Bacterial sinus infection symptoms can easily be confused or thought only to be a common cold. Educate yourself on the symptoms of sinus infections to avoid potentially unnecessary suffering.
The combination of some or all of following symptoms may indicate the presence of a bacterial infection that could be located in your sinuses:
- Pain in your cheeks or upper back teeth
- A lot of yellow or green drainage coming from your nose for several days
- No relief from standard or over-the-counter decongestants
- Symptoms that get worse after you feel a cold is not getting better or going away
- Worsening nasal blockage or obstruction
- A cold lasting more than 7 to 10 days
Sinus infections or sinusitis can be broken down into several different types:
- Acute Sinusitis: symptoms similar to a cold that remain after onset for over 10 days. The acute type of sinus infections lasts less than a month.
- Subacute Sinusitis: very similar to acute sinusitis with the main difference in the length of symptoms. This type lasts between 1 and 3 months.
- Chronic Sinusitis: with similar symptoms as the previous two, but with an inflammation lasting 3 months and longer. The bacteria in this infection tend to develop antibiotic resistance than with acute sinusitis. There are currently no antibiotics approved for chronic sinusitis and medical or environmental treatment of the inflammation should be attempted with sinus surgery as a final option.
- Recurrent Sinusitis: as the name suggests this when an infection occurs several times throughout the year. Infections that seem to get better but may not go away could be chronic sinusitis as well.
Other Sinus Infection Symptoms
Along with the symptoms listed above these can be considered primary symptoms:
- Facial pain/pressure
- Nasal stuffiness
- Nasal discharge
- Loss of smell
- Cough/congestion
- Fever
- Bad breath
- Fatigue