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The human skull has air-filled spaces called sinuses, which are located behind the nasal bones, cheeks, eyes, and forehead. When the tissue lining these sinuses is inflamed or swollen, it results in a condition called sinusitis. Thus, the main cause of sinusitis is inflammation due to a bacterial, viral, or fungal infection. Many people around the world suffer from sinusitis and are desperate for treatment.
Let’s discuss the various alternatives available for an effective sinusitis treatment and popular home remedies for sinus infection.
Main Symptoms of Sinusitis/ Sinus
Detecting the right symptoms is the key to effective sinusitis treatment. Before talking about the symptoms, we would mention that there are four main types of sinusitis including, acute sinusitis, subacute sinusitis, recurrent acute sinusitis, and chronic sinusitis. For all these four types of sinusitis, the symptoms are quite similar and they are:
- Nasal congestion
- Sinus headache
- Facial pressure or pain
- Face tenderness
- Infected discharge from nose
- Runny nose
- Sore throat
- Hoarse Voice
- Fever
Common Symptoms of Sinusitis in Children
Sinus is not a disease that can be found only in adults, even children may suffer it. So, how to detect sinusitis in children? For this here is a list of sinus symptoms found in children:
- Swelling around the eyes
- Earaches
- Headaches
- Bad breath due to postnasal drip
- Coughing
- Nausea
- Cold for over a week with fever
- Thick and coloured mucus coming from the nose
4 Effective Treatment for Sinus Infection
Let us now unfold the types of sinus infection treatments available to treat sinusitis:
1. Nasal Irrigation: The first common treatment for the sinus is nasal irrigation. As the name suggests, it is a method of keeping the nostrils irrigated. Nasal irrigation may help get relief both in case of acute and chronic sinusitis. For this, you need to use filtered water or premixed solutions available at healthcare stores. All you need then is to pour this water into your nose either using a nasal sprayer or with any sinus rinsing device. Nasal irrigation works wonders by relieving you of nasal dryness and discharging the accumulated mucus from the sinuses.
2. Herbal Treatments: A mix of herbs is also trending as a successful sinus infection treatment. Oral capsules by the name GeloMyrtol and herbal mixtures like Sinupret are found effective in treating acute and chronic sinusitis in adults and children. However, make sure not to use too much of these herbs, else be ready to face the side effects.
3. Over-The-Counter Medications: Sinus is a problem that can be treated to an extent using over-the-counter medicines like Cetirizine, Loratadine, Sudafed, and Fexofenadine. Besides, one may also try using nasal decongestant sprays like Oxymetazoline, but not more than 3 days. However, we discourage long-term use of these medicines to treat sinus, as it could then lead to complex nasal congestion.
4. Antibiotics: Acute sinus that doesn’t get any better with the above-mentioned sinusitis treatments should be treated with a proper dose of antibiotics. Do consult your doctor to prescribe you an effective antibiotic like amoxicillin, azithromycin, and levofloxacin. However, keep two things in mind if planning to take antibiotics for sinuses. First, it should be taken only if your sinus infection is more than 10 days old. Second, with antibiotics, you may experience some side effects later like stomach problems, diarrhoea, and rashes.
Is There Any Instant Sinus Headache Treatment?
At times, you may seek instant relief from a sinus headache because you are feeling pressure all around your eyes and on the face. This kind of pain is often worse in the morning when you get up and you have the whole day schedule waiting for you to kickstart. Then try the following two ways of sinus headache treatment:
Salt Water Irrigation: Get saline water and use it to irrigate your nose and sinuses. This is the easiest and quickest way of getting instant relief from sinus pain.
Alternate Hold and Cold Compression: Lie down and indulge in an alternate hold and cold compression on your forehead using two damp towels. One should be hot and one should cold. This is a perfect remedy for instant sinus headache relief.
4 Home Remedies for Sinus Infection
Revealed below are some effective home remedies for sinus infection that are completely safe and worth trying for some relief:
Take Steam Vapor: An ideal way to get some relief from a sinus infection is by draping a towel over your head and taking hot steam using a steamer. The effort should be to expose your face to the steam so that your sinuses get moist air and stay warm. This will help to drain out mucus, thus relieving your sinus pain.
Warm Compress: Similarly, one may expect some sort of relief from sinus pain with a warm compress on the face. For this, you need to place a damp warm towel around your cheeks, eyes, and nose. This will help relieve facial pain.
Sleep with Head Elevated: To reduce the pain caused by sinusitis, one can try a quick tip when sleeping. Try to keep your head elevated when you are set to sleep. This will help to reduce the congestion in your sinuses and you will be able to get a sound sleep.
Drink Fluids and Water: Another home remedy to treat sinusitis is by drinking fluids and water. The purpose here is to dilute your mucous so that it gets drained easily. However, with fluids, we don’t mean alcohol or caffeinated drinks. We are here encouraging you to drink juices and water.
Conclusion
Sinusitis, no matter of whatever type can bring havoc to your overall wellbeing. It may disrupt your whole routine by making you feel miserable with a throbbing head, aching face, and congested nose. So, every attempt should be made to detect the symptoms of the sinus before it worsens. There are various sinus infection treatments but make sure to consult your doctor first before starting up with any treatment. In the meantime, you may try home remedies for sinus infections.
