Hi all,

Sorry for the long post/story......if you want a quick summary of this,
check below at the bottom for a quick summary list-------

This is my first post to this group, though I have been lurking here
for a few years during my battles with sinusitis.  These have recently
gone from a nuisence to a real problem.  I truly sympathize with those
in this group that have to live with this nightmare.

In march of this year, i developed what was interpreted by myself as a
common cold.  Before this cold subsided, it developed into sinusitis.
The big error on my part was waiting until april to go to a doc.  She
prescribed 10 days of ceftin.  That did absolutely nothing.  She then
had me come in for a steroid shot which was to act as an antihistimine.
This did nothing.  Then, i was on 2 weeks of avelox.  After the avelox
did nothing, i was sent for a CT scan and referred to my ENT.  The ENT
was worried because the scan showed that my sphenoids were a mess, and,
as the scan was about 7 days old at that point, he was concerned if
they were still in that bad state.  I got another scan which thankfully
showed the sphenoids were clear, but still showed my left frontal and
right maxillary were a mess.  I suspected this, as my left forehead
around the eyebrow region has had aches (especially aggravating in the
morning) for years.  Kind of a 'dull' headache i had always lived with.
 My right ear had been aching me and was clogged, and I have a
root-canaled upper right molar that was very sensitive at random times
throughout the day for the previous year.  Turns out, this molar is
thought to be getting referred pain from that bad right maxillary.  The
ENT put me on 2 weeks of leviquin, allegraD and rhinocort aqua.   He
also gave me a neilmed sinus rinse kit, that i used twice daily. I had
already been doing irrigation. Toward the end of my avelox cycle, i had
purchased a NETI pot and was using that.  Two weeks went by, and I
thought i was feeling a bit better over the last few days of that
cycle.  But, when the ENT heard I was still having symptoms, he ordered
another CT scan.  This scan showed that my sinuses were worse that day
than 2 weeks earlier!  What I still find odd is that during the
irrigations (and i was being aggressive), i only saw totally clear
discharge.  I guess my sinuses were literally closed off.  After a talk
with the doc, i scheduled FESS, which was done on 6/22.

After the FESS, i felt pretty darn good.  Yeah, I had the crusting and
the associated stuffiness, but it was bearable.  But, for the first
time i could recently remember, i wasn't waking up with the headaches
on my forehead.  Also, that darn tooth pain was gone!  On the 14th day
after my FESS, i was feeling great....the breating was open, and there
was no pain. However, that day while I was at work, I felt a dull
stabbing pain around my right ethmoid area.  This pain slowly began to
magnify, until my right frontal was in excruciating pain.  I hadn't had
a sinus headache that bad since i was a teen.  What is weird about this
is my left frontal had been the one operated on, and i hadn't felt any
pain in my right frontal like that in over 15 years.  I immediately
called my ENT and got an appointment that day. I went home and laid
down until the appointment. At one point,  i could literally feel and
hear the right frontal open up with an audible whistling type sound,
and the sharp pain immediately stopped.  The ENT viewed me thru a scope
and said the areas he worked on via FESS looked good.  He also went up
in there and sucked a good bit of goo out of the right frontal.  The
diagnosis was that the 2 weeks of levequin i took post op didn't kill
the infection, and it returned with a vengence. He put me on another
round of meds.  This time, it was a prednisone pack, another 2 weeks of
levequin, allegra, and irrigation 4 times daily with a bactroban/saline
mixture.  At the end of these 2 weeks, my sinuses felt 'beat up'.  I
had been irrigating so often and on so many meds, as well as still
recovering from the surgery.  It was difficult for me to gauge how i
was really doing due to all these external factors.  So, i told the ENT
i didn't feel 100% better and he ran another CT scan.  The CT scan
looked VERY clean.  My ENT always went over the scans with me on a
laptop, so I got to see with my own eyes how everything looked open.
The conclusion we came to was that the 4 irrigations daily of the
bactroban mixture were causing my sinuses some irritation, but other
than that there was no infection.  We chose to stop irrigations for a
period and see how I would do.  After a couple of days of no
irrigation, i felt pretty good.  My prescription for Allegra ran out,
and since my insurance was requiring a $40 copay for it anyways, i
decided to try claritin which was much cheapter OTC generic.  The next
2 weeks I was feeling nice.....until last friday.  We were on vacation
in florida and my wife looks over at me and says she felt like she was
getting sick.  Alarm bells immediately went off in my head, and I went
to Walgreens and got some irrigation packages.  Well, despite taking
all the realistic precautions I could, I sit here today with a sore
throat, a stuffy nose, and a fear of being back in the same boat i
started in.  I am irrgating once in the morning and once late evening.
So far, i have seen no real green stuff during irrigations, but I have
been coughing up blobs of green goo regularly.  I tend to think they
are coming from my lungs and are not postnasal drip, but I cannot be
totally sure. I guess i'm hoping this is centralized around my chest
and not my head.

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this?  Any extra
steps/remedies/recommendations on how to avoid this turning into
another sinus nightmare?  I dread the thought of seemingly beating my 5
month nightmare only to see it come back two weeks later.  I have an
appointment today with my family doc and I think i may request a
zithromax pack (maybe more out of desperation to try something
different than anything else).  I have had decent results in the past
with zithromax and sinus congestion, but for whatever reason, my doc
decided to start me out on ceftin way back in april.  My wife's
symptoms are more chest related, and as I said, i am seemingly coughing
up blobs of goo from my chest.  If this were only myself feeling sick
OR it was more obviously centralized in my sinuses, i would see my ENT
regarding it.  Nonetheless, if my symptoms don't improve soon, i plan
to see the ENT again.

Here is a quick recap of what's going on (dates are approximate) --

3/1/05   Got a common cold that develops into
sinusitus......mistakingly try to beat it on my own
4/2/05   See doctor and get 2 weeks of ceftin along with a guaf pill
4/16/05  No improvement with ceftin....doc orders steroid shot to
reduce possible inflammation
4/30/05  No relief with steroid shot.  Doc prescribes Avalox for 2
weeks.
5/14/05  No relief.  Scheduled a CT Scan.
5/21/05  Got CT Scan results and an ENT referral
5/28/05  ENT does another scan that indicates bad left frontal and
right maxillary sinusitis.  He puts me on levequin, rhinocort aqua, and
allegra for 2 weeks.
6/11/05  ENT does another scan that shows sinusitis actually got worse.
Schedule FESS
6/22/05  Have FESS and 2 weeks post levequin
6/23/05 - 7/6/05  Feel great!
7/7/05   Have a setback as right frontal swells shut (FESS was only in
left frontal area).  Have colored discharge thru both sinusus.  ENT
prescribes 2 weeks levequin, allegra, prednisone pack, and
saline/bactroban irrigation 4x daily
7/21/05  See ent.  Nose feels irritated but otherwise clear.  CT Scan
looks great.  Ordered to reduce/stop irrigations to test if that led to
irritation.
7/22/05 - 8/4/05  Feel a great deal better.  Nose sometimes feels
stuffy, and use claritin on that which works well
8/5/05   Wife informs me she is getting sick.  Begin irrigations and
take precautions as necessary.
8/10/05  End up getting sick.  Feel awful.  Irrigation discharge from
nose clear, however, coughing up green phlegm.  Worried sinuses may be
blocked and that is only reason discharge is clear.

I am desperate for anything that could help.  This sinusitus has ruined
my summer with my family, and i can't fathom it coming back again and
ruining the entire year!

Thanks in advance for any responses,

Tyler