Orange-red mucus...sign of a sinus infection, or something else?
I was talking to a good friend of mine today and she was telling me about how she thinks she has her very first sinus infection. Her teeth hurt on one side of her face, her face hurts when she leans over to pick a toy off the floor, and worst of all, she has this orange-red mucus coming out of her nose from the right nostril only.
She is not running a fever, so she was telling me she was thinking of just treating it at home with over-the-counter remedies, but I'm strongly advising her to see her physician. Yellow and green gunk I'm familiar with, but orange? That just doesn't sound good to me. Like maybe blood is in there too or something.
Have any of you ever had this color mucus come out of you before, and if so, what did you do to get rid of it? Did you see your doctor like I think my friend should? Any advice that I can pass along to her would be highly appreciated.
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Michelle, I have heard and read about orange or dark mucus before. For the most part, darker mucous indicates "stagnation" due to time left in the body, but does not necessarily imply that this is an infection. Since the mucus is coming from her nose and not being coughed up from the lungs, it sounds like there is something going on in the sinus. The best thing to do in this case is try some saline nasal sprays and keep an eye on it. If the orange/darker mucous keeps up, your friend will need to see her doctor. Persistent, orange/dark mucous could indicate sinusitis.
Thank you Coach Virginia, the knowledge you show in your comments never ceases to amaze me. I appreciate your time and wisdom so much. That makes sense that dark mucous would indicate it was sticking around in the body for awhile. I double checked with my friend, and the orange gunk was definitely coming from her nose and not her lungs.
She tried a lot of saline solution this morning and got a bunch of it out, but then it kept on coming and her face was really uncomfortable, so since the weekend is coming up she did decide to see her doctor for some antibiotics. She was, as she suspected, diagnosed with a sinus infection and given a prescription. The PA who saw her also suggested a Neti Pot, which she was already considering buying. But that could be a whole other post, I have heard so much about that product! I emailed her tonight and she's already feeling better after just one dose of the antibiotics and her face and teeth no longer hurt.
Michelle, thank you for the kind words. Neti pots are really great. People who practice yoga use it on a regular basis. I bought one just to have it handy in case I ever need it.
I am glad your friend started her course of antibiotics, sinus infections can get pretty nasty and chronic. She may want to consider using the neti pot routinely as a preventative measure. Most health food stores sell them.
So, is Coach Virginia Dr. Rod Moser from WebMD?
http://boards.webmd.com/webx?THD@@.89af7272!thdchild=.89af7272/1
Ditto on the WebMD comment. You should reference your sources if you are going to copy and paste Coach. Quotes would also be a nice addition.