Suffering from constant sinus infections? Here are 2 things that help alleviate my sinusitis symptoms.

Never-ending sinus infections

One of the a main things I suffered from before my CVID diagnosis was frequent sinus infections. Sinus infections are just horrible! They make your head hurt so bad, especially with the pressure in your face. Sometimes I could even feel it in the top of my teeth. When I feel a sinus infection coming on, I am automatically in a bad mood. It makes it hard for me to concentrate when I am congested and in pain.

Going to a doctor is always a good move, because many times you can get antibiotics. Those usually help clear it up. As someone with a primary immunodeficiency, I usually need a longer amount of antibiotics, sometimes up to 20 days.

As a disclaimer, I am not medical professional. These are a couple of products that doctors have recommended to me, and I really do think that they alleviate my symptoms when I have a sinus infection.

I will say, the number one thing that I want to stress is to hydrate! Drinking a lot of water can really help you feel better. I know that everyone says this, and sometimes it’s hard for me to take my own advice. If you need a new water bottle that keeps your water cold, try the Yeti Rumbler.

Advil Sinus Congestion & Pain

When I first started getting horrible sinus infections, a doctor recommended Advil Sinus Congestion & Pain. This helped immensely with the constant, drilling headache that I could feel in my face.

I highly recommend trying this out if you have recurring sinus infections. Even after starting SCIg treatment, I would get sinus infections for over a month at a time. Sometimes, I would just get a lot of pain in the sinus area. This is an awesome pain reliever.

Neil Med SinuFlo Ready Rinse

I was pretty apprehensive to do a saline rinse because it honestly freaked me out. I don’t like to picture all of the liquid going up my nose. But, when I had a ton of congestion, I was desperate to start feeling better and be able able to breathe out of my nose. I heard that this brand is really good for sinus infections, so I gave it a try. After the first couple of times, I was hooked. I always keep one of these around for when I get another sinus infection.

If you are super congested, go ahead and give this a try and see what you think! The bottle itself is reusable, and you can get a certain amount of the packets to refill. Other than that, all you need is warm water. Once you have the warm water and the contents of the packet, you just shake and start using it! I like that it is really simple and easy to use.

Constant sinus infections can be frustrating and disruptive to your life

Don’t ever make yourself feel bad for being frustrated with constant sinus infections. It can mess up my day and my mood, which ends up impacting multiple aspects of my life! When I am in this much pain, I am not fun to be around. This can be especially frustrating when I have a vacation or a big event coming up.

Having a compromised immune system can over all be frustrating, especially if you experience the same symptoms and illnesses over and over again with no relief. It can be so defeating.

As someone with a chronic illness, I like to keep remedies to common symptoms on deck, so it’s always a good idea for me to keep tabs of what medicines and products I like. I may not be able to snap my fingers and make it go away, but I can at least make life a little more comfortable and make symptoms a little more bearable.

At one point, my sinus infections did get so bad that I went to a specialized Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. They actually put a camera into my sinuses and looked around. They gave me a good dose of antibiotics, which cleared me up, but they said that we could keep monitoring my sinus infections as time goes on.

The symptoms can vary, and for some they are more extreme than others. I have heard other PI patients talk about their struggles with sinus infections, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to share what has worked for me.

If any of you have some good remedies that you like, please let me know!

More from Aubrey Grace

You Deserve to Treat Yourself: 3 Products I Love as a Chronically Ill Person

Saving Lives: Why it’s important to donate plasma

After experiencing extreme hair loss at 22, here’s how I grew my hair back.