Need advice - please help

I'm not a doctor but here's what I think may be happening...

I too suffer from chronic sinusitis. I have torus...abnormal bony growths on the upper palate and jaws. Think of stalagmites and stalactites in a cave. Some grow down from my upper palate into the sinus space which restricts normal flow of air and secretions. This causes chronic infections.

When my body is trying to fight off the infection on it's own, antibodies are produced and try to 'fix it'. While they're at it, they try to 'fix' anything else that is 'wrong'. Too much of anything is not good, so imagine the inflammation that may be taking place in the other injured parts of your body.

I cannot use the standard dosing schedule once I have an infection in my sinuses. The convolutions cause bacteria to get into areas and 'hide'. My doctor usually gives me extended treatment. This usually works.

Meanwhile, I have started eating yogurt with active bacteria cultures every day and am considering pro biotic supplements to boost my immune system.

Keep posting and let us know what turns up (or doesn't) in the C.T. scan.

Pitmom

Thanks so much for your advice. I was hoping that I wasn't the only one that this has happened to. I will definitely let you know what the CT scan says.

Jodi

Thank you Alcie for the advice. The thing is that the antibiotics do help because of all the places it travels to. The infections just started happening about six months ago. I haven't been able to breathe well since the accident. I don't know why this is happening. But since the ENT said that a sinus infection should stay in the sinuses and I may have an autoimmune disease, I have been very worried. Why all of a sudden has this started happening?

Jodi

Alice raises a valid point.

It is not uncommon for an infection in sinuses to respond to antibiotics in lowering the bacteria to a sub-clinical level (where symptoms of an overt infection are noticeable) but where rogue bacteria remain in the many moist and warm crevices. These remaining bacteria may be latent for a period of time and then reactive and multiple, resulting in an acute recurrence. The "trigger" can be a simple lowering of one's immune system that keeps the linking bacteria at bay or relatively mild trauma to the sinuses that interrupts their quiescence state.

I know this first hand from a staph-resistant sinus infection that I acquired while working as a physical therapist in a long-term care nursing home with less than acceptable cleaning standards.

Recurrent sinus infections combined with recurrent open skin sores plagued me for over a two year period. It was pure misery - both emotionally and physically - as the facial wounds wound erupt without an obvious break in the skin. The wounds were very slow to heal.

I was on repeated oral dosings of multiple antibiotics. The facial wounds were cultured for antibiotic sensitivity - to little avail.

The final remedy to my malaise came in the form of long-term IV antibiotics, including Vancomycin. I received IV antibiotics over an extended 8 month period, continuing even when there was no overt infectious process. Bacteria that make their home in the warm and moist porous boney passage ways of the sinuses will be highly recalcitrant. The bacteria will not relinquish fully nor completely without a long-term and aggressive approach to treatment.

I am more inclined to think that you have bacteria at a sub-clinical level that have made a permanent home in the moist and warm porous bone of the sinuses than a specific auto-immune process, per say.

I have auto-immune dysfunction (mixed connective tissue disorder and Addison's disease). Your symptoms are less suggestive of an auto-immune than they are of lingering bacteria that have not been eradicated by oral antibiotics.

Bottom Line: Bacterial infections in the sinuses can be a difficult holding ground to get complete eradication.

My strongest of advice is to consult with a competent infectious disease physician for an evaluation and opinion.

- Karen -

Alcie,

Bless your heart!

Jodi

I have a many autoimmune diseases, and I have sinus issues. My body attacks the tissues in my body, which includes the sinuses. Since the area is inflamed, it's more susceptible to infections. Any infection in my body knocks my whole system off kilter.

That being said, I wouldn't jump to conclusions. If you look at my signature, I have a cornucopia of fun. Wait and see what the Dr has to say, and then take it from there.

Hang in there, Jodi. I can definitely relate to how frustrating it can be to deal with chronic infections. I had an infected implant for 8 years. For the last 4 of those years, I had an open wound that kept re-opening even when it was sewn or stapled shut because the bacteria just kept eating through my tissue, trying to escape. It's, sadly, a very long road usually to get to the right specialists ... so I just wanted to encourage you not to give up. Keep asking for more tests until you get answers. A CT is a great tool for diagnosing & figuring out how to treat infections. Sending positive thoughts your way between now & when you get the results.

Targeted antibiotics, got my SCS explanted & had a world-class reconstructive plastic surgeon who was able to surgically excise, irrigate & whatnot the infected tissue to get the bacteria count down far enough that more targeted antibiotics could finish clearing up the infection via drains & whatnot that were left in for a few weeks post-op.

I didn't fight hard enough for what I KNEW was going on with my own body. I accepted that the tests the doctors ran initially were the "right" ones & that this whole "infection obsession" was all in my head (and my boyfriend's head, apparently, as he could feel through my shirt that the area on my back was much hotter than the rest of my body). I left it alone for 3 years & ended up with a open wound. Then, they just kept trying to wash out the wound & sew it closed ... when what they needed to do was get the infected implant out of my body & then leave the wound open so the massive amount of bacteria-riddled pus could drain out of me. So now I know that no matter how many fancy degrees or medical licenses someone has, that doesn't automatically mean that they are right & I am wrong. I had never heard of pseudomonas stutzeri until the labs came back with that. All I knew was that I had an infection. I could feel it. It hurt like crazy; it was radiating heat & it was red/inflamed almost all the time. So now I try to stand up for myself & believe that the knowledge I have about my own body matters when making a diagnosis, and I encourage other people to do the same!

Good morning. I hope everyone is as well as can be. I am finally supposed to be scheduled for the ct of my sinuses today. It's been two weeks now. I will let y'all know as soon as I know something. Thanks for being here.

Jodi

Well I finally got the results of my ct scan. It went to my pcd first. It didn't show anything, which is good, but when I see the ENT he's gonna say that the sinuses are not causing all of the sinus infections. I went to urgent care yesterday because I've been hurting really bad in my upper right back and under my boob. It only hurts when I lay down. It didn't show up anything either which is good but I wonder what is causing it. The Dr. didn't seem to know. I haven't did anything different to make it hurt. But they found out that I had a kidney infection. Didn't even know I had one. So now I've had I think 3 sinus infections and a kidney infection in 4 months. I am at a loss. BUT every time I get a sinus infection it makes all my joints hurt, maybe the kidney infection is making my ribs to hurt? Any thoughts?

Hi Susie,

I have the saline sprays too but mine are not for allergies. I take a claritin in the am and a zrytec at night. Along with flonase as needed and the saline spray. The pain in the upper back and under my boob has been getting progressively worse in the last three weeks. I don't know.

Jodi

One reason that physicians are often perplexed in diagnosing "abdominal pain" and "flank pain" (among other) is that the neurological connections of the nerves that innervate the abdomen and pelvis are primitive and unrefined.

Gallbladder pain is often referred to the scapula and shoulder area, as an example. The sensory nerves (that relay incoming stimuli to the brain) that innervate the abdominal wall and abdominal organs take circuitous routes in their travel back toward the spinal cord and upward migration to the brain for processing and awareness.

Signs of a heart attack include pain that radiates down the arm and upward to the jaw; nausea.

The point being: The part of the body in distress does not always correlate to the brain's interpretation of location. The brain can incorrectly interpret a source of pain because the sensory nerves travel a zig-zagged course before reaching the spinal cord and then traveling upward to the brain for final interpretation that tells you "may pain hurts here at point x."

Doctors can be baffled by presenting abdominal pain because the location of the pain frequently does not correlate directly to the area of the body in distress. The primitive and unrefined nature of the neurology of the gut is one reason that CT scans have become so routine. The CT scan provides for a broad view of the body to rule in or rule out any concerning physical or structural finding (ex. a blocked gallbladder or a blocked bile duct).