Severe Sinus Infection

Sinus problems and sinus infections affect a reported 30 to 35 million Americans every year, making it one of the most common complaints that patients present with to doctors. Often, the term 'sinus infections' is used interchangeably with the term 'sinusitis'. However, there are many diseases and disorders that entail sinus infections, including bacterial and fungal infections, and even allergic reactions. However, since most of them cause inflammation of the sinus cavity and the sinus lining, they are often referred to as simply sinusitis. Given below are the causes, symptoms and treatment options for dealing with severe sinus infections.

Causes
One of the most common causes of severe infection of the sinus is precipitation of an upper respiratory tract infection, especially one that is of viral origin. However, there are certain bacteria also that are responsible for causing sinus infections, like Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenza. Although viral sinusitis lasts for three to seven days, bacterial sinusitis is a lot more persistent, and thus, lasts longer and sometimes even goes into chronic infection mode. People who have relatively low immunity, like people suffering from diabetes and AIDS, are more susceptible to such diseases, and thus, can even land up with a fungal sinus infection. Sometimes, certain people, despite being healthy individuals, suffer from repeated attacks of sinus infections. In such cases, the main culprit is normally seen to be some or the other allergen. Such sinus infections are non-contagious in nature.

Symptoms

• Nasal congestion is normally one of the main symptoms of a sinus infection. There is a thick discharge which is yellowish-green in color.
• There may be facial pain or pressure due to the congestion. If there is involvement of the ethmoid sinus, pain or pressure around the inner corner of eye is common. The person may even get repeated attacks of headaches, which may be so severe, that they may resemble migraine.
• The pains or pressure that is felt, which often makes the head feel heavy, is normally aggravated while coughing, sneezing, straining or when lying down, which is the reason why the pain worsens at night.
• Certain parts of the face may be red, swollen and tender in nature. If the pressure is severe and extending to the brain, there may even be disturbances seen in vision, like double vision.
• In certain cases that are left untreated for long, there may even be aggravation of the sinus infection symptoms, due to which systemic symptoms may be seen, like fever, body ache and pain, muscle weakness, etc.

Diagnosis
It is relatively easy to reach a final diagnosis after simply seeing the signs of severe sinus infection. However, recent studies have shown that the sinus headaches that people may claim to be suffering from may actually be migraines, hence, it is important to rule out this possibility early on itself, with the help of identification of trigger factors, or one may also ask for an MRI to be taken. Once a person is diagnosed with a serious sinus infection, it should first be identified which sinus cavity is infected, which again is easy to do by paying attention to the particular signs and symptoms of sinus infection, like if the cheek bones feel tender, then there is involvement of the maxillary sinus. Thus, once a final diagnosis is reached, a detailed treatment plan is chalked out.

Remedies
There are various ways of dealing with a serious sinus infection. Firstly, one can try and mitigate the symptoms by using some simple solutions at home which will aid in sinus infection treatment. One of the simple severe sinus infection home remedy is to drink plenty of water and hot beverages, so as to promote drainage of the sinus, which will help relieve the pressure, and thus, provide relief. One can also inhale steam for the same purpose. One can also use some simple medicines which can help thin the mucus, like expectorants, which are available as over the counter drugs. However, if home remedies do not help and the infections still persists, then it is always best to visit a doctor who will prescribe antibiotics for severe sinusitis. In certain severe cases that do not even respond to antibiotics, the person may then require surgery to get some kind of relief.

Thus, although most people think that a severe sinus infection is not a very serious or life-threatening condition to deal with, it should still be looked into and treated on a priority basis so as to prevent any further complications that may be fatal.