which then prevents it from feeding andreplicating further. So by doing this, the infection is quickly contained, quarantinedand killed!
How to Use the Colloidal Silver…
There are two ways to effectively use the colloidal silver. The first is internally. Take one teaspoon of high strength colloidal silver mixed in a glass of filtered water 5-7 times a day for 3 weeks. The second way is externally. To do this simply tilt your head back, and using a bulb syringe or eye dropper, place 3-4 drops of full strength colloidal silver directly into each nostril. Sniff the colloidal silver in if you can and let it drain down into your throat.
It works a treat!
When To Seek Medical Care
See a doctor if you have:
- Severe symptoms, such as severe headache or facial pain.
- Symptoms that get worse after initially improving.
- Symptoms lasting more than 10 days without improvement.
- Fever longer than 3-4 days.
You should also seek medical care if you have had multiple sinus infections in the past year.
This list is not all-inclusive. Please see a doctor for any symptom that is severe or concerning.
Other conditions can cause symptoms similar to a sinus infection, including:
- Seasonal allergies
- Colds
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How You Can Treat Sinusitis Yourself
You can often treat mild sinusitis without seeing a GP by:
- getting plenty of rest
- taking painkillers, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen
- avoiding allergic triggers and not smoking
- cleaning your nose with a salt water solution to ease congestion
You do not need to use all of the solution, but make a fresh solution each time you clean your nose.
How Do You Treat Sinus Pain
You can treat sinus pain using at-home treatment methods and over-the-counter medication. If you are only experiencing mild pain and discomfort, the best medicine for sinus pressure includes pain relievers and decongestants.
Some helpful at-home sinus pain treatment methods include:
- Using a humidifier or vaporizer
- Taking long, warm showers and/or breathing in steam from a pot of warm water
- Drinking lots of fluid to thin the mucus, promoting drainage
- Using a nasal saline spray to keep your nasal passages from drying out
- Using a Neti pot, nasal irrigator, or bulb syringe
- Placing a warm, wet towel on your face to open your nasal passages
- Rearranging your pillows to keep your head slightly elevated
- Avoiding chlorinated pools, as they can irritate your nasal passages
- Use menthol lozenges or menthol rubs to ease discomfort
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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.
Revamp Your Nighttime Routine To Open Sinuses
As anyone with stuffy sinuses can attest, congestion often feels worse at night. This can create a vicious cycle because you need lots of rest to get over a cold or the flu, but the difficulty you have breathing at night can make it hard to sleep. The solution is to help your body stay as congestion-free as possible while you sleep.
For starters, put an extra pillow or two under your head, as this will help drain your sinuses. Make sure your bedroom climate is humid, and run a humidifier while you sleep to further thin the mucus in your nose. For another natural remedy, try nasal breathing strips, which lift the sides of the nose to help open nasal passages.
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Breathe Again With Dr Cohen At The Southern California Sinus Institute
Chronic sinusitis symptoms are often the same as acute sinus infections. The main difference is with chronic sinusitis, the infection does not go away. The symptoms recur several times throughout the year. Imagine how miserable you would feel if you had a bad or severe cold or sinus infection that blindsides you at least four times a year, lasting 12 weeks or longer each time? Thats almost an entire year of misery. The good news is you can do something about it.
See our renowned ENT and sinus specialist, Dr. Alen N. Cohen, MD, FACS, FARS, for chronic sinusitis treatment if you or a loved one experience two or more of the following symptoms longer than a few weeks:
- Facial pain
- Green, yellow, or foul-smelling mucus
- Nasal congestion or difficulty breathing through the nose
- Sore throat or post-nasal discharge
- Cough
- Ear or tooth pain
Chronic sinusitis is highly prevalent in individuals with a history of facial trauma, weak immunity, septum deviations, allergies, nasal polyps, and other health concerns.
Hum Your Way To Sinus Pain Relief
“Some people report that humming for one hour improves sinus pain,” says Das. Researchers in Sweden have found that humming can keep your sinuses clear. How could that be possible? Humming may increase both airflow through your sinuses and the level of nitric oxide in your sinuses. The combination of nitric oxide and airflow may reduce your risk of sinusitis. So if you have a common cold or allergies, want to prevent a sinus infection, and know a happy tune that you don’t mind hearing for an hour, you may want to try a little humming.
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Apply Hot Or Cold Packs To Congested Sinuses
Another common natural treatment for congestion is applying hot or cold packs across the bridge of your nose. Although this is certainly a soothing activity, it wont do much in the long run. Theres no evidence that hot or cold packs reduce nasal inflammation, but if it makes you feel better, then theres no problem with them, says Stringer.
If youre looking for quick, simple congestion relief, you can create a hot or cold pack using items you have at home: For a ready-made cold pack, take a bag of frozen peas or other frozen vegetables out of your freezer, wrap it in a towel, and lay it across your face. For a hot pack, wring out a wet washcloth and heat it in the microwave for approximately one minute. Before laying it across your face, be sure to check that its not too hot.
Get Sinus Pain Treatment Online
While at-home treatments can help provide temporary relief and ease discomfort, it is important to talk to your doctor to get an official diagnosis and appropriate treatment for your sinus pain. Fortunately, you do not have to leave home to visit your doctors office.
At PlushCare, you can schedule a phone or video appointment with a licensed medical doctor from the comfort of your own home. Depending on your symptoms and medical history, your doctor may send an electronic prescription to your local pharmacy to treat your sinus infection.
If you are experiencing sinus pain, book an appointment with a PlushCare physician and get a prescription today!
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Reduce Pain And Pressure
Taking an over the counter pain reliever such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen can help reduce swelling and aching that stem from a cold or sinus infection. Rest is also one of the best ways to allow healing in the body, but change positions frequently enough to avoid the body becoming stiff . If you are suffering from a severe headache or headache lasting more than 5 days, see a doctor as soon as possible.
Is Your Sinus Infection Acute Or Chronic
A short-term sinus infection is often referred to as acute sinusitis. Most cases of acute sinusitis last about a week, but this type of short-term sinus infection can last up to four weeks. If you suffer from a sinus infection that lasts longer than 12 weeks despite treatment from your doctor, its considered chronic sinusitis.
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The Real Cause Of Sinusitis
The main cause of sinusitis is a compromised immunesystem. So basically, your immune system is shot to pieces and thats allowedall sorts of pathogens to invade and take over your body, resulting in a sinusinfection . If you dontbelieve me then see if any of this relates to you
Id be willing to bet that if you suffer from sinusitis then you also have a habit of catching just about everyvirus thats going around, especially the common cold and flu virus, along with various stomach viruses. You will also likely struggle with allergies, foodsensitivities and poor digestion, as well as suffering from other health disorderssuch as upset tummies, gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and reflux.
This is no accident.
The fact is without a strong immune system you aregoing to keep getting sinus infections and other poor-health problems. Whatsmore, if youve regularly taken antibiotics or any of the other pharmaceuticaltreatments for sinusitis then youve actually made things worse because thesetreatments have the undesirable effect of lowering your immunity even more! Butits not all doom and gloom though because as youre about to discover, you canfix all of this and you can fix it quite easily using natural treatments and homeremedies for your sinus infection.
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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Naturaltreatment For Sinus Infection #6 Herbs And Spices
There are many herbs and spices that are worthy treatments for a sinus infection and definitely belong in your pantry.Heres a list of the most beneficial
Cayenne pepper: This red chilli is a mighty powerful remedy for a sinus infection, as long as you can stand the heat! It will certainlyclear the nostrils quite rapidly and help alleviate the pain and inflammationof sinusitis. In fact, cayenne pepper is considered the ultimate natural painkiller and inflammation reducer. And the great thing is it works just as wellas pharmaceuticals such as paracetamol and Nurofen, but doesnt do you anyharm! 2
Powdered cayenne pepper is much stronger than just the plain red chilli. Either use the powder in your cooking as muchas possible or mix it in a smoothie every day. If this fails and the heat getsto you, play it safe and take the cayenne pepper capsules instead. In addition,you can either use a cayenne pepper spray or snort the powder into the nasalpassages for fast relief. Although this works exceedingly well, it can alsoburn so this is probably best left unless you get to the desperate stage.
Turmeric: Turmeric contains a potentanti-inflammatory substance called curcumin. Curcumin doesn’t justreduce the swelling and symptoms of your sinusitis quite quickly, it alsogives your immune system a powerful and welcome boost. You can either mix turmeric powder in a smoothie or take the capsules.500 mgs twice daily is the recommended dose for best results.