[BlueJay49]

Hi there

I am a 49 year old male with a history of chronic sinusitis and allergic rhinitis. I also have a deviated septum on the left side. Allergies run very deep in my family and this year (from what I understand) has been an especially harsh time for people suffering from allergies.

Anyway, for the past few months (off and on) I have been waking up in the mornings feeling like I've been through the wringer (ie; sinus headache, head spinning, really loopy and out of it, intense brain fog, clogged up head, eyes hurt and watery, congestion, pressure, feeling like I'm about ready to jump out of my skin, etc). I tend to sleep in very late (until about noon) and it takes me hours just to feel like anything resembling "normal" again and start my day. Sometimes it can be pretty debilitating and I don't even feel all that good until much later in the evening (if then).

I did have about 3 really good days where I felt a lot better but just about the time I thought I was over the hump, it hit me pretty hard again. I've been getting low-grade fevers of about 99.00+ every so often too (and 100.6 once) so maybe a sinus infection going on here or something. The intermittent low-grade fevers are nothing new. I've had them for ages but they seem to have started up again after an intense period of severe stress and high anxiety.

I've had tons of blood tests (even lots of rare and unusual ones), seen the doctor, neurologist, opthamologist, etc. Also had an MRI of head and neck. I also suffer from cervical arthritis, Tourettes, GAD, OCD, GERD, Gastritis, IBS, etc. I've been using Astelin nasal spray which seems to work pretty good but the last few times, I've actually gotten even worse after using it. Pretty miserable and with my anxiety, it sometimes feels like I'm losing my mind!.

Anyone else going through this with similar symptoms?.

Thank you everyone
BlueJay

[gma45]

I have bad allergies and do wake up sometimes feeling pretty bad. I have also heard this is a bad year for allergies. I don't know about your other symptoms though. I know I can not use most nasal sprays as they make me light headed, I use just plain saline solution which seems to help. I hope you feel better and hopefully someone has some better answers for you than I do.

[ECHOES]

My doctor suggested using saline nasal spray. It mostly moisturizes but it also dilutes any allergens. It has helped a lot to break the cycle of allergy symptoms with me.

I wonder if you might also have some obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) going on, or that the sinus/allergy stuff is cause some temporary OSA. It prevents a person from getting good sleep that a person wakes up refreshed from.

[Fresia]

I get low grade fevers with my allergies and can relate to this. The saline helped me too, but the netty pot, in particular has been a real help clearing out the sinuses. I had a reaction to the Astelin, it increased my anxiety, heart rate, (felt like I was coming out of my skin), and headaches (besides those caused by the sinus pressure) yet helped only little with the allergies. Perhaps consider trying something else. You may find it is either helping more than you think or there is something better out there with fewer side effects.

[Perna]

Sinuses and sleeping can be really difficult. If your thyroid is okay and you take a B complex vitamin and your D is okay; I would not take anything else for awhile; a lot of the pills and sprays for congestion rebound. I'd see how many pills you could eliminate and sort of "start over" if possible in a couple weeks. It can get to the point where X pill requires, Y spray to handle Z side effect of A prescription. . . etc. I would get your lifestyle in as best an order as you can for a week or two and only take prescription meds you have to (I was prescribed D and B vitamins) and see what is what.