You know you have several bad doctors when they refuse to believe what you tell them.
by Jerry
(Raleigh, NC)
I visited three different ear/nose/throat specialists who were completely unaware that the use of a certain class of blood pressure drugs could, in some people, lead to a chronic and difficult to treat sinus infection -- even though this information is easily found on the Internet and in very accessible medical literature commonly available in consumer bookstores.
I was taking a blood pressure drug as prescribed by my doctor for a few months when I developed what I thought was a bad head cold, with lots of nasal congestion and mucous. It persisted, and would not go away for many, many weeks. I told my doctor I thought something was wrong with my sinuses. He told me to squirt saline solution up my nose. That did nothing. I soon noticed that blood would come out when I blew my nose. I knew then that I had an infection.
I never had sinus trouble before, so I searched the Internet to see if I might be having a reaction to the blood pressure medicine. On the manufacturer's Web site I found that sinusitis was indeed a reported "adverse reaction" to the drug. So I told my doctor what I found (since he was blissfully unaware that the drug he prescribed could cause that).
So he prescribed 10 days of antibiotics for the infection, and a different blood pressure (BP) drug. Unknown to me at the time, the new drug, though a different chemical, was in the same class of drugs as the first one -- a class known as angiotensin receptor blockers. I asked my doc if I should stop taking the BP drug until the sinus infection cleared up. He said, "No." He said the new drug was NOT associated with causing sinus infections, and that I should continue to take it. So I did. Big mistake. After finishing the antibiotics, I still had the sinus infection.
So he prescribed a different antibiotic for another 10 days. They had no effect. So he told me there was nothing he could do, that I should go see an ear/nose/throat (ENT) specialist to treat the sinusitis. I told the ENT doc that I believed the sinus problem was caused by the BP drug I took. He said he never heard of that before. I had no anatomical sinus obstructions conducive to infections, no allergies, and no history of sinus problems. So he prescribed yet another different course of antibiotics. They didn't work.
My infection was getting worse. He ordered a CT scan of my head, which revealed what he called an extensive and severe sinus infection. Every single sinus was involved. He eventually prescribed three different antibiotics, all for two-week courses, with no effect. He then said the only possible solution was surgery, to open up the sinuses and increase the "drainage" to get rid of the infected mucous causing the problem. I reluctantly agreed, but two days later, changed my mind after reading about possible nasty unintended consequences of sinus surgery, such as blindness. So I went to see another ENT doc, this time a full professor at a local medical school. Surely, here I will find relief, I thought.
I told him the same story: no allergies, no history of sinus problems, no obstructions, and that I believed the sinusitis was caused by my BP drug. I showed him the CT scan. He openly scoffed at me, and said my BP drug could not possibly cause the problem. He prescribed 12 weeks of an insomnia-causing antibiotic, and took a culture from my sinuses. So now, my face hurt, mucous was dripping down the back of my throat, I had headaches, night sweats, persistent cough, and now insomnia from the antibiotic. I was disturbed that this ENT doc, despite his impressive credentials, didn't seem to take my assertion seriously about the BP drug. So I went to see yet another ENT doc. He pretty much ignored everything I told him, and instead gave me a lecture about how there is no FDA-approved treatment for chronic sinusitis, and that my only hope was surgery -- but he couldn't guarantee that it would help. So I went back to the ENT professor. After I finished the antibiotics he had given me, I was still miserable. On this next visit, he ordered another CT scan, and told me he thought I had a MRSA infection. I was skeptical, and reiterated my belief that my infection was caused by the sinus inflammation from the first BP drug. I had researched three different drug reference manuals as well as Web MD online, all of which reported that sinusitis was a possible adverse effect of the BP drug I took.
Nonetheless, the doc -- this "expert" in sinus problems -- scoffed at me angrily. The second CT scan showed almost no effect from the antibiotic. He was baffled. So he sent me to see an infectious disease (ID) specialist. The ID specialist looked at my chart and told me, "you are what physicians' dread most -- a patient whose problem seems inexplicable." He doubted I had a MRSA infection, but was equally baffled. I then told him that I believed my sinus problem was caused by my BP medicine. He listened very carefully to everything I told him, about my symptoms, my experience with the other docs and antibiotics, etc. He got on his computer and asked me what BP drug I was now taking. After I told him the name, he explained that the drug I was taking had the same effect on the body as the first drug I took -- both were angiotensin receptor blockers, and that there might be some reason to believe they were the problem, though he couldn't say for sure. So he gave me a note recommending to my NEW primary care physician to switch my BP drug to a different class of BP drug. So I started taking what's called a calcium channel blocker, instead of the angiotensin receptor blocker. Well, well -- within three days, my symptoms abated significantly. I am now about 50 percent better.
The reason all the antibiotics never worked was because I was still taking a drug that kept my sinus tissues inflamed!! The ENT doctors are all inexplicably unaware of what every drug reference manual says -- that some BP drugs cause sinusitis in some people -- and they arrogantly refuse to believe what their patients tell them. These jerks were quite willing to perform surgery on me, but each and every one refused to do even a tiny bit of research to confirm the truth of what I told them about my BP drug!! Had even one of them been well-informed about his own field of alleged expertise, he would have first instructed me to stop taking the offending drug, and then treated me with long-term antibiotics. That could have cleared up my problem before it became permanent. Right now, I am still searching for an ENT doc who is aware that a BP drug can cause sinusitis. The only people who know it besides myself are the authors of drug reference manuals.
