Nasal congestion, pain when bending over, 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 to many diseases as sinusitis. Let's see if the treatment of acute sinusitis is so difficult in modern medical practice. What is this disease? Acute, chronic sinusitis, the treatment of which is described in the article, causes a lot of inconvenience and anxiety to the patient.
What is this?
Most of the population of our country is sure that sinusitis is some kind of very terrible and almost deadly disease that needs to be treated very difficult, painfully and for a long time in a hospital.
In fact, acute viral sinusitis always occurs in an adult when he falls ill with SARS (acute respiratory viral infection), which is accompanied by a runny nose. Let's take a closer look.
The paranasal sinuses (sinuses) are located around the nasal cavity:
- Frontal sinus (frontal).
- Ethmoid sinus.
- Maxillary sinus (maxillary/adnexal sinus).
- Wedge-shaped.
They are needed in order to moisturize, warm and purify the air that enters our lungs.
Runny nose - rhinitis that occurs with SARS - tells us that a virus has entered the nasal mucosa. If the virus is already in the nose, then it simply cannot help but get on the mucous membranes of one, and in fact, most often all of the sinuses. This is called sinusitis (an infection in the paranasal sinuses).
So we now understand that rhinitis is almost never without sinusitis, just as a runny nose is always accompanied by sinusitis.
Causes of disease
Treatment of acute sinusitis primarily involves identifying the cause of its occurrence. There may be several:
- Virus.
- Bacteria.
- Allergic reaction.
- Impaired nasal breathing (deviated septum, foreign objects in the nose, enlargement of the conchae of the nasal passages, nasal trauma).
- Immune system disorders.
- The presence of parasites in the body, chronic diseases, recent influenza or untreated SARS.
- Violation of the integrity of the nasal mucosa and sinuses.
- Chemical lesions of the mucosa (for example, in hazardous production).
- Too dry and warm indoor air.
- Severe hypothermia.
- Polyps, adenoids.
- Untreated teeth and other oral diseases.
- Fungaldiseases.
- Tuberculosis.
- Tumours.
- Radiation sickness.
Types of sinusitis
According to the severity of the disease, they are distinguished:
- Acute sinusitis (symptoms and treatment will be discussed in the following sections). Features: the course of the disease up to three weeks with a 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.
For a reason:
- 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.
Symptomatics
Acute sinusitis:
- temperature up to 38-38.5 degrees;
- drawing or dull pain when bending forward;
- discharge of mucus and pus from the nasal passages;
- chill;
- pain in the head, nose, teeth;
- lacrimation;
- general nasal congestion;
- sleep disorders;
- pain when touching the area of the maxillary sinuses;
- shortness of breath;
- puffiness.
Chronic sinusitis:
- temperature may not rise at all or stay at 37.5 degrees;
- pulling or dullpain when bending forward;
- constant nasal discharge;
- disorders of smell;
- periodic discharge of pus and blood clots from the nose;
- general weakness;
- drowsy;
- headache in the eye area;
- conjunctivitis.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis should be made by a doctor. If you are sick too badly or for a long time, do not hesitate to seek help.
To begin with, the doctor will study the medical history and examine the inner surface of the inflamed nasal mucosa, palpate the face in the sinus region to determine the intensity of pain, and determine if there is reflex vasodilation in the infraorbital region.
If necessary, the doctor sends the patient for an x-ray, which will show if there is a blackout (presence of pus) in the picture in the region of the maxillary sinuses.
In particularly difficult cases, when standard general-spectrum antibacterial drugs do not help, do a nasal culture 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 SARS.
In the room where the patient is located, it should be cool (air temperature - no more than 21 degrees Celsius), otherwise the treatment of acute sinusitis will be delayed for a long time. At the same time, the patient should be dressed so that he is not cold.
It is necessary to ventilate the room often andmaintain indoor humidity. If you don't have a humidifier, put some wide 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 a cold, you should limit the consumption of tea and coffee, and try to replace them with warm fruit drinks, compotes, still water, herbal teas.
If you have acute sinusitis, it is advisable to supplement the treatment at home with washing the nasal cavity. Each pharmacy sells special washing kits with instructions, powder and a special device. But for this purpose, a regular saline solution or self-prepared water with s alt is also suitable. Just add a teaspoon of coarse iodized s alt to a glass of slightly warm boiled water and mix well. Instead of a special purchase container, you can use an ordinary small bottle of baby bottled water with a nipple neck or a small teapot.
If you follow all the recommendations, very soon you will no longer be bothered by acute sinusitis (symptoms). And treatment in adults does not even require pills. But if you still prefer to get rid of all manifestations as soon as possible, remember that the treatment of acute sinusitis with antibiotics without consulting a doctor is unacceptable. Use vasoconstrictor drops for a runny nose, and preparations containing paracetamol or ibuprofen for temperature. But do not forget that doctors strongly do not recommend bringing down the temperature below 38.5 without good reason.
Usual acute sinusitis, the symptoms and treatment of which are known to every otorhinolaryngologist, usually resolves in five to seven days.
If on the second and then on the third day of illness you only feel worse, and the temperature rises higher, be sure to see a doctor. With any viral infection, your body should have already begun to cope. And if this does not happen, there is a high probability that the disease is not caused by a virus and a serious examination and medication are required.
Even when you have started acute sinusitis, treatment without a puncture may still be possible. Usually, during a consultation, a doctor prescribes sinus lavage (the procedure is performed in a clinic), laser therapy, vasoconstrictor drops and antibiotics.
Many old school doctors continue to make punctures to treat any kind of sinusitis. Although for a puncture for the purpose of treatment, the indications must be very serious, and other methods have already been tried and given results. After all, despite the fact that the procedure is quite simple and, if performed correctly, 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 yet.
Surgical treatment method
It happens that even a chronic course does not make the patient see a doctor and the disease is too advanced. In this case, polyps and cysts can block the sinus ducts so much that it is impossible to do without a full-fledged surgical operation under general anesthesia in a hospital, otherwisetreatment of acute sinusitis in adults may be useless.
Acute bilateral sinusitis
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 severe pain.
It's good if the doctor observes how acute bilateral sinusitis proceeds. Treatment in this case is recommended to be supplemented with physiotherapeutic procedures and medications, since the risks of complications are doubled.
Odontogenic sinusitis
If yesterday you were at the dentist, and today there are signs of sinusitis, do not rush to write it off as dental disease. In fact, very often inflammation in the region of the back teeth of the upper jaw causes inflammation in the sinuses. The location of the roots of these teeth close to the sinuses causes almost instant infection from the oral cavity to the nose.
The causative agents of odontogenic sinusitis are most often streptococci, staphylococci, diplococci and enterococci, sometimes present in small quantities even in the normal oral mucosa. With improper growth of teeth and dishonest treatment, insufficient hygiene, they can get into the sinuses and cause illness. Such sinusitis is not amenable to self-treatment, and if you suspect that you have a disease, consult a doctor immediately.
Sinusitis in children under three years old
It is not so rare that we hear from mothers complaints about sinusitis in a baby. But onactually it is a myth. As such, inflammation of the sinuses in such babies simply does not happen. Until the age of three, the sinuses in children are so underdeveloped (did not have time to grow) that there is no place for infections to develop.
In this case, yellow or green snot is associated with some other disease or simply with the fact that the runny nose is already passing and mucus stagnates in the nasal passages. An accurate diagnosis should be made by a pediatrician.
Why is it impossible to warm the nose and what is dangerous in this method of treatment?
Even if you have a runny nose, but have not yet been able to get to the doctor, or you think you can handle it on your own, never start warming your nose. No s alt, no chicken eggs, no blue light, or even hot inhalations. All of these methods without a doctor's permission can lead to a hospital bed.
First of all, it will not be useful for a person with a fever to warm up his body additionally. Second, exposing the virus to heat can cause the infection to spread almost instantly throughout the body. In this case, you will have to treat not just a common cold, but a whole bunch of serious diseases.
In some cases, when the doctor is sure that the frontal sinuses are almost free of pus and the patient is in the recovery phase, he may advise a way to warm up the area around the nose.
Complications
Acute purulent sinusitis, which has not been properly treated, 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.
- Inflammation of the tonsils.
- Tit.
- Angina.
- Pharyngitis.
- Abscesses in the mouth.
- Disorders of the trigeminal nerve.
- Meningitis (inflammation of the meninges).
- Encephalitis (inflammation of the brain).
- Inflammation of the membrane of the eyeball or the eyeball itself.
- Sepsis.
- Launched sinusitis can cause complications for the kidneys, heart and liver.
It must be remembered that self-medication, refusal of medical care, non-compliance with doctor's prescriptions and turning to illiterate specialists can turn into a tragedy.
Prevention
Everyone knows that it is always more difficult to treat than to prevent. Prevention is the first thing that should be done in hospitals and in every home:
- Dress for the season (too warm clothes are just as unacceptable as not warm enough).
- Do not overcool or overheat (at these moments the body becomes more vulnerable to infections).
- Eat well (getting all the vitamins and minerals you need from your diet will help your body fight infections in the early stages of the disease).
- Check with your doctor about taking vitamin-mineral complexes.
- Go in for sports (fitness, pool, exercise in the morning).
- Perform special breathing exercises to normalize nasal breathing.
- Rinse your nose with saline every night during epidemics.
- Quit smoking.
- Go out more.
- Treat any cold right away, don't trigger diseases.
- If you are allergic, take antihistamines prescribed by your doctor at the first sign of rhinitis.
- Get surgery if you have an anomaly in the area of the nasal septum (this will not only help to avoid sinusitis, but also improve the functioning of the whole body).
