Aaaargh! Any way to get relief from blocked sinuses? <wail>

[fuzzpig]

Have had a chest infection (again ) and while antibiotics seem to have mostly cleared that up, for some reason my sinuses feel really congested and my face hurts.

Any ideas pleeeeease

I really feel for you, I used to get this a lot and it was awful. You can try paracetamol or ibuprofen for the pain, also try putting your head over a bowl of hot water to try and steam it (if that makes sense).

If you can get to a shop, I've used sinex sprays and this stops the pain straight away, I think you're only allowed to use this for a few days though. You can also buy saline sprays / drops.

Hope you feel better soon.

Thanks I will try and get DH to a shop soon! I tried a hot flannel on my face but it didn't really have any lasting effect.

Kneel on the floor and touch the floor with your forehead. Stay like that for about 10 seconds - you can feel the pressure build up. When you sit back up straight it feels like stuff is draining down the back of your throat, which can help.

Sounds gross :o but I will try that thanks!

I had acupuncture once for this. I sat like pin-head with about 8 pins in my face and I felt the blockage literally draining away.

Olbas oil? That gives me some
Relief.

Sinex is good too.

You need to get the gunk out of your sinuses. There are a variety of methods -one tried and true method is to use a Neti pot but these can be hard to find in the high street.
See video which shows how to clean out your sinuses. This one uses a patented syringe but I would think a clean medicine syringe would work as well to deliver the water.

Acupuncture has worked really well for me too.

For chronic pain, nothing beats prevention and the best Remedy is the neti flush!

Didn't manage to get any menthol crystals or the scary nose flush thing, but DH got me some sinutab (which actually has helped a bit) and nasonex spray which I'll try tonight.

Done the bending over thing (while ensuring nobody could see in through the window!), and am about to do an inhalation with some karvol in it.

Woo! Feel so much better after steam thing. Have avoided them for years as my mum used to make me do it and it always made my eyes sting, but actually it was fine.

Wasn't quite prepared for the flood from my nose though

Try a hot water bottle on your face, for pain relief. I get nasty sinus infections, and this does ease the discomfort.

Another thing to try is Sterimar which you can get at Boots and is a nasal spray. I have found that a couple of the side effects of ibuprofen are wheezing and breathlessness so with a chest infection you might want to avoid them. Also steaming with a few eucalyptus drops helps

I always swear by sinutab.