How to Diagnose Chronic Sinusitis

It is not always easy to diagnose chronic sinusitis. The symptoms often resemble those associated with a cold or other upper respiratory infection. Your primary care physician can determine if you need the services of a specialist to diagnose and treat your symptoms.

Instructions

Define Diagnostic Criteria

• 1

  Expect a complete medical history to be part of the criteria used to diagnose chronic sinusitis. This will include determining if there is a family history of sinus or allergy-related illness.

• 2

  Plan on having an x-ray of the sinuses. Trapped air and fluid in the sinuses will show up on x-ray.

• 3

  Realize the health care provider will likely tap on your face along the sinus pathway to diagnose sinusitis. This percussion is done to reveal tenderness often associated with chronic sinusitis.

• 4

  Accept that it may be necessary to undergo a CT or an MRI of the skull to look more in depth at the sinus track. This diagnostic test is also used to evaluate the thickness of the sinus tissues.

• 5

  Understand your doctor may shine a light on your sinuses. If sinusitis is present, the sinuses will not glow as they do in normal, uninfected sinuses.

• 6

  Prepare for an examination using a nasal endoscope. This instrument is a thin flexible tube your doctor will insert through your nostrils to view the inside of the sinuses. A fiber-optic light clearly defines any signs of sinusitis.

• 7

  Expect to wait a few days to get results from nasal and sinus cultures to identify specific bacterial pathogens that might be the cause of sinusitis.

Observe Symptoms of Sinusitis

• 8

  Recognize the connection between aching in the upper teeth and sinus congestion. Sinusitis can put pressure on the nerves along the jaw and teeth. This pressure often feels like a toothache.

• 9

  Consider fatigue a possible symptom of chronic sinusitis. Only your doctor can determine if you have an infection that is responsible for unusual tiredness.

• 10

  Find a common complaint among chronic sinusitis sufferers is a reduced sensitivity to taste and smell. In some cases, there is total loss of these senses.

• 11

  Realize that one can have chronic sinusitis without noticeable symptoms. If the infection is in the deep sinuses, it may be in existence for months before symptoms arise.