Sinusitis
You’re coughing, your nose is stuffy, and you feel tired and achy. You think that you might be getting a cold. Later, when the medicines you’ve been taking to relieve symptoms of the common cold are not working and you’ve got a terrible headache, you finally drag yourself to the doctor. After listening to your history of symptoms, examining your face and forehead, and perhaps doing a sinus X-ray, the doctor says you have sinusitis.
Sinusitis means your sinuses are infected or inflamed. But this gives little indication of the misery and pain this condition can cause. Health experts usually divide sinusitis cases into
- Acute cases, which last for 4 weeks or less
- Subacute cases, which last 4 to 12 weeks
- Chronic cases, which last more than 12 weeks and can continue for months or even years
- Recurrent cases, which involve several acute attacks within a year
Health experts estimate 37 million Americans are affected by sinusitis every year. Healthcare providers report nearly 32 million cases of chronic sinusitis to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention annually. Americans spend $5.8 billion each year on healthcare costs related to sinusitis.
Signs and Symptoms
- Nasal discharge (yellow or green), postnasal drip
- Headache, pain, sinus tenderness, or toothache
- Cough or sore throat
- Fever, in half of patients
- Loss of smell
- General tiredness
Causes
The sinuses cannot drain properly and become infected. Some common causes for this include the following.
- Common cold (upper respiratory tract infection)
- Allergies (hay fever, tobacco smoke, dry air, pollutants)
- Infected tooth
- Swimming
- Disease or an abnormal structure in the sinus area
- Physical injury to the sinuses
Integrative Medicine Treatment Options
We combine the best of conventional medicine with the best of complementary and alternative therapies to give you optimal results.
Here are some options we use at the Alliance Institute for Integrative Medicine LOCATED IN Cincinnati, Ohio
- Acupuncture
- Herbal Therapies, Supplements & Medication
