Can Antibiotics Cause Sinus Infections?

Antibiotics are strong medicines that doctors prescribe when patients are fighting off infections. Unfortunately, they only work against bacterial infections and infections caused by fungi and some parasites. They do not work against viruses and, while powerful, the prescription must be taken as prescribed. As the number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria have developed, antibiotics have evolved. Antibiotics are not a cure-all and are associated with causing some sinus infections.

Symptions of Sinus Infections

• Sinus infections and colds share some of the same symptons.

  A person suffering from a sinus infection may think he is fighting a cold because the symptoms are similar, but a cold generally runs its course in a week or less while a sinus infection will linger. According to Dr. Neil Bhattacharyya, an associate professor of otology and laryngology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, "The distinction can be difficult and no one rule applies to everybody." Other common symptoms of sinus infections are headaches, facial tenderness, sinus pain or pressure when leaning forward and a fever. Cloudy discolored nasal discharge, a sore throat, coughing and a stuffy nose are additional symptoms.

Using Antibiotics to Fight Bacterial Sinus Infections

• A doctor can determine if your sinus infection is caused by bacteria.

  Antibiotics can be used to treat sinus infections that are bacterial in nature. Patients with possible bacterial sinus infections are not usually prescribed antibiotics until symptoms have persisted for over a week and have not been affected by the use of over-the-counter nasal sprays. Left untreated, sinus infections can cause life-threatening illnesses like meningitis, which, while rare, are possible.

Antibiotics Causing Sinus Infections

• Antibiotics must be taken as prescribed.

  There are two types of bacteria: good bacteria, which lives in the intestines helping to digest food and strengthening the body's immune system, and bad bacteria, which causes illness and infection. Antibiotics can't tell the difference between the two, so taking them before a bacterial infection has been determined causes more harm than good. According to the Annapolis Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Research Center, short-term sinus infections can be turned into chronic infections by the use of antibiotics. Yeast infections, long associated with antibiotic use in women, can travel to the sinuses. According to Dr. Marjorie Greenfield of the Case School of Medicine and University Hospitals of Cleveland, studies have shown that between 25 and 70 percent of female patients develop yeast infections following antibiotic treatments.

Sinus Yeast Infections

• Candida travels in the body and lodges in the mucus membranes of the nose.

  When good bacteria are killed off during the course of antibiotic treatment, bad bacteria can grow back stronger than before treatment began. The intestines become breeding grounds for candida yeast, which travels through the body's own mucus membrane system. According to Mark Andrew Hawyes, founder and CEO of Sinus-Wellness.com, "The Mayo Clinic has been conducting research on the origin of sinus yeast infections. The results they have found seem to suggest some type of fungus (yeast is, of course, one variety of fungus) may be the culprit."

What to Take to Treat a Sinus Infection Caused by Antibiotics

• Nasal spray in conjunction with an antifungal medicine can fight a sinus infection.

  In the Mayo Clinic study, research determined that most people with a chronic sinus infection had yeast or fungal growths in their sinus cavities. Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum suggests that conservative treatments like nasal rinses are effective against chronic sinusitis, but that the yeast infection must be fought at the same time. Teitelbaum recommends a low dose of cortisol to shrink sinus swelling and an antifungal to kill the underlying yeast growth that led to the sinus infection.