About 30 to 40 percent of the population suffers from sinus infections, but it is often mistaken for something else. Especially if you are a smoker, have persistent cold, headaches and allergies, it is possible that you have sinusitis, and are mistaking it for something else.
How do you know if what you have is sinusitis?
So what does sinusitis look like? If you have sinusitis, you might experience a combination of common symptoms that might lead you to think that you are having a reaction to something else. For example, a smoker might think that he or she coughs a lot because they smoke. However, it might also mean that their sinuses are infected, especially if they have a combination of symptoms that are linked to sinusitis.
Go through this list of 5 telltale symptoms, and what they might be confused with, to get a clearer picture if you need sinusitis treatment.
- Headaches – You can attribute a headache to anything, but do you get a brain freeze every time you eat or drink something very cold? You might be suffering from sinusitis.
- Cough – A persistent cough might be less of a reaction to your surroundings and vices, and more of a symptom of sinusitis. Maybe your surroundings have caused the sinusitis.
- Nasal discharge – Cloudy, pus-filled, or bloodied nasal discharge might indicate that your common cold or viral infection has also sparked sinusitis. You might confuse it with an allergy, but it is possible that your allergy has caused your sinusitis.
- Facial swelling – People will notice facial swelling, and simply attribute it to being underslept, or just having an off-day where they aren’t looking their best. But facial swelling can be a cause for concern, calling your attention to a possible sinus infection.
- Facial pain – Like headaches, people will just attribute facial pain to stress or exhaustion, or they might not even notice it. People who have braces might assume it is because of their braces, for example. The point is, it is often misunderstood.
If you find yourself saying yes to several or all the symptoms on this list, you may need sinusitis treatment. However, the symptoms can be misleading, as we have seen in the list above. Therefore, it is best to first confirm that you do indeed have sinusitis, and to evaluate its seriousness.
Treating sinusitis
Usually the doctor will conduct a physical observation with a delicate little tube that lets them observe your nasal passages. If unable to get a clear picture and to confirm, a CT scan or an MRI — or both — might be requested. Once the doctor gets insights into what is causing problems in your nasal passages, you will typically either be recommended treatment or a surgery.
Surgery is recommended for sinusitis treatment only if you have a deviated septum, nasal polyps, or if it is established that you have a sinus infection caused by fungi. The regular antibiotics-based sinusitis treatment does not work for fungal sinusitis. However, a culture swab is usually taken to confirm the presence of fungi. Meanwhile, nasal polyps are tiny growths along the nasal passages. They are not a cause for concern, because they are benign — or non-cancerous — but they block the flow of mucus and cause your nasal passages to become clogged, painful and inflamed.
Alternatively, the patient will be put on antibiotics if the sinusitis is simply a common cold, or a viral infection that has turned worse. Corticosteroids in nasal spray format are a commonly employed sinusitis treatment technique. In more serious cases that are not recommended for surgery, nasal irrigation or corticosteroids in oral format might be prescribed. Nasal irrigation uses saline to clean out the nasal passages.
Affording treatment is easy
If you have been recommended surgery for your sinusitis, you can break down the cost of the procedure by applying for and downloading a Bajaj Finserv Health EMI Network Card. Here’s how to download a health EMI Card; all you need to do is visit the Bajaj Finserv website and apply for the Bajaj Finserv Health EMI Network Card in a few easy steps, and by submitting a few documents. The card lets you pay for hospitalization, diagnosis and pharmacy bills in flexible EMIs.
