The camera that was jammed up my face today.
This pretty much defines how my face feels all day.
It was about 3 weeks ago when I started to realize some sever head and sinus congestion. After sniffing and sneezing for a few days I chalked it up to be a little cold. Boy oh boy was I wrong. Since breathing is really important and I really like the idea breathing, we figured it was super important to have this issue checked out. Before my doctor appointment I tried some suggested remedies off of the pregnancy sites such as a neti pot (wow, was this weird), steam, hot compress packs, Vicks, humidifiers, etc. After NONE of these natural remedies worked I resorted to good old fashioned antibiotics per the doc.
The first few days started to work and then the pressure came back with a vengeance! The antibiotics were pointless. The only thing that seems to give me some relief is this nasal spray that is SUPER addictive. It got so bad that the pressure built up behind my eye and actually tore my retina. Yup, you know I can't make that up. So today I saw an ENT (ear, nose, and throat doctor). He decided that I was SO bad, that he needed to look inside my sinuses with a huge camera. No numbing solution of course because I'm prego (see above pic). Yep that whole thing went into my face.
His verdict? Steroids. My verdict? No breathing. Sigh....
The tid-bit of information I found on dealing with rhinitis while pregnant said that the mucus membranes in the nasal passages of the sinuses often swell and become congested during pregnancy, probably due to the same hormones that cause your vaginal membranes to swell and become congested (fantastic...now my vagina won't breathe either??) Some women feel like they have a horrible cold the entire pregnancy.
Has anyone else dealt with this? HELP!!
