Utterly utterly miserable with sinus infection

[Lefmry]

So about two weeks a go my whole house came down with the flu/covid/god knows what. We all were quite poorly with raging temperatures, achy bodies, chills, shakes, being sick a couple of times, runny/blocked noses, headaches.. you get the picture, it was awful.

Of course two weeks on and everybody else is absolutely fine except me. It’s never gotten better for me only worse in other ways and is now a sinus infection. I’ve had such awful pain in one side of my face even radiating down to my neck, around my jaw, my teeth etc. banging head, horrible yellow stuff coming out of my nose, no energy, practically no voice still, needing to sit down after simplest of tasks because I just get so hot and the worst of all… a blocked ear.

The ear being blocked is driving me absolutely mad and has reduced me to tears today because I’m just so beyond fed up. I went to the doctors on Monday who prescribed me antibiotics but told me to wait 2-3 days as most sinus infections are viral and they may not do anything. Well I waited 2 days and couldn’t cope anymore so started them in case. It’s since been 3 days and honestly I feel worse than ever today, I cannot put it in to words how blocked one side of my entire head feels, it’s seriously ruining my life.

I will add I am also 33+ weeks pregnant with two small children. My partner has had to take this week off work to take care of us all because I’ve been quite literally bed-bound because of this. It’s been nothing short of pure misery on earth. I did get a sinus infection last year after a nasty cold but wasn’t heavily pregnant so didn’t feel quite as bad or as useless, but I do remember having all the exact same symptoms and wondering why the antibiotics weren’t working and then one day I was miraculously better but I can’t remember at all how long it took.

Does anybody else get sinus infections often? How long do they usually take to clear? Or specifically how long until your ears clear? Because I feel like that’s the worst thing right now.

I recommend a Neti pot, you can buy from Amazon and You Tube to see how to use. Just make sure you boiled, cooled water, not directly from the tap. I used to get a lot of sinus infections and a blocked nose and this sorted it out.

You couldn’t make my life up as I did a Covid test yesterday and it was positive. I don’t think I’ve only just caught it, the line is quite faint (my partners just started with symptoms and his is quite dark) so I think I came down with it when I started to feel awful again earlier this week.

Anyway, my ear is no better. I am STILL completely blocked in it and today even have a ringing on and off it is truly driving me bat shit crazy. It has however started to pop and crackle at times, especially when I yawn. The very top of my nose crackles as well occasionally as though that is also trying to clear. I still have an awful sore throat during the night and of a morning, so bad in fact that if my partner tries to talk to me in the night for any reason I literally have no voice. I’m still coughing a fair bit too.

The worst thing is the pressure in my ear though and the total lack of being able to hear anything from it except my own booming voice, my own breathing and my own pulse raging from it. I’ve seriously had enough! It’s been 3 weeks now since the initial virus hit. I guess if I’ve caught back to back viruses and one being Covid then it probably won’t clear just yet will it? I have two days left of antibiotics but again, I don’t think they’ve done much. Maybe have made me more ‘mucousy’ and have loosened things up a bit but in terms of the pressure in my head/ear, nothing has helped so far.

I keep tricking myself in to believing it’s getting better but then suddenly the next day it’ll be totally built up again, today feels even worse than ever. Not too sure what the next steps to take are? 🥴 Really can’t be coping with this on top of labour, birth and newborn life again, I truly can’t.

you poor thing! I had sinusitis when I was pregnant; I honestly think it is one of the most painful things I had ever had. Paracetamol was the only thing that helped. Because I was pregnant they wouldn’t give me anything else.
The only reassurance I can give is that I never had it since. It is really a pregnancy thing. All the best for your recovery- it will happen.

Thank you, I really needed to hear this! 😩 Did you get a blocked ear at all? I really feel like if this were to get better I’d be able to cope with the rest but it’s seriously starting to affect me now. My anxiety over it all is starting to make me feel a little demented, I truly feel like I’ll never recover.

I was completely blocked and the pain was awful; was literally sitting up in bed and trying to sleep as it was worse when I lay down, and was just timing when I could take the next painkillers so I didn’t take too many. Agree it’s truly unpleasant. But hopefully it will pass. In the meantime I hope it’s not too long.

So almost a month on from the initial virus, one ruined holiday, one sinus infection, one ear infection, two lots of antibiotics and Covid later.. I am pleased to say I think I’m finally on the mend. My ear has finally gone back to about 85% normal and dare I say I feel as though I have also now finally made an 85% recovery, just a little congested in my nose still.

Thank you to everybody who asked how I was and who gave suggestions. As this was my second sinus infection in a year and the second one I’d had, ever, I think I will keep a mental note of the suggestions as I won’t be surprised to get another one in the near future.

Hope this thread can bring someone some hope in the future. The only thing remaining is a little congestion in my nose, energy levels are way lower than normal and I still have an awful taste in my mouth but being able to hear again feels like such a blessing.

Glad you are on the mend OP
🙂 Fingers crossed it’s gone for good after you baby makes an appearance!

I was so glad to read your post as it is so similar to what I'm currently going through and it's so awful. I'm also pregnant so not able to take any of the decongestant stuff (which is I think how I ended up in this mess) and I just feel so hopeless, panicking this is permanent etc (it's been about 2 weeks). If you don't mind me asking, what do you think helped in the end, if anything? And what were the indications that things were improving? I've had a bit more popping/crackling in the last couple of days but still as muffled as ever. I hate speaking because my voice just sounds so weird and echoey, am turning in to a total recluse 😭

Oh bless you I really feel for you, I’ve rarely been as poorly as I was when I was going through this, it was honestly hell. I don’t know if I wrote this up top but I was awake all night, every night, just pacing the house and crying, it was horrendous.

I really couldn’t tell you what helped but what I will say is I didn’t do anything. I read loads of things online and had so many suggestions but I was that exhausted from being so pregnant and poorly for so long that I just didn’t have it in me. I went on to lots of antibiotics and I can’t say they did much, if anything, at all. I tried the nose sprays and again, nothing.

It just seemed to get better on its own honestly, I do remember it was slow over the course of 2-3 days, lots of crackling and popping. Then on the third day (by this point I had maybe 60% of my hearing back) I bent down to unplug something and my ear just massively popped and it was miraculously all back to normal.

I really hope it gets better for you soon, try not to worry too much, I felt absolutely hopeless and I was terrified I’d end up being permanently deaf because of it but it was all fine I promise.