Sinus Problems

Chronic sinusitis can be very difficult to put up with. Sufferers live with constant headaches, often feel vague and woolly headed and lack energy. This can go on for months every year, sometimes for decades.

It can be very hard to treat and many patients eventually give up and simply resign themselves to their symptoms, which conventional medicine can rarely cure.

Yet with a systematic & patient approach we at Royston Clinic feel we can bring about enormous benefits.

How we do it.

Chronic sinusitis is often a multifactorial problem, and only by recognizing this and identifying and dealing with each factor can we make a real difference. Let’s talk about these factors.

Causes of Chronic Sinusitis – most sufferers have more than one of these.

Allergies to airborne factors e.g. house dust mite, grasses, mould etc. These are usually IgE mediated and may be identified by scratch allergy tests at Royston Clinic.
Exposure to airborne irritants such as cigarette smoke and overly dry air in airconditioned environments add to sinus problems.
Allergies to foods. These may be IgE mediated, but are often IgG mediated which means the symptoms may be delayed for days after eating the offending food and therefore harder to identify.
Reflux Oesophagitis. Reflux of tiny amounts of stomach acid into the back of the nose and sinuses can caused or add to chronic sinus problems. Weight loss, change of diet and prescription medicines can really help here.
Sleep apnoea with its association with obesity, stocky body type and reflux may also be involved.
Candida gut infections are common and often associated with repeated antibiotic use. Candida can often spread to the sinuses. Given that many people are intolerant or allergic to thrush, candida can make sinusitis much much worse. Royston Clinic can perform a simple finger prick blood test to diagnose chronic candida infections.
High sugar and carbohydrate diets help provide fuel to keep your chronic sinus infection thriving.
Excess extracellular fluid (puffiness), i.e. oedema of the sinuses, face and nasal passages prevents the sinuses from draining freely. Oedema is often visible as bags under the eyes, and can be more accurately diagnosed by a BIA test at Royston Clinic. The BIA test helps determine proportion of intracellular and extracellular bodily fluid. Excess puffiness may be due to fluid electrolyte imbalances, chronic allergies or inflammation or sub optimal thyroid function, and inadequate sleep, just to name a few.
Nasal septal deviation, either congenital or due to trauma may be another factor. Though this may have to be corrected surgically by an ENT surgeon, careful attention to the other factors may help you cure your chronic sinus problems without resorting to surgery, which almost never totally fixes the problem anyway!

Conventional Medical Treatment of Chronic Sinusitis

Chronic sinusitis is easy to treat, but very hard to cure. Most doctors will prescribe a nasal inhaled steroid such as Rhinocort or Nasonex to decrease the puffiness, and add an antibiotic in more severe cases, plus other decongestants and painkillers. While these treatments may lead to short term relief, they rarely address the underlying causes and so will NEVER cure chronic sinusitis. In fact the antibiotics and nasal steroids combine to create very favourable conditions for fungal overgrowth (such as candida) and so may make the long term outlook WORSE.

My Approach to Treating Sinus Problems

Is to identify and treat chronic sinusitis using natural products and dietary, lifestyle and environmental modifications wherever possible. We need to consider all the potential causes above and address as many of them as we possibly can. And yes this will inevitably mean lifestyle modifications for YOU, but think how much better you will feel without your sinus problems.

When you book as a new patient, our practice sister will take a detailed history, carry out baseline investigations and may book you in for skin prick allergy testing and a BIA (Biological Indicators of Aging) test at a later date. I will then see you jointly with Christine and then by myself during which we will develop an integrated strategy to help YOU fix your chronic sinusitis.

What YOU can do to help yourself.

Go on a low sugar, low Carbohydrate diet such as my Anti-aging diet.
Stop Smoking, and avoid passive smoking.
Deal with your allergies and avoid foods and airborne particles that you have noticed make you worse. Dairy, wheat, wine (especially white) and many flavourings and preservatives are often the worst offenders as is yeast found in bread, beer and ginger beer.
If you even think you have reflux, restrict coffee, spicy meals, eat smaller meals, and don’t go to bed with a full stomach. Eat more slowly, stop smoking, restrict alcohol and if necessary raise the head end of your bed on housebricks. Lose weight!!.
Take correct supplements. The Biofavenoids Quercetin and Luteolin both act like natural anthistamines and can reduce your susceptibility to allergies, and your nasal and facial puffiness. These supplements are available at Royston Clinic. Quercetin is found naturally in apples onions and some tea. Luteolin is found in perilla seed and mandarin skins. High dose Vitamin C (4000mg) a day and other antioxidants such as vitamin E and A may also sometimes help. Some people find garlic and horseradish helpful in the long term.
Two over the counter medications may also help. If you are a mucousy person, as well as restricting dairy I suggest you try Bisolvon tablets. These thin mucous and are safe for long term use. NB Bisolvon sinus mixture contains pseudoephedrine and is not suitable for long term use or if you have high blood pressure. The other useful over the counter medication is a saline sinus washout kit called Fess. Basically you squirt it up your hooter, and it may feel like being hit in the face by a wave while surfing, a bit uncomfortable but it can really clean out those sinuses!
Simple “ sinus herb “ mixtures are widely available and, having a pot pourri of these next to your bed may also help bring temporary relief as may aromatherapy.You can use an oil burner and pure essential oils such as eucalyptus, lavender, teatree, lemon, niaouli, cajeput, peppermint, pine and thyme. During acute exacerbations steam inhalations using a combination of eucalyptus or cajeput (one drop) with lavender (two drops), can provide good temporary relief. One drop of lavender oil on your pillow will help both the sinusitis and help you sleep. Have fun experimenting to see what helps you best.
Finally Stress and lack of sleep both increase sinus congestion and puffiness and greatly increase sinus discomfort. So dealing with stress with relaxation exercises, meditation, yoga and exercise may well help your sinus, as will properly addressing your sleep disturbances.