Azasite and/or dry eye and chronic sinusitis or congestion?

[tiff]

I've got dry eye, mgd, and have been on azasite for almost a year. since i began azasite i've been chronically congested, coughing on and off, and have gotten numerous colds. my allergist suggested nasonex, which i've been doing for a few months, and recently had me get a ct scan because of my constant illnesses. turns out my sinuses are inflamed and he wants me to see an ent. so, i looked up azasite and found it could possibly cause sinusitis. but, i also found that dry eye goes along with congestion and sinus issues. i'm wondering whether any of you also have these issues and how you rectify it. of course i just learned that nasonex isn't good if you have dry eye so i'm at a loss as to what to do. i need something to help with post nasal drip so i can at least get a respite from coughing. any ideas? along these lines, i'm also super concerned about being on azasite for so long. any thoughts on what we, who depend on it for relief, will do for decades to come? it kind of scares me to be on this for the rest of my life. thanks!!!

[LaDiva]

Hi tiff. I have a few comments. Turned out I was allergic to something in Azasite and it was creating major inflammation in my eyes. Did not notice any unusual sinus issues though. Am now on low dose Doxy twice a day instead of Azasite and may be on Doxy for life because of rosacea. I use saline spray for the nose, and have friends who swear by Neti Pots for sinus and allergy issues. Might help if you've not already tried saline sprays. Good luck to you.

[tiff]

Thanks, LaDiva. Yes, I have the neti pot and use saline mist for my nose. I don't know that I'm having an allergic reaction to the azasite, but it seems an interesting coincidence that I've been having sinus issues non stop since starting it and that this is posted about on the web. I'll have to see what the ent says.

About the long-term effects of prolonged Azasite use.....does anyone have speculation or comments? It worries me that I'm in my 30s and will likely always need this. Doxy did nothing for me. thanks.

[shanku]

I had severe/chronic Sinus for 3 years (2007-2010) after I moved to NC from CA in 2005. Before that I never had any Sinus or Dry eye issues. Infact, my dry eyes started after a severe sinus infection followed by an eye infection back in spring of 2007 from abnormal pollen levels. I used to have constant headache from it. I tried Netipot, saline mist etc. and endless list of antibiotics; Netipot etc. surely did help to prevent more occurrence of it but did not help all the way. My ENT did not do advance allergy testings at that time as at basic allergy blood testing I did not show much problems. I used Allegra-D, Prednisone for a while as was not aware of their drying effect. Tried to stay away from Nasonex, Afrin etc. as far as possible. So, I under went Sinus surgery in 2010 and touch-wood my Sinus has been great afterwards! Do not mean to suggest surgery as a solution - just sharing my story. Now in 2011, on advise of Dr.L, I insisted on doing advanced allergy testing and those tests found me pretty sensitive to quite a few antigens. So, sometime I wish I had done this before going for the sinus surgery and may be allergy shots would have addressed my Sinus symptoms.

I am on Doxy for 1.5 yrs now 100mg 2x/day for MGD, Rosacea and I am too very concerned about its long term side effect. I just had another stomach upset! please see this thread on side effects:

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question...0105056AA9hmvn

I was thinking Azasite may be better to use on long term as it is localized. Now I tried Azasite for a month not sure how much it helped and at that time discontinued doxy - incidentally I got another bad Rosacea flare up after sometime. Sometime I think it may be bcoz of discontinuing that doxy in the past! I am not sure how much Doxy helps my eyes though.

Sometime I just get very tempted to drop all meds and all these therapies...most of these look like a quack medicine to me and side effects outweigh their benefits. But unfortunately, we do not have a choice!

[Hopeful2]

Is it possible that you are yawning a great deal?

I notice that I get post nasal drip when I have been yawning a lot, particularly in the morning. In face, before lasik I never thought I had dry eyes. I did go through spells of yawning a great deal, at these times I would develop post nasal drip.

It would appear that the eyes and the sinuses are all connected. I have resisted getting plugs because I have been concerned about the effect of lack of tear drainage into the sinuses. I too was going to recommend using a Neti pot. My daughter was using one the other day and claimed it made her sinus issues better. At one point the saline solution was running out the tear duct.

What kind of allergy testing did you have. . . blood, skin prick, scratch?

[shanku]

I got these work ups recently:

a) airborne allergy skin prick test
b) intradermal airborne allergy testing

esp. the later one was very useful in my case. I earlier did blood and food allergy testing but were not helpful.

[tiff]

This is all very interesting.

I had airborne allergens skin prick testing. I had a high reaction to nearly everything.

I yawn quite a bit (have two small children and am working on my PhD).

I'm not really sure what to do here. Thanks!

[Joseph]

I feel that sinus pressure and dry eyes ar definetly connected. The more sinus pressure I have the drier my eyes become. My left eye is ALWAYS drier and has more pain, and my left sinus ALWAYS has the most pressure and pain. From what I am reading this does not sound like a coincidence.

[tiff]

Joseph,

I think you're right. So how do we treat them simultaneously without tipping the balance of optimal conditions for either? I hate having constant sinus issues, but if treating sinusitis means it will dry my eyes further then that is not an option. At the same time, my doc suggests I'll always need azasite, but I read that that causes chronic sinus issues. Honestly, what on earth can we do?!

[Joseph]

Tiff, That is the million dollar question. The only thing that I am not sure about is it the sinus inflamation that is causing the eye problems, Or is it allergies thats causing both?????