Dr. Craig Reese, DC, PC
DR. CRAIG REESE, D.C., P.C.
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January 2008 Newsletter
Happy New Year!
Hope you had a great holiday season and can now relax and recuperate from the craziness that seems to accompany the holidays. This year Gloria and I had the added craziness of remodeling our kitchen and bathrooms over the holidays. This major project put lots of chemicals, dust, old mold and who knows what else into the air that kept us chronically congested. We did have 3 ozonators and 2 air filters running most of the time put it was a rough environment for them to keep the air clean.
Chemicals
Most people in this situation would have mistaken the congestion from the chemicals with a true sinus infection or cold. When you are being poisoned by bad air it is your body’s job to trap the invaders and get them out of your body via a runny nose or by coughing. Anyone who has ever tried to inhale a puff of cigarette smoke for the first time knows that coughing and choking are the reactions they experienced. It is the proper reaction to inhaled poisons. Smokers have to train their body’s to suppress this reaction in order to continue being a smoker. The sinuses also tend to swell with this chronic smoke inhalation so you find some smokers abusing sinus medications to keep their sinuses open. This will lead to lots of other problems like chronic headaches and bloody noses.
Sinuses
Sinus infections this time of year are common and many people run to get antibiotics to treat them. Below is pasted an article retrieved from Dr. Mercola’s web site that sites a recent study that shows that antibiotics are not effective in treating sinus infections
(http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/):
Antibiotics are commonly used to treat sinus infections, but a new study found that they work no better than a placebo. Further, prescribing antibiotics to sinus patients may cause harm by increasing their resistance to the medications.
In the study, researchers followed about 200 patients with sinusitis. Of the 100 who received an antibiotic, 29 percent had symptoms that lasted 10 days or more. Another 107 received a placebo, and 34 percent had similarly lasting symptoms. The difference was statistically insignificant.
The effectiveness of a nasal steroid spray for sinus infections was also tested in the study, and found to work the same as the placebo (except among a group of patients with milder symptoms, when it was slightly beneficial).
The researchers suggested that the antibiotic did not help the sinus infections because it couldn’t penetrate the pus-filled sinus cavities.
Unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics has led to enormous problems with drug resistance. Antibiotics were recently found to be ineffective against ear infections and bronchitis as well.
The researchers say the results should encourage more patients to forgo antibiotics for sinus infections.
"With a little bit of patience, the body will usually heal itself," said Dr. Ian Williamson, the study’s lead author.
Sources:Journal of the American Medical Association December 5, 2007;298(21):2487-2496
Natural Solutions
Waiting is usually not a fun alternative when your sinuses are infected or severely congested. Nasal saline rinses can work great for clearing out your sinuses as do essential oils like eucalyptus. If you have yellow mucous Goldenseal can help and if it is clear and you have a slight fever try Echinacea. Putting tea tree oil in a bowl of hot water and breath in the fumes with a towel over your head is also a good treatment. For the truly masochistic readers out there, you can snort cayenne pepper up your nose like Dr. Shulze recommends. It works but it really burns for about 30-60 seconds! If you are chronically congested you can also try chopping up onions to help clear your sinuses and your tear ducts. It really does work. There are lots of natural remedies that can help alleviate most cold and flu symptoms that usually work better and safer than the drugs. I have written about many of these in past newsletters posted on our web site. If you can’t seem to fix the problem yourself, come in and get tested to see what works best for you.
Office News
I will be out of the office on Monday January 21 but the office will still be open if you need to schedule appointments or get any supplements. Hope this is your best year ever
