Sinusitis Misery: Mast Cell Madness???

[ahmo]

It's now going on 3 months that I've been having nasal/sinus congestion. It started in the midst of a Candida cleanse. Initially I searched for help for nasal congestion, since there is no apparent sinus infection. But as I've continued looking for answers, I find that anything that's been going on as long as this is considered chronic sinusitis.

I've had bouts of sinusitis in my past. But there is no sign of infection here. The congestion is dry, no discharge, not even much clear discharge. I learned from my GP that my nostrils were too dry, and began using grease, instead of the saline spray I'd tried.

I've now had 4 acupuncture sessions, but nothing is halting this process. My impression is that it's a mast cell issue. Antihistamines haven't been much help. I'm using several things as mast cell stabilizers, but the congestion continues. Since yesterday, I've added some Butyko breathing, trying to reset what has now become very unbalanced breathing patterns, as I try too hard to pull air in.

I've used an OTC decongestant spray 3 times during this period. It's worked brilliantly, 2 sprays each nostril. But, it's anti-cholinergic, and the rebound was obvious over the next 2 days. I won't be using this again, no matter how difficult sleeping is.

Everything I've tried seems to help a bit. But, on the other hand, I could equally say, nothing works. Royal jelly and mangosteen for mast cells, anti-inflammatory, anti-histamine, Neuroprotek for brain mast cell activity, breathing: each seems to work, sort of. But not for long. Saline rinse does nothing.The congestion seems to have it's own dynamic, which increases my suspicion that it's a mast cell problem. Suddenly there will be no problem at all, minutes later breathing's impossible. My limited understanding is that polyps can develop from sinusitis, but I don't think there's anything to suggest that here.

Up until the last few days, it reliably began at 8PM. The last few days, I've not been without congestion, possibly stirred up by the acupuncture appointment. I've been sleeping sitting straight upright for the past 3 nights. I'm in agony!!! Any ideas of a direction to pursue?

 

[lansbergen]

The congestion is dry, no discharge, not even much clear discharge. I learned from my GP that my nostrils were too dry,

I had it for many years. It is healing now. Clear liquid started to run and later mucous comes out.

As I tought is was caused by the disease process I did not do anything special besides triying with the immune modulator to help the immune system fight it.

It is one of the things that got better with overall improvement.

 

[Gondwanaland]

I googled probiotics sinusitis and found this interesting.

Chris Kresser talks about nasal probx.

Several article reviews here.

Perhaps you have used natural abx too much?

Or you have too much NO and need some vasoconstriction?

 

[Dmitri]

I have painful sinusitis that is aggravated by food sensitivities. My throat is always clogged by sticky mucus that I have to cough up, but the amount doesn't seem to correlate with the intensity of my sinusitis. Cold exposure causes instant overproduction of the mucus.

What regions do you experience it in? For me it is the nosebridge, roof of mouth, forehead, temples and maxilla.

 

[trishrhymes]

It might be worth considering diet - some people find dairy foods very mucus forming and find cutting them out helps clear nasal congestion. If you do try cutting dairy, make sure you get enough calcium, protein etc.

 

[ahmo]

Thanks all. It's lessened over the last 24 hours, maybe the issue has run its course.

@lansbergen I'm very heartened by your story, that it lasted a long time, and is now clearing.

@Gondwanaland I'll be reading those links. Thanks very much.

@Dmitri The weird thing about this is I only experience it in my nostrils. No pain in my sinuses, though at times when I massage these areas, the congestion decreases. But nothing in my throat or anywhere else. This has been during a season of mild weather, so I don;t know what either cold or heat would do.

@trishrhymes Yes, I've been reviewing all the things in my diet. My acupuncturist pointed out that Brazil nuts, which were a part of my nut/seed mix, are essentially always rancid. I eliminated them, and suddenly the symptoms for which I was using this spread, eg. light-headed, other discomfort...the symptoms have been far less, and the need I was experiencing for the nut/seed mix has decreased. It seems I was adding to my oxidative stress by eating rancid oil, which then drove me to eating more of it. Nasty vicious circle.

 

[ahmo]

@Gondwanaland Many thanks for this list of probiotic info. I'll be starting some today. The congestion started during my anti-fungal efforts, maybe I depleted my friendly bacteria population. This would be such an excellent resolution.

 

[Chocolove]

@ahmo I experienced extreme dry nostrils as I was headed into an adrenal crisis where due to the failure of adrenals to produce certain hormones you end up with a electrolyte imbalance. As a result you waste water and salt and become extremely dehydrated and uncomfortable.

What helped me was taking licorice root capsules. Licorice stops the breakdown of cortisol and ends up as a mimic to stabilize the electrolyte balance. You may test if this will help by taking a capsule perhaps, two or three throughout the day. I found the electrolyte balance returned and fluid reentered my cells, and my nose became a normal moist sponge instead of the rock hard beak it had become.

Note that if the problem is failing adrenals, a crisis is very dangerous and potassium should be avoided since you would no longer be excreting any excess as normal.
Licorice helps with that as well by allowing potassium excretion.

However, use of licorice can skew adrenal test results since the cortisol is not being broken down as normal.

If you are craving salt, eat it - you need it for failing adrenals. Other symptoms may be dry skin all over and anxiety. It may be time for an adrenal stim test.

Hope something we offer here can help. We really appreciate you.

 

[ahmo]

@Chocolove Thanks for that. I used to rely on licorice, but don't seem to tolerate it now. Same with increasing salt. I did that over the past few days, and, as in the past, began seeing swelling in my face.

I rinsed w/ serrapeptase to break biofilm and probiotics yesterday...and had my worst day yet. First time there was yellow discharge. So maybe the biofilm has been holding the stuff in check?? Dunno. I turned yesterday's misery into a 3-day fast, or rather, fast-mimicking 3 days. Will see if something clears. I did 3-day water fast once or twice last year, but it was hard on adrenals. So now trying this low calorie, but some intake strategy.

 

[Gondwanaland]

I did 3-day water fast once or twice last year

The new black in fasting is to drink bone broth (liquid only) for all minerals and AAs.

 

[Chocolove]

First time there was yellow discharge.

@ahmo Yeah that certainly sounds like infection.

I've read that doctors really don't like folks to put stuff up the nose...people putting vaseline and vick's vapor rub in the nose have ended up with permanent pneumonia as the stuff entered the lungs.

Last time I had a bad sinus infection I finally got out my mini vaporizer put in a 1/4 cup of luke warm water and a couple drops each of the following essential oils: oregano, clary sage, red thyme, lemon grass, myrrh, juniper berry and tea tree. I plugged it into my computer and inhaled without effort as I worked online for several hours. Slept, got up, repeated.

I didn't need to get any closer than one to three feet from the vaporizer. It smelled good and gently increased moisture in my irritated mucous membranes. Aaaah relief.

After two days of this gentle action the infection greatly subsided and went away. I believe the steam delivery of the essential oils was a great way to deliver herbal anti-microbials as the oils break through biofilm. This is now my go to procedure, along with zinc lozenges, and oral caps of the Wellness Formula, an herbal combo by Source Naturals.

It's well worth a try.

BTW, with low adrenals they don't recommend fasting, too much stress on the adrenals. Hang in there.

 

[Gingergrrl]

The new black in fasting is to drink bone broth (liquid only) for all minerals and AAs.

Bone broth is very high histamine if made the traditional way (in case this is still an issue for Ahmo) which it may not be.

 

[Gondwanaland]

Bone broth is very high histamine if made the traditional way (in case this is still an issue for Ahmo) which it may not be.

AFAIK @ahmo cooks bone broth in the pressure cooker in 2 hours to minimize histamines

 

[Gingergrrl]

AFAIK @ahmo cooks bone broth in the pressure cooker in 2 hours to minimize histamines

Thanks and I didn't want to speak for Ahmo and was wondering more for myself and just in general. Prior to my MCAS we made bone broth (beef or chicken) where it literally cooked the entire day & night but now it is too high histamine for me so I can't eat it.

My husband makes it in the pressure cooker now and freezes it but I've been afraid to try it b/c I thought the histamine build up would still be too high (for me) but maybe I will give it another try since my MCAS is better now. It would be great to be able to eat it again!

 

[Gondwanaland]

My husband makes it in the pressure cooker now and freezes it but I've been afraid to try it b/c I thought the histamine build up would still be too high (for me) but maybe I will give it another try since my MCAS is better now. It would be great to be able to eat it again!

Start with one spoon only
I tried to reintroduce oats in my diet and 1/2 TEAspoon was too much

 

[Hip]

It's now going on 3 months that I've been having nasal/sinus congestion. It started in the midst of a Candida cleanse. Initially I searched for help for nasal congestion, since there is no apparent sinus infection. But as I've continued looking for answers, I find that anything that's been going on as long as this is considered chronic sinusitis.

I've had bouts of sinusitis in my past. But there is no sign of infection here. The congestion is dry, no discharge, not even much clear discharge. I learned from my GP that my nostrils were too dry, and began using grease, instead of the saline spray I'd tried.

That's similar to my chronic nasal/sinus congestion, which began when I caught my ME/CFS-triggering virus (likely coxsackievirus B), which threw my nasal and sinus mucous membranes into a chronic inflammatory state. A lot of other people who caught the same virus as me also developed this chronic nasal and sinus congestion (but did not develop ME/CFS).

Like yours, my chronic nasal/sinus congestion and inflammation does not appear to be caused by an obvious bacterial or fungal infection, but I speculate may perhaps be caused by an intracellular infection with coxsackievirus B (ie, by a non-cytolytic coxsackievirus B infection inside the epithelial cells of the mucous membranes).



Some of the supplements that by trial and error I found are good at reducing the nasal/sinus congestion and inflammation are listed in this post. Perhaps these will work for you.

I also found that my method of applying transdermal ozone water had a strong nasal/sinus congestion-clearing effect.



In my case, the chronic inflammatory state in my nose and sinus cavities appeared to be affecting my brain, because as the congestion and inflammation got worse, my generalized anxiety disorder would get worse, and when I was able to reduce the inflammation using various supplements (or by steam inhalation), my level of anxiety would go down.

The trigeminal nerve runs through the nose and sinus cavities, and like the vagus nerve, sends inflammatory signals to the brain when it detects inflammation in the tissues (both the vagus nerve and the trigeminal nerve are able to induce the sickness behavior response in the brain via these inflammatory signals). That's probably the mechanism by which my nasal/sinus inflammation triggers or worsens anxiety symptoms in the brain.



It's possible that your Candida cleanse did something to allow an existing enterovirus in your body to breach into a new tissue compartment that it had not previously infected: the compartment of the nasal and sinus mucous membranes. I've had my virus jump to new tissue compartments like this.

 

[Gingergrrl]

Start with one spoon only

Thanks and that is a great idea and I've gotten used to doing that anyway but sometimes forget!

 

[ahmo]

@Gondwanaland Yes, I'm using bone broth + fat. But I won't be in a hurry to repeat another fast. I've supplemented w/ macadamias for extra fat. As chocolove mentioned, my adrenals find it very hard. Real back-ache by end of yesterday. Will go through today, and maybe I'll have done something + for my immune system.

@Gingergrrl I pressure-cook bone broth for 30". Since I'm using it so infrequently these days, I pour it into muffin tins and freeze. No histamine problems.

@Chocolove Will you link me to your mini-vaporizer? Sounds brilliant, you can use it at your desk.

@Hip thanks you so much for this info. I'll be reading your other posts shortly. The overall congestion has decreased, I'll continue rinsing. I found the following from Chris Kresser's article, linked by Gondwanaland, very useful, too.

GENERAL RULE: Using fine salt, a heaping 1/4 teaspoon is needed for every cup of water. 1 and 1/4 heaping teaspoons of salt are needed for every liter of water.

Salt absorbs moisture so the higher concentration of salt you use the more it will relieve swelling, and the lower concentration of salt the more water that the tissues will absorb. Generally if you are suffering from a congested nose you may try a hypertonic solution (higher salt concentration) in order to relieve swelling.

If you add baking soda to your solution the general accepted amount is equal to the amount of salt you added. So if you add 1 teaspoon of salt, then add 1 teaspoon of baking soda.

Using these proportions, you will create an effective nasal saline solution.

 

[Gondwanaland]

We frequently use the saline solution to rinse with the aid of a 5 or 10 ml syringe (no needle of course) since we don't have a netti pot. Tilt the head backwards and squeeze the solution slowly while gargling. I find it very helpful when I have a clogged nose (DH as well). We warm up the solution in the microwave a little bit so it softens the mucus and we can easily empty our noses

 

[ahmo]

Yes, I've just switched to a syringe. I used to just use a glass of water, and snort it in. Then I realized the reason for neti pots is gravity. Works great!