Make-up Monday.

I was hoping Make-up Monday was just going to be a one time thing.  Oh well.  Midterms come before blogging, I guess.

If I wouldn't have had midterms last week, I would have blogged about a wonderful article I read on my CNN iPhone app regarding sinus infections.  I'm sure we've all had one of these horrible experiences.  The pounding headache, stuffed-up runny nose, so much pressure you feel like your eyes will pop out of your head...I had one once that was so terrible, my upper teeth were throbbing.  Yuck, that was not fun.  And to be honest with you, not knowing what I know now, I would have wanted to go to my doc and get a good ol' Rx for an antibiotic - because you know, that's what fixes a sinus infection right?

The sinuses - why it hurts where it hurts!

According to this article (and my own personal opinion - but I said I wouldn't do that) an antibiotic may be the last thing you need if you have a sinus infection.  A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that amoxicillin (an antibiotic) was no better than the placebo at speeding up the recovery of all those nasty symptoms mentioned above.

Most sinus infections are caused by viruses - yes, viruses can make you feel just as terrible as a bacterial infection can, sometimes even worse.  I'm pretty sure most people understand that an antibiotic does not kill a virus - it kills bacteria.  But according to the CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - even most bacterial sinus infections rarely require an antibiotic for treatment.  In most cases, both infections go away on their own (well, hardly - your immune system kicks into high gear to wipe that virus or bacteria, hence you get all those crummy symptoms).

Antibiotics would be more useful if doctors could easily distinguish a bacterial sinus infection from a viral sinus infection - but unfortunately when it comes to sinus infections, it's not that easy.  There is no quick test - like a strep swab - that could tell a doctor if a sinus infection was bacterial or viral. 

In the article I read, it said doctors continue to prescribe antibiotics mainly because patients have come to expect them - which is true.  When I worked in a family medicine clinic in Wichita, I can't tell you how many phone calls we got from patients just wanting a prescription called out without even being seen in the office, for a sinus infection.  Hello antibiotic resistant bacteria!  I thought it was funny that the doctor quoted in the article said that one way they could satisfy patients without overusing antibiotics is to "give them a prescription and tell them not to fill it unless their symptoms worsen or persist"...um yeah, that's like giving a two-year old a cookie and telling them not to eat it unless they get really hungry...But I'm sure there are a few people out there that actually follow those orders.

If you're like me, you don't have to be 2 years old to be unable to resist a cookie!

However, there is the very rare chance that a sinus infection can turn into something a lot worse - like a brain abscess.  The most frequent presenting symptoms for that include headache, drowsiness, confusion, seizures and/or speech difficulties with fever - and these symptoms come on quickly.  So it is important to monitor your symptoms and if they should worsen you would want to contact your doctor immediately - or hightail it to the emergency room.

If you find yourself with the typical sinus infection, there are plenty of remedies that you can use at home to help get through the crummy symptoms.  And I'm sure if you have a really good, smart doctor, you could call them up and ask for their advice.  Since I'm still a student - it is not kosher for me to post treatment recommendations on a public source, but if you want to email me I'd be happy to share things that I've learned about and what has helped me in my experiences.