I have a lot of respect for people like you who have suffered from sinusitis. I know that you are willing to continue the fight. From now on, you will begin to win it. The experience I have made in years has flown into this chapter. If you are ready to put some effort into evaluating the measures I describe, there will be immediate improvements. This is how my system works:
- The three level plan represents an “escalation pyramid”
- The must have measures and medication are described in the base of the pyramid (level one). If you do what I suggest there, changes are you will see great improvement of your situation. You might fully recover within weeks and stay healthy.
- If this is not enough: You will have to add the measures in level two. This level contains certain changes in habits, hygiene and stronger / different medication. I have personally “landed” in level many months ago, but was able to permanently stay in level one until today.
- You will have to change your lifestyle to escape sinus surgery if you have done everything in level one and two. This will only be an option depending on the cause of your conditions and the professional situation you are (caught) in.
Three Level Plan to Cure and Prevent Sinusitis
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Level 1:
See an ORL: Allergy? / Bacteria? / Virus? / Fungus?
Nasal spray and nose clensing / Inhalation of essential oils.
Enzymes, for ex. Aniflazym® Takeda, 3x2 a day, for a week or more.
!Smoke-free environment / Quit smoking!
Additional sleep, reducing sports to a minimum for at least 4 to 6 weeks.
Level 2:
Keyboard / eating in front of computer?
Never blow your nose
Antibiotics (+Clavulanic acid) & Antiphlogistics
NSAR Painkillers
Limonene and Cineole, for ex. Gelomyrthol ® Pohl Boscamp
Level 3:
Change of lifestyle
Reduce flights & business trips to the minimum
Last resort:
Functional or radical sinus surgery
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None of the measures and processes described within the first three levels will cause pain or hurt you. They are all designed to ease the symptoms plus to get your body back into the state is has been before you got sick. For example: Some people are afraid of nasal cleansing because they do not know how to do this right. Others think that antibiotics will make their body weaker, ob damage their immune system. This is not true. Antibiotics are the hell if you are hypersensitive to them. What do you do if this is the case? Yes – you will stop taking them. If you are afraid of painkillers: Chances are you will eat these daily in hospital when you are old. This is my personal opinion at least. You know, you have the choice between three to six or seven Diclophenac pills or zero sleep for four to five nights. What is better? I say, use analgesics responsibly and get some rest instead of a sinusitis with complications plus possible life threatening conditions.
In most cases, the surgical approach is not a better solution than optimal, appropriate medical treatment. Every professional today will tell you that surgery has to be seen as the last resort.
The first level might be all you need to stay healthy in the future. It aims at improving the health of your airways. In our modern day live, several factors disturb the natural defense system of our sinuses and the self-cleaning mechanisms of our airways in general:
· The wrong food makes tissues too sour (ph-value) or sick
· A lack of exercise and sunlight negatively influences our immune system
· Cold / dry air reduces the natural purification mechanisms of the airways
· Dust and especially smoke severely disturbs the movement of the hair-like structure on the mucus membrane up to a point where it simply overwhelms the membranes
· A lack of physical exercise (-> office work) cools tissues down without any chance of temperature compensation by increased blood flow or protection.
Simplified view of mucus membrane with dust, cilia and mucus cells
In the image above you can see the cells (mucus cells) in the mucous membrane, which produce both, a thin and a thicker variant of mucus. Mucus has central importance to respiratory tract health: It contains antiseptic enzymes and immunoglobulin serving as a protection shield against diseases.
The thin mucus travels through the tiny hair-like projections (cilia), which sit on the mucus membrane. On top of the cilia and the thinner mucus “swims” the thicker variant of mucus that “catches” the dust, viruses and bacteria particles present on the tissue. The trapped incoming dirt particles are moved by the cilia toward the front of the nose or down the throat for eternal extinction.
The cilia play a key role in transporting alien particles away, together with the mucus. They move like a cornfield in the wind. A wave-like motion keeps the mucus in motion. If the mucus membrane cools down excessively, the movement of the cilia slows down to a degree where infections can begin to spread.
If the membrane dries out, the movement is also disturbed. Thick cigarette smoke significantly changes the activity of the cilia and negatively influences its functions. The time you smoke is the time when you drop all your barriers to the outside world – welcoming external viruses, bacteria and irritants to which you might react allergic.
To increase the success rate, we will always combine the following four factors:
So let’s start.
Get the best possible diagnosis:
You will have to significantly improve the potential of diagnostic quality that you have access to. If you don’t already do it: Go to a otorhino-laryngologist (ORL). Stop consulting your general practitioner. Chances are that he or she has no real clue what to do and no instruments to diagnose correctly what you have. A simple endoscopy (painless), a sonography and a lot of experience will help determine the exact problem you have. Remember: The sinuses are a complex system. There are narrow canals between nose and sinuses. If these connections are blocked, a “traffic jam” is created in one or several sinuses, causing inflammation and pain.
This will be your new daily routine:
Our goal is to re-open the canals connecting the sinuses and to make mucus thinner again, so it can transport germs and viruses together with all the other dust into the throat (where it is swal-lowed and inactivated later) and to the front of the nose.
When you wake up, start your day with a short inhalation session. This is a measure within the framework of naturopathy. Get an inhalator to make this process more reliable. Do not use a big pot with hot water because too much of the ingredients will evaporate without being used. Inhale a strong mixture of Cineole, Levomenthol and racematic campher. Anithing such as Transpulmin ® will work very fine. You should use a paste (which you put in hot water) strong enough to get the tears into your eyes if you would open them over the aerosol. Inhale this with care. Wait a little until the water is not 100 degrees Celisus any more. If your nose is congested in the morning, use a nasal decongestant 10 minutes before. Only then inhale.
After inhalation, if you need to blow your nose, do it VERY CARE-FULLY, with low pressure. I strongly recommend that you do not blow your nose. Rather, snuffle (as loud as you wish). This will suction-clean the sinuses. ORLs recommend it, too. I know that sounds very strange, but I would do it if I where you.
Inhale at least three times a day, up to 5 or 6 times if you wish. This keeps your nose moist and helps to reactivate the cilia on the mucus membranes. You should continue the inhalation routine (1 or 2 times a day then) for months after you have cured the sinusitis. You could do inhalation sessions you entire life, if you wish. There are no side effects. Be careful with (inhaling) camomile extracts: many people are in fact allergic to this and it doesn’t make mucus more fluid.
Be careful with nasal sprays if they contain decongestants. The dry the nose out and can harm the tissues in your nose. They are a great help if you use them temporarily but try to use them only a few times – maybe 2 or max. 3 times the first day, then less the second day. Then maybe once a day in the next 2 to 3 days when you really need it. Beware that nasal spray can host germs and viruses if you have already used them. Do not reuse a 2 weeks old spray. You are better off throwing it away.
To fight inflammations, we will use enzymes. Some will put these into the naturopathy category, others into the mainstream medicine section. However, many physicians forget to prescribe of suggest enzymes. Get Aniflazym® Takeda in a pharmacy in Europe, or buy the equivalent of 10,000 units per pill of serrapeptase wherever you live. Take 3 x two pills a day. The other option is Bromelain. Do not use Bromelain if you are allergic to pineapple. These enzymes are given to patients who have had an operation, to prevent wounds from inflammation. They are also prescribed to people who have an acute sinusitis, but, as I said, many doctors seem to have forgotten about it. Serrapeptase and Bromelain are two of the forgotten cures for sinusitis. Both, Serrapeptase and Bromelain are a great help, whether you are taking antibiotics or you don’t.
If you would like to make a dry nose moist again, and if you want to activate the natural purification process of your nose, get Nasodren® or any other spray that has an extract of cyclamen europium L or a little “pepper” in it. Use it once or twice a day and don’t overdo it. It is expensive but it helped me. Nasodren® should be a part of the puzzle, especially when you are not sneezing and if your nose is just dried out.
Perenterol® will help you to strengthen your gastrointestinal tract. A very vise man once said that we “eat and drink” most of the diseases we get. The bowel is responsible for many illnesses if it is weakened itself. I cannot prove but assume a very strong relation between the gastrointestinal tract and the respiratory system. This comes from my own experience. However, if you already have diarrhea, make sure you take Perenterol® Forte (saccharomyces boulardii) 3 times a week at least. You can take double the dose if you like.
Pain: If you feel you need a painkiller, ask for it. This will help you to get some sleep. One night without sleep doesn’t kill you. Two nights is bad. You might need anything from Paracetamol to Diclofenac (which is better for toothache) up to Ibuprofen. Be aware that all painkillers have a negative effect on your digestion system and column. Drink enough water and sit upright for a few minutes when you take them. The probability of side effects increases with the quantity you take. Always take the smallest dose necessary to be able to sleep. Be aware that constant overdoses of NSARs over several days will kill you. The good old Paracetamol ® is one example for this. Read the package insert of all painkillers you ever use and memorize the maximum dose you may take.
Reduce sports activities to a minimum for at least 4 to 6 weeks:
Take this suggestion seriously. The most dangerous phase is after an acute sinusitis, when you think that you are cured. Stay away from the gym and other activities for 4 to 6 weeks, of longer if you feel exhausted. You will naturally feel it when your body signals you that more exercise will be beneficial. Especially if you have problems walking up a light slope, if your heart rate is too high when you go jogging etc. stop the activity. Notice that streptococcus could be a part of the germ population in your airway. If your heart gets infected with this bacterium, you are in deep shit. If you don’t want an heart attack while on your next jogging tour, STAY AWAY FROM EXERCISE until you feel fit again.
Quit smoking:
Unless your sinusitis is not caused by a massive physiological problem, such as an extremely bent septum or alike, a change in you lifestyle can make you become a healthier person again. Think twice. Take this suggestion seriously. Some alternative practitioners will not even accept to work with you if you keep smoking. Smoke rolls over the cilia of the mucus membrane like a bulldozer. Smoking is the wrong habit for people with sinusitis. If you think you are not strong enough to quit, get professional help (psychologist). If you think you could quit smoking but you don’t want to: this is the sign you are truly addicted. Get help (psychologist). Hypnotherapy can help you in days to quit. It’s easy, do it.
Additional sleep:
This is one of the most important tasks for you. Add 1 or 2 hours of sleep at the weekend at least. Try to avoid unnecessary tasks in your live and free up time to rest.
Allergies:
Try to find out if you have an allergy causing the sinusitis. It can be difficult to do so. If you happen to have an allergy causing the sinusitis, you need a consequent treatment with a potent, modern histamine antagonist. Do not simply get over the counter drugs for this becuase they may be too weak.
Taking the suggestions of your ORL seriously, consider the following measures, as described above, if you do not have an allergy:
Trade names may differ in your country. The following are the active pharmaceutical ingredients mentioned in the table:
· “Inhalation”: The following ingredients are suggested: 57% Cineole, 29% Levomenthol, 14 % racematic campher
(suggestion: Transpulmin ® - a Balm, which is put in hot water to inhale)
· Ortiven®: Nasal decongestant with Xylometazoline
· Aniflazym® Takeda: 1 Tablet contains: 5 mg Serrapeptase (=10,000 units)
· Nasodren: Natural extract of cyclamen europeum L
· Perenterol® Forte: 250 mg dry yeast with saccharomyces boulardii
· Paracetamol: (also: Acetaminophen), Painkiller with
N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)acetamide. Don’t overuse!
· Diclophenac: Painkiller with
2-(2-(2,6-dichlorophenylamino)phenyl)acetic acid. Don’t overuse!
· The author is not a physician. If you have any questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist. Read all package inserts carefully before you start taking/using medicines. If a medicine has been prescribed for you, do not pass it on to others. It may harm them, even if their symptoms are the same as yours. If any of the side effects gets serious, or if you notice any side effects not listed in this leaflet, please tell your doctor or pharmacist.
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