Knocked Down by Sinusitis

I've been floored by a really bad case of sinusitis. Its so bad my left eye, ear, and jaw are aching as if I've been punched.

I used to get awful colds and my nasal passages were always getting clogged up. But a few years back I had an operation to enlarge the insides of my nasal passages. It was quite simple really. Forgot the name Septoplasty? We get problems cos my ancestors used to live in more cleaner air zones and with different sorts of vegetation, pollen etc.. In short, my nostrils aren't made for life in Singapore or Australia. It worked. I hardly get colds these days.

If I do get a simple cold/flu - it runs like this runny nose, followed by a sore throat, followed by a flammy cough, and a mild sinus infection.

I caught a cold two weeks ago - when I was starting to get better - I thought things would be helped if I went for a swim in the sea. Unfortunately, swimming in the sea may have introduced bacteria into the sinuses. It also didn't help that the sea water was about 10C.

The sinus are like small bags in your skull. They fit under your eye, cheekbones, and also have channels that lead to your ear and your even teeth nerves. When you get a cold, mucus/snot builds up and fill up these bags. Usually they are naturally emptied out. But when the shit hits the fan, they get clogged up and may get infected.

Two days ago , I slept on my left side - and what happened was that all the mucus flowed into the left side of my sinuses. I guess its a bit like directing all the traffic in Melbourne onto the South Eastern Highway - then closing down all lanes due to safety concerns. And to top it off - a Gas Tanker blows up.

So what? I had a major infection in the left side of my sinus - under the cheekbone. The snot couldn't get out. There was bleeding. My eye hurt so badly it felt like it would burst.

I thought enough is enough - I went and saw my doctor and got some antibiotics, painkillers and a saline nasal spray wash. He told me that my eye got bloodshot I had better check myself into the Eye and Ear hospital.

After 24 hours of use - I'm starting to feel better. My sinus has become unclogged- there's still some bleeding but... things are looking good.

Here's more reading if you're interested.

http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/946414028.html