Ever had extreme pain with a sinus infection?

[Worknprogress]

A little more than two weeks ago I was at my Doctor's office and in contact with my Dentist via cell phone since he was on vacation. I had symptons of a sinus infection OR a tooth abscess. The Doctor said according to my symptons it was a tooth. Of course, you know my Dentist said according to my symptons it was my sinuses.

Well, my doc put me on Augmentin saying I would need an antibiotic for both so take it until symptons were more specific to one. So I started the Augmentin and cross my fingers that it was a sinus infection.

One week later - I started having extreme sensitivity to cold with one of my upper molars and a bit of tenderness when biting so I was off to an endo..whatever (the guy who does root canals). I had a root canal done on that tooth one week ago.

HOWEVER, I wake up today with all my original symptons back but 10 times worse!!! I also had pain in my left sinus in my cheek and left eye and I am back at my Doctor's office. I told him I had a root canal and I am back to square 1. He prescribes me the "strongest" antiobiotic he says he can and gives me a script for a cat scan of my sinuses (which because of authorization requirements, I can't have done until next Wednesday!!!) but tells me to call my dentist to make sure something didn't go wrong with my root canal!!!

Just got off the phone with my dentist and according to the x-rays forwarded to him by the endo guy - the root canal looks great! He says continue on with the medicine and make sure to get the cat scan because in the x-rays of root canal he can see my sinus cavity coming all the way down around my teeth.

Sorry for the long post, but the pain has had me in tears a few times today. All of my teeth, upper and lower on my left side, the left sinus cavity, my left ear and my left jaw and all in extreme pain.

I have never had a sinus infection before - can this really be from that? My husband has had them before but he has never been close to this.

Help - I am desperate for this to be done with!!!

 

[lkl]

Debbie. How awful. My mom had a sinus infection a number of years ago and was in excrutiating pain, also to the point of tears. She had it for several weeks and I remember she had alot of pain around her eyes and cheeks. She also felt that something else must be wrong because she couldn't believe it could be so painful. It does take some time to go away, i think it took a month on antibiotics for my mom before she was feeling okay. I hope your feeling better soon.

 

[elliemom]

Honestly Debbie, I have had both!!!!

One tooth abcess that was unbelievably painful, even after the root canal. Needed weeks of antibiotics to clear it up. This is because the germs in there are ANAEROBIC and much harder to kill. Also, root canal and all dental work can hide infection for a few days because it is in soft tissue.

The sinus infection I had made all of my top teeth numb!!!! My face was swollen and my ear felt like I had an earache. Again,those germs are also anaerobic and are hard to kill.

Did either Doc advise heat or ice to the area??? Make sure you ask.
Also what antibiotic are you on???? The newer ones can cause severe tendon problems and you are an exerciser and don't want that. Check with your doc.

I hope you feel better

ellie

 

[Worknprogress]

Thanks lkl for your response - I feel bad that your Mom went through all of this but at least I know I am not alone.

Elliemom - yes, I did allow him to put me on Levaquin (spelling?) which can affect my tendons but the warning said it was especially so for those 60 years and older. Because I was already on the strongest dose of Augmentin, my doc said I need something this strong. I am desperate for relief though. Do you know if the tendon thing is just while you are on the medicine or is it that way for awhile? The info on it doesn't specify.

 

[elliemom]

Check the new black box warning. It can happen AFTER you stop taking it. But it is a good antibiotic for anaerobic infections. I would mention your concerns to your doc because there are other antibiotics that work very well that don't have that side effect. The first thing is to get new Xrays so you can be sure what you are dealing with. The xray from right after the procedure would look good, but might not now.

If your sinus is visible like that, you may have had an infection for londer than you thought. Do you have allergies or get stuffy noses a lot????

ellie

 

[meowracer]

Yours sounds way beyond this, but I use a Neti Pot. http://www.sinucleanse.com/product/neti.htm If you were to use this daily, it may prevent further pain like you are going through now. And if you have any openings in your nose now, I would think this wouldn't hurt. It gives me immediate relief. I pretty much refuse to take antibiotics b/c they make me feel worse. Hope you are better soon.

 

[lala1]

the antibiotics will clear up the infection, but not the pain. Have you asked your doc about pain meds while you´re waiting for the infection to clear up? Also, did you have an x-ray of your sinus to see if that is indeed what it is? Or did the x-ray from the endo show the sinus too?

 

[Worknprogress]

I am getting a cat scan done of my sinuses. My doctor's office is supposedly rushing through an authorization so I can get it done.

I was prescribed Vicoden (spelling?) for the pain. 1 - 2 every 4 or 6 hours for pain. Unfortunately, I tried one and not much help so I took a second an hour later. I only have 10 so I am crossing my fingers that the antibiotic will kick in and start working (if that is indeed what it is) so I don't need anything more.

On a side note, I do have TMJ - was diagnosed years ago. Neither my doctor nor dentist think that this is from that. However, I already had the root canal and if ends up not being a sinus infection my doctor is sending me to a neurologist. He said if my teeth are fine as well as my sinuses then is it something that I cannot remember the name of as I was almost in tears in his office but is has something to do with my TMJ pinching a nerve or something like that.

At this point I don't care what it is. After 3 weeks of this pain - I just want it figured out, taken care of, and done.

By the way, thanks for all the responses! It has been a tough road and although I am in a lot of pain but I know that others out there are dealing with something fare worse than I. This is a "small" thing but nonetheless, I just want it taken care of.