What exactly is a sinus infection? That is probably the number one complaint seen in the medical office/ER. Sometimes people will present with a complaint of pain in their sinuses, stuffy nose, pressure around their eyes or in the cheeks. Often the symptoms have been there only 1-3 days and they feel they have a sinus infection. Well, from what I have seen and read this isn't a sinus infection. It is uncomfortable and often painful at times, but it rarely requires an antibiotic to clear it up.
What usually happens is someone starts with either a cold or allergy type symptoms, (stuffy/runny nose, dripping down the throat and headache) so they take their allergy/cold medication and/or sudafed every day for a few days. Each day the stuff coming out of their nose or down their throat gets thicker and thicker and changes color, leading them to believe they have an infection. The color of the drainage is not always indicative of an infection - in some cases it is - but for the most part it is not. What happens when you take too much antihistamine (Zyrtec, Claritin, Allegra, OTC cold products) or decongestants (Sudafed, Sudafed PE) it starts to dry up the secretions (snot) making them thicker and thicker. When you have a cold (Upper respiratory Illness ) your body is busy trying to fight the virus by sending tons of white blood cells to do the battle causing the drainage in your nose or throat to change colors. Many times when children have those green ugly boogers, it is because their immune system is so good at fighting the cold their boogers become full of the white blood cells making them thick and colorful! This doesn't mean they need an antibiotic.
The best way to help ease the sinus pressure and thick congestion is to use a saline nasal wash! - Ask any Ear, Nose & Throat practitioner or Allergist and most will agree - these nose washes are really good at keeping all the bad stuff out of there allowing you to feel much better. There are many brands of nasal washes, often called a Neti Pot - it just depends on which type of dispenser you prefer. Personally I perfer the squeeze bottle, though I have used the genie shaped pot before and it worked fine. Here is some information from "Up to Date for patients" - http://www.uptodate.com/patients/content/topic.do?topicKey=~WWw0K5jHohInh1 They have a great section about nasal washes. You can even find examples of how to use the saline nose wash on http://www.youtube.com/.
Next, don't over do it with the allergy/cold medications or Sudafed products. If you are taking these and notice the secretions in your nose or throat are getting thicker, then back off and start drinking more fluids and try using a saline nose wash. Last, but not least, do not use any nose sprays that contain oxymetazoline (there is a whole section of these products - aka Afrin) for more than 2-3 days as this will only increase the nasal stuffiness. The body can become quickly addicted to the effects of this kind of spray making it very hard to stop using it. I promise the saline nose wash will help - plus good old patience since the worst part of most colds only last 3-5 days.
If you are using a saline nose wash for the first time then be sure to fully read the directions and warnings so you don't cause any other problems such as an ear infection. I can't tell you how important it is to NOT blow your nose really hard after using the rinse - ouch! I only gently blow it and do not pinch one side closed like normal - this increases the pressure in your ears and can cause the water and snot to back up into your ears. Not a good thing.
Here is some more good information I found on Google Health about sinus infections https://www.google.com/health/ref/Sinusitis It mentions a really good point - most sinus infections do not require antibiotics - really, they don't. If you follow all the above steps, do not have any kind of deformity in your nose/sinus passages, and you keep well hydrated then you can usually get over the sinus pressure, stuffiness and drainage in about 7-10 days. Now this does not apply to anyone with recent history of sinus/nasal surgery, foreign body up their nose, other deformity that puts them at a higher risk of infections. What I'm talking about here is the common cold/ allergy stuffiness with sinus pain/ pressure, nasal drainage-both out the nose and down the throat type symptoms........
I hope this helps - the main thing to remember is try to keep the drainage in your nose from becoming so thick it won't come out, keep the sinuses and nose passage clean and open by using a saline nasal wash, and if you develop a fever or worsening symptoms then be sure to see a medical provider.
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