
What Causes Throat Infection, Inflamed Sinuses, Fatigue, Post-nasal Drip And Blurred Vision?

This was two months ago, and since then i have been consistently on antibiotics. I have had many tests done, including a PCR for chlamydia and gonorrhea. All of which have come back negative.
I saw a specialist and he put me on Azithromycin. The course is to take 250mg a day for 6 days and then 250mg three times a week. I started taking this course for about 3 weeks and felt no real change in symptoms. I went back and saw him and told him about my concern about oeal chalmydia/gonorrhea (as i did not think the tonsilitis would have been a result of the oral sex the first time i saw him)
he advised that azithromycin can treat both chlamydia and gonorrhea in the dose that he has given me. I find this strange, as every articlei have read on the internet has advised that the treatment for gonorrhea is 1g of azithromycin as well as 125mg of ceftriaxone.
He originally told me that a pcr swab would pick up the bacteria even if i was on antibitoics, as a pcr is very sensitive. However, when i saw him, he said that these bacteria might not even be picked up on a pcr swab even if i was not on antibiotics.
my current symptoms include:
*red throat (not sore)
*a bit of puss left on my tonsils (even though the specialist sais it is not puss, it is just inflammation. this si strange asall my tonsil symptoms seem to dissapear when i have tonsiltiis/throat infection within a few days of antibiotics)
* tight/enflamed sinuses - all the sinuses in my face are very tight (there is no infection in my sinus)
* fatigue, no matter how much i sleep, i am always fatigued
* blurred vision (not sure if this is from the inflamed sinus or the azithromycin)
* post nasal drip
* I can feel an irritation/inflammation in my trachea
* sometimes in the morning i spit out yellow phlegm
* constantly feel dazed and feel I can not concentrate or focus on anything (this is not due to the azithromycin, as it has been an issue from the beginning)
the symptoms started as a normal chest infeciton (no fever) while i was traveling to the USA (i am from Australia). It seemed to go away by the time i got back to Australia, however the tonsilitis came up a few days after i had unprotected oral sex with a girl. however not sure if this was the main cause, but i found it weird that I got tonsillitis whilst on a course of augmentin duo forte. I took this for another ten days and the tonsillitis seemed to go down, but never completely disappeared. Sine then I have had a red throat, inflamed sinuses and feel fatigued. I occasionally have flare ups of inflammation/irritation in my chest (trachea)
all my tests are fine, show no infection, and everything is normal.
my white blood cell count however was slightly raised (12.6) around a month ago, however the next test i did after that showed that it was normal, however i feel exactly the same, just not as ill.I think this was around the time i took clarithromycin.
The quesitons i have are
1. could this be oral gonorrhea? even though my blood and swab tests have come back negative?
2. does azithromycin (in the dosage given by the doctor) treat gonorrhea? at first i self medicated with the azithromycin thinking i may have had chlamydia, i took 1g as a single dose, followed by 4 days of 250mg tablet a day. this did not make me feel any better. After taking this dose however, the tightness in my sinuses went down, however once i switched to the 3x a week dose, the sinuses and above symptoms flared up again.
3. If this is NOT an STI, then what else could it possibly be? Could the infection possibly still be coming from my chest?
Please help, this has had a severe impact on my life.
seems to be sinusitis- source.
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
I had gone through your question and understand your concerns that you are having recurrent episodes of tonsillo - pharyngitis since 2 months.
Answers for your queries.
1. No. It is not oral gonorrhea ( commonest organism is streptococci, but not gonococci, and above all, the tests are negative for gonorrhea.
2. Yes. some research papers shown (A single dose of azithromycin showed similar effectiveness as a 7-day regimen of azithromycin).
3. This is not STI. Main source is your sinuses (not from lungs). People with post nasal drip (sinusitis) may develop tonsillitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis (voice box), trachitis (trachea infection) and some times lung infection (wheeze, sputum).
4. In my opinion, you need to undergo CT scan of para nasal sinuses and blood tests ( serum IgE, absolute eosinophilic count) to rule allergic rhinosinusitis (commonest cause for recurrent tonsil-lo-pharyngits).
5. Kindly go ahead for the investigations, after discussing with your treating doctor.
Hope this answers your question, if you have additional questions or follow up questions then please do not hesitate in writing to us. I will be happy to answer your questions.
Wishing you good health.


The main reason I think this is different from my usual sinusitis episodes, is that I developed tonsilitis whilst on a course of augmentin duo forte. Usually i tkae antibiotics for 5 days and the infection is gone by day 3/4, in this case i took so many antibiotics, however, the infection has not cleared up.
The ENT I see here at home has given me gentamycin nasal spray, which i am to spray whenever i have yellow discharge from my nose. this has worked wonders over the last 8 years, and I have not had any problems.
However, this time, the nasal spray did nothing, and neither did any antibiotics.
How can I be sure this is sinus related? I feel that doctors are assuming it is my sinus as I have had this ongoing condition for a few years now, (but has never been as bad as this, usually just causes tonsillitis and a bit of inflammation in my sinus)
Apologies, I forgot to add, that I have some 5mg valium tablets at home that was prescribed to me a while back. I would like to know if I can mix this with azithromycin? are there any side effects or interactions?
Thanks
chronic sinusitis, can be combined.
Detailed Answer:
Hello again,
Thanks for considering my answer and for your follow up.
Recurrent tonsillo-pharyngitis always occurs secondary to chronic sinusitis, where antibiotics will not help in some due to drug resistent (gentamycin, augmentin) strains of organisms or sinus openings blockage (anatomical blockage or pathalogical extent).
Your symptoms (post nasal drip, tender sinuses, nose blocakge and co-infections of aerodigestive tract- tonsillopharyngitis, lung infections) are confirmative of sinusitis. Therefore, you need investigations (ct scan & blood tests) to determine the cause and extension of disease.
As such, there were no interactions found in drug database between Valium and azithromycin. so, you can take combinedly.
Hope, I, have answered youe query.
Take care.


The only issue is that this all started with a chest infection, which then went away and came back as tonsillitis. the sinusitis symptoms did not appear until around 3 weeks of the tonsillitis not going away.
I first had a chest infection for around three weeks, followed by tonsillitis for 3 weeks (however puss/inflamation has not gone down), and then the sinus symptoms for about a month now, even though I have gentamycin and dexamethasone nasal spray which I have been spraying on a daily basis over the last three months,. This usually fixes the infection and inflamamation in around a week.
I am still a bit confused as to how I can develop tonsillitis when I have been taking augmentin duo forte for so long, as this would normally prevent the infection from occuring in the first place?
this is why I am worried that it may be something else, and I am not getting the right treatment.
drug resistence.
Detailed Answer:
Hello again,
Answers for your queries.
Any drug (antibiotic) on prolonged duration, will show resistance due to overuse or mutation of organisms.
Aero-digestive tract (pharynx, larynx and lung) infections are always two way, can transfer from lungs to sinuses or sinuses to lungs.
Repeated or recurrent infections (tonsillo-pharyngitis) needs to be evaluated for the source of infection (sinuses or lungs) by investigations. So, kindly evaluate.
Do not worry, it is a treatable one.
Take care.

Answered by

Get personalised answers from verified doctor in minutes across 80+ specialties
