I grew up in New Jersey, and at the age of twelve moved to Allentown, Pa. Since I’m in the medical field I decided to blog on medical issues for now. I never had any trouble with allergies or asthma. I had the usually child hood illness’s . I had a bad case of pneumonia when I was about 8 or 9. I know my younger brother Matt had a running nose, and probably had bad allergies, he went untreated. Fast forward to I’m 18 and in the USAF stationed in West Texas. Extremely dusty climate, I first got a bad sinus infection and have had problems ever since them. For now I’m doing quite well. Over the years like most people, you eventually see an allergist. I do think allergy testing is important. It will give you and your doctor a good idea how severe your allergies are and to what. I know I never had any food allergies. One of the first things I had done was to have my sinuses rinsed out by and ENT. It wasn’t very comfortable, it probably didn’t do much either. This was in the mid 80’s. I already had trouble for about ten years. I eventually went on allergy shot’s in Texas. I never could tell they help very much. I’m not convince they make a lot of sense. My guess is they probably work on children better than adults. I have had dozens of sinus infections over the years. I moved to Kansas in the mid 90’s. It’s already been 21 yrs. of problems. I wasn’t much better there either. Went on allergy shots, did’nt think they did anything here. I had multiple sinus infections one after another. Antiboitics out waszu. The latest studies indicate you can get by without them, and the sinus infection will clear up. One more move to Lexington, Ky. , (go cats in the music city bowl today), It’s been worst and better here. I went on shots quickly here. Central Kentucky is the number 1 area for the prescriptions to be fill for sinus and allergy. I never had asthma until moving here. I went from running on a soccer field, to being barely able to breathe. It’s alot better now. After religiously taken the shots for 5 yrs., my wife left University of Kentucky for another job. Too much of a hassle for shots at UK. At this point it had been about 26 yrs. I eventually went through a period of strep throat, severe headaches from my sinuses. Several years pass, I get my first sinus Cat Scan. My sinuses are a mess. The way I feeling at this point, the allergist/pulmonogist suggested to feel better I would need an ENT for some endoscopic sinus surgery. First no polyps, large cyst in rt maxillary cavity, diviated septum, thickened sinus walls, mostly an ethomoid/frontal problem. I went on prednisone, this is what dumb doctors give you when all else fails. I believe it was like 60mg/dy , titrated down after about a month. It did not work. On for a second opinion, insurance dictates I have surgery at UK, I took about 3 hrs. to do a inferior turbinate reduction, fix a deviated nasal septum, trim away alot of inflamed tissue, fix and correct any obstructive drainage problems. This surgery did help, I had fewer headaches, unfortunately I still went back for another small sinus endoscopic surg. Recently, this year I still had a terrible headache, figured it was still my sinuses, I had a isolated rt frontal blockage. I think some bone form over an area that was opened. So I had it fixed externally. The ENT went in at the corner of my eyebrow, and removed some bone, and drilled a nice hole in the sinus cavity. They go in this way because it’s a lot safer, he can see what he’s doing. I’m happy to say I’m quite abit better right now. I did see another allergist, most of my allergies are gone now, except dustmites. I’ m on a medication call stamoist d now. It seems to help quite abit. No more shots, I used to have to take alot of advil, tylenol, or motrin. I don’ t need it much any more. After 32 yrs of this, I’m ready for some relief. My asthma still a problem. My pft, is still lousy, but Ive been taken off the advair for now. I’m just using the maxair. I’ ll get a pft next month for comparison.
If you have real sinus/allergy problems you should be tested, get a CT and go from there. When I had that blocked frontal sinus, I did scuba dive in Kaui, my rt ear would never pop, and hurt the deeper I went. We never when too deep thank goodness. I also had severe jaw pain on one of the flights. Like I said I feel pretty good for now, and feel like past of alot these issues. Thanks for reading my post.
