Sphenoid Sinus Blocked...

I would highly recommend checking for food allergies AND intolerances. I suffered with sinues headaches, had surgeries, and took a myriad of drugs for 25 years before a doctor diagnosed my gluten and dairy intolerance. By then excema and severe stomach problems had been added to the early headache symptoms. Avoiding these foods changed my life and got me off sinus medication. Your son might have diffferent allergies, so I'd encourage you to see someone who specializes in it. The Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mt Sinai might be helpful.

I am currently living in the UK where we took our son to a cranial osteopath. In America, they are similar to if not the same as a cranial sacral therapist. I suggest trying a number of sessions with one who has had experience with or specializes in work with babies and children. It could be the non-medicinal answer you are looking for.

Would you consider having him checked for allergies? Also having a good dental check up would be useful.

Doctors usually treat the symptoms. If there is a possibility for you, have him checked out by a naturopath, too.

Where are you located?

C.

Wow, I have had the same experience. My daughter had chronic sinus infections that took the doctors almost a year to diagnose. It took my leaving her pediatrician of six years and finding a new one to find out what the problem was. They gave her an x-ray of her sinuses(a clear water view) and found the maxillarries were completely blocked and put her on antibiotics for twenty days. They did a follow up x-ray (which I would absolutely demand) after the twenty days and found the infection was still there. They put her on for another twenty days and then another ten days after that. For a total of fifty days straight she was on antibiotics. They finally ended up doing a cat scan of her sinuse and found she needed her adenoids, tonsils out and she also ended up having to have sinus surgery on the right side. It was a hard experience for her. The surgery recovery was hard- the tonsil area was painful. We see her ENT every four months and they look up her nose with a camera at the end of a long black cord. To this day she still has problems with her sinuses and continues to have a bruise like mark over her cheek bones when she gets sick. She has only had one sinus infection since the surgery which was almost a year ago. That is a HUGE improvement for her. I beleive the surgery was worth it. She too has to do the sinus irrigations but we hardly ever do because they are not the most pleasant thing for a seven year old. She's been on veramyst and rhinocort. I do like rhinocort more, veramyst has a tendency to give her sore throats. I would also like to mention she does have asthma and that sometimes goes hand in hand with chronic sinus infections. The prolonged use of antibiotics has been a problem for her. She now has to take a stronger antibiotic when she's sick for a longer time. She developed a resistance to amoxicillin while being on it for her sinus infections. Her pediatrician doesn't even bother giving it to her. I hope my experience helps you in some way.

Angela--
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take your son to a Cranio-sacral Therapy specialist who works with children!!!!!!!!!!
It is very likely that he/she could make a HUGE difference in your child's recovery, because CST's work with cranial bones and can alleviate the pressure buildup and reduce the inflammation in the cranium. Just google cranio-sacral therapy and children in ny and see what comes up.
Good luck and let me know what happens--A. B

Hi Angela
Just today I was reading an article from Harvard Medicval School on headaches, on a site Everyday Health.com that sends me information. I have found this site to be very informative and helpful, especially in situations like yours where you have sought professional attention and advice but feel that you would like to have a little more insight on the problem and Everyday Health does this with all sorts of interesting information coming to you on various matters on a daily basis. Tey it for your particular problem -everydayhealth.com/painmangaement/headaches - and maybe you would even like to become a subscriber. Good luck and God Bless.

F. G

That is so weird.....my daughter was just at her ENT (Dr. Astrachan) and he prescribed the same med.'s for her condition!! She has a deviated septum and and inflamation. The spray has helped with the inflamation. I am not a fan of med.'s - I prefer taking an all natural route - I was not comfortable giving her the antibiotics but, the week of taking there was improvement.
We had the cat scan and it really shows you everything - There was no question of the inflamation and deviated septum.
Good luck!

My dtr had something similar. She had severe headaches that lasted up to 10 days where she was nauseas and barely functional. It was terrible. They did a CT scan of her head and sinuses and saw that her tonsils and adenoids were so enlarged that it was interfering with sinus drainage and breathing, esp at night (she snored and had some sleep apnea). They removed her tonsils and adnoids and she has not had a headache since (it was almost 3 years ago). She has more energy because she is sleeping better. The recovery from surgery was not fun, she was a hellion coming out of anesthesia, but we got through it and she is much better now.
I would also make sure he eats plenty of yogurt or takes culturelle or acidopholis to help his stomach b/c of the antibiotics.