It can be exceedingly dangerous to give or take advice in this particular situation. I can offer what helps ME, but please be sure you take into account what meds you take, whether the sinus pressure is from allergies, a cold, a flu or an infection, etc. Depending on how bad mine gets, I'll try the following...

1) Advil and icepack.
2) Allegra (or whatever allergy meds you normally take).
3) Relaxation with special focus on a straight, tall neck.
4) GENTLE exercise like yoga.
5) I picked up a battery-powered neck massage pillow that happens to work WONDERS wrapped around my skull. Provides a pressure wrap as well as scalp massage.

... and as ever, LOTS OF WATER. :)

~ Bex

Apologies... I meant to add that I don't take Allegra for allergies. I take it because it seems to make a dent when my pressure and pain are very high.

Bex,

I appreciate your sharing what helps you. I gotta say, after my PCP doctor appointment yesterday I was starting to feel I was going to have to figure these types of situations on my own...but I digress. I do have a secondary question about the GENTLE exercise. Admittedly I was not in the best shape when I was diagnosed but it wasn't horrible. Since taking Diamox, and especially the last increase dose, has caused me to get winded walking across the floor let alone anything else. I am trying to improve this by taking walks either outside (when it's nice enough and I can) or using the Wii Fit - which also has yoga. Unfortunately it's not working! Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Kristena
Sorry if not making sense, it's a morning already

Kristena
Im chiming in here, Big hellos and crazy perzon waves to Bex! Hey gurl!
Anywho, if only DS worked right, they dont give members theoption of reading old posts any more, i think they only go back to the first of the year, grrrrrrrr.
Many on here got the proper treatment when diamox increases messed up from acidosis like metabolic, respitory, proximal, it would take me a minute to read up and get refreshed on it all but i gotta get busy today. See this post, this is something that can and should be treated, you dont have to put up with the breathlessness, its the diamox, not you or the lack or exercise.

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Psuedotumor-Cerebri/forum/14428327-proximal-renal-tubular-acidosis

Well that's certainly refreshing to know - the last blood draw I saw CO2 levels were at 17 and that was not long after the increase in Diamox and Topamax. I've been drinking 423 gallons of water a day ( slight exaggeration) trying to keep everything else ok with my kidneys, but I did just get new labs drawn so I will know updated info soon. Thanks for the added info :-)

Kristena

Some people will be totally grossed out by this so I apologize, but I got a neti pot. There are all different version out there now I got a generic cvs version it's like a little plastic tea pot that you fill with water and the little packet of saline solution that comes with the pot. I'll let you read the directions on the pot, but you for lack if a better word "rinse" your sinuses. It is a very strange feeling, can't say I loved it, but it made it so I could breathe. Plus my cold was much shorter than my husbands, who refused to do my "weird sinus wash!" I also took mucinex, but I am a vp shunt person, I'm no longer on Diamox. I just started Topamax though so I don't know if you can take mucinex with that.
Hope you feel better!
Nicole

Nicole, thank you! I always wondered what a neti pot was! :)

Kristena, I definitely recommend following Mary's advice first. Like most of us, I have a much harder time some days than others with weakness and pain, but I've figured out a couple things I can do every day no matter how poorly I feel.

When I lie down in bed, I do isometrics. Flex and extend the toes as many times as I can. Then move focus up to the calves and so on all the way up to my neck, which I stretch by raising and dropping my shoulders and moving my head side to side. Tighten. Loosen. Flex. Extend. Just keep doing these little isolated stretches for as long as you can without increasing your pain.

Yoga lets you work on flexibility and balance without doing any impact moves. Again, it is a lot of stretching and relaxing. Even if you need to start very small... even if you have to start with just your feet... you should begin to notice a difference within a day or two. It won't eliminate your pain, but it will help you in countless other ways.

Pulling another prize from Mary's bag of tricks (which I have learned to respect without question), you may want to start keeping a journal to help you determine if there is any correlation between specific foods you eat and how you're feeling. I didn't want to admit it the first time I read about it, but what we eat can have everything to do with how we feel. Until I started journaling, I had no idea how sensitive I am to processed and refined foods. Not happy news for a food addict like me, but knowledge is power.

Once a chronic illness sets in, our bodies tend to go completely haywire, which is why it is nearly unheard of for folks with serious chronic conditions to have no comorbids. The brain. The eyes. The thyroid. The pancreas. The kidneys. The liver. The heart. It goes on and on... but understanding what effect different foods is really having on us is a big step toward feeling some relief. Just as starting with even the smallest isometric work produces results we can actually feel within a couple days.

I sure miss the days when I could just take an aspirin or a spoon of cough syrup and feel normal again! :)

~ Bex