“Yea Doc, I’ve just got my usual Fall time cold.”
This is a very common scenario reported to me by my patients. They may change it up a bit by saying it happens in the Spring or June or Winter, etc. But all of these case all have a common underlying cause, allergy congestion in the sinuses leading to infection.
In order to get a bacterial sinus infection, you need to have an accumulation of sinus mucous secretions build up in the sinus space. This usually occurs because of poor drainage combined with excess mucous production. Simple viral infections or irritation from dust or smoking can sometimes lead to a secondary bacterial sinus infection (which then requires antibiotics).
But the primary culprit in the ever-so-common annual sinus infection is seasonal allergies. And the way to prevent these seasonal infections is to start taking your antihistamine (Claritin, Zyrtec or Allegra) or the nasal steroid spray (Flonase, Nasocort, Nasonex, etc.) on a regular basis at the beginning of your regular allergy season and continue them for a month or 2 until the weather changes and your allergy season passes.
Just mark your calendar ahead of time to remind yourself to start taking your allergy medicine and you can easily avoid the routine infection you’ve come to believe is inevitable.
