Sinusitis (?) but scared of antibiotics - any ideas?

[jeffrez]

The neti pot is easier to use without feeling like your drowning.

That was one positive thing about the bush administration. Their prisoners never had sinus infections with all the waterboarding.

 

[August59]

I can see your concern about they antibiotics, but don't let the sinnusitis gone on too long in a steady or getting worse mode. A deep embedded sinus condition is very hard to treat and thus takes a long time to clear up.

www.neilmed.com

has some good products and they are readily available. I use the plain old "plastic bottle" which works great. I noticed the new pulsator device looks like it would work good. I buy some of the pre-mixed packs for when I get a really tough sinus situation, but I quit often use just plain generic "Nasal" solution wheen i just want to rinse out pollen. They have their version of a "Nellie Pot".

 

[Little Bluestem]

Well, that lady didn't drown on Youtube - just ordered myself a neti pot off Amazon.

Would you post a link to the video? I have a neti pot that I use sporadically. While I have never drowned, it gets pretty messy. I could stand to improve my technique. Maybe then i would use it more often.

 

[Sasha]

Would you post a link to the video? I have a neti pot that I use sporadically. While I have never drowned, it gets pretty messy. I could stand to improve my technique. Maybe then i would use it more often.

Here's the video - she shows a whole load of postures to make sure you've got rid of the water afterwards, which looks useful! I find this sort of thing difficult to learn so Youtube is great.

 

[Sasha]

I imported the Grossan Irrigator from the USA about 10 years ago, Sasha. Before then I had a CAT scan and it showed the infection was eating through the sinus area.

An infection can eat through your sinus area? Holy nostrils, Batman! I've been having these "eyebrow headaches" for quite a while (one of those things you don't notice the start of so I can't now remember if it's been 10 months or 10 years). Suddenly feeling lucky I've got any skull left! Did the "after" CAT scan show that the eating away had stopped or was showing signs of repair? Yikes.

Will deffo see my doctor as soon as I'm able to go to the surgery. Argh.

 

[Sasha]

Interesting about these electric/pulsing nasal irrigators. Is the idea that they work better than the neti pot and nasal sprays because they're basically shoving more water up your nose?

There are some very happy customers of the Grossan on Amazon.com but this guy says:

I wavered whether to give 2 stars or 5. I decided on four to encourage ANYone to use sinus irrigation using this method vs anything else out there I know about (and I have used them, all, neti pot, sinus surgeries, squeeze bottles, etc)

I would give THIS product 2 stars because there is some serious price gouging going on here. Save yourself about $65 and get a water pik, which is what this thing is. Seriously. Nothing more, and in fact I noticed that the water pik company has started adding sinus adaptors with some of their kits.

BUT, considering what this unit has saved me from, I am compelled to give a high score here.​

The Waterpik company seem only to produce electrical water squirty things for dental purposes but as he says, they also offer sinus attachments.

 

[Sasha]

Just want to say a general "thank you" to everybody again - lots more messages posted while I've been asleep (UK night-time!) and this is going to be a huge help in getting some immediate relief after two solid days of a horrible headache, plus I can test out these self-treatments before going to my doctor with some experience of how they've worked for me.

Thank you!

 

[Sasha]

Just tried out the NeilMed Sinus Rinse thing that I got from the pharmacy. Surprisingly easy! Really did think I'd end up choking or something but it wasn't like that at all. Just weird to have water going in one nostril and coming out the other!

I don't know what I was expecting but I didn't find any gobbets or green slime or anything emerging - nothing but water in, water out, as far as I could see. Does that mean it isn't doing anything? My nose isn't anyway producing horrible mucous but I wondered if the rinse should be disloding anything from further up (perhaps I am expecting success to look more dramatic than it actually should).

I just took half a clove of garlic. I read on the net that some people find it gives them stomach pains and some people are recommending taking it with food. I took it on an empty stomach and thought I'd build up gradually. I chopped it finely, added a bit of olive oil and salt to make it more palatable and swallowed it without chewing. Any views?

There wasn't any oregano oil at the pharmacy so I'm now drinking a glass of water with four drops of grapefruit seed extract in it. If it wasn't for the garlic it would probably taste horrible but my tastebuds are still in shock.

Looking forward to seeing how this all pays off!

 

[PDXhausted]

@Sasha

Maybe you already answered this somewhere else, but I came across this thread while searching for something, and I'm really curious what came of this? Did any of these remedies work, and have you seen improvement with your sinuses?

 

[Sasha]

@Sasha

Maybe you already answered this somewhere else, but I came across this thread while searching for something, and I'm really curious what came of this? Did any of these remedies work, and have you seen improvement with your sinuses?

Hi - yes, marked improvement from the sinus rinse and then further improvement by cutting out gluten (surprisingly). Having cut out gluten I no longer need to do the sinus rinse - though I still have mild symptoms (aching under the eyes and a bad headache every week or two).