Recognizing the Symptoms of Sinusitis

Sinusitis refers to swelling of the sinuses. Sometimes sinusitis is due to nothing more than low humidity. Extremely dry air dries out the linings of the sinuses causing them to crack. The cracks provide a haven for irritating particles that cause neither infection nor allergy. They just cause inflammation and pain.

Sinusitis can also be a complication of colds, while the nose is stopped up. As long as the mucus is clear and runny, the underlying infection is viral. But when mucus turns sticky, yellow, or green, then a bacterial infection has built up in the sinuses and requires a different kind of treatment.

Other common symptoms of bacterial sinusitis include:

• Difficulty breathing
• Interrupted sleep
• Snoring
• Difficulty breathing through the nose
• Decreased sense of smell
• Pressure or pain behind the eyes or in the cheeks
• Pain in the top teeth
• Headache
• Stuffy nose, but with green or yellow discharge
• Post-nasal drip, but with green or yellow phlegm

If it seems like you get a cold every month or so twelve months of the year, chances are you don't get colds, you have chronic sinusitis. Acute sinusitis lasts up to four weeks. Chronic sinusitis often lasts as long as 12 weeks. And if you get some kind of upper respiratory infection every month for a year or more, your probably have recurrent bacterial sinusitis.

The treatments that work for colds don't necessarily work for sinusitis. One of the most important things you can do for sinusitis is to keep the air in your home moist. This may mean turning down forced-air heaters, if you are using them, or using a vaporizer any time of year the air in your home is unusually dry.

Another treatment for sinus problems that works is a neti pot. You pour water in one nostril and it flows out the other, carrying mucus, dust, pollen, and dirt away with it. It's best to use warm—never hot!--salt water in your neti pot, and don't swallow.

If you are not comfortable using a neti pot, try nasal sprays of saline solution. The salt water loosens dry crusts of mucus and makes them easier to expel. The thing to look out for with "natural" nose sprays is ingredients that are not natural. Some of the problem ingredients you may see on the label for "natural" nose spray include:

• Thimerosal (which may be familiar to you as the additive to vaccines implicated in autism)
• Sodium silicoaluminate
• Providone
• Potassium phosphate
• Phenylcarbinol
• Iodine (not in a form or amount that prevents radiation exposure, but in a dosage that cause nasal inflammation)
• Edetate disodium
• Disodium ETA
• Dibasic sodium phosphate
• Benzyl alcohol
• Benzalkonium

There may also be essential oils and even flavoring agents that dry out your sinuses and make inflammation worse. If you make your own salt water solution for a spray or neti pot, make sure not to use "pickling salt" that may contain aluminum compounds that damage the nerves for your sense of smell.

It's always better to use a saline solution than a steroid-based decongestant spray. It is possible to become dependent on prescription nose sprays, so that if you ever stop, your symptoms will be even worse than before you started using the product. Some people get hooked on nose spray and only quit when they have to have surgery to repair damage to the septum dividing the nasal passages or to open the sinus cavities themselves. Natural nose care is always the best care, unless you get regular attention from your doctor.