See a doctor if you have: Severe symptoms, such as severe headache or facial pain. Symptoms that get worse after improving. Symptoms lasting more than 10 days without getting better.
When there is excessive pain in your eyes, ears, head or throat, you likely have a severe sinus infection. And if you can't open your eyes or you feel dizzy, these are major warning signs that your sinusitis is at a dangerous level.
If your symptoms do not improve after 10 days, you should make an appointment with your ear, nose and throat doctor, as you may require antibiotics. For those suffering from chronic sinusitis with no relief from medication, surgery may be an option.
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)
Symptoms of a sinus infection include ear pain, headaches, facial pain and tenderness, nasal discharge, nasal congestion, post-nasal drip, fever, and fatigue. If these symptoms persist or become intolerable despite treatment, or if they improve only to return, it's time to seek medical assistance.
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.
Viruses, like the ones that cause the common cold, cause most cases of sinusitis. Bacteria can cause sinusitis, or they can infect you after a case of viral sinusitis. If you have a runny nose, stuffy nose and facial pain that don't go away after ten days, you might have bacterial sinusitis.
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.
As your body works hard to fight off the sinus infection, you'll feel more tired than usual. Fatigue can be also be caused by head pain, a lack of adequate sleep, and difficulty breathing due to sinusitis.
About 70% of sinus infections go away within two weeks without antibiotics.
“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.”
Serious Sinus Infections
While rare, the infection from a sinus issue can spread to the eyes or brain. If the infection reaches the eyes you can experience redness, swelling around the eyes and reduced vision. Cavernous sinus thrombosis is a rare infection that can lead to blindness.
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.
Your allergist may consider ordering a sinus CT. This test can help to define the extent of the infection. Your allergist may also send you to a specialist in allergy and immunology. The specialist will check for underlying factors such as allergies, asthma, structural defects, or a weakness of the immune system.
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.
The symptoms of sinusitis are not unique to the disease itself. Other disease processes can mimic sinusitis including the common cold, allergies, migraine headache, chronic daily headache, myofascial pain, temporomandibular joint or jaw pain, rhinitis medicamentosa, and even sleep apnea.
Coronavirus and a sinus infection can have similar symptoms, such as nasal congestion, fever, and cough.
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.
A cough may also be a symptom of a sinus infection. As mucus drips down into your throat, it can trigger a cough. Coughing up phlegm should be a sign that this condition is more than a common cold.
Yes. A sinus infection can cause fluid to be trapped in the ear behind the eardrum. Bacteria and viruses can grow and can cause an ear infection. It's especially important to get to the doctor if you're feeling pain or pressure in the ear.