Sinusitis: How Serious is it?
It's winter again. The cold whether will surely bring different
kinds of health problems such as colds, fever and sinusitis
among others. When you have a nasty cold and stuffy nose that
won't subside for a couple of weeks, you must never take it for
granted and dismiss it as a simple case of cold gone wrong. You
can have something more than colds that could lead to sinusitis.
Common signs of sinusitis include cough, feeling of facial
swelling, occasional fever, and headache, plugged up nose,
toothache and abundant thick yellow discharge from the nose. If
sinusitis is left untreated, it can cause further complications
to the nose, middle ear, and eyes that can last for months or
even years. Examples of these complications include infection of
the eye socket that may cause the eyelid to swell and become
droopy. A person whose eye has been affected by sinusitis may
lose the ability to move the eye that may result to permanent
blindness. Frontal sinusitis may also cause blood clot in the
sinus area. If a person with sinusitis experiences headache,
visual problems, seizures, and mild personality changes it may
be possible that the infection have spread to the brain. This
may lead to coma or even death.
But what really causes sinusitis? Basically, there are two types
of sinusitis namely acute and chronic sinusitis. Acute sinusitis
meaning the condition is temporary usually lasting for not more
than thirty days. The symptoms of acute sinusitis are virus,
fungus, bacteria, scuba diving, nose blowing, medications and
foreign objects. Acute sinusitis usually results from a cold
that remains on too long and eventually becomes an infection. It
is, therefore, important to treat acute sinusitis as soon as
possible to prevent any infection from spreading.
Chronic sinusitis, on the other hand, refers to symptoms of
sinusitis occurring frequently or for longer periods of time.
Causes of this type of sinusitis includes allergies, temperature
and humidity, asthma, defective mucous membrane, narrow sinuses,
poor air quality, dehydration, weak immune system, stress and
tumors.
Although serious cases of sinusitis are rare because of modern
antibiotic treatments available today, it is still important
that proper care and treatment should be exercised. Steps should
be taken to prevent it from becoming chronic. Understand that
sinusitis left untreated can cause serious infections so always
take the necessary precautions and live a healthy balanced life.