Sphenoid sinus infection, anyone heard of this?

[Jenny Wren]

I've been having occupital headaches and facial tingling.  My doc sent me in for a brain MRI.  Everything was normal, except the radiologist noted "EXTENSIVE sphenoid sinus thickening, lesser in frontal region.  Been taking 2000 mg amoxicillin fro 2 weeks, I still have large amounts of drainage.  I have been reading that these areas of thickening can cause very serious problems if not treated.  I'm a little scared, my next step is a ENT.  My question is Can this cause the problems that I am experiencing?  Should I maybe be on stronger antibiotics? Thank you very much.

[threecowhands]

I'm in my fifth month of chronic headaches on my right side.  In this time I've been treated for a chronic ear infection which did not respond to antibiotic.  I've been told my ears look fine, but am still experiencing discomfort.  With this, I have severe neck pain with swollen lymph nodes and ear pain.  I've been to several doctors, including an ENT twice.  He said my sinuses looked awful, but were not infected and did not make any correlation between them and my symptoms.  He dismissed them as some sort of injury that I'm not aware of.  Last week I went to Urgent Care where I was told I had a pocket of nasty mucous in my left side.  I was given a potent 5-day antibiotic and a steriod.  After two days, I'm not feeling much better.  I wake up thinking I'm better, but by mid-afternoon am miserable.  Could this be my sphenoid sinuses, or something more serious like a tumor.  I'm having a hard time finding a doctor who cares to remedy the problem.

[Ed_monton_guy]

My Friends, (male - 35)

I Live in Alberta Canada, Mid July of this year 2008, I had my wife rush me to emergency with numbness in the entire left side of my face, toungue, and possibly (as I was in a panic) left side of my body - arm and weakness in the legs. I thought I was having a stroke, and didnt even know what a TIA was until then. And my heart rate was through the roof. Though all these things were ruled out at emerg, I later had to fight that week to get another doc to send me for CT. they found a questionable area on CT and then nothing on MRI. They wrote it off to anxiety. Though I had 2 - 3 more significant ocaisions of tingling / numbness on the top left of the scalp, both sides of the nose, and maxilary areas. rarely, this is also on the right side of the face as well. I've seen a neuro twice - relfexes look good n he's not too worried. My typing and left hand function over the last year has been sub-par. Reading about potentially serious complications from sphenoid sinuses really has me wondering (such as blood clotting). I have been on high blood pressure meds for about a 1/2 a year also, the doc refuses to buy in that Micardis may cause some of these unusual sensations or symptoms, despite what I have read in forums. Any takers? to date, still have some left side facial numbness and throat feels like its trying to close on ocaision to the extent where I have to swallow hard and several times to avoid gaging, just while about daily activities.

[Ed_monton_guy]

regarding my previous blurb - the doc did prescribe baby asprin once a day, and that has seemed to help quite a bit. Anyone who has been discussing strokes or blood pressure issues with their doc should also try to get their support on this recommendation. I also forgot to mention the vertigo and nausea that I suffer. Alot of these symptoms can easily be complicated with TMJ (a jaw disorder), now that I have confused the hell out of everyone. But you do have to be persistent with doctors folks - take charge of your health. I thank you all for reading and for any support and input. Happy Holidays.

[Lorig311]

Years ago, I was suffering from terrible sinus headaches and sinus infections all the time. No medicine helped me, and a friend of mine took me to her chinise Accupuncturist doctor. He put me 2 times a week to have accupuncture with electricity, and gave me some natural herbal teas from china. and everything dissapeared like magic. No more headaches, no more nausau, no more back or neck pains, no more sinus infections for more than 10 years. Now the headaches, infections, dizziness, nauseas are back. I tried getting in touch with my chinise Accupuncturist doctor, but, he went back to China. Now I'm looking for a nother chinise Accupuncturist in the NYC area to get back into those treatments that helped me so much, because I'm sick of taking antibiotics that don't help at all, and my condition is getting worse, like it was 10 years ago. So I recommend to all of you here suffering from Chronic Sinus infections, to find yourselves a good chinise Accupunturist doctor and go at least 2 times a week. You wont be sorry.

[Sealscajun2]

I have been feeling a bit bla for quit some time now, always having ear pain and swollen glands yet when I went to my ENT no infection, a time or two i did have fluid on the ears. Last Tue I was driving and started seeing spots or shadows behind my eyes. Within minuets I was totally sick to my stomach and could not respond very well. I was rushed to the hospital. I couldn't answer questions correctly the nurses were asking me. I had NO headache pain nor any sinus systems.They told me I had either had a stroke or migraines. I was transferred to a larger hospital, had 2 CT scans a CTA scan and a MRI....well the MRI showed I had a severe case of Sphenoid Sinusitis.I had so many weird systems ( dizziness, confusion,one eye dilated other wasn't, very blurred vision ) all the nurses and Dr's were baffled.They started me on IV drip with heavy antibiotics 4 times a day for two days then Augmentin 875 mg in pill form 2 times a day for 2 weeks, also have Mucinex and Flonase. I am 2 days into my pills and have VERY heavy drainage! I now have the headaches and laying down makes them worse.Once the meds started working, my nose went numb a time or two,the headaches began,a cough began,and I can feel the sinus draining ALL the time! All I can say is research research research, this is a very dangerous thing and can lead to permanent damage!

[Wabadoo]

I am looking for relief. I have had severe headaches, dizziness and trouble focussing my eyes (intermittent) for more than ten years. An MRI ten years ago showed “small amounts of focal mucousal thickening in the sphenoid sinuses anteriorly, the ethmoid air cells, and the right frontal sinus”. Most recent MRI stated “There is an air fluid level seen within the right sphenoid sinus with associated inflammatory change seen within the ethmoid air cells. Mucousal thickening is seen in the ethmoid air cells. The finding within the sphenoid sinus suggests acute sinusitis.”  I have done antibiotics, netti pot, nasal sprays, etc. Nothing works. Any suggestions?