Re: aspirin desens. ? AND Sinus ?

[Guest guest]

UPDATE on taking aspiring withOUT Zyflo (similar to Singulair or Accolate sp?)I ended up taking aspirin without my Zyflo for 2.5 days and overall it went well. I definitely started having some congestion and nasal blockage but I do not know if that is because I was not taking the Zyflo OR because I was taking aspirin w/o the Zyflo.... =/ Anyhow, I have my rx refilled and I will continue as my doctor ordered with the Zyflo and aspirin regimen. When I signed up for 'aspirin desensitizing' I was aware of how important it is to make sure I have what I need and to be consistent and did not think it would be too hard. Apparently I was WrOnG....I need to be more careful and have a plan in place in case I forget to renew my meds! I do have a question about sinus infections. I

really am not a stupid person, though this question will definitely sound stupid, but, how does one determine that they have a sinus infection? If you have colored mucous, does that automatically mean you have a sinus infection? What if a person ALWAYS has colored mucous, in varying ranges?And back to the aspirin desensitization thing. For those of you who have had it done, as your polyps shrink or nasal tissue decreases from swelling while taking the aspirin, did you find you had more drainage come out of your sinuses? My left side polyps seems to not want to give up and shrink. It is like they are fighting til the bitter end and flare up off and on throughout the day.... =/

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

When I start generating heavy amounts of colored mucus, I know that I am having

a flare-up and need to go see my ENT. In my experience, my flare-ups can be

caused by two different things: either a sinus infection or severe inflammation.

The symptoms are generally the same for me... it is just the treatment that

differs slightly depending on the cause. My ENT inspects my sinus passages with

the scope, and can generally tell from a look whether I have an active infection

or whether I am merely dealing with heavy inflammation. If he sees what looks to

be bacteria, he will take a sample and culture it so that he knows what

antibiotics would be effective against the bacteria. If he does not see signs of

bacteria and feels the cause is severe inflammation, he will generally put me on

steroids to reduce the inflammation. Often, he will pair an antibiotic with the

steroids, as the risk of infection increases when on steroids.

So, for me, I generally go see my ENT when I notice an increase in colored mucus

production, congestion, and allergy symptoms, as those are my classic indicators

that I am having a flare-up. I leave it up to my ENT to determine the cause and

the best course of treatment for the flare-up that I am having at the time.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,

Debbie

>

> UPDATE on taking aspiring withOUT Zyflo (similar to Singulair or Accolate sp?)

> I ended up taking aspirin without my Zyflo for 2.5 days and overall it went

well. I definitely started having some congestion and nasal blockage but I do

not know if that is because I was not taking the Zyflo OR because I was taking

aspirin w/o the Zyflo.... �=/ �

> Anyhow, I have my rx refilled and I will continue as my doctor ordered with

the Zyflo and aspirin regimen. When I signed up for 'aspirin desensitizing' I

was aware of how important it is to make sure I have what I need and to be

consistent and did not think it would be too hard. Apparently I was WrOnG....I

need to be more careful and have a plan in place in case I forget to renew my

meds! �

> I do have a question about sinus infections. I really am not a stupid person,

though this question will definitely sound stupid, but, how does one determine

that they have a sinus infection? �If you have colored mucous, does that

automatically mean you have a sinus infection? What if a person ALWAYS has

colored mucous, in varying ranges?

> And back to the aspirin desensitization thing. For those of you who have had

it done, as your polyps shrink or nasal tissue decreases from swelling while

taking the aspirin, did you find you had more drainage come out of your

sinuses?�

> My left side polyps seems to not want to give up and shrink. It is like they

are fighting til the bitter end and flare up off and on throughout the day....

�=/

>

>

[Guest guest]

Debbie,THANK YOU for your response! Ok, so all these times I got the mucous going, I would go in, he'd look and I would get on prednisone and nasal sprays. I have NEVER had a culture done. Ever. Sometimes I would get the anti biotic, but never cultured. Hmmmm. So basically I hear you saying it could be inflammation or infection. I keep reading about people here who get on IV antibiotics and I have wondered if that is what I have needed in the past with chronic sinus-itis.... I sure have a lot of questions for my doc when I see him on the 4th of October.....

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I am glad that you found my response helpful. If your doctor concludes that your

colored mucus production is from severe inflammation, there would be no need for

a culture. But, if he sees or suspects that you have bacteria in your passages,

in my opinion, he should definitely culture it. By doing so, he will learn

exactly what antibiotics will be effective in treating it.

I can give you a good case in point about why the bacteria culture is so

important based on my own experiences. When I develop sinus infections, 95% of

the time I am growing MRSA. MRSA is particularly hard to kill and, in my case,

even more so because I am allergic to several of the oral antibiotics that are

most effective in fighting it. In fact, there is only one oral antibiotic

effective against MRSA that I can take due to my drug allergies. Since I grow

MRSA so often and have to go on the same oral antibiotic repeatedly, my doctor

and I have discussed the possibility that my body may eventually build up a

resistance to the oral antibiotic, requiring me to switch to an IV antibiotic. I

asked my doctor how we would be able to tell if/when I start to develop a

resistance, thinking that we would just have to guess when the antibiotic seems

to stop being as effective. That is when I learned that the culture results

include an evaluation of how effective different antibiotics are against the

specific culture taken. So, when my doctor gets my culture results for an active

MRSA infection, he can see if the oral antibiotic still looks to be effective

against the bacteria, particularly in comparison with my previous MRSA culture

results. If he starts to notice that the oral antibiotic is dropping in

effectiveness against my cultures, then we will know that it is likely time for

me to switch over to an IV antibiotic.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this response to get so long. But, I do hope you find

it helpful. I am very fortunate to be seeing an excellent ENT who is well-versed

in Samter's. Best of luck to you!

Thanks,

Debbie

>

> Debbie,

> THANK YOU for your response! Ok, so all these times I got the mucous going, I

would go in, he'd look and I would get on prednisone and nasal sprays. I have

NEVER had a culture done. Ever. Sometimes I would get the anti biotic, but never

cultured. Hmmmm.�

> So basically I hear you saying it could be inflammation or infection. I keep

reading about people here who get on IV antibiotics and I have wondered if that

is what I have needed in the past with chronic sinus-itis.... I sure have a lot

of questions for my doc when I see him on the 4th of October.....

>

[Guest guest]

Awesome Information! Thank you!!! I love this group. I am learning more and more every day!M =)