DR Jeff Foster is The Sun on Sunday’s resident doctor and is here to help YOU.
Dr Jeff, 43, splits his time between working as a GP in Leamington Spa, Warks, and running his clinic, H3 Health, which is the first of its kind in the UK to look at hormonal issues for both men and women.
See h3health.co.uk and email at drjeff@the-sun.co.uk.
Q: I’M a 28-year-old man and my sinuses block all the time. This has been going on for years.
My GP thinks it’s allergy-related and I have been taking a prescribed antihistamine every day for the last three months but they aren’t improving.
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I have monitored my symptoms and there doesn’t seem to be a trigger. Is there anything you could suggest?
Stephen Davies, London
A: The key to a prolonged sinusitis/rhinitis is to actually look up your nose.
By definition, allergies are made worse or better depending on the exposure to the allergen that is the trigger.
If yours is constant then a particular allergen is unlikely.
You may suffer from nasal polyps which are small benign growths in the nasal canal which can cause persistent blockage and secondary sinusitis, or you might have inflamed soft tissue in the nasal canals.
A simple process would be to trial a steroid nasal spray, but only after your doctor has looked up your nose.
If this all fails, the next option would be to have a CT scan to see if there is any blockage, and you be referred to an ear, nose and throat surgeon.
Q: MY son is 16 and has always had quite puffy ankles but recently they have been more swollen and he keeps having marks that look like bruises around the edges of his feet.
They come and go.
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What could be causing this?
Debbie Reynolds, Barrow
A: There are many reasons why people suffer with puffy ankles, but the general rule is that the older we get, the more serious the causes tend to be.
In older patients, puffy ankles can be a sign of changes in osmolarity in the blood, which is a change in the concentration of proteins or other substances in the blood that keep the water drawn into it.
For example, people with liver problems or malnutrition might suffer from this as there is not enough protein “pull” to keep the water in the bloodstream.
We also see puffy ankles in people with a weak heart who physically cannot pump the blood round the body efficiently enough to stop it pooling in the ankles.
Although not impossible, these causes are less common in young people.
In younger groups, we look initially more at lifestyle factors such as physical activity, stasis, (how long we spend sitting still with our feet down), and obesity.
Rarely early varicose veins can also cause swelling.
If his symptoms are relatively persistent, and not a rarity, then he should see his doctor to make sure there are no underlying medical causes.
