The Sinus Cure: 7 Simple Steps to Relieve Sinusitis and Other Ear, Nose, and Throat Conditions

Part One ALL ABOUT SINUSITIS Chapter 1 ONLY YOUR NOSE KNOWS Nonstop and never-ending. I've even had two sinus surgeries, yet nothing has worked to end my suffering. I feel miserable about 90 percent of the time, whether from a sore throat, postnasal drip, or congestion. The days I have no congestion, my head usually hurts. I can't win. —Beth, age forty-one I live in the hot and humid South, which makes my sinuses feel swollen all the time. I also have pollen allergies. While I take prescription antihistamines to deal with the allergies, my sinuses stay inflamed and congested. When I complain because of headaches or earache from sinus fluid, my family says, "It's all in your head!" And they're right. It is in my head. If I didn't have sinusitis, I'd be healthy. —Bob, age thirty-four It's not unusual for those around you to think your sinus symptoms are in your head. After all, chances are that you look perfectly healthy. Outwardly no one around you can see the misery you feel. But you know differently. You know how sinus misery—the ongoing pain, swelling, congestion, and postnasal drip—keeps you from fully enjoying life. No one needs to tell you what a struggle it is to deal with lack of sleep at night and the resulting inability to concentrate during the day. You also know how the medicines taken to control these symptoms leave you nervous, fatigued, spaced-out, or just downright crabby. Forty-nine-year-old Judith lived with the persistent suffering of sinusitis most of her life, along with the resultant irritability from lack of good sleep. She had tried all the medications—from over-the-counter decongestants and antihistamines to the newer nondrowsy prescription antihistamines to nose drops, nasal sprays, antibiotics, and even steroid nasal inhalers. Nevertheless, none really worked to end her sinus problems. "While they mask the symptoms for a few days, all it takes is a change of weather or a blast of someone's cigarette smoke at my office to send me into a sinus tizzy," Judith said. "Then it may take weeks to get rid of the resulting infection." WHAT IS SINUSITUS? Sinusitis is inflammation of the facial cavities around your nose—those above the eyes (frontal), behind the nose (sphenoids), on either side of the top of the nose (ethmoid), and beneath the eyes in the cheek area (maxillary). They produce mucus, which drains through the ostia (small openings) in your nose. If the sinus cavities get clogged with mucus and the openings are blocked, infection and pain can result. When conditions are "healthy," it means that the mucus in your sinuses is pushed out of the nose by cilia. (Cilia are tiny hairs that beat or wave rhythmically to carry anything on their surface in the direction of their motion out of the respiratory tract.) This mucus provides a highway for the good white cells produced by your body to reach any invading bad bacteria. It also cleans the air you breathe, moistens your sinuses, then slides down the back of your throat to your stomach, where acid destroys the mucus and trapped bacteria. Fig. 1.1. The Sinuses 1. The frontal sinuses lie above your nose and just above your eyes behind your forehead. 2. The maxillary sinuses are cavities located inside each cheekbone. They are the largest of the sinuses. 3. The ethmoids are filled with tiny air pockets and are between your eyes. 4. The sphenoids lie deep in your skull, behind the ethmoids. When conditions are not healthy, you get sinusitis. This happens when your cilia slow down or stop working properly. Or sinusitis can occur when there is an anatomical blockage, and the stagnant mucus becomes infected. How Prevalent Is Sinusitis? Chronic sinusitis is the most prevalent "adult disease" in the United