Posted 10/14/2006 4:03 AM (GMT -8)
Hey all. about 3 years ago, I came down with a nasty mono-like illness (but def. not mono, most likely CMV) that had me out of commission for about 5 weeks. Unfortunately, it coincided with a trip to Europe, but I eventually got over the fatigue. Accompanying this sickness, however, was a typical nasal infection, where one side of my nose would be blocked at all times. This part, unfortunately, has never gone away. It is SUPREMELY annoying. I feel fine in all other respects, and I dont have a runny nose or anything, but there's this fluid way up in my sinuses that's always stopping me from breathing normally. It's better when Im sitting up, as I guess some of the fluid drains, but when Im lying down 1 side of my nose is almost completely blocked. If I turn over, the fliud will drain to the other side and then that side of my nose will be blocked. about 6 months after I got over my initial sickness, I was fed up and finally went to a hospital to get myself checked out. I had a CAT scan done (which turned up nothing), and was told to take Claritin and Flonase for 60 days, and that I should see some marked improvement. These things did exactly nothing to improve my condition. After that, I pretty much gave up, not knowing what else to do. I tried 1 more spray, something called "Oxy Nasal Wash" with "xylitol" as its active ingredient, but that didnt do much either. I've searched around on the web looking for recommendations for this kind of chronic sinusitis, and havent turned up anything. Just to be clear, I dont believe this is allergy related or something that antibiotics will help. I've been on several different antibiotics over the past few years for other things and have never noticed any improvement in my congestion, and I never had any known allergies growing up and the fact that this originally accompanied another illness makes me believe further that that's not it. ANY help or suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read.