If your symptoms don't improve, the doctor may prescribe an antibiotic. Delayed prescribing: Your doctor may prescribe an antibiotic but suggest that you wait 2–3 days before filling the prescription. You may recover on your own and may not need the antibiotic.
Anyone who experiences symptoms that start to improve but then get worse should check in with a doctor. This could be a sign that the sinus infection is caused by bacteria and will need to be treated with antibiotics. It is important to note, however, that not all sinus infections require the use of antibiotics.
Typically, antibiotics are needed when: Sinus infection symptoms last over a week. Symptoms worsen after starting to get better. Sinusitis symptoms are severe (high fever, skin infection or rash, extreme pain or tenderness around the eyes or nose)
An untreated sinus infection may cause ansomnia, a decrease, or a complete loss of smell. Inflammation and blockage of your sinus passageways or damage to your olfactory nerves cause ansomnia. In many cases, ansomnia is only temporary but can become permanent.
a blocked nose. pain and tenderness around your cheeks, eyes or forehead. a sinus headache. a high temperature (fever) of 38C (100.4F) or more.
Instead, your doctor looks largely at symptom duration to determine the source of your infection. A viral sinus infection will usually start to improve after five to seven days. A bacterial sinus infection will often persist for seven to 10 days or longer, and may actually worsen after seven days.
“If your sinus pressure is isolated, you might have a bacterial infection,” she said. “That's when you really should go see a doctor. With a virus, you just have to let it run its course.”
Those suffering from a sinus infection should stay cautious around others for at least three days after the last symptoms have subsided.
Sinus infections can be viral or bacterial. “Either way, it's best to stay home,” Wigmore says. Viral sinus infections are often contagious. If you have had symptoms longer than one week, or if you have severe facial pain, teeth/jaw pain, or fever, you may have a bacterial infection and should consult your doctor.
Viral sinus infections are usually the worst 3 to 6 days after they start, and then begin to get better by day 10. A viral sinus infection can develop into a bacterial infection, which typically lasts longer than 10 days.
With acute sinusitis, it might be difficult to breathe through your nose. The area around your eyes and face might feel swollen, and you might have throbbing facial pain or a headache.
Antibiotics and sinus infections
This may give you the idea that you need antibiotics, but most clear up without them. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses and aren't recommended within the first week of developing a cold. About 70% of sinus infections go away within two weeks without antibiotics.
Are sinus infections contagious? “Because many times sinus infections are caused by viruses, they can be contagious like other infections, such as colds,” Melinda said. “If you have a sinus infection, it's important to use good hygiene skills.
The main difference between nasal congestion and sinus congestion is that nasal congestion can be caused by a lot of different medical conditions, whereas sinus congestion specifically occurs when your sinuses are blocked.
If you have a runny nose, stuffy nose or sinus pressure that lasts for more than 10 days, suspect an infection. Do you have sinus pressure? If you have persistent facial pain, pressure or tenderness, you may have a sinus infection.
Vicks VapoRub — a topical ointment made of ingredients including camphor, eucalyptus oil and menthol that you rub on your throat and chest — doesn't relieve nasal congestion. But the strong menthol odor of VapoRub may trick your brain, so you feel like you're breathing through an unclogged nose.
The bacteria confine themselves in stubborn “biofilms,” making it difficult for your immune system or antibiotics to find and attack them. An overlap of additional factors such as smoking, environmental pollutants, and deviated septum, further complicate the picture of chronic sinusitis.
Blowing the nose can worsen the feeling of congestion due to pressure build-up within the nostrils, which may shoot up the mucus into the sinuses instead of ejection through the nose.