34 y/o Male great health been battling sinus/throat issues since Oct. 2016

Ears, nose and throat
1

Hello everyone,

I am a 34 year old male with overall great health and I have been battling the following symptoms since Oct. 2016.

Left side of my face/nose feels worse

NetiPot and nasal sprays don’t change anything (have tried multiple nasal sprays)

Wake up every day with both nostrils being full of dried brown mucus even when using a humidifier

Still clearing my throat a lot, probably due to white stuff on back of my throat

Still see white stuff on the back of my throat (nobody has discussed this with me)

HORRIBLE taste in my mouth all the time, gum or brushing teeth/mouthwash doesn’t help, the worst when I clear my throat

Tonsil stones!! (nobody has discussed this with me) Got 3 out of tonsils just the other night

Have an empty cough, where I feel the need to cough something but am unable to produce anything

Pressure sensation in my ears, feels like paper is stuck in my ears, chewing gum or yawning helps for a little, very itchy

Sinus pressure all the time! I feel like I am squinting all the time. It is all around my eyes and upper part of my cheek

Feels like there is something in both of my eyes all the time, very itchy, unable to wear contacts

Overall feeling of fatigue, even when I get a full night sleep or extra rest

Feel like my body is trying to fight something but is always losing

I have seen 3 general doctors, 2 ENT doctors, my main dentist, my eye doctor and most recently an endodontist.

The cost of all of this is easily into the thousands.

The amount of medicine I have been on is, honestly, quite sickening.

I have now had 3 CT scans of my head, first 2 showed moderate sinusitis, the most recent I have never seen but was told "you look great"

I have changed my diet twice, both no gluten and diary and most recently very low carb.

These doctors just pull out their meds and move right along, my second ENT doctor forgot he had given me a shot in my left butt check a month prior and tried to initiate it again. Dec. 2017

That same doctor in Nov. 2017 did a balloon surgery on me, no side effects and surgery went well but it did NOTHING for me.

My most recent ENT thinks it could be Silent Reflux and yes while some of the symptoms fit, why did it suddenly hit me in Oct. 2016? So I am currently taking Omeprazole twice a day for 2 months, 1.5 week in and absolutely no change!

I guess I am now on these forums to look for actual help and maybe find something out.

Thank you for reading! <3

2

Something is clearly not right but throwing Omeprazole at it sounds a bit of long shot.  Read all you can find out about it as twice a day for 2 months sounds like a lot!  From what I've seen it and its close relatives (Lanzaprozol etc) are best selling drugs that actually do very little for anybody as most people have too little acid rather than too much.  An article in the guardian claimed that the 'acid-reflux drug was linked to more than doubled risk of stomach cancer' - I'm not allowed to give links but that phrase should find it ok. 

Something you're eating may well be the key to it all - how long did you cut out gluten and dairy for?  Did you cut them out together or separately?  Do you take any probiotics at all?  There are some that encourage histamine reactions (which can create mucous) and some which discourage them.  There's a whole world of them that I had no idea about until recently.  You may need to investigate more about what you eat and what to add in the way of probiotics and maybe mineral supplements. 

Someone on here regularly recommends a 1000mg capsule of Evening Primrose oil daily for sinus problems.  It won't do you any harm and may be a good start while you're researching other things (it apparently helps your body miss out a step in converting something to something else that every cell needs - so it helps everything!).

I often think doctors are wonderful if they know what the problem is and how to treat it.  For all other things they are fumbling in the dark and playing with meds - some of which are dangerous.  Take care with what you put into your body.  Also, think hard about what happened in 2016.  It may not have been in October itself but in the weeks or months before.  What changed? 

3

I Have a cyst in my maxillary sinus and I have all the same symptoms as you. Have you asked to see copies of the scans you have had done? You could possibly have a cyst? Also get your teeth checked out too. A crack in a tooth in the upper jaw can get infected and then give you sinus issues. I’m currently fighting my corner with ENT and Maxillofacial. I so know how you’re feeling. It’s pretty miserable. Especially the constant mouth watering and bad breath/tonsil stones. I have post nasal drip, ear pain, head aches and all on my left side too. My cyst is on the left side. 

I really wish for you to find some relief and some answers. Hope you get to the bottom of it soon. 😊

4

yeah the omeprazole feels like a total shot in the dark I hate trying new stuff with no reason to. I only gave the dairy and gluten a month long trial and it was the worst month of my life lol. I had allergy testing done, 50 shots 45 in back 5 in arm and everything came back good. she said throw all your allergy medicine away. I have always ate the same way.

I don't take any minerals or vitamins actually and I have never taken any probiotics.

I will look into this evening primrose oil and see what it is all about.

the only thing I can think of is I had a bunch of dental work done, so back in January I went back to my dentist and had an exam and she thought everything looked ok and gave me a referral to an endodonist. I saw him in January as well and he did some testing and he said my 3 most probably problem teeth all look fine. He only did an xray, and exam and some cold testing.

5

The doctor that performed the surgery said I am cyst free but I did have some dental work back in Aug. and Sept. of 2016 prior to me feeling this way. I saw my dentist and even an endodontist but he only checked 3 teeth and did an xray. I can't even explain how I feel as a person when I see a tonsil stone or get one out. I talk to people daily as part of my job in very close proximity and to think they can smell that just kills me!

6

Hi, you sound like me! Had 5 sinus ops in 2 yrs, so many antibiotics and analgesia,pain incredible, finally after taking sinus biopsies and post nasal drip sent to lab they have found underlying staph A and E. coli infection. Hopefully on right treatment now. I have read these infections can be cause of on going sinus symptoms and not always detected. I also had omeprazole..didn't do any thing, had to be really persistent to get people to listen, luckerly I have a very good ENT consultant. Best wishes. 

7

Oh gosh Diane that sounds terrible! How are they treating the a & E. coli infection? 

8

There's been loads in the news and medical mags about how our gut flora can mess up just about everything including causing inflammation and depression.  We are what we eat and, if the way we digest our food (via our gut flora) isn't quite tuned right, we can get all manner of problems.  Given that allergy testing didn't show any problems, probiotics might be worth investigating re histamine reactions.