Treating Sinus Infection: How do I know if I have a sinus infection and how to treat it

A sinus infection or sinusitis is an infection of the tissues in the paranasal sinuses, which are cavities in the bones around the nose. Due to the infection and swelling in the sinuses, breathing becomes harder, and the patient also experiences fever and headaches. Sinusitis is not always a sinus infection – in some cases, the inflammation may not be due to infection, but due to an allergy or some other problem with the immune system. Sinusitis is also further categorized into two types: acute or sudden sinusitis, and chronic or long term sinusitis.

Sinusitis can be a very painful and discomforting condition. The main symptom of sinusitis is a throbbing headache with intense pressure in the area of the affected sinuses. The pressure is worse when you cough or strain yourself, or when you lie down on your back. There is usually also some amount of nasal discharge, which tends to be rather thick and greenish in color. In some cases, you may also start feeling feverish and low on energy.

Sinus Infection Remedies

There are quite a few home remedies to prevent sinusitis from getting worse. Inhaling steam from a vaporizer of hot water can be quite relieving and refreshing, as the steam tends to unblock the sinuses completely. Some people also recommend applying a mixture of powder, water, and mustard seeds in your nostrils. You could also try applying a paste of water and cinnamon powder on the forehead, or a paste of ginger and water. Inhaling the smell of pungent vegetables and spices like garlic, mustard, and onion is thought to be quite helpful against sinusitis, as these methods clear out the nose and the sinuses, allowing you to breathe easier. Another remedy would be to drink a lot of ripe grape juice and carrot juice. You should also try to follow a healthy diet along with other remedies: in particular try to consume vegetables and fruits that are rich in Vitamin A, such as mangoes and pumpkins.

It is also advisable that you visit a doctor, especially since you seem unsure of whether or not you have sinusitis. Migraine is often misdiagnosed as sinusitis, and a misdiagnosis is more likely when you try to diagnose your own symptoms. In order to successfully treat your condition, a proper diagnosis is essential. In addition, if you have chronic sinusitis, you may need to take your doctor’s help to investigate the possibility of an allergy or a problem with your immune system.

Pulmonary Edema Causes

To understand the condition that is pulmonary edema, you need to imagine your lungs looking like a sponge. Just as the sponge is full of holes, the lungs are full of small bags that process the air we breathe to extract important gases. These bags are called alveoli. Surrounding the alveoli are millions of veins that carry blood from the lungs to the alveoli to keep them in healthy condition. The barrier that separates the blood held in the veins and the air contained within the alveoli is a very thin and fragile membrane. If there is a slight change in the pressure or change in the fluid content, it could breach this barrier causing the alveoli to fill up with blood and restricting the air from entering the alveoli. This will lead to a noticeable shortness of breath and could lead to death. This entry of fluids into the lungs is known as Pulmonary Edema. Imagine that same sponge containing soap water. If you were to squeeze this sponge, the contents flowing out would look frothy, which is in much the same as it would in pulmonary edema.

More often than not, it will be heart conditions that cause pulmonary edema. Congestive heart failure, heart attacks and abnormal heart valves have all led to pulmonary edema in numerous patients. But is must be known that a number of other issues and organs can contribute to this condition as well.

If a person with extreme kidney failure does not remove excess fluids from the body by way of dialysis, the excess fluids could build up within the body and lead to pulmonary edema. A bleeding brain or brain surgery can also lead to a build up of fluid in the lungs leading to pulmonary edema as can an overdose of illicit drugs like heroin and methadone.

At the onset, there might be a gradual feeling of shortness of breath or breathlessness, although this could happen in a sudden attack as well. A sufferer will also experience dizziness and fatigue or weakness. The use of a stethoscope will also show up abnormal sounds coming from the lungs which might resemble bubbles due to the liquid building up within the alveoli.

Since this is a very critical condition, anyone diagnosed with it should seek expert medical help at the earliest opportunity as it is a very fast acting condition and, if not dealt with in a timely manner, will almost surely end in death of the sufferer.

Dry Cough Congestion

A cough is an action that every person has performed in their lives. It is also an action that each person has done at least once each single day. The cough is largely identified as a reflex action by the body when it needs to clear a blockage in the respiratory passages. Although largely defined as a reflex action, it can also be performed proactively by the individual. Most times a cough is nothing but the body trying to clear the breathing passages of foreign bodies or irritants and should not cause any alarm. However, if it shows signs of being a chronic problem, it might point to signs of a rather more serious infection caused by bacteria or viruses in the respiratory tracts or even a symptom for a serious condition also affecting other organs of the body.

The cough is a three stage process causing the person to inhale deeply, than forcing an exhalation which then sees a violent release of air from the lungs. This allows the entire envelop of air to rush through the breathing passages with enough velocity to force any particles stuck in the passages out of the body. The cough also produces a very distinct sound.

A cough can be commonly caused by a particle of food going down the windpipe due to a malfunction of the epiglottis, which is supposed to stop food entering the windpipe instead of entering the esophagus. When a person coughs, the violent exhalation of air will cause the particle to dislodge itself and be pushed out of the windpipe.

Dry Cough Remedies

Since dry coughs have been an age old problem for many, there are a number of home remedies for coughing that will prove useful. Eating watermelon fruit has proved to be particularly beneficial when suffering from a dry cough. Eating dates and almonds provide substantial relief from dry coughs as well. Mixture and pastes have also been known to work, so listed below are a few trusted concoctions:

• Take two teaspoons a day of a mixture of 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 cup of honey and a 1/4 cup of warm water.

• Drinking hot milk with honey just before retiring for the night.

• Three cloves of garlic boiled in milk to be had every night.

• Ginger tea made by adding a few pieces of ginger to the boiling water before adding the tea leaves is a well known remedy.

Fatigue Dizziness Symptoms

Fatigue and dizziness will show up as symptoms together, in a number of conditions. Most of the time a diagnoses is concluded by, not only looking at these symptoms, but also the accompanying symptoms. Fatigue is the feeling of weariness. A stage where there might be a general pain in the muscles or just a constant feeling of tiredness. Fatigue can be classified into two distinct categories: physical fatigue and mental fatigue. While physical fatigue is generally associated with muscle fatigue and the feeling that one cannot perform to normal physical levels. Mental fatigue can be an addition to the physical fatigue one experiences where a person can also seem less attentive because the brain does not respond in the normal timeliness.

While fatigue can be attributed to a number of reasons like jet lag, emotional stress, work related stress as well as depression; it may also be caused by a serious lack of minerals or vitamins in the body.
Fatigue can also be a symptom for an underlying condition as serious as cancer, diabetes, anemia, heart disease or chronic fatigue syndrome amongst others. A complete lack of energy and a feeling of passing out, palpitations of the heart, shortness of breath, extreme tiredness and exhaustion are some of the foremost symptoms of fatigue.

Dizziness is a feeling of an individual’s surroundings to appear to start moving around the person. It is an impairment of a person’s stability and is likely to be caused by a malfunction in the working of the middle ear. The middle ear is a very likely source of this condition as its mechanism provides the human body with a sense of stability and balance. Another prime cause of dizziness is when the supply of blood to the brain is cut off or suspended. A sudden change in blood pressure, either high or low, is also a very common cause of dizziness.

Symptoms - Causes of Dizziness

Dizziness can also be brought on by a number of underlying causes and could lead to further serious but more defined conditions like Vertigo, where the sufferer has a feeling of falling, most commonly experienced when standing at heights and looking toward the ground. Some people may even suffer heart attack when suffering dizziness, if the dizziness was caused due to extremely high blood pressure. Symptoms for dizziness include but are not restricted to nausea, a sense of fainting, extreme tiredness or fatigue and feeling off balance.