Acute Bacterial Rhinosinusitis

I used to smoke cigarettes. I used to avidly smoke cigarettes. Sometimes, over a pack a day. The first thing I did when I woke up? Lit up a Camel Light. Before I went to sleep? I smoked the day's last cigarette. After every meal? Nothing was a better dessert for me than a cigarette. Suddenly, in the summer of 2009, I decided to quit smoking and I did. Cold turkey, to boot! At first, it was hellish. I didn't know what to do with my hands. I didn't realize how much time I actually spent smoking until I no longer spent said time smoking. I lived with people who did smoke and watching them suck down cancer stick after cancer stick was torture. I felt depressed and bored. I wanted to smoke. But I didn't. I didn't succumb to my cravings for a cigarette.

Soon I started to notice a change in...well everything really. I could breath easier. I wasn't so winded after climbing a flight of steps. My skin looked better. My teeth looked better. I certainly didn't get a chest cold every two months, as I had before. The pros of non-smoking immediately outweighed the cons and I decided to stay a non-smoker. In a little less than a year, I've never felt better. The cravings began to subside and now, even though I still have them on occasion, they are few and far between.

About two weeks ago, I started getting sick. Chest congestion, stuffy head, body aches etc. It lingered for about a week and then, last Sunday, I felt that I was finally on the mend. Only to wake up Monday morning to the worst sinus pain I've ever felt in my entire life! My head was aching. I couldn't breath out of my nose, no matter how hard I tried, and I felt fatigued. It won't go away! It's so frustrating.

When I was a smoker, these sorts of infections would last for weeks, sometimes months. Now, as a non smoker, I'm still getting this crap and it's still sticking around for longer than I want it to! It's interfering with my life! I haven't been able to run on the treadmill, one of my favorite things to do as it really centers me, in a week because I can't even breathe. I finally went to the Health Center on campus yesterday to be prescribed antibiotics. Man, I did not want to do that. I don't like to take antibiotics. You never really know how they could effect you down the road.

The point of this whole "woe is me" blog post is because I'm sick of being sick! It's frustrating that this sinus infection has lasted this long because I've done everything I can do to make it go away! I've been eating oranges and drinking Emergen-C like it's going out of style. I'm downing spinach, sprouts and other vegetables and vegetable broth every day in an attempt to make myself better. None of this has seemed to break this infection. I'm putting off taking the antibiotics hoping that my wimpy immune system will kick into full gear and I won't need to take them, but it looks like this won't be the case. Dammit!