Do you need anitbiotics for a sinus infection?

[little.miss.worry]

Hello, just need some advice really!

I think, I may have a sinus infection because I have the classic symptoms I think.. such a a really bad headache, eye pain and cheek pain and I can also feel drainage of mucus constantly coming from my nose down to my throat. I feel awful quite frankly. I can go to the walk in centre tomorrow, it's no bother for me but i'm think well, do I REALLY need antibiotics or could I get rid of this on my own?

In this past year i've had antibiotics constantly on and off for various reasons and i'm fed up of taking them and also, I'm terrified of bacteria becoming resistant etc.

So what should I do? Should I go to the doctors, see what they say? Or shall I try and get rid of it myself? any advice would be appreciated! :)

[Traceypo]

Hi hun, I used to get this often, the best over counter I found was vicks sinus spray, it took away the pain and it would then go away in own time.
I know how you feel about antibiotics, I've had loads for skin infections so I try anything alternative first.
Xxx

[MyNameIsTerry]

It depends how you feel. If it's that bad, see a GP and let them make the call. You don't need to worry about antibiotic resistance because that was tackled at world level years ago and now GP's are instructed only to prescribe them when necessary for that very reason. So your GP may not even prescribe them and there are leaflets in pharmacies explaining why they do that.

For common ailments GP's even have notices up these days for patients to fry other parties first like pharmacists. So how about that?

Get plenty of vitamin C too. I've had loads of antibiotics in my life because I've had asthma since childhood and any cold could result in a chest infection which needed antibiotics and many times even steroids where they didn't work. So don't think antibiotics are all there are. Plus oral antibiotics and other methods like IV are a very different thing in terms of efficiency hence why hospitals do this so there are Othery factors you may not be aware of when worrying about resistance.

Swgrl and a few others say those neti-pot saline solution things work well.

Gargle with warm salt water too as it will keep your throat clean. As recommended by many a nurse or GP, sometimes the old methods are still the best.

[little.miss.worry]

Hi hun, I used to get this often, the best over counter I found was vicks sinus spray, it took away the pain and it would then go away in own time.
I know how you feel about antibiotics, I've had loads for skin infections so I try anything alternative first.
Xxx

Hey! Thanks for the reply! I think I might look into the vicks sinus spray and see how that is for me :) thanks for the advice! xxx

---------- Post added at 23:04 ---------- Previous post was at 23:02 ----------


It depends how you feel. If it's that bad, see a GP and let them make the call. You don't need to worry about antibiotic resistance because that was tackled at world level years ago and now GP's are instructed only to prescribe them when necessary for that very reason. So your GP may not even prescribe them and there are leaflets in pharmacies explaining why they do that.

For common ailments GP's even have notices up these days for patients to fry other parties first like pharmacists. So how about that?

Get plenty of vitamin C too. I've had loads of antibiotics in my life because I've had asthma since childhood and any cold could result in a chest infection which needed antibiotics and many times even steroids where they didn't work. So don't think antibiotics are all there are. Plus oral antibiotics and other methods like IV are a very different thing in terms of efficiency hence why hospitals do this so there are Othery factors you may not be aware of when worrying about resistance.

Swgrl and a few others say those neti-pot saline solution things work well.

Gargle with warm salt water too as it will keep your throat clean. As recommended by many a nurse or GP, sometimes the old methods are still the best.

Thank you for the reply also! :) I do feel awful but, I don't know if i'm being a wimp if that makes sense. I think i'lll see how I am in the morning and if I feel worse I'll go and see a GP in the afternoon and see what they say about it :) and thank you for mentioning about the anitbiotics,that was really informative and I feel better about resistance etc! :)