Sinus Infection Treatment

A comment in the BMJ 4 November 2017 advised to avoid antibiotics for sinus infections. NICE new guidelines recommend oral decongestants and paracetamol for acute sinusitis and avoid antibiotics.

Tell this to a patient who has been unable to breathe and has been suffering with facial pain for a couple of weeks!!

I am not recommending antibiotics to patients with sinusitis, we are all too familiar with the problems with overuse of antibiotics. However, we often manage to prevent upper respiratory inflammation, using the positive effects of dietary changes, methods of desensitisation and sometimes, anti-fungals if moulds are suspected.

Prevention and treating the cause is always preferable to being reactive and giving symptom relief.