Sinus infections affect millions of people each year.
The symptoms of a sinus infection include headaches, nasal congestion, and tenderness and swelling around your eyes, nose, and cheeks.
These symptoms can be very painful and uncomfortable, and can sometimes make it difficult to function.
Luckily, there is medicine for sinus infections that can help treat and cure your sinus condition.
Prescription Medication If your sinuses are making you suffer, the best thing to do is to consult your physician.
There are a wide variety of prescription drugs available for sinus relief, including nasal sprays and decongestants.
Nasal sprays can be either saline sprays or nasal corticosteroids.
A saline spray is used throughout the day to rinse nasal cavities, while a corticosteroid spray such as Flonase or Nasonex, specifically targets inflammation.
Doctors will also frequently recommend decongestants for sinus relief.
There are many different types of decongestants that can either be prescribed or bought over-the-counter.
You will want to check with a doctor to see which one is right for you.
Over-the-Counter Medications There is medicine for sinus symptoms that can be bought over-the-counter without a prescription, but you will want to see a doctor first to see if these medications will help your particular type of sinus infection.
The types of sinus medications that are available over-the-counter include several types of decongestants and pain medication.
Doctors will sometimes recommend you take certain painkillers such as aspirin or ibuprofen to reduce some of the pain of sinus infection symptoms.
Both of these pain medications can be bought easily over-the-counter, but they often only temporarily relieve your symptoms, so they should not be the only drugs you use.
Why Not Antibiotics? Many people expect to be prescribed antibiotics for their sinus infections, but in reality antibiotics are rarely used as a medicine for sinus relief.
This is because in most cases, sinus problems are viral or fungal infections, and antibiotics only help with bacterial infections.
There are some cases of bacterial sinus infections, but even in these cases antibiotics are rarely used.
Bacterial sinus infections will normally clear by themselves after a few days, without medication.
Generally antibiotics are only used for severe, chronic bacterial sinus infections.
If you are prescribed an antibiotic, it will most likely be amoxicillin or doxycycline.
Whatever antibiotic you are prescribed, make sure to take the full dose.
If you are given enough pills for ten days, don't just stop taking them after three days, even if your symptoms seem to have gone away.
Antibiotics are meant to kill the bacteria causing the infection, not just relieve your symptoms the way nasal sprays and decongestants do.
If you stop taking the pills after your symptoms have gone, the bacteria may not be dead yet and so your symptoms will likely return.
Taking medicine for sinus relief is not for everyone.
Some people are able to rid themselves of their symptoms through simple home remedies or natural products.
If your sinuses do not seem to respond to anything you try, however, you might want to consider seeing a doctor to go over your medication options.