Susan,

Have you tried it?  If so, did it work for you?

I think it's best to take NAC with a meal, not on an empty stomach.

Well,  quite frankly, I haven't been coping very well for the last 3
years.  I haven't worked at all and done very little of anything, but
take a photography class 2 years ago before the sinusitis got the worst
it has ever been and I started having excruciating pain behind my nose,
top and back of head.   Luckily, I had 30 years of teaching experience
so I was able to get full retirement, which still isn't a lot, but
better than nothing.  I would much rather be working, at least part
time.  Just knowing I had to do something for a few hours a day would
help (in more ways than one), but there are some days I can't function
at all.  What little energy I have I try to spend with family and a few
friends.   Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who does most of the
cooking and housework, so that when I feel fairly well I can do some of
my hobbies and spend some time with my grandchildren.  I have to take
medication for anxiety and pain.  I'm 58 and never took anything like
this until the last few years.   I don't know how you continue to fly
because the last time I flew I thought my ears and head were going to
explode.  I did buy some kind of plugs that they sold at the airport on
the way home that helped quite a bit.  I don't remember what they were
called.  Have you tried them?

If you remember from another post,  I had an acute sphenoid infection
about 12 years ago that should have been treated but wasn't and I had
one several years before that I think was probably in the sphenoids (I
developed vertigo with it and have off and on since then.and ran low
garde fevers for several year that would go away after taking an
antibiotoc;  then, I guess my body just quit responidng;  maybe the
infection got walled off or something;   I don't know; but now I rarely
ever run a fever;  it is usually below normal.  There wasn't a CT scan
done at that time;  I'm not even sure they had them then.  But the
strange thing was that even then nothing came out of my head until I
started on the antibiotic. I had no idea that it was a sinus infection.
I went to the ER because I was so dizzy I couldn't walk and was
running a high fever.   After I started the antibitoc (don't even
remember what it was)  I blew out green junk for several days.   I was
in my early 30's and had never had a sinus infection or even been on an
antibitoic before.   Dr. Sherris has been the only ENT that I've seen
of many over the years that saw the openings were blocked  just by
looking at current scans.  He also detected the inflammation that
others had missed.  I think the sphenoids are the "forgotten or
neglected" sinuses.

The only way that I've been able to cope is to keep having hope!!
Everytime I run into a blind alley, I get really depressed and ready to
give up.  I've been up all night in pain so bad I've prayed to die,
only to be told by locat ENT that there was nothing wrong with my
sinuses.  Then by the grace of God and my family, I'll pull out of it
and start trying again. I've been all over the country trying to find
out what is wrong  I've basically had to do my own research and be my
own doctor.  Fortunately, my background is in Biology and Science
Education, so I've known a little about where to start.   I've gotten
all my records  over the years  that have been like pieces of a puzzle
and am still putting them together.   Everywhere I've been has had a
little piece of the puzzle that didn't present a diagnosis at the time.
Every ENT that I saw kept saying I didn't have sinusitis until I saw
Dr. Guaderas at Mayo, Jacksonville, who is an allergist, not an ENT.
That was back in 1997.  He was the first one to do an endoscopy and saw
the puruelent drainage and suggested the possibility of chronic
sinusitis.  He also reviewed the scan that I had brought of the acute
sphenoid infection and said it wasn't normal.  He started me on
antibiotics again and that's when I started coughing up the brown junk.
I went back the next year and saw an ENT and pulmonologist and they
both said I didn't have significant sinus or lung problems.  However, I
continued to cough up the brown junk for the next 6 years, then globs
would come out of my head when I started irrigating.   I still don't
know if something started in my lungs (like Blastomycosis) and spread
to my sinuses or if the lung problems were from the sinus drainage.
Curiously, my lungs cleared up shortly after I quit work where I had a
major mold exposure, but I had been on and off of nebulized amphotericn
B, tobramycin and low dose prednisone then.  My lungs have been clear
ever since then, even though I've had even more copious drainage from
my sinuses when they aren't plugged up and digestive problems got
worse.  I thought quitting work would help with the sinusitis, and
doctors quit treating me with anything and i gradually got worse
instead of better.    I finally found an ENT in Atlanta that did the
first endoscopic culture that showed the Blstomyces and Serratia
marcescens, but he just uses nasal sprays and they didn't work.  Then I
found an ENT in Knoxville, closer to home, who has taken it more
seriously and in a round about way he directed me to Dr. Sherris.
Also, it is interesting to note that I had been told by most ENTs and
even at National Jewish that reflux was causing me to cough up the
brown junk (although it was only on one side when they did a
bronchoscopy and so inflammed it bled and they had to quit).  The 2nd
or 3rd night after this last surgery in July, junk started pouring out
of my head and went into my digestive tract.  If I hadn't experienced
the same pain before many times, I would have thought I was having a
heart attack.  My digestive problems have improved quite a bit since
then.  Two pH probes over the years never showed significant reflux,
but I had documented grade II esophgitis at one point and have had
gastritis and duodenitis on several ocassions.  I have reduced the
nexium from 4X a day to 2X a day since the surgery.  I feel sure that
the decreased amount of drainage has helped significantly.  I'm also
suspicous that my mold exposure to Fusarium (showed sensitization to it
twice)  contributed to my digestive problems as well as the sinus
problems.  But that's an entirely different story.

I guess you could say I've been running a maze and finding a lot of
blind alleys.  Each time I do, I have to back up and try again.  I've
not been right about all of my analyses.  Probably many of the
decisions that I have made have caused more harm than good, but I
honestly believe that if I hadn't taken charge of my own destiny that I
wouldn't be alive today.  You just have to have hope and keep trying.to
find a solution.  I know that's easier said than done, but this time
last year I couldn't even have written this I was in so much pain and
basically nonfunctional,  So, I am improving somewhat.  If this doesn't
work I'll keep trying,   I have spent most of my retirement on medical
bills.  Thankfully, I worked long enough to have good insurance or I
don't know what I would have done.

Unfortunately, all of our experiences are  different and there is no
single solution.  I don't know that we can learn that much from each
other about how we should treat our individual cases, but the support
and knowing what has helped others is of great benefit.   I do know one
thing for sure:  If your gut reaction keeps telling you that you have
sinusitis, especially if it doesn't get better, you need to keep
pursuing avenues to find the answers no matter what an individual
doctor tells you and the sooner the better.  The longer you wait, the
worse it is going to get.

I'm sorry I keep rambling on, but when I'm feeling half way decent I
feel the need to let others know how serious this can get.  I don't
want people ending up in the shape that I've been in.  

Kathyw
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