Sinusitis: Why we get it and how to manage it naturally
By Steven R. Frank
It's hard to find someone who isn't affected by sinusitis during at least some part of the year. Spring brings pollens that can irritate sinus tissue, Summer brings dust, Winter produces dryness and Fall, more pollens. Any seasonally influenced inflammation of the sinuses can cause them to swell and close off making a warm damp and polysaccharide-ridden environment just perfect for bacterial or fungal over-growth. While these environmental situations and conditions don't "cause" sinusitis, they can most assuredly facilitate it.
Indeed, most sinusitis sufferers fear environmental factors that can cause a flare-up year round. Those who are prone to sinusitis have often endured multiple courses of antibiotics. They've tried steam and saline mists even surgery, all to no avail. They are all too familiar with the side effects of antibiotics, the short-term benefit of neti-pots and have suffered the blame of ignorant practitioners for "not eating right"; as if it were that easy. Yet the infections can cause head-aches that pound, pressure that is unbearable and sleepless nights. Antibiotics lead to yeast infections and surgery is painful with poor results. What's a breather to do?
First let's consider what is the active instigator in a sinus infection. While there are many dietary issues that effect how the immune system performs and everyone's immune system is in a different condition depending on their historical drug therapy, there would be no infection and subsequent immune response without a pathogen. So let's assume for the time being that no one eats perfectly, breathes perfectly pure air or maintains a constantly positive mental outlook. After all, we're human. Even if your aura is imbalanced, we have to lay some blame on bacteria and fungus. In the end, they may be taking advantage of an imbalanced host, but an imbalance without pathogens is a debilitated state not a diseased state.
Everyone's sinuses are a warm moist place that is bombarded with irritants and cleansed with mucus. Normal mucosal flow is in fact, about a liter a day. This mucus is a polysaccharide and as a sugar, it is food for bacteria and fungus. It is quite normal for colonies of bacteria and fungus to live and grow in this environment. Just as normal in fact as it is for our immune system to be constantly attacking them to keep their numbers in check. This balance of the normal flora and fauna in the nasal and sinus passage ways with our immune system is on-going and usually amounts to no noticeable inflammation. If however, the immune system gets beleaguered by an attack somewhere else in the body, or if a sinus gets closed off and the fauna and flora grow faster than the immune system can manage, an imbalance occurs. The resultant damage of cells from the strong immune response to this over population and the inflammation response to the increased toxins produced by the bacteria and fungus leads to swelling of the tissue, increased mucosal flow and the resultant congestion symptoms such as head-ache, pressure and fever.
Antibiotics taken orally, reach the sinuses through the blood-stream. In order to achieve a lethal level of antibiotics in the nasal tissue, one must take enough to produce a bactericidal level in the entire body. This causes problems by attenuating all the bacteria (both good and bad) within the body that are susceptible to the particular antibiotic. The susceptible bacteria die leaving fertile tissue space for the stronger bacteria and fungus to take over. This shifting of the natural fauna and flora to the stronger bacteria and fungus makes the situation more difficult to fight next time. It can often lead to fungal over-growth more commonly referred to as a yeast infection. While this approach will likely provide relief, it can produce an escalating problem and can even cause problems in other parts of the body. The other problem is that since the antibiotics reach the infected tissue through the blood-stream, bacteria that are not in close contact with the tissues are insulated from the drug.
Fungus within your sinus passages can lay down a cellular matrix upon which bacteria colonize. The fungus are in contact with the capillary bed, but they are not affected by antibiotics. This makes the situation very challenging as the bacterial colony is then out of reach of the immune system and the capillary system which would deliver immune agents or drug agents to kill it. When this happens, the body's defense system is at a dramatic disadvantage in fighting the infection even if it is healthy. The ingested drugs are relatively useless since they don't have access. If this sounds like a gloomy picture, well… it is.
There is however, another recourse that the suffering breather has available. Application of an aerosol anti-fungal and antibacterial agent directly to the infected surface of the sinuses can kill the overgrowth and allow the body to once again regain a healthy balance or "stasis". There is even a product designed to do just this. Sinus Rescue, a Peaceful Mountain Product, is a powerful yet broad spectrum anti microbial. The broad spectrum nature allows the fauna and flora to be attenuated (killed) evenly so as not to leave only certain types that are more resistant. This resists the shifting of the fauna and flora to more hard-to-kill pathogens over time. What is even more delightful is that by applying it directly to the nasal and subsequent sinus passages, the active agent need not be ingested and distributed throughout the entire body. This reduces over-all body burden by at least a thousand times. What is this anti-bacteria and anti-fungal agent that is so effective, you ask? Pure un-compounded silver in an aqueous suspension. The same silver that is used to coat medical devices, bandages and used to disinfect water. If it is made of sufficient concentration (greater than 30 parts per million) so that it is anti microbial and is not compounded with other substances as a mild silver protein, it is a wonderful natural anti microbial. Of course, since the mucus flow is so heavy in this region, re-applying the spray at regular (15 minute) intervals is necessary to maintain a strong presence in the region by constantly replenishing that which is carried away. You knew their had to be a catch, right?
Normal dietary intake of silver through eating and respiration is on the order of 50 to 100 micrograms per day. When used in the manner described to fight a sinus infection, the amount added to the body is about equivalent to this normal intake level and produces such a small increase as to be toxicologically irrelevant. Since it kills both bacteria and fungus without immune system or blood system support, it is able to deal with even the most stubborn infections in a natural and balanced manner. Reducing the infection in this way allows the immune system to once again come into stasis within the tissue and the congestion to subside as the inflammation returns to normal levels.