CT Scan Clear - Still No Diagnosis

On your own before the doctor

Main factors to cause sinusitis are allergies, heartburn (Reflux) and Polyps. A minor is a tooth infection which I doubt as per what you are saying.

Polyps should be diagnose by the Scan so it is beyond my knowledge.

Try over the counter antihistaminic and if doesn't help then Gaviscon. If any of this helps, you may have found the underlying cause. Of course, should antihistaminic helps means enquiring the ENT for an allergy test, if Gaviscon helps you need a Gastroenterologist.

It will help knowing where are you? In general in my experience most European ENTs deserve their own department in hell and at least on this speciality rest of the World are more to the point and effective. This is of course my own experience but I succeeded on my own Sinusitis (I am afraid spending a lot of money in the land of Socialised Healthcare the UK) that took:

1- Sinus surgery

2- Gastric Reflux surgery

3- Allergy Immunotherapy

4- Prevnar 13 vaccine seems to have helped me but this only makes sense to people who never had it as children.

I still pay a private doctor to provide me an allergy shots every 6 weeks and I am on my final year. So yes there is a way out, but sometimes it is a well tortuous road.

Hello,

Yes, I have been having the exact issues for 8 months. I seen ENT's Neurologist and Allergists several of each specialties. Nothing has worked. I was told that I have Chronic Sinusitis, but not Sinusitis which sounds contradictive. Prednisone was given, I'm not sure if it worked because it had me feeling very weird! It couldn't have worked because the symptoms are still here. If I don't take ibuprofen daily, I would have face burning and pain stemming from my nose all day.

I literally feel your pain! I have had allergies for years and get allergy shots. All of a sudden – two months ago – I got what I thought was a sinus infection. The symptoms were this, which are not ordinary allergy symptoms for me because, again, I get shots:

•Feel like I sort of have cold

•Sometimes headache mostly in am/pm

•Most pain in center of forehead, above eyes

•Sinus pain on each side of nose

•Strange sensation on left cheek, right below my eye (sort of the apple of my cheek)

•Intense feeling that I might sneeze sometimes but don’t (although sometimes I do sneeze)

•Cough sometimes; sometimes compelled to cough after start talking

•Sometimes I talk and sound congested

•Sometimes I blow my nose and mostly clear but sometimes green stuff

•Acute pain sometimes on left side of face, near ear (this happened early on, as did the coughing that I could not control)

•Ears pop (feel sticky) when blow nose; sometimes they just make a popping/sticky sound on their own

•Eyes feel sticky

•Sometimes sharp/acute head pain (front side or back of head)

•No fever (have been checking from time to time).

My doctor put me on an antibiotic for 7 days, but that didn’t work. I then reached out to my allergy doctor, who put me on a different antibiotic and prednisone, but that, too, did not work. She then put me on a third antibiotic (clin-something or the other?) and prednisone again, but that didn’t work. I then went to an ENT who did a CT Scan and said I do not have a sinus infection. Ugh!!! But I still don’t feel well. He referred me to a neurologist as well, and I have an appointment next week. I really feel like this is a sinus infection that perhaps is under the radar. Maybe the meds made the infection so low that the CT Scan didn’t catch it, and now it’s getting worse again? Anyway, I would love to hear from others who’ve had something similar and then some success in determining what the problem is. I am concerned I’ll have to live like this the rest of my life. I am an avid exerciser and I haven’t done any for 2 months. Totally not like me. I also can’t enjoy the simple pleasures in life like a good cup of coffee or a glass of wine. I am struggling to get through work each day because of how terrible I feel. Something is not right. PS: I do not have Covid – ENT tested for that.

omg... I am so glad I found this thread. it explains to a t my stuff also. 2 and a half months been on 7 days amoxicillin then 10 days amoxicillin. 5 days predisone... then 10 days predisone. steroid spray for nose... neti pot... mucinex... cold and flu... alberterol rescue inhaler. cant breathe through nose at times causes me panic attacks and anxiety that I am learning to cope with. sometimes I get an hour of sleep only cause of this. ent did ct scan Friday with clear results and referred me to neurology thinking this is a migraine. I have so much pressure in my face at times it feels like a lava lamp bubble that moves around as I change positions. my temples feel like someone is shoving bolts into them like Frankenstein and I get warm on the temples then a headache during random times of the day. I get vertigo often and light and patterns make me dizzy. humidifier and a vicks steam machine are my friend lately. I am at the end of my rope getting such little sleep and like others I tested negative for covid a few times. and also like others predisone really made me jittery and weird everyone please keep updating results I plan on calling neurology in the morning asking for an appt asap

OK had to have the last reply deleted cause I did not get all my info on there. Since last time I have been cleared for allergies and am now on amitripyline per neurology which is for depression but also helps with headaches. But headaches are not my main issue the congestion nose and facial pressure is. the headaches in my temples come after all that. once again last night I slept about 2 hours cause I could not breathe right through my nose. It is exhausting . today I have a blood test to rule out having covid before even though I have been tested multiple times for that. Then they are reffering me to a different clinic system for a specialist. It sucks cause I have so many hospital bills but still not closer to an answer. The Tuina massages are great for the stress part of this all and has helped my carpal tunnel get better which was in the beginning stages but so far 2 of those massages have not helped my headaches and breathing issues. so we will see.

Would love for others to update on where they are at cause we all seem as if we are on the wrong path with the doctors but they are also giving us all the same treatment path that is not working

OK had to have the last reply deleted cause I did not get all my info on there. Since last time I have been cleared for allergies and am now on amitripyline per neurology which is for depression but also helps with headaches. But headaches are not my main issue the congestion nose and facial pressure is. the headaches in my temples come after all that. once again last night I slept about 2 hours cause I could not breathe right through my nose. It is exhausting . today I have a blood test to rule out having covid before even though I have been tested multiple times for that. Then they are reffering me to a different clinic system for a specialist. It sucks cause I have so many hospital bills but still not closer to an answer. The Tuina massages are great for the stress part of this all and has helped my carpal tunnel get better which was in the beginning stages but so far 2 of those massages have not helped my headaches and breathing issues. so we will see.

Would love for others to update on where they are at cause we all seem as if we are on the wrong path with the doctors but they are also giving us all the same treatment path that is not working

Success story, please read. I essentially had the same issues as your having but I had even more symptoms including teeth pain and a heavy head feeling. My symptoms started around your age (I'm now 49) and they progressively got worse as the years went by. It was always treated as sinus infection or sinusitis. All the prescribed relief meds and antibiotics provided a bit of short term relief but never solved the problem because the problems always came back and progressively got worse as time went on.

What worked for me after 20 years of suffering is doing something that should have been the starting point of my treatment when I was 21 years old. I went and got tested for allergies. Come to find out I had over 10 different allergies that I never knew were even allergies. From there, I received allergy immunization shots for 2 years I think (twice a month). I now feel 100 % better.

They tested me again for allergies near the end of my immunization treatments and the results showed that I no longer had any allergies. At that time I'd say I felt about 85% better than when I started the treatments. As time went on though after I stopped the treatments I kept getting better and better. Because of my success story I highly recommend everyone with sinus issues to get tested for allergies.

One additional thing I did do though that the allergy testing didn't test for was, I stopped using aftershave lotion. I had heard people can be allergic to perfumes and thats when a light bulb went off in my head. After shave isn't any different than perfume so I thought I'd try not using it. It took a few years of immunization therapy and a brilliant idea to stop using aftershave but I'm so Happy I did it. I feel like a whole new person. Or should I say I feel normal again. Thank God.

New to this forum - low battery just noted so will be back. I didn't want to leave this reply vacant. My story is similar but also have new info to share that I haven't read from reviewing all the posts. Back soon, sorry

I too have similar symptoms & its driving me mad!

I have had sinus infections & allergies for years but its now progressed & i'm now having daily symptoms such as:

waking with stuffy nose, puffy eyes (especially right side)

stuffy ears, ringing in ears, dizziness, popping sounds in ears (especially left ear) when blowing my nose

strange numbing sensation on left side of face & on either sides of tongue

constant daily tension headaches

many course of ab's & decongestants, neti pots, nasal sprays - all not working!

recently had a CT of sinuses- came back clear

booked to see ENT in 2 weeks

Just want to feel normal again!

So I have been having this problem for about a 6 weeks maybe besides the facial pressure. I went to an ENT and my CT Scan is completely clear. He doesn't think it is an infection or anything. He said I have an enlarged turbinate and a deviated septum. He said that it could go down on it's own but if steroids and medications don't work surgery is the next option. The surgery apparently is done ALL the time and they try to be as conservative as possible. But an enlarged turbinate causes the exact same symptoms as a sinus infection but there actually isn't an infection.

PS if you the turbinate doesn't go down on it's own or with treatment; then it just stays swollen pretty much. Which is why it could be still bothering you for this long.