Nasal congestion, pain during bending, decreased sense of smell, purulent discharge from the nose, fever, weakness ... All these are symptoms of such a painfully familiar and at the same time unknown disease like sinusitis. Let's see if it is so difficult to treat acute sinusitis in modern medical practice. What is this ailment? Acute, chronic sinusitis, the treatment of which is described in the article, causes a lot of inconvenience and anxiety to the patient.
What it is?
Most of the population of our country is convinced that sinusitis is some very terrible and almost deadly disease that needs to be treated very hard, painfully and for a long time in a hospital.
In fact, acute viral sinusitis occurs in an adult always when he develops an acute respiratory viral infection (acute respiratory viral infection), which is accompanied by a runny nose. Let's consider in more detail.
Around the nasal cavity are the paranasal sinuses (sinuses):
- Frontal sinus (frontal).
- Ethmoid sinus.
- Maxillary sinus (maxillary / sinus).
- Wedge-shaped.
They are needed in order to moisturize, warm and purify the air that enters our lungs.
Runny nose - rhinitis that occurs during acute respiratory viral infections - tells us that a virus has got on the mucous membrane of the nose. If the virus is already in the nose, then it simply cannot help but enter the mucous membranes of one, but in fact most often of all the sinuses. This is called sinusitis (the presence of infection in the paranasal sinuses).
Thus, we now understand that rhinitis is almost never without sinusitis, just like a runny nose is always accompanied by sinusitis.
Causes of the disease
Treatment of acute sinusitis involves first of all identifying the causes of its occurrence. There may be several:
- Virus.
- Bacterium.
- Allergic reaction.
- Violation of nasal breathing (curvature of the nasal septum, foreign objects in the nose, enlarged nasal passages, nasal injuries).
- Violations of the immune system.
- Presence of parasites in the body, chronic diseases, recently transferred flu or untreated ARVI.
- Violation of the integrity of the nasal mucosa and sinuses.
- Chemical damage to the mucous membrane (for example, in a hazardous production).
- Too dry and warm air in the room.
- Severe hypothermia.
- Polyps, adenoids.
- Untreated teeth and other diseases of the oral cavity.
- Fungal diseases.
- Tuberculosis.
- Tumors
- Radiation sickness.
Types of sinusitis
According to the severity of the disease, there are:
- Acute sinusitis (symptoms and treatment will be discussed in the following sections). Features: the course of the disease up to three weeks with systematic improvement.
- Chronic sinusitis. Its treatment is more complicated, and the risks of complications are very high, so the chronic form requires the mandatory intervention of a doctor.
Because of:
- Infectious.
- Vasomotor (due to a violation of the mechanism of reactions to the environment).
- Allergic.
By the method of infection:
- Hematogenous (from blood).
- Nasal (from the nasal cavity).
- Odontogenic (bacteria from the oral cavity).
- Traumatic.
Symptomatology
Acute sinusitis:
- temperature up to 38-38.5 degrees;
- drawing or dull pain when leaning forward;
- discharge of mucus and pus from the nasal passages;
- chills;
- pain in the head, nose, teeth;
- lacrimation
- general nasal congestion;
- sleep disturbances;
- pain when touching the region of the maxillary sinuses;
- labored breathing;
- swelling.
Chronic sinusitis:
- the temperature may not rise at all or stay at a level of up to 37.5 degrees;
- drawing or dull pain when leaning forward;
- constant discharge from the nose;
- olfactory disturbances;
- periodic discharge of pus and blood clots from the nose;
- general weakness;
- drowsiness;
- headache in the eye area;
- conjunctivitis.
Diagnostics
The diagnosis should be done by a doctor. If you are ill too seriously or for a long time, do not hesitate to seek help.
To begin with, the doctor will study the medical history and conduct an examination of the inner surface of the inflamed nasal mucosa, palpating the face in the area of the sinuses of the nose in order to determine the intensity of pain, and will reveal whether there is reflex vasodilation in the infraorbital region.
If necessary, the doctor sends the patient for an X-ray, which will show if the blackout (presence of pus) in the picture in the region of the maxillary sinuses.
In particularly difficult cases, when standard antibacterial drugs of a general spectrum of action do not help, they make a bacterial inoculation from the nose and determine the sensitivity of microorganisms to antibiotics.
Treatment of acute sinusitis
To get rid of the common cold (sinusitis and rhinitis), you need to follow the rules applicable to all acute respiratory viral infections.
The room where the patient is located should be cool (air temperature - not more than 21 degrees Celsius), otherwise the treatment of acute sinusitis will drag on for a long time. At the same time, the patient should be dressed so that he is not cold.
It is often necessary to ventilate the room and maintain humidity in the room. If there is no humidifier, place some large water containers in the room and cover the battery with a wet towel.
The patient needs to drink a lot and eat less. Please note that during colds, you should limit the consumption of tea and coffee, and try to replace them with warm fruit drinks, fruit drinks, still water, herbal teas.
If you have acute sinusitis, treatment at home should be supplemented by washing the nose. Each pharmacy sells special washing kits with instructions, powder and a special device. But for this purpose, ordinary saline or self-prepared water with salt is also suitable. Just add a teaspoon of large iodized salt to a glass of lukewarm boiled water and mix well. Instead of a special purchase container, you can use an ordinary small bottle for baby bottled water with a nipple neck or a small kettle.
If you follow all the recommendations, very soon you will no longer be bothered by acute sinusitis (symptoms). And treatment in adults will not even require pills. But if you still prefer to get rid of all manifestations as quickly as possible, remember that treatment of acute sinusitis with antibiotics without consulting a doctor is unacceptable. Use vasoconstrictor drops from the common cold, and temperature-containing preparations containing paracetamol or ibuprofen. But do not forget that doctors do not recommend dropping the temperature below 38.5 without good reason.
The usual acute sinusitis, the symptoms and treatment of which are known to every ENT specialist, usually takes about five to seven days.
If on the second, and then on the third day of the illness you feel only worse and the temperature rises higher, be sure to see a doctor. Your body should have already begun to cope with any viral infection. And if this did not happen, it is likely that the disease is not caused by a virus and requires serious examination and medication.
Even when you started acute sinusitis, treatment without a puncture may still be possible. Usually, the doctor prescribes washing of the sinuses of the nose during the consultation (the procedure is performed in the clinic), laser therapy, vasoconstrictor drops and antibiotics.
Many old-school doctors continue to produce punctures to treat any type of sinusitis. Although, for a puncture for the purpose of treatment, the indications should be very serious, and other methods should have already been tried and yielded results. Indeed, despite the fact that the procedure is quite simple and is usually easily tolerated by patients, it can cause a number of complications: blockage of blood vessels, the formation of emphysema (air entering soft tissues), and an abscess. And this is not a complete list.
Surgical treatment
It happens that even a chronic course did not force the patient to consult a doctor and the disease is started too much. In this case, polyps and cysts can overlap the sinus ducts so much that it is impossible to do without a full surgical operation under general anesthesia in a hospital setting, otherwise treatment of acute sinusitis in adults can be useless.
Acute bilateral sinusitis
The treatment in this case is the same as in the case of unilateral sinusitis. Although the bilateral form of the disease is considered more severe and is usually characterized by more severe intoxication and strong pain.
It is good if the doctor observes how acute bilateral sinusitis occurs. In this case, treatment is recommended to be supplemented with physiotherapeutic procedures and medicines, since the risks of complications are doubled.
Odontogenic sinusitis
If yesterday you were at the dentist, and today signs of sinusitis sharply appeared, do not rush to write it off for dental diseases. In fact, very often inflammation in the hind teeth of the upper jaw causes inflammation in the sinuses. The location of the roots of these teeth close to the sinuses causes an almost instantaneous penetration of infection from the oral cavity into the nose.
The causative agents of odontogenic sinusitis are most often streptococci, staphylococci, diplococci and enterococci, sometimes present in small amounts even in normal oral mucosa. With improper tooth growth and unfair treatment, insufficient hygiene, they can get into the sinuses and cause illness. Such sinusitis does not respond to self-medication, and if you suspect that you have a disease, consult a doctor immediately.
Sinusitis in children under three years of age
Not so rarely we hear from mothers complaints about sinusitis in the baby. But this is actually a myth. As such, sinus inflammation in such babies simply does not happen. Up to three years, the sinuses in children are not so developed (did not have time to grow), that there is nowhere to develop infections.
In this case, yellow or green snot is associated with some other disease or simply because the runny nose is already passing and the mucus stagnates in the nasal passages. An accurate diagnosis should be made by a pediatrician.
Why can’t you warm your nose and what is dangerous in this treatment method?
Even if you have a common cold, but you still haven’t been able to see a doctor, or you think that you can cope on your own, never start to warm your nose. Neither salt, nor chicken eggs, nor a blue lamp, or even hot inhalations. All of these methods, without the permission of a doctor, can lead to a hospital bed.
Firstly, it will not be useful for a person with a fever to warm up his body additionally. Secondly, the effect of heat on the virus can contribute to the almost instant spread of infection throughout the body. In this case, it is necessary to treat not just a common cold, but a whole bunch of serious illnesses.
In some cases, when the doctor is sure that the frontal sinuses are almost free from pus and the patient is in the recovery phase, he can advise on how to warm the area around the nose.
Complications
Acute purulent sinusitis, the treatment of which was not carried out properly, can bring a lot of problems. If the disease has gone too far, such terrible complications are possible:
- Chronic sinusitis.
- Inflammation of the lungs, bronchi.
- Tonsillitis.
- Otitis.
- Angina.
- Pharyngitis.
- Abscesses in the oral cavity.
- Diseases of the ternary nerve.
- Meningitis (inflammation of the meninges).
- Encephalitis (inflammation of the brain).
- Inflammation of the lining of the eyeball or the eyeball itself.
- Sepsis.
- Running sinusitis can give complications to the kidneys, heart and liver.
It must be remembered that self-medication, refusal of medical care, non-compliance with the doctor’s prescriptions and turning to illiterate specialists can turn into a tragedy.
Prevention
Everyone knows that treatment is always more difficult than not to allow. Prevention is the first thing that should be done in medical institutions and in every home:
- Wear according to season (clothes that are too warm are as unacceptable as not warm enough).
- Do not overcool and do not overheat (at these moments, the body becomes more vulnerable to infections).
- Eat well (intake of all the necessary vitamins and minerals with food will help the body cope with infections in the early stages of the disease).
- Talk with your doctor about taking vitamin and mineral complexes.
- Go in for sports (fitness, pool, exercise in the morning).
- Perform special breathing exercises to normalize nasal breathing.
- During epidemics, flush your nose with saline every night.
- Stop smoking.
- Have a little walk.
- Treat any cold right away, don't start a disease.
- If you are allergic, take the antihistamines prescribed by your doctor at the first sign of rhinitis.
- Perform an operation if you have abnormalities in the area of the nasal septum (this will not only help avoid sinusitis, but also improve the work of the whole body).