Sunday, April 3, 2011

Sinusitis


  • According to the Merck Manual, there are two types of sinusitis - acute sinusitis and chronic sinusitis. Since I'm better now, I probably suffered from acute sinusitis about two weeks ago. It is considered acute when the symptoms resolved within 30 days.

  • The common symptoms of sinusitis are pain, tenderness, nasal congestion, and headache. Yes, I had runny nose, headache, and some vague pain surrounding my nose. My nose was so runny that I used up the entire toilet paper roll. As the Merck Manual rightly said, one might get sinusitis after a common cold. Well, I did. Luckily, it didn't end up chronic.

  • Sinusitis is considered chronic if one has the symptoms for more than 8-12 weeks.

  • Doctors do not know for sure what causes it. Doctors will diagnose a sinusitis based on your symptoms, x-ray, and a CT scan.

  • So, how do you cure sinusitis? Since acute sinusitis is caused by bacterial infection, it involves taking antibiotics. Chronic sinusitis may be a little more complicated and it might involve surgery to treat it. Please read here for a more complete information on sinusitis.