Semi-OT: Sinus infections/Allergies/exercise

[benb]

Just curious. I am going to try and see an ENT about this.

For about 5 years now I have gotten sick mid-late October and it turns into a sinus infection by early/mid November. It seems to always be bacterial, as the doctor always prescribes me an antibiotic and it always works rapidly.

I just got a prescription yesterday.. same as usual, feeling a lot better today.

This year my doctor had me take Rhinocort starting in late September. His theory (and actual several doctors all gave the same opinion) is that I have a fall allergy when the leaves start falling and it's leaving me susceptible to this kind of infection. I have not gotten *as* sick, it did help, but didn't stop it from happening.

But the other thing is this is kind of the "late season" burst of cycling activity before first snow. I think there is usually a pretty common pattern that I get sick, get off my bike, and then I am not 100% better and I get back on my bike and suddenly get sicker again and it turns into an infection.

Last week I was feeling a lot better... had 3 workouts outside. Friday being the hardest. Saturday afternoon I suddenly started feeling sick again and by that night I knew what was going on.

There are other factors too.. I think the HVAC at my office is horrific. Just about as soon as they turn it on it's about 15% humidity in the office, it's brutal, and I know this is really bad if you've got a cold. This kind of corresponds to when I started working in offices with this problem, but it also corresponds to when my kid was born... things are more stressful now, it's harder to rest and recover from a cold.

Just curious... most of what I have read over the years is that you don't even need to stop training at all if the symptoms are above your neck. I did stop training with the initial cold as I had a fever, but I went into the doctor and they thought it was viral at that point.. so when the aches & fever were gone and all I had was a little bit of a drippy nose I got back on my bike.

[benb]

I should add the doctors are not really concerned about this. "Eh.. once a year, no big deal."

[fmradio516]

FWIW - All my life, I have had a stuffy nose during the cold season, and sore throats from post nasal drip, and all that. Was constantly at the pediatrician through my childhood for these things. Went to an allergist for a bit and got shots weekly. Nothing really helped until I realized I had a deviated septum. Went to an ENT and had the surgery to fix it. PITA recovery, but well worth it now. Now I only get sick a normal amount. :)

Hope you figure it out..

[415km]

Two things come to mind for me. One is I used to get occasional sinus infections and I started pretty regularly drinking a tea I'd make from local honey (local is important as it helps you build an allergy resistance to local pollens) and apple cider vinegar ( a natural antibiotic). As with all homeopathic remedies you'll find conflicting opinions but I solidly believe this has helped me a lot. It does not taste great though.....
Second is I used to work in HVAC many years ago and it very well could be a mold issue in your office's AC unit that is causing you more problems. The evaporator coil that removes heat from the air frosts and drains into a pan when that frost melts. This should be cleaned out periodically, the moisture evaporates but various mold and cooties can linger in the pan and then be blown into the air in your office. This is where Legionnaires disease was first identified, from an ac system, so regular cleaning and maintenance is important. I'd ask your building facilities or stationary engineer when the last time the evaporator drain system was cleaned and serviced in your ac unit was. It very well could be more than just humidity or lack of that's affecting you.

[NHAero]

I get sinus infections once or twice a year, just getting over one now, similar to what you describe - extra congestion from allergies morphs into a sinus infection. I tried Rhinocort and something similar but it doesn't affect it really. The symptoms when it is coming on are always the same, so when I feel it is starting I start doing nasal irrigations with a salt solution and steams with essential oils, and sometimes that stops the progression and I don't get the infection.
I don't feel bad when I get these - a little low energy - no headaches like some folks get with sinus infections. I went to a good ENT at Mass General and he didnt see any structural things to fix.
The biggest drag as I've gotten older is that occasionally the infection drops into my chest and I get bronchitis, which sucks more.

Just curious. I am going to try and see an ENT about this.

For about 5 years now I have gotten sick mid-late October and it turns into a sinus infection by early/mid November. It seems to always be bacterial, as the doctor always prescribes me an antibiotic and it always works rapidly.

I just got a prescription yesterday.. same as usual, feeling a lot better today.

This year my doctor had me take Rhinocort starting in late September. His theory (and actual several doctors all gave the same opinion) is that I have a fall allergy when the leaves start falling and it's leaving me susceptible to this kind of infection. I have not gotten *as* sick, it did help, but didn't stop it from happening.

But the other thing is this is kind of the "late season" burst of cycling activity before first snow. I think there is usually a pretty common pattern that I get sick, get off my bike, and then I am not 100% better and I get back on my bike and suddenly get sicker again and it turns into an infection.

Last week I was feeling a lot better... had 3 workouts outside. Friday being the hardest. Saturday afternoon I suddenly started feeling sick again and by that night I knew what was going on.

There are other factors too.. I think the HVAC at my office is horrific. Just about as soon as they turn it on it's about 15% humidity in the office, it's brutal, and I know this is really bad if you've got a cold. This kind of corresponds to when I started working in offices with this problem, but it also corresponds to when my kid was born... things are more stressful now, it's harder to rest and recover from a cold.

Just curious... most of what I have read over the years is that you don't even need to stop training at all if the symptoms are above your neck. I did stop training with the initial cold as I had a fever, but I went into the doctor and they thought it was viral at that point.. so when the aches & fever were gone and all I had was a little bit of a drippy nose I got back on my bike.

[Ozz]

Sinus rinse....been doing last couple years and have avoided my previously annual sinus infection.

Rinse the crap out with saline and let you body fight what is left....

YMMV....;)

[unterhausen]

I have had similar problems, but it always happened twice a year, spring and then fall. And then, when we lived in Utah, it also happened in the winter because of the pollution that is trapped by the mountains. For a long time, I took a steroid spray and it was highly successful. Then I went blind (I got better). My retinal specialist said it was because of the spray, so of course I stopped it. I don't think I would let this stop you though, I'm envious of people that can use those sprays.

Now I use a Neilmed sinus rinse when I start having symptoms, and that seems to keep the problems from getting out of hand. Once you have let it go for a couple of weeks, I don't think that's going to fix it though.

[benb]

This year I started doing the sinus irrigation stuff when I first got a cold. Between that and the Rhinocort my symptoms were a lot less severe, but it still happened. But I did stop for a bit last week.

I don't think there is anything I can do at work. I have sent email to facilities several times about how dry and uncomfortable it is and they don't seem to care, and always claim it needs to be < 20 % humidity to avoid mold growing, which is ridiculous, cause they're running it at 60% humidity all summer. It's bad enough even if your sinuses are fine your eyes are going crazy and you're having to put lotion on your hands 5X+ per day or they'll be bleeding by the end of the day.

If the system at work needs to be cleaned probably no way I can ever get them to do it. Tons of people are sick at work all the time, the landlord just doesn't care. We have 2 out of 5 floors of the building, 500+ people at this point, but that still doesn't seem to be enough that we can get them to do anything. From what I've read there could be other stuff going on like office equipment venting chemicals into the air too. (Xerox machine, etc..)

I have a desk humidifier now but I didn't think to get it till it was too late.

The doctor thinks once we get snow and all the leaves are off the trees I'm good... which makes sense. I keep going to the same office all winter and it stays ridiculously dry all winter, and I bike outside most of the winter too and it doesn't seem to give me trouble.

I have been sick very very little this year except for this. I maybe had one cold earlier in the year and it was gone in < 7 days. If I look over my training logs pretty sure I never missed a workout from March 1 -> September 1st from being sick.

[thwart]

Several factors here.

Sounds like you likely have seasonal allergies to some degree, but you also have a young child (perhaps in daycare), bringing home bugs to you as well.

If you have nasal and sinus congestion, a decreased humidity environment will allow the secretions to thicken and increase the chance of a sinus infection.

In addition to what you are currently doing, I would consider using a neti pot, perhaps a couple of times a day, especially during your bad season. Space it at least an hour away from your nasal steroid use.

In terms of workouts, probably okay to do so as long you don't have chills or fever. However, you may want to consider avoiding a lot of full tilt stuff until you feel better.

And stay away from your kid! ;)

[pdonk]

I used to get horrible sinus attacks multiple times a year. They were so bad my teeth and eyes would hurt. My treatment was saline rinses, extra strength tylenol and sleep.

The thing that changed in reducing/eliminating them was a change in diet and being more careful about avoiding certain foods that inflamed my entire system. Since my change in diet the severity has been greatly reduced and number of days missed from work has dropped. I still get minor attacks triggered by seasonal pollen, but they only last a few days and are no where near as painful.

[ultraman6970]

If the sinus steroids arent working then you dont have an allergy IMO, I suffer from something similar to yours too, not the whole year but at the same time rihnocort helped a lot with pollen allergies to the point that the steroid almost cured me of it, so the puffs arent so often.

As for the sinus infection some people IMO develop like a chronic rhinitis because the thing wasn't treated years before, in mi case when I was young... remember got a sinus infection one year when i was like 25 y/o that had to clean my nose every 2 minutes, at that point was too late already... had to combat the symptoms with pills and stuff. Came to the US and the thing was almost gone because not many cherries around, till i got where i live now where cherries are all over, developed the thing again, steroids helped me a lot as i said before till the point where the symptoms where gone for whole seasons, the issue is that the nose stuffed feeling is pretty much always there. THat's why I think the sinus infections not treated for years became a chronic problem, which i had to learn to deal with. It is what it is pretty much at this point :/

[benb]

They're not saying anything chronic with me as it's 1 and done once a year, and it's never even latest long enough to be sub-acute or whatever the middle thing is called.

Maybe I need to get my home HVAC checked, but it has been serviced in this period, and my wife and son have never gotten an infection.

Mostly posting at all here cause I was wondering/concerned if the hard riding in colder weather could be contributing. But no one ever tells you to stop exercising.

I have dairy issues.. if I see an allergist I may talk about that.. runs in the family, my father has tried total elimination and feels a lot better. I have mostly just tried being careful to avoid lactose.

[Alan]

You should consider being tested by an allergist. I was tested and took the shots for a few years and I am much better. The testing is easy as it can be done in one appointment and then you know what your issues are and much less guessing. Many people suffer from seasonal allergies that kick off infections.

PM me with questions.

Alan

[azrider]

FWIW - All my life, I have had a stuffy nose during the cold season, and sore throats from post nasal drip, and all that. Was constantly at the pediatrician through my childhood for these things. Went to an allergist for a bit and got shots weekly. Nothing really helped until I realized I had a deviated septum. Went to an ENT and had the surgery to fix it. PITA recovery, but well worth it now. Now I only get sick a normal amount. :)

Hope you figure it out..

This !! I too suffered from all things mentioned above and visit to ENT uncovered I had extremely deviated septum. Very crappy recovery but made an absolute WORLD of difference. That was over 10 years ago and I've not had one sinus infection since.

Good luck and hope you get it figured out.

[makoti]

I have the same problem, but it's more chronic. Allergy drops daily, nasal rinse, and Zytrec when it's really bad have helped a lot.

[ghammer]

I suffer from the *exact* same ailments. Every damn Spring and Fall I get a sinus thing, but this year I sort of cracked the code.

Context: I did not grow up here (am from S. America), so local plants, when they bloom, bloom all at once - as opposed to somewhere where's generally warm so plants keep blooming at diff parts of the year non stop. So Spring is generally lethal for me, Fall is less so. I also suffer from allergies from local stuff that my system hasn't quite figured out how to handle. One trick I learned is to have a nose spray of sorts (rhinacort, etc) when needed, zyrtec early in the am and later in the day to keep respiratory ways dry, and an inhaler handy if you need to. The thing for chronic allergy sufferers is that constant inflammation makes you that much more vulnerable to getting sick, be it sinus, cold, or as is always the case, both. Once I got this rhythm down, my sinus issues have *greatly* improved. This Spring I had a horrific sinus infection, but this fall it came but never materialized into its gorier version. Lucky me. I also had to change some of my diet too. As I age things don't process the same, and I had to put the brakes on a variety of hoppy beers (major bummer) and some types of weed. Wine, if I have a hint of sinus, will almost completely poison me.

To sum up:

* keep your airways dry and as free of inflammation as possible
* avoid overly hoppy beers, wine and some types of THC if you feel a sinus episode is coming
* zyrtec in the am and pm, and nose spray and inhaler handy when/if you need them

Hope it helps.

[HenryA]

Sinus rinse....been doing last couple years and have avoided my previously annual sinus infection.

Rinse the crap out with saline and let you body fight what is left....

YMMV....;)

+1000!!

The first sentences from the OP sound like my life the last few years. I’m the guy who doesn’t go to the doc until I’m near death's door. This was kicking my ass. Multiple sinus infections, pneumonia, etc. Went to allergy clinic for testing and no allergies showed up. A $600 bill did show up after insurance refused payment, but fortunately they finally relented after I paid it.

The sinus rinse is the most basic thing you can do and so far its been working for me. At least I’ve not had to visit the doctor for it this year. If I get through the winter I’ll be pleased.

As far as hard exercise, I find that it helps me to get hot and blow the crap out of my head unless I waited too long to treat it and got really sick.