What’s a Sphenoid?

More about the sphenoid and image from here.

Four years after having sinus surgery, I considered myself pretty well versed in all things nasal. Over the last few days, I learned that wasn’t so. It started almost two weeks ago now, just a cold I was sure I could kick. I even saw my primary doctor and she agreed, just a cold.

As the days went by, I wasn’t able to kick it. It was the one doing all kicking and it was only getting worse. What started out as a sore throat moved up into my sinus and caused headaches like I hadn’t felt in years. I felt extremely dizzy and like I was on a continuous boat ride. A visit with my ENT confirmed I had a sinus infection in my sphenoid. At first when he took a look inside my nose he said it wasn’t too bad, which I didn’t understand because of how I felt. It wasn’t until he looked all the way into the back of my sinus with a scope did he see the infection. The sphenoid sinuses are in the bones behind the nasal cavity.

I am currently on antibiotics and steroids to fight off the infection. Since I am still feeling pretty awful, I am avoiding doing too much research on the sphenoid. From what I have read so far, infections can lead to some scary stuff. For now, I am taking it one day at a time and looking ahead to better health and even more to learn.