I have had a nasty cold for the past two weeks, and nonetheless took two plane trips during this time, which is probably one reason why I still have the cold, and why I have this problem now. I’ve got a fever, headache, mucus, phlegm, coughing, and congestion.
Tuesday night, I had a particularly painful sinus episode. I blew my nose (as usual, it didn’t help much), I took OTC pain relief, I took Mucinex (well, that was for the cough), and I finally gave in and used Afrin. This help the blockage a little, but I still felt a lot of pressure and some pain (just on the left side).
I also noticed a tingling on my nose. Over the next several hours, I developed numbness on the left side of my nose. It’s still numb; I occasionally feel some tingling or tickling, but mostly I can’t feel it, as if I had had a shot of lidocaine there.
The area is pretty well-defined; the left side of my nose, from bridge to tip, and around my left nostril. It extends along the area under my left eye (not the orbit area, but the skin below that) about half an inch, and along a line from there to the corned of my nose. I don’t seem to be affected inside the nose, but it’s hard to tell. I also had some numbness in my upper lip, but that seems to be gone.
Googling has revealed that many people with sinusitis get this numbness, and that I probably need to see a doctor. My question is: am I doing myself any harm by delaying this?