r/Sinusitis

Hi I'm a 16 year old person(girl) and I've been having this weird smell in my nose sometimes and I cannot describe the smell.

This sudden smell affects my taste and my appetite because when the smell occurs it kind of affects my taste I think.

I went to the ENT doctor and they used a nasal scope in my nose because the doctor thought there was something in my nose?

They found nothing

This smell in my nose comes and goes and can last for a few minutes to a few hours and I've been having this ever since last year September.

Does anyone here know what this is and is it chronic sinusitis?

is this indicative of a wider issue I should be worried about?

And sorry if my descriptions are a bit messy because I'm confused too

I have maximiliary sinusitis. It has been continuing for months without me knowing anything about it. I have a throbbing pain, a big one. Affecting all my life. Can't use strong painkillers due to stomach issues. Thought it is dental related, extracted two teeth today, I demanded hopelessly because I was in a big pain. I never had nose issues or any drip, occasionally got some bad smell came out from my nostrils though. In the teeth, they saw some possible connection in CBCT. They had some lesions. Renewing root canals didn't help before. Their roots were completely inside of the sinus. In one, two root canal renewals were done and during one, the doctor had told me that there is an unfilled canal over there a few months ago. Basically it was inside of the sinus, unfinished. He filled it but it didn't help me at all. They saw sinusitis around the extraction area in CBCT and extracted the two of them. When the doctor pressures or when I touch there with my tongue, the furthest area which is next to these two teeth where the former buried wisdom tooth is removed for improvements (Which also didn't help me) I feel some strong pain. The doctor said it might be because of infection. I feel like the extractions won't help me (it happened today). I even had some strong pain despite the anesthetic needles, the area was throbbing. Was it a mistake? The doctor told me that he can't give you guarantee but if it is only dental related, I should give it for two weeks. There is no difference in the pattern of the pain. I feel very desperate, hopeless. I don't know what to expect anymore but my life turned into hell due to this pain... I feel like I will never be normal. Is there any chance that this will get better with this? I was feeling increased pain when I squeeze my cheek, I still do, a lot more after the surgery. Am I expecting a lot from day one, or was it really a mistake? I am very depressed and tend to think it's the second one.

I had my second FESS about 2 months ago and have felt great ever since. I rinse 3 times a day with saline and xylitol and once with budesonide. I also use a steroid nasal spray, and overall, this seems to help a lot.
A lot of what I know about my sinusitis comes from this sub, and I’m eternally grateful to have found it.
Recently, I stumbled upon a lot of posts about people using baby shampoo in their rinses to break up biofilms so that steroids and antibiotics can reach the bacteria. I also feel like biofilms have been and still are a big problem with my sinusitis. Every time I rinse, an enormous amount of gunk comes out, sometimes clear and sometimes yellow when things get bad.
So now I wanted to ask your opinion: Is rinsing with baby shampoo safe? Is there another surfactant, maybe in powder or granule form, that doesn’t produce as much foam when shaken? Or is there another substance that can break up biofilms?

I have had chronic left maxillary sinusitis for around 6 years. I had balloon sinuplasty about 19 hours ago without anesthesia.

I paid $4000 out of pocket without insurance, going through insurance it would have cost me $7000.. American Healthcare is great isn't it? Pay a premium every month for basic coverages that I still pay a large portion of.

Before the procedure, I took an acetaminophen/ibuprofen combination, which came out to 750 mg of acetaminophen and 375 mg of ibuprofen, along with whatever localized numbing medication they used in the office. I took one painkiller when I got home, and that was all I personally needed.

I could feel some minimal discomfort during the procedure, but I would not describe it as pain. I heard the cracking, which was more intense on the left side where my issue was. The noise alone caused me to reflexively react a little. Then I felt all of the drainage coming out and could actually smell it. It had a foul odor, but I had been dealing with that odor in smaller amounts for quite some time.

The most interesting part was when he was inside my sinus, presumably draining or cleaning, it generated the exact same pain and pressure I had been feeling in my upper teeth below my sinus for years. I had been told for a very long time that I had a dental issue, but this clearly showed that the pressure from my sinus was, in fact, causing the pain in my teeth.

Other than that, nothing remarkable happened. The procedure was quick.

I had some bleeding for a couple of hours afterward. It was mostly just dripping. Then it became more watery with only a slight tinge of pink for the remainder of the night, for around 10 hours total, and it gradually became less and less.

This morning, I am able to somewhat breathe through my nose, but not breathing normally yet and still using mouth. It feels more like congestion from having a cold, and there is no pain, swelling, or drainage. The congestion is more pronounced on the left side, which is where my main issue was and where more work was done. All of the pressure in my face and teeth is gone.

I honestly thought I would be bleeding for much longer and that the recovery would take significantly longer, but so far, the recovery has been very quick. Based on my experience, I would highly recommend it.

I am also traumatized mentally by what I have been through over the past 6 years and I think that aspect will take me a bit longer to heal from than the physical aspect. I had constant poor sleep for years, chronic fatigue, irritability, headaches in the morning, a feeling of increased pressure in my head, and a sensation that I was not getting enough oxygen. This was dismissed by a previous doctor who told me that I could get enough air from just one nostril. It really affected every aspect of my life and people that have not been through this really can't understand.

One thing that is hard to forget is what happened during COVID with the mask situation. Imagine not being able to breathe out of your left side and then having to wear a mask on top of it and perform physical activity at the same time. I was attacked by teachers and students in my EMT course for not being able to tolerate wearing a mask while already being unable to breathe properly through my left side and trying to learn and study. Eventually, I felt like the lack of adequate breathing was affecting my memory and cognition and I almost quit but made it through.

Anyway, I am hoping that I can finally begin to heal, both physically and emotionally, after everything I have been through.

Thank you for listening.

Hi, I’m just wondering people’s experiences regarding different nasal sprays. As it turns out taking Omnaris Nasal spray for years has drastically decreased my eyesight, my eye doctor recommended getting off them completely.

The nose/throat specialist I’ve been going to essentially told me there weren’t many other options for me yesterday after I went through many of the other steroid nasal sprays (although they’re the only ones that actually keep the swelling down from my experiences). Ryaltris has been the absolute worse from my experience though.

Has anyone ever transitioned to or found a nasal spray that doesn’t contain a steroid in it that actually helps them with their chronic rhinosinusitis?

Literally any advice would be appreciated.

I have been struggling since July - it started out as a dry cough and slight sore throat, nothing too crazy.

After 2 weeks of that, it progressed into a very mucousy cough which reminded me of the one time I had COVID in January 2022 so I assumed I was battling a long case of COVID. About a week after that came the nasal symptoms and I was not only coughing up yellow mucous, I was also blowing it out of my nose. I did Neti Pot nasal rinses twice per day along with Mucinex FastMax and Flonase which helped. By about a month in to all this, I lost my sense of taste and smell. Mid-August, I visited my family medicine doctor and he put me on a round of Augmentin (one week) and some medication that was supposed to suppress my cough (can’t remember the name). None of that worked. After symptoms only got worse, I went back to the same doctor after 2 weeks (end of August) and he said he was “stumped” but suggested I visit an ENT and try another round of the same antibiotics. I waited another 2 weeks to get seen by an ENT. In the meantime, I discovered Zyrtec D which helped me a lot for a couple of weeks and then it kindof tapered off. Somewhere in this frame of time, my nasal congestion went away and I was really just coughing up the mucous now, but still couldn’t taste or smell.

Finally got in with the ENT. He examined me and said there was “puss” present in the far back of my left sinus cavity and took a sample and sent it off to the lab, hoping that it might be bacterial so that we could actually treat it. In the meantime, he put me on a 2-week, 2 pill per day dose of Augmentin. Waited a week to get labs results back and they didn’t show anything unfortunately. Antibiotics didn’t help either. He also prescribed prednisone, which didn’t help either. He recommended a CT scan of my sinuses to rule out cysts or a deviated septum. That’s scheduled for October 12. The biggest part for me is that the ENT said that if this is just post-viral chronic sinusitis (which is his best guess at this point), my sense of smell/taste my never come back, or it may take up to a year to come back. Has anyone ever experienced this?? Right now, every morning starts with some pretty gnarly coughing where I have to cough up little bits of yellow mucous and then by around 11am that subsides and then it’s just a feeling of pressure throughout my sinuses all day (not really pain, oddly enough, which is what I remembered a sinus infection feeling like) and no taste or smell which is the most frustrating part. Help!! Would love to know if anyone has tips for what to do going forward- I am absolutely miserable!! Oh - one last thing, in the last few days I’ve tried Nasonex and rubbing Castor Oil on the insides of my nostrils. But not sure any of that is doing anything because I don’t really have much nasal congestion overall, just inflammation and the chest cough with mucous. Looking into red light therapy for my sinuses - ANYTHING to help me at this point I’m desperate!