How To: 'Mucus' and Sinus Drainage Symptoms

I've been posting for a few years in the Mayo's Post-Covid Recovery and Support Group regarding my Long Covid journey. There are so many different 'symptoms' under discussion that sometimes it feels all to overwhelming. Specifically I'm putting up this new post for those sufferers who began back in 2022 and continue in 2026 to post about LC related to symptoms of the 'dizziness' or vertigo; especially related to sinus cavities nasal drainage, swelling tongue, loss of smell and taste. This is often buried in other more general discussions but I thought it might be helpful to gather data reported in this group since 2022 that for me lead to solving LC problems related to the sinuses. I begin this new post with a long journey of another sufferer in the Mayo LC group: artistandtwin The post below may help others in LC group; it did put me on a path to healing. Please share specifics of your success stories involved with reducing dizziness and drainage from sinus cavities, perhaps even your ears. My special thanks to artistandtwin for their previous post back on April 23, 2023 as it lead directly to my sphenoid even though my sphenoid was off the charts bad and micro surgery was required as the key part for my solution to heal!

"I suffered from excruciating headaches in the back of my head, red eyes, hand tremors so bad I couldn't hold a spoon without dropping it, vertigo so bad that I couldn't touch my nose with my finger, extreme tingling in my legs, and the debilitating fatigue that made it hard to stand up, my less lift my arms to take a pan out of the cupboard. This went on for over a yr.

It's been 20 months since the vertigo began and I JUST found out what's been causing it!

In the end, after seeing all kinds of specialists & having all kinds of tests, here is what was wrong with me.

1. I had low ferritin, which means my iron stores were low. So I began taking iron every other day as low ferritin causes "all sorts of neurological symptoms". The iron helped my vertigo become episodic and not constant. BUT it was NOT BPPV.

2. All 3 of my brain MRIs (over a period of 5 mos) showed "moderate mucosal thickening" in the sphenoid and ethmoid sinuses (deep in the skull behind your eyes & nose) and mucous retention cysts. Everybody kept focusing on a very tiny stroke I'd apparently had during all this, but everyone also said this stroke wouldn't have caused any symptoms. Guess what? The sinuses were the problem all along and my ENT missed it!

My 3rd neurologist is the one who explained my sphenoid sinus issues were so bad, so extreme, they were putting pressure on my cerebellum & brainstem and THAT'S why I was suffering with 24/7 & later episodic vertigo, tingling in my legs, incoordination of my legs, inability to move my feet on occasion, hand tremors, & headaches! It took me 20 months to find this out!

In the meantime, my biggest blessing was that I'd seen an immunologist/ allergist and he'd had me start some sinus meds that have really helped. I didn't know why they were helping so much, but now I do. Every day I use NeilMed sinus rinse, azelistine Rx Nasal spray (2×/day), fluticasone Nasal spray, cetirizine OTC allergy pill, montelukast Rx pill, and now he's also having me start prednidone eye drops in my nose 2x/day. Plus, I use Benzedrex inhaler as needed and my PCP had me try dramamine/anti-vert (meclizine) but I don't think it helped.

So, now I'm waiting to see a new ENT ... one who will recognize what all the MRIs showed & what all the MRI reports clearly listed about my sphenoid sinus issues & cysts. I may need a sphenoidotomy (sinus surgery). I can't BELIEVE it took THIS LONG for someone to figure out what was going on with me, but I pushed & pushed until I found someone who figured it out.

Apparently, I've had sinus infections I didn't know about and quite possibly this is why I had so many random fevers and infections (at least 4 or 5 within 12 mos after having covid).

And sphenoid sinus infections only happen 1-3% of the time ppl have sinus infections. Usually, sinus infections are in the front of the face. That's why nobody was figuring this out I guess.

Plus, sphenoid sinus disease doesn't usually put pressure on the cerebellum & brain stem like mine did, so everyone thought this was a benign finding on my MRIs.