theonlypirate
New member
Hi all! I don't regularly post, but I always appreciate everyone's insight on things so...
For the past few years I've had increasingly bad sinus infections that usually manifest as headaches and ear popping. It's kind of strange, but I can almost always breathe through my nose. The problem is that my ears are driving me crazy! They're always popping and cracking. For awhile I thought they were just filled with wax and my doctor recommended using hydrogen peroxide. This doesn't help beyond the day I cleaned them.
I went to a CF-friendly ENT who told me I needed to treat my sinuses and that my ear problems would be resolved that way. The only problem is that there aren't many treatments for my particular sinus issues. A CT scan showed that I probably used to have a huge polyp, but somehow it disappeared - I've never had surgery. In other words, there's nothing to be removed...just a big hole where there was once something removable. Also, I don't have any significant hearing loss, but I'm on the border of having Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. His solution was to give me antibiotic ear drops for my sinuses and to do a ton of nasal flushes. This hasn't helped.
<strong>My question is:</strong> has anybody had sinusitis that caused them significant ear problems? If so, have you ever been able to get ear tubes as an adult? My current ENT will not do ear tubes because he wants to treat the primary problem. Unfortunately, it just feels like the primary problem cannot be fixed and there's a solution for this secondary symptom (ear tubes) that he won't consider. Do ENTs shy away from ear tubes in adults for some reason? I thought this was a pretty minor "surgery". I can overlook the sinus headaches if only my ears would feel better. And I rarely get much out of my nose or have trouble breathing through it so I'm not too concerned if my sinuses keep acting up. In fact, I expect them to, just like my lungs.
Any help would be greatly appreciated<img title="Smile" src="include/wysiwyg/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif" alt="Smile" border="0" />
For the past few years I've had increasingly bad sinus infections that usually manifest as headaches and ear popping. It's kind of strange, but I can almost always breathe through my nose. The problem is that my ears are driving me crazy! They're always popping and cracking. For awhile I thought they were just filled with wax and my doctor recommended using hydrogen peroxide. This doesn't help beyond the day I cleaned them.
I went to a CF-friendly ENT who told me I needed to treat my sinuses and that my ear problems would be resolved that way. The only problem is that there aren't many treatments for my particular sinus issues. A CT scan showed that I probably used to have a huge polyp, but somehow it disappeared - I've never had surgery. In other words, there's nothing to be removed...just a big hole where there was once something removable. Also, I don't have any significant hearing loss, but I'm on the border of having Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. His solution was to give me antibiotic ear drops for my sinuses and to do a ton of nasal flushes. This hasn't helped.
<strong>My question is:</strong> has anybody had sinusitis that caused them significant ear problems? If so, have you ever been able to get ear tubes as an adult? My current ENT will not do ear tubes because he wants to treat the primary problem. Unfortunately, it just feels like the primary problem cannot be fixed and there's a solution for this secondary symptom (ear tubes) that he won't consider. Do ENTs shy away from ear tubes in adults for some reason? I thought this was a pretty minor "surgery". I can overlook the sinus headaches if only my ears would feel better. And I rarely get much out of my nose or have trouble breathing through it so I'm not too concerned if my sinuses keep acting up. In fact, I expect them to, just like my lungs.
Any help would be greatly appreciated<img title="Smile" src="include/wysiwyg/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-smile.gif" alt="Smile" border="0" />