How Do You Know if You Have a Sinus Infection?

The sinusitis or the sinus infection is termed as an inflammation of the air cavities present within the passage of the nose. This sinusitis can be caused due to infection any chemical or particulate irritant or due to allergies. It can be classified as acute, subacute, chronic and non-infectious ones.

• Pain during the infection: Infection caused to the sinus can lead to inflammation as well as swelling. This is known to cause severe case of pain in the upper jaws, eyes, forehead and teeth. Pain is considered to be a common symptom of infection. There are multiple sinuses present above or below the eyes as well as the behind the nose region. During the sinus infection any of these portions can hurt the individual.

• Sinus discharge: One of the common characteristic of sinus infection is the greenish-yellowish coloured discharge which appears form the nasal passage. It can make the individual feel a kind of tickling sensation or an itching sensation on the throat. For those suffering from sinus infection have to blow their nose quite often due to the nasal discharge. The discharge can also tend to bypass the nose and get drained down in the back of the throat. Hence the individual would feel a soreness in their throat. At times it may also lead to the voice sounding a bit hoarse.

• Congestion: Due to the sinus infection, it would make the sinuses as well as the nasal passages becoming inflamed thereby making it difficult for the individual to breath or smell properly.  These inflamed sinuses would tend to restrict on how well the individual can breathe through their nose.

• Headache: Due to the relentless amount of pressure as well as the swelling in the sinuses it can lead to frequent cases of headache, pain in the jaws, pain in the tooth or cheeks. The sinuses headache is known to be often worse during the morning time since the fluids have been collected all throughout the night. The headache may also worsen when the barometric pressure of the environment changes all of a sudden.

• Coughing: Due to the discharge from the sinuses which tends to constantly drain from the throat there would be a persistent case of irritation mostly if it is dripping persistent enough. This persistent coughing can get very much annoying and it can tend to worsen while lying down to sleep or during the first thing in the morning post getting up from the bed. In certain cases, it can also make sleeping quite difficult. Hence in such cases it would be helpful to sleep in upright position or with the head slightly elevated so as to reduce the frequency as well as the intensity of the cough.

• Soreness in the throat: The postnasal drip can tend to cause irritation as well as inflammation in the throat thereby leading to soreness and raw throat. It can leave you with raw and aching throat. Initially it may start off as an annoying kind of tickle sensation but gradually it would start to get worse with time. For those whose infection lasts for few weeks or more than that then the mucus would start to irritate as well as inflame the throat as it drips thereby causing painful soreness in the throat leading to hoarseness in the voice.

• Fever: There can be relentless pressure due to the sinus infection and this can then lead to rise in the body temperature to go above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Coughing up phlegm: Sinus infection is mostly known to be accompanied along with productive cough. This tends to worsen during the night time or it can worsen during the morning time.

• The teeth start to hurt:  The pain in the tooth caused due to the sinus infection is not the actual form of tooth pain. It tends to originate from the pressure which has been building up in the head of the individual due to the infection.

• Bad breath issues: There is a kind of embarrassing smell which tends to occur from the mouth. This is basically a by-product of the yellowish discharge which tends to collect in the sinuses region or the nasal passage and also drips through the throat.