sinusitis can be acute (ocassional cases) or chronic (happenning regularly) in nature. Aggravating factors include smoking, pollution, adenoids (tonsils), a cold environment, allergies etc. Dietary factors can aggravate the disease, particularly dairy intake in chronic sufferers, as this is mucous promoting in some individuals. Inadequate fuild intake can also aggravate sinusitis.

Assuming you are a healthy person with uncomplicated acute sinusitis, a herbal prescription may include: Echinacea, Eyebright, Garlic, Horseradish, and Golden seal ( a definate. This herbal would be continued 2 weeks after sinusitis has cleared. For chronic cases the gameplan might change.

I would suggest drinking 2 litres water daily, avoiding dairy and wheat products,alcohol and addressing any environmental factors that may be contributing to sinusitus such as occupational dust exposure, keeping warm during winter, ceasing smoking, avoiding any known allergens such as pollen etc.

Also a stream inhalation of tea tree, eucalyptus and menthol oils can also be useful, 3 or more times daily, particularly in cold weather.

Diarrhoea after and during antibiotic use is a relatively common side effect seen as antibiotics temporarily knock out much of our good gut flora whilst serving their purpose of eradicating the bad bacteria that is causing your sinusitis.

An effective way to minimize this side effect is to supplement with a probiotic powder that contains acidophillus/bifidus strains of good gut flora. The aim is to repopulate the gut flora asap. Vitamin C in a powdered form mixed with warm water should also be taken. You'll find this works well. A good quality B vitamin/multimineral should also be taken for general wellbeing during convalescence.

The probiotics and vit C powder can be bought at a health food store, I'd see a herbalist for the herbs.

Hope that is of some help.

John

Thanks again for your reponse!

with regard to horseradish, you have described a common scenario that illustrates the importance of seeing a herbalist for good quality herbs. A person recieves the right advice on which herb to take for a particular condition, for instance horseradish for sinusitis, but then innocently and unknowingly, does not consume a therapuetic dose and later claims the herb did not work. This happens with herbs that cross into culinary use more so.

You'd need to eat alot of horseradish in sandwiches to gain a therapeutic effect. I'll explain. A standardised fluid extraction (1;2) will contain 1 gram of dried herb for every 2 mls of fluid herbal extract. Therefore, at a daily dose of 2-4 mls, that's the equivalent of 1-2 grams of dried horseradish. Now, that in turn is equivalent to a greater measure of raw herb, such as you'd put in your sandwiches. How much i cannot say exactly, but I'd guestimate more horseradish per day than anyone would find enjoyably palatable.

John

yes I understand costs can be hard to bear without insurance cover. I did a quick search and maybe the below link to ANMA might be a starting point for finding a herbalist/naturopath in your area.

From a formerly chronically congested person.

Remember, just keep one nostril below the other and keep breathing through the mouth. If any gets into your mouth, it won't hurt you at all.

Using the recipe and technique above, you'll even notice your ears clearing. It really does help. I use an empty squirt bottle that was once eye solution. Just keep it clean and get at least 8 oz of solution a day through and you'll notice a difference in a few days. Initially you should notice right away some change/help.

To make 'Super-tonic' you need:
-A large jar (we use a 2 gallon jar)
-raw apple cider viniger
-vodka
-horseradish root
-ginger root
-garlic
-hot peppers (cayenne &/or habeneros)
-white onions ( we usually leave these out )
Chop everything up small,(where gloves to handle peppers and be very careful!) my husband further puree's them in the blender w/ liquid (vodka or viniger), not sure if you have to do that though, we've ruined a few blenders that way. Add it all to your jar, top jar off with equal parts raw apple cider viniger and vodka and seal jar. Place in a cool dark place. Shake the jar around about once a week. It needs to sit for two weeks, we usually let ours sit about 1-2months, and start straining out liquid after probably a few days if we really need it. Strain it through cheese-cloth, squeeze the bulky stuff out too. Warning, this stuff smells really, really, extremly bad, not exageration. You'll need to be able to open windows and use fans, lol but just breathing it helps clear you out. It tastes even better than it smells! I have to shoot it too the back of my throut, my dh will gargle the stuff- but I couldn't do it! He claims you need to swish it around your mouth. Let me tell ya, if your really clogged and you take this stuff- you can litterally feel everything start to move, your ears burn, it's fun!

and I seem to bounce between bacterial and fungal infections (I've got them pegged now- the fungi makes grey snot. the bacteria make yellow snot)

garlic is my best friend- to the point I have started growing my own, like I grow nip for the cats. a clove will chase a scratchy throat away before it turns into anything worse.

horseradish is one that I SHOULD grow myself, but am afraid to, having seen whole gardens taken over by it ;)

I like my vitamin C in the form of citrus- limes, ideally, since i like the acid, too.

for the more fungal infections, I will dip just the tip of a q-tip in tea tree or rosemary oil, and swish it in the saline for my irrigation- but watch out, that is NOT for beginners.

washing out the humidifier twice a week, and using eucalyptus and tea tree oil helps.

and I keep a tiny little bottle of helichrysum absolute around, but it has a smell that makes oregano oil smell floral by comparision (it smells like turpentine or something) but that in a steamer with the tea tree will chase things out of my lungs.

I've gotten away with just one dose of antibiotics this year, despite the sick-making weather we've had.

This helps moisturize the sinuses, flushes allergens, and improves the health of the cilia and mucous membranes.

Some neti practices include adding a drop or two of vegetable oil (sesame or sunflower) to moisturize when humidity is low, or use of diluted herbal teas with salt to directly treat the sinuses.

I bought my neti pot at a major pharmacy chain near my house - it included basic instructions and 50 or 100 premixed saline packets (nice for travel). Now I mix my own salt and the cost per day is a fraction of a cent.

There is a short book on Neti by David Frawley that covers the subject in more depth. Good if you Really have sinus issues, but not necessary if you just want to do the basic saline rinse from time to time.

It helped me maybe it can help you!

Good luck from mellisa

Here's a classic claim from the site:

"All SinusWars remedies are safe, 100% natural and have no known side effects."

I can believe this, seeing as the sellers seem to be big on homeopathy. Water (which is what homeopathic drugs consist of) is "100% natural" and safe, assuming you don't drink enormous quantities of it. The known side effect of losing your money on worthless products should be guarded against, however.

Hey, I've rarely had sinus infections in my life and they cleared up in a lot faster than 4 weeks time on their own, without my ever having used this company's products. So there's my testimonial - don't buy this company's glop and your sinus problem will soon be a thing of the past. :)

I have felt positively about the "sinus" one since I used it while visiting the home of a relative that had several birds in the house, as well as other animals. I have quite a few allergies, and usually would have gotten a sinus infection in such circumstances, but did not that time.

Now, I take it at the first sign of any sinus problems.

For an already-established sinus infection, I suspect that Western medicine, herbal and mechanical methods like Neti, and homeopathy might all have their place.

Also, I use an essential oil mixture in my humidifier all winter long (and since I've started that this past year, I haven't had a single sinus infection).

1 part lemon oil, 2 parts eucalyptus, and 3 parts rosemary.

I make it up in a bottle, sometimes putting a little extra of the lemon so it smells less medicinal, and put about a dropperful a night in there.

The product website also seems inordinately interested in attracting investors for the company.

Put all this together with the spamming the Herbalism forum, and you get the feeling this product doesn't have much to offer forum users.

Charlie in Arizona
The Herbalist