Sinusitis

[damianjmcgrath]

I think I have a genuine illness but I can't help but think my anxiety is either making it worse or creating it entirely.

I've had a bad cold for about 7 days with the body aches, sneezes, blocked nose etc. Took Lemsips daily and used nasal sprays and nothing seemed to work. It's now developed into just a blocked nose but blinding headaches, and pain in my cheekbones as well and I have frequent extremes of temperature - I'll be shivering then sweating. It's been like this for the last 5 days straight.

I'm taking paracetamol, ibuprofen, vaporub and nothing is making a dent in the symptoms. I've got a doctors call back tomorrow.

Now, it's quite possible this is sinusitis, a particularly annoying and long lasting one. But quite often, during the day, I'll be doing things and I'll feel generally ok. The mornings and evenings are terrible. There could be an element of me expecting it, or me assuming this is something serious and therefore the symptoms are lasting longer to confirm that.

Does that make sense? Can anxiety cause something as "physical" as a blocked nose or can it prolong cold type symptoms? Or is it more likely to just be a bad cold?

[Jem21]

It sounds like a bad cold... And you often feel worse first thing on the morning and last thing at night with a cold. With all your aches and pains it could be flu which is why it's sticking around a bit longer.

[damianjmcgrath]

It's doing my head in, literally. It's the longest and worst cold I've ever had. I've never had flu before so maybe it's that but I wasn't completely bed bound. I think I've reached the point now where I'm scared of it lasting so long and that's making me anxious and I don't know if that's contributing.

[damianjmcgrath]

That's a bit reassuring. If this is just a b*stard cold going around then I'll be satisfied it'll pass. It was just the unusual length that was concerning me. And I've never been so wiped out from a cold before. I'm reaching day 13 tomorrow so hopefully it's on its way out.

I'll try the steam thing - and look up the other things. Thanks for your advice.

[damianjmcgrath]

Doctor phoned me back this morning, and said based off the symptoms and length, it was likely to be bacterial sinusitis, and he's prescribed me antibiotics. I'm picking them up at lunch. The general cold symptoms arent that bad - the blocked nose isn't terrible - but it's the headaches that are killing me. The whole front of my head is throbbing.

I'm hoping the antibiotics sort this out!

---------- Post added at 11:35 ---------- Previous post was at 10:27 ----------

Picked them up - they are doxycycline - which the wife immediately piped up with "oh, I wouldn't be able to take them, I'm allergic to penicillin, and those are high in that". Thanks for that! Another thing to concern myself with - this would be a good time to find out I'm allergic too! :-/