General Sinus Health-

Comments by Dr. Murray Grossan

These comments are from Dr. Murray Grossan and appear in the User’s Manual of the Hydro Pulse Nasal/Sinus Irrigation System. Dr. Grossan urges people to pass this information on to others, so therefore it is being included on the Post Nasal Drip web site.

General Rules of Sinus Health by Dr. Murray Grossan

Sinusitis occurs in over 35 million persons. What usually happens is that an infection causes the cilia to slow down. (Meltzer). This allows a secondary infection to take place. X rays may show mucus or puss filling the sinus.

The presence of this pus makes you ill. Treatment usually includes the measures described here plus other medications your doctor may recommend.

Never blow your nose hard. Sneeze gently, both sides open. Hot drinks -tea, chicken soup -speed the cilia of the nose. Ice drinks, fatigue, slow the cilia.

Drainage, which is yellow or green, often means an infection. Hot compresses to the sinus are helpful, over the nose, above and below the eyes. If a child has green, foul smelling drainage out of one nostril only, a foreign object may be lodged in the nose and the child should be examined at once.

Why do we have sinuses? The eyes have to be a certain distance in order to have binocular vision. The ears need to be positioned to have stereo hearing. The brain needs to be a certain size. If the head were solid, without hollow cavities, it would be much heavier and it would require a huge neck. So we have hollow cavities above, between, below, and behind the eyes. They also help warm and moisten the air, and fight bacteria. They help the voice resonate.

A sinus infection may become chronic. This often means that the cilia are not doing their job of moving mucus and bacteria out of the nose. Moisturizer spray (without preservatives), pulsatile irrigation, lots of liquids to thin the thick mucus helps promote sinus health-along with compresses to the sinuses, and hot tea with lemon.

Allergies:

The body sneezes when you inhale too much dust in order to get the dust out of your system. The body is supposed to make extra liquid to dilute the dust from your nose. The allergic individual sneezes with just a little bit of dust. The longer one sneezes, the more exhausted one gets. Today there are many excellent medications the allergic individual can take. When these fail to work, it usually signals the body is exhausted or infected. When your allergy is severe, avoid spicy foods and lotions. Women should switch to unscented lipstick and avoid perfume. In most locations plants pollinate at 5 AM and 5 P.M. Best to sleep with window closed to avoid the 5 AM spread, and drive with windows closed in the afternoon with the air recirculated.

Allergy sensitive individuals generally experience difficulty regulating body temperature. Chilling causes problems. Worse thing you can do for sinus health in the morning is throw off the covers and walk barefoot on the cold floor. This will start the whole cascade of sneezing and hacking. Best to have breakfast in bed - yes, you heard right. Not so difficult, just prepare a thermos or hot plate. Drink hot tea before getting out of bed. This warms .the body and avoids the AM sneezing, hacking, etc., which is the body's effort to warm up. Many allergic individuals do better wearing socks and a cap to bed. Carry a jacket with you for going in and out of air conditioned movies. Keep all animals out of the bedroom. The allergic child's bedroom must be dust-proofed and should be as bare as possible. Odors, moth flakes, dusty storage will aggravate the allergy. Bare floors are best with rugs that can be washed in the washing machine. Your doctor may recommend nasal moisturizer spray for the asthmatic child. This keeps the nose moist and fresh and helps asthmatics by keeping the lower airway moist. This is why Breathe.ease XL is made with an easy to use child size bottle, so that children can use it comfortably for better sinus health. Avoid moisturizers with benzalkonium or other irritant preservatives.

If you have allergies you should dust proof your bedroom and keep pets out too. Current theory holds that if the newborn child is kept in a dust free room, he will develop less allergy or asthma.

Irrigation won't cure allergies. However, authors have shown significant relief by irrigation during the pollen season; irrigating during the pollen season can reduce the symptoms sufficiently so that you require much less medication by removing the pollen from the nose as well as the products that react with the pollen.

Allergy doesn't cause sinusitis. It is when the individual is exhausted, then the cilia fail, and then infection takes place. Avoid exhaustion by rest and reducing anxiety level. More on asthma and sinusitis by Dr. Grossan at www.emedicine.com/ent/topic516.htm.

The Workplace:

Dust, paint fumes solvents, soldering fumes, chromium dust and many other products cause nasal and chest symptoms and poor sinus health. Industry is required to provide MSDS -medical safety data sheets. However, new products are presented almost daily. If you suspect that the industrial materials are irritating you, you can use a wash bottle to rinse out the nose. Hydro Med has the Breathe.ease XL lavage unit. Add the Breathe.ease XL to the flexible wash bottle, carry it dry. When you need it, just add water and wash the nose. Makes a convenient way to flush away harmful material without waiting till you get home to the Hydro Pulse.

The Common Cold:

Can you prevent colds? If you frequently catch colds, try irrigating, especially when everyone around you has a cold. The common cold virus enters the body through a nasal element called ICAM-l. By irrigating, you remove the ICAM-I and this may prevent the common cold.”

More detail about the sinus health issues described above can be found in Dr. Grossan’s acclaimed book: “The Sinus Cure- 7 Simple Steps”. For information about how to purchase this book and other products developed by and in conjunction with Dr. Grossan, follow this link.