Sinusitis

Sinusitis is swelling of the sinuses, usually caused by an infection. It's common and usually clears up on its own within 2 to 3 weeks. But medicines can help if it's taking a long time to go away.

Sinusitis is common after a cold or flu and symptoms of sinusitis include:

• Pain, swelling and tenderness around your cheeks, eyes or forehead
• A blocked nose
• A reduced sense of smell
• Green or yellow mucus from your nose
• A sinus headache
• A high temperature
• Toothache
• Bad breath
• Signs of sinusitis in young children may also include irritability, difficulty feeding, and breathing through their mouth.

The community pharmacy can help with sinusitis and advise about medicines that can help, such as: deongestant nasal sprays  and salt water rinses  which can be bought without a prescription, but they should not be used for more than 1 week. The pharmacist will also offer advice and support e.g. guidance on: 

• Getting plenty of rest
• Drinking plenty of fluids
• Taking painkillers, such as Ibuprofen  or Paracetamol
• Avoiding allergic triggers
• Not smoking
• Cleaning your nose with a salt water solution to ease congestion
• If you have a high temperature or you do not feel well enough to do your normal activities, try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until you feel better.

Under the Pharmacy 1st scheme if Sinusitis is confirmed, and dependant on the patient themselves, the pharmacist may prescribe steroid nasal sprays e.g. Mometasone or Fluticasone and or antibiotics e.g. Phenoxymethylpenicillin (Pen V), Clarithroymin, Erythromycin or Doxycycline if certain criteria are met e.g.

• The patient falls into the correct age bracket for the prescribing
• The patient has the correct signs and symptoms to meet the prescribing criteria
• They do not fall into the excluded categories
• The registered healthcare professional should also have evidence of competence in the clinical skills and knowledge covered in the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) Pharmacy First Service self-assessment framework. This evidence can be found at the following link CPPE Pharmacy First. Numarknet has partnered with CIG our training provider and a downloadable document with links to the CIG website and enroling on the external CIG training can all be found at the following link ECG Pharmacy First . The document is called ECG Pharmacy First Training Booking Guide.