Sinusitis Experience #020
Extreme Infection Causes Resistance to Antibiotics

I had facial surgery 10 years ago and immediately after started getting very tender boil like bumps on the incision line. The doctor said that they would eventually “go away”. Two months later while out of the country, I became seriously ill with fever, sinus infection, thick mucosa and constant coughing. Yellow pus was draining from my right eye.

I went to a hospital twice. They tested only for strep and prescribed penicillin. I was sick for 4-5 weeks, but eventually felt better only to have a reoccurrence 3 months later. I went to an ENT, had CAT scans, and was treated with antibiotics. I kept getting the same thing 3-4 times a year and would be sick for at least 3 weeks.

After 1 year the ENT performed surgery and said that the infection must have been really bad since it had eaten a hole through my cheekbone and into my right eye! Surgery didn’t help and I kept getting sick 3-4 times a year only to be prescribed various antibiotics. No nasal cultures were ever taken.

Finally, in 3-05 I became so sick while on holiday that I ended up in the hospital and was told that it was only “allergies”. I returned home only to go 3 more times to emergency before the 3rd one finally took both a nasal culture and a urine culture only to find that I had MRSA that has cultivated in my nose in the upper sinuses.

I had been prescribed antibiotics on 57 occasions over the 10-year period and had become resistant to all but a couple. I now am seeing a good allergist/naturopath and have a doctor who is in the process of figuring out what to do. My immune system is at 37 percent as these reoccurring infections have taken a toll on it. I have been taking immune boosters, magnesium, zinc and colostrum for 4 months and will shortly have it retested. I was put on vancomycin via a nebulizer, but ended up in the hospital with a lung irritation and what was thought to be a Herxheimer Reaction.

All I can say is that people should ask to be tested for resistance/sensitivity to antibiotics if they have taken multi courses over a long period. I would also suggest that anyone with a sinus infection have both nares cultured one or two times during the infection, just because it just might be MRSA.

~ S. Osterback

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