Sinuses: Shock and Awe
Posted by alan | Filed under General Life
This is the time of year when I spend half my time expelling various fluids out of my nasal orafices… thank you Pacific Northwest Tree Pollen.
I have sinus problems, and they are severe and recurring. If I don’t do something about them when I first feel the allergic sting of watery eyes and drippy nose, then I am quickly fighting off a sinus infection.
I totally freak the fuck out when I can’t breathe. At night, I panic because I have an irrational fear of a stuffy nose. Because of this panic, I also don’t like to take antihistamines, sleep aids or nasal sprays, because they make my body feel funny, which exhaserbates the panic. Nasal sprays may help at first, but your sinuses eventually rebound and make you more stuffy than before.
Last year after a two-week sinus infection, the doctor gave me Flonase, which is a local steroid. Steroids reduce swelling. It’s local, so the medicine doesn’t go all through your bloodstream or produce weird side-effects. Coupled with a NeilMed Sinus Rinse (which is part of my regular hygene routine), this produces the Shock and Awe campaign against my sinuses. Sure, I still sound a little stuffed up, but my sinus problems are gone in a few days, rather than transforming into an all-out bacteria battlefield in my head.
Medicines do not work. THere are a ton of them, and it’s a crap shoot if they are effective. Medicines make you feel drugged or drowsy. The only thing that definately works is a good sinus rinse… often. For me, reducing the sinus inflamation (which is the cause of the excess mucus and stuffy nose) is only obtained by a local steroid such as Flonase.
Tags: sinus infection
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