Wondering if anyone else had the same experience/symptoms long term.
So, my sinus stuff began in the early 2000's. I worked outside during an extended period of heavy field smoke (30+ days), followed by a fall of pouring rain and cold. I acquired a cold or flu. During this time, I later learned that I had an undiagnosed hypokalemic (low potassium) issue, and was plagued by constant post-nasal drainage. Symptoms at that time were fatigue, brain fog, mild vertigo, and pulsatile tinnitus that never resolved. Within a few years, this developed into events where my sinuses would seemingly fill with junk, then drain post-nasally, with little predictability. When I would have periods of drainage, my symptoms would become severe with elevated heart rate and an amplification of the fatigue and brain fog. I have never had elevated temperature as would be expected with an infection. I have had several evaluations over decades with CT's by ENT's and allergists, that had little result. I have a few polyps but nothing that would indicate that surgery is required. I don't have nasal congestion. I can breathe thru my nose fine. Allergy tests indicated that reactions were mild and confined to a single vegetable and single fruit that I've avoided since with no appreciable result. I have no environmental allergies. I've tried essentially every home remedy without any real improvement. In blood work, I've occasionally had elevated eosinophils to a "moderate" level, but this is irregular in it's presentation. It led to one ENT suggesting I had ECRS, although the symptoms are still present without elevated eosinophils.
So, the difficulty has been a "chicken or the egg" sort of idea with regard to what I'm dealing with. Is a chronic infection causing my symptoms, or is an inflammatory mechanism driving everything? I don't have blood markers of an inflammatory condition. The physical symptoms have wrecked my life. I now work from home when I can as I can only drive when symptoms allow, and I'm to the point where I'm exploring an explanation more aligned with CFS/Post-Viral illness.