Acute Sinusitis: Overview

Cold is the most common infection that jeopardizes our routine greatly. If you find that your cold does not go away with regular treatment, then you may need to check for indications of sinusitis, a condition that occurs when bacteria or virus affects the paranasal sinus areas. Paranasal sinuses are found behind our forehead; in the nasal bones; region between eyes and nose; and in the cheeks. These sinus areas are usually filled with air and have mucus membranes. In the normal condition, the mucus drains out fully, thereby allowing the air to circulate.In the case of heavy cold, the mucus begins to build up overtime, and it eventually blocks out the sinus opening, which can prevent the flow of air. When you are affected by sinusitis, the common symptoms include continuous headache, jaw pain and aches on the facial bones. You can also notice acute pain when you bend over or lift your head.

The pain increases drastically, as the thickness of the mucus increases further in extremely cold conditions or during winter season. It is quite difficult to do our normal routine with ease when we have sinusitis. A common way to loosen the mucus gradually is to inhale steam regularly. If we follow safe-to-use simple treatments at home, we can avoid getting into chronic stage. If you frequently experience nose block, then it is essential to consult a qualified doctor and get proper treatment.

Causes

Sometimes, we mistake sinusitis for common cold, because the symptoms are more or less similar. Sinusitis occurs when the air-filled spaces are blocked. The major cause for the blockage includes small hairs in the sinus areas; too much of mucus build up; deviated nasal bone spur; or nasal polyps. The resulting sinusitis can be acute, sub-acute, or chronic.

In the case of acute sinusitis, mucus almost blocks the nasal passage and it becomes quite difficult to breathe through the nose. This condition can result when you frequently catch cold and the mucus start to accumulate overtime in the insides of the nasal passage. This condition shows up by triggering facial pain. The major cause for acute sinusitis includes viral infection, bacterial infection, fungal infection, and allergies that can inflame the mucous membrane. The swollen mucous membrane traps the mucous and promotes bacteria over-growth, which causes infection. Viral infection can also happen by exposing ourselves to unhygienic environmental conditions.

Symptoms

1. Common cold

If you get common cold that does not go way after normal medication, then it could be due to sinusitis. Anyway, at this stage you cannot conclude that you have sinusitis.

2. Cough and Fever

Frequent fever and coughs, especially worse at night, is a symptom of the onset of nasal infection.

3. Facial pain and Jaw pain

This is a classic symptom specific to sinusitis. When the cheekbones sinus areas are infected, as in the case of acute sinusitis, you start getting facial pain or jaw pain quite frequently. At this stage, you must visit a qualified doctor to diagnose the symptoms.

4. Pressure in forehead and face

This is the next major symptom that indicates acute sinusitis. When the mucus builds up in the cheekbone sinus area and in the forehead sinus area, you start to feel pressure on forehead and face. At this stage, you must visit a doctor to get proper treatment.

5. Nasal congestion and Loss of smell

These are obvious symptoms when the mucus accumulates overtime and almost blocks the nasal passage, which could result in inability to differentiate between different smells. If you have these symptoms, then it is the onset of sinusitis. At this stage, you should visit a qualified doctor to get appropriate treatment.

Diagnosis

The most common method to diagnose sinusitis is nasal endoscopy. It is a procedure to examine the nasal passage for mucus blocks and is usually done by doctors who specialize in ear, nose, throat problems (ENT). A doctor can also diagnose sinusitis by checking for signs of polyps or using light to inspect the sinus area for inflammation. If sinusitis is acute, then a CT scan could help to determine the need for surgical treatments. Depending on the nature of the infection, the diagnosis may also involve methods including ciliary test, sweat chloride test, blood test, and allergic test.

Treatment

For all types of infection, we can start with basic homecare treatments to prevent the condition from becoming acute. In the case of acute sinusitis, we can follow some simple homecare solutions to prevent nasal congestion. This includes drinking plenty of fluids to thin mucus; inhaling steam to thin the mucus and applying warm cloth on the painful area. You can also find nasal spray decongestants that you can keep handy, however, you need to exercise caution because in some cases, decongestion sprays worsens the nasal congestion. Therefore, you need to exactly diagnose your nasal condition before choosing an over the counter medication. Whereas, following some basic self-care like avoiding extremely cold conditions could prevent the congestion from worsening further.

Prevention

The symptoms of sinus show up quite clearly and are easy to differentiate from other type of infections. By analyzing basic symptoms like frequent nose blocks, loss of smell, facial pain, we need to take precautionary measure in the early stage itself. Infections happen when our immune system is weak. Therefore, following a healthy diet including fruits and vegetables can help boost our immune system. Vaccination is another solution that can stop some types of infection at the early stage, but it is purely a personal choice, as some vaccines have side effects on our health at a later stage, so it is better to prevent the infection in a natural way. The best way to prevent infection is to avoid visiting unhygienic places and pollutants. It is always better to take immediate action as and when you see a symptom rather than delaying it until it becomes an acute and chronic infection.