Sinusitis is a condition where there is inflammation of the sinuses. There are four pairs of sinuses: ethmoid, sphenoid, maxillary and frontal sinuses. Infection with bacteria or viruses can cause sinusitis. Sinusitis will cause you to have pain and pressure in the face and head, blocked nose and pus-like discharge from your nose. Depending on the duration that the sinuses are infected, sinusitis could be acute or chronic.
Headache
If you have a sinusitis, you will have facial pain and headache. The location of the pain depends on the sinus that is affected, according to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The headache associated typically worsens on bending forward.
With maxillary sinus infection, you will have pain over the cheeks, jaws and toothache.
With frontal sinus, there will be pain above the eyebrows and in the forehead. You may complain of headache when you wake up in the morning.
You will have a deep pain behind the eyes and on top of the head with sphenoid sinusitis.
An ethmoid sinus infection will hurt around and between the eyes. There may be swelling of the eyelids and tissues around the eye.
Nasal Discharge and Stuffiness
An acute infection usually starts following a cold. There will be a thick yellow or green colored discharge from your nose. Besides being runny, your nose will feel stuffy and blocked. This lasts for 10-14 days.
The mucus dripping from the sinuses to the back of your throat is called postnasal drip. This may be difficult to clear. This may result in a bad breath from the mouth. Your throat may also feel sore due to the drip irritating your throat.
Other Symptoms
Your sense of smell and taste may lessen with a sinus infection. There may be a productive cough, which is a cough that produces mucus. There also may be a dry cough which worsens at night. Less common symptoms include complaints of ear pain and ear fullness.
Besides these, an acute infection can lead to fever. In Chronic sinusitis, the symptoms are milder and last for longer than with an acute sinusitis. They last for longer than 8 weeks, according to National Institutes of Health. There will be no associated fever, but you will feel tired and weak. Asthma has also been linked to chronic sinus disease. If the sinusitis is treated adequately, the asthma symptoms also improve.
