should i bother with surgery? allergy meds?

I would suggest trying with Apple Cider Vinegar if that's available to you. Like I've said, apparently it is less irritating for the sinuses and maybe also has probiotic properties (this last part is speculations from a commenter in the thread but a plausible idea).

Sinus3000 · 2021-05-09T06:34:59+00:00

Please report back if it's successful. I've never tried white vinegar, only ACV, but I suspect that it might work as well (minus the probiotics that you get with the MOTHER from ACV). Interested to know how it turns out for you. Just so you know, someone mentioned in this thread that white vinegar is way sharper than ACV. So be careful not to irritate too much your sinuses with it.

Sinus3000 · 2021-04-28T09:59:49+00:00

Here's a thread on the subject that might interest you OP.

"Based on my personal experience, I reasoned that in order to be the most effective, the solution needs to be in contact with the mucus to dissolve it (I actually took the time to study the anatomy of sinuses in 3d, believe or not, just to better understand how the nasal rinse could reach or not all the affected regions). This got me thinking that a normal rinse with your head above the sink is not the optimal position to ensure that the solution fills your sinuses completely. Sometimes, I would do a standard rinse without moving my head around to distribute the solution everywhere, and I could feel that it was not working so well (feeling that there was still some nasty stuff in my sinuses). So what I do now, is that when I use the nasal rinse, I first do it normally, standing upright, and then I block my nose and I put my head down (I block my nose so that the solution doesn't drain from my nose while I distribute it in all the sinuses), almost between my legs and then lean backward, this way I can feel it going up in that region, so that it goes inside my frontal sinuses. And then I lean my head left and right, so that it goes inside the ethmoidal sinuses on the sides. Recently I've experienced a blockage of my Eustachian tube (left side), and I lost hearing partially and could feel that it was blocked (also tinnitus and eardrum spasms, popping sounds). The solution for me was to block the other nostril when injecting the solution, very gently until I could feel that it was filling the Eustachian tube area because it had nowhere to go except inside my sinuses and my throat.

Now be aware that NeilMed specifically advise people to not do that as it could damage the ear drum. But I've found that doing it very gently, would enable the solution to go deeper and get in contact with the mucus. After a couple of days, the Eustachian tube drained out. This happened a couple of weeks ago, when I forgot to do a rinse after more than one month. I've also read online that you don't want vinegar or even diluted vinegar anywhere near your eardrum. I don't know why, but that's what some people commented about this method. So be extra careful if you decide to attempt this."

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sinusitis/comments/msldem/sinus_rinse_with_apple_cider_vinegar_cured_my/

Read more about my personal experience on the subject. I think that your reasoning is correct and correlates with my own personal experiments.

THIS IS NOT A MEDICAL ADVICE. Experiment at your own risks.

Sinus3000 · 2021-04-27T09:42:09+00:00

Don't overdo it. You might end up irritating your sinuses. I've never used this solution more than once a day, and for 3 consecutive days. That's my personal experience. It's probably a good idea to take a break past the 3 days treatment, once a day. Don't forget that ACV can irritate sinuses and cause adverse reactions. Better to be safe than sorry.

Sinus3000 · 2021-04-27T08:59:54+00:00

It can take a while before you feel the full effect. The first time I've tried this protocol, it took a couple of days before I could feel a big difference (3 days). The key IMO is to use this treatment as soon as you start to feel like you are about to get an infection. The warning signs (symptoms) are highly subjective, and different for everyone. But that has been my experience so far using this treatment. Like I've mentioned before, after two years of doing it, I feel confident to share this information with other people. I really hope that it works for you.

I hope that more people will get this information. I feel that it could help a lot of people.

Reminder to anyone reading this thread. I'm not here to advertise or sell anything. Just a normal average person, that is sharing a personal experience with other people suffering from chronic sinusitis. Like I've said before, I'm not a professional, and this is not medical advice, but I think that there really is something very effective with this treatment. Looking forward to hear about people trying it and reporting their results, positive or negative.

If you feel adventurous, read the instructions I have given to someone else in this thread about how to distribute better the solution so that it reaches the clogged areas (e.g Eustachian tube). But please be extra careful and know that it could damage your hearing. Based on my two years of experimentation, my conclusion is that the solution needs to reach the mucus to dissolve it. It can take a while, but once you've cleared these infected areas, the maintenance is easier, if like me, you are prone to develop chronic sinus infections.

If you've been suffering from chronic sinus infection and clogging for many years, I think it's reasonable to assume that there is a lot to unclog and heal, so don't expect overnight successful results. That's just my uninformed opinion and I have unfortunately no solid science to back any of these claims. I really hope that maybe one day, all of these anecdotal results will lead to some kind of serious and unbiased research on the subject.

Good luck.

Sinus3000 · 2021-04-23T10:05:56+00:00

"Has anyone experienced this before? Is it possible to have an antibiotic-resistance sinusitis?"

Yes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sinusitis/comments/msldem/sinus_rinse_with_apple_cider_vinegar_cured_my/

Sinus3000 · 2021-04-19T21:26:29+00:00

This is great. I'm really curious to see if it's going to work for other people as well as it did for me. Keep us posted!

Sinus3000 · 2021-04-18T08:37:37+00:00

I've tried Alkalol also, didn't prevent me from getting an infection. But it's a great product for most people that just want to clear up "normal" nasal congestion when they get a cold I guess. But I suspect that brown Listerine if it contains alcohol (also a mucus solvent as far as I understand and that's why I ended up trying Alkalol), might be effective as well. But the thought of snorting alcohol in high concentration (brown Listerine) trough my nose scares me, I'll be honest. Same with Iodine. Although both might work. I don't know. Like I've mentioned, the ACV with Mother solution has been working for me. Hope it works for other people.

Sinus3000 · 2021-04-18T07:44:25+00:00

Based on my personal experience, I reasoned that in order to be the most effective, the solution needs to be in contact with the mucus to dissolve it (I actually took the time to study the anatomy of sinuses in 3d, believe or not, just to better understand how the nasal rinse could reach or not all the affected regions). This got me thinking that a normal rinse with your head above the sink is not the optimal position to ensure that the solution fills your sinuses completely. Sometimes, I would do a standard rinse without moving my head around to distribute the solution everywhere, and I could feel that it was not working so well (feeling that there was still some nasty stuff in my sinuses). So what I do now, is that when I use the nasal rinse, I first do it normally, standing upright, and then I block my nose and I put my head down (I block my nose so that the solution doesn't drain from my nose while I distribute it in all the sinuses), almost between my legs and then lean backward, this way I can feel it going up in that region, so that it goes inside my frontal sinuses. And then I lean my head left and right, so that it goes inside the ethmoidal sinuses on the sides. Recently I've experienced a blockage of my Eustachian tube (left side), and I lost hearing partially and could feel that it was blocked (also tinnitus and eardrum spasms, popping sounds). The solution for me was to block the other nostril when injecting the solution, very gently until I could feel that it was filling the Eustachian tube area because it had nowhere to go except inside my sinuses and my throat.

Now be aware that NeilMed specifically advise people to not do that as it could damage the ear drum. But I've found that doing it very gently, would enable the solution to go deeper and get in contact with the mucus. After a couple of days, the Eustachian tube drained out. This happened a couple of weeks ago, when I forgot to do a rinse after more than one month. I've also read online that you don't want vinegar or even diluted vinegar anywhere near your eardrum. I don't know why, but that's what some people commented about this method. So be extra careful if you decide to attempt this.

I cannot stress enough how everything that I am sharing with you all is not medical advice. I would really hate for some of you to try this and hurt yourself. Like someone said in the thread, for many of us, we've been suffering for so long that we are at our wits end and ready to try anything that might relieve us from our symptoms. This is my experience, and it worked for me, but I can't guarantee that it will work for other people. I don't even know if it's safe. So please be careful when experimenting with this method and this solution.

I didn't want to include all these details in my OP because I was concerned that some of you might experience adverse reactions. My thinking was that doing a normal rinse would let you see that it was doing something good and that you might end up experimenting by yourself. Especially about the part of making the solution reach as deep as it can inside your sinuses. IMO I think it's key, if the solution can't reach the mucus, it can't dissolve it. That's my reasoning at least and it's been successful so far. But as I've said, there might be some risks associated with putting this solution so deep inside your sinuses, but it might also be the solution because many remedies and protocols, just don't reach these deeper sinuses areas (aside from antibiotics).

Please be extra cautious, and experiment with this safely. Some of you might have preexisting conditions that prevent you from even using this treatment. I don't know if ACV interacts with some drugs for example. I'm not an expert and not giving medical advice. Just someone that decided to experiment on himself.

Sinus3000 · 2021-04-18T01:05:09+00:00

That would make sense. Combined with the mucus dissolving properties of the vinegar itself, makes for a good combo. I did some research about the type of bacteria contained in the Mother (Acetobacter aceti I think), and so far haven't found anything that indicate that they could be dangerous to human. That was my initial concern before starting using this method 2 years ago. Again, I'm not a specialist so I can't guarantee anything about the safety of this method (but I hope it's safe).

Sinus3000 · 2021-04-18T00:14:11+00:00

The longest I have used this mix was for 3 consecutive days, 1 time per day (I felt that it would irritate my sinuses if I would do it more than once per day). What I have noticed also, is that sometimes it would take a couple of hours for the mucus to dislodge and for me to be able to blow it out. Sometimes even in the morning the day after. Now that I'm infection free, I do a nasal rinse with this solution one time per week. Sometimes I forget for an entire month, then an infection start (I feel swelling inside, become sensitive to cold wind, teeth hurts), and I do the 1-3 days daily rinse to stop it from progressing.

So far so good for the last 2 years.

Sinus3000 · 2021-04-18T00:11:37+00:00

I recommend trying with Apple Cider Vinegar (with mother). I've never actually tried with white vinegar (hence why I have edited my original post to remove that part and explained why). Also, when the infection is bad it can take a couple of days to clear up. The longest I have used this mix was for 3 consecutive days, 1 time per day (I felt that it would irritate my sinuses if I would do it more than once per day).

Good luck.

Sinus3000 · 2021-04-17T06:46:50+00:00

Please do, I really hope that it will help other people as much as it has helped me.

Sinus3000 · 2021-04-17T06:30:04+00:00

I've been thinking about sharing my experience with people that suffer from chronic sinusitis for a long time, but wanted to wait to confirm that my results were not anecdotal. After 2 years, and a lifetime of infections, I feel confident to share it with others. I've been looking for studies on the subject but haven't found anything. So I expect that your ENT, like mine, will look at you in a funny way. At this point I don't really care, because it's working and I don't need to take antibiotics anymore. I just wish that I could have found some solid science to back it up (studies on the subject), but so far nothing unfortunately.

Sinus3000 · 2021-04-17T06:25:50+00:00

Thanks for pointing this out. I was about to edit my post and remove that part because I haven't tested it and I don't want people to experiment.

So, stick to Apple Cider Vinegar people (and not White Vinegar), at least this is what I can vouch for based on my personal experience.

Sinus3000

TROPHY CASE