Sinus and Head Colds

Several readers asked what else they can do for painful head and sinus congestion, because after two+ weeks of medicines and doctor visits, they were no better, or were worse. Common treatments do not work as claimed, including decongestants and sprays, and can cause sinus pain to continue and recur.

What Are Sinuses?
The sinuses in your head are eight spaces in your skull behind your eyes and nose. They produce mucus, and that is good. Mucus produces antiseptics, and traps and filters germs and particles that you don't want to pass into your respiratory system and the rest of your body. Sinusitis occurs when one or more of your sinus cavities become inflamed.

Inflamed by Inhaling Things
Sinuses can become inflamed without any germs causing it, for example from inhaling particles, allergens, or liquids up the nose. If you have ever "gotten water up your nose" in a pool, you have felt the results. The practice of irrigating the nose and sinuses with salt-water sprays is often prescribed for sinus congestion, and even for preventive "maintenance," but it removes important protective mucus layers and natural disease-fighting compounds, and is irritating in itself. Some people regularly spray the sinuses using a variety of squeeze bottles, or a device called a neti pot. It is an unnecessary practice, and does not prevent the underlying cause of sinus pain. It sets up an addictive cycle of rebound congestion and irritation, and increased risk of infections and discomfort to follow.

Another contributor to rebound congestion is regular use of camphor inhalers. Sniffing camphor is a widespread practice throughout Asia, where decorative camphor containers shaped to fit the nose are sold in most grocery, pharmacy, and convenience stores. Camphor irritates mucus membranes causing a cycle of irritation, more camphor inhalation, and more congestion. Some people develop a habit of inhaling camphor, thinking it is for their congestion, not realizing they have a substance inhalation addiction called "huffing."

Decongestants
Decongestants are a big money item in drug store sales. They are not the best treatment for sinus pain and congestion. You are already too clogged up. You do not want more "drying out." The clogged areas would do better becoming more dilute by drinking hot liquids, not by becoming more gummy and concentrated with the "drying out" of a decongestant. After the decongestant wears off, a rebound can occur of more congestion. Taking more decongestant perpetuates a negative cycle, and can raise blood pressure. Cough syrups and pills that contain dexomethorphan (DXM) to block coughing are not as effective for coughs as hoped, but are popularly abused by kids looking for a cheap, easily available "high" ("rhobotripping") with unhealthy physical and psychoactive effects.

Infections and Antibiotics
Sometimes sinuses fill with bacterial or viral fluid. Antibiotic do not help against sinusitis, even the kinds colonized by bacteria. Antibiotics can kill your body's good "bugs" or weaken them, leaving you susceptible to stronger bad bugs, who learn how to live and multiply in your body. Antibiotics taken orally reduce the needed numbers of beneficial flora that normally live in your GI tract. The nutritional and immunogenic products that they normally make in your body are not made, and the organisms responsible for several illnesses can rapidly reproduce and get out of control. An example is antibiotic-associated Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) colitis, an infection of the colon that occurs primarily among patients exposed to antibiotics. More than three million C. difficile infections occur in hospitals in the U.S. each year. He number is growing. An estimated 20,000 C. difficile infections occur each year in the U.S. outside the hospital - directly caused by taking antibiotics.

Healthier Ways to Decongest and Sooth:

• Hot steamy showers and baths.
• Hot facial compresses.
• No need for fancy vaporizers with chemicals (more camphor or other irritants to inhale). Put on a kettle or any pot of water and heat until steaming. Stand at a distance where you feel the warm steam, without standing close enough for any chance of burns. No need to bend over as in the photo at right. Stand in healthy comfortable position for your back and neck.
• Eat spicy foods that you like, such as wasabi or chili peppers.
• Drink hot peppermint tea, or other warm, aromatic teas with lemon.
• Reduce irritating particles (rugs, cats, junk piles, cigarettes, or whatever concentrates trigger irritants).
• A walk outdoors in fresh air and sunshine helps clear breathing and pain.
• Do any fun exercise to heat your body. Increasing body temperature loosens clogging secretions and generates heat shock proteins that have been found to be pretty good for you. The post Exercise and Cancer touches on the basics of heat shock proteins.
• The post Fast Fitness - Quick Warm Up gives a quick method to increase body temperature to warm up.
• The post Regular Exercise Reduces Cold and Flu Incidence lists good practices to lower risk and increase resistance to infectious diseases.

More information on preventing and resolving sinus problems, things to know about antibiotic use, and other infectious topics are in the book Healthy Martial Arts.

Labels: breathing, children, colds/flu/infectious, drugs, heat, neck, nutrition, smoking, warmup

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Exercise and Cancer

Regular physical exercise is documented to reduce risk of cancer. Exercise has also been found to increase survival in those with existing cancer, (JAMA and J Clin Oncol.) improving both number of years and quality of life.

Until recently (sometimes currently), cancer patients, along with heart patients and back pain sufferers were told to rest and stop activity. Inactivity creates new health problems and worsens existing health problems. Lack of regular exercise decreases strength, endurance, energy, blood sugar regulation, cellular repair (lengthy list here) and increases fatigue. Cancer treatments of radiation and chemotherapy do the same, and worse. This is called iatrogenic harm, which means injury or illness brought on by medical treatment. One medical report found that debilitating tiredness and loss of energy from cancer treatments can be more disruptive to the patient than the original pain of cancer. Another report called fatigue, "The most important consideration for the patient with cancer." Cancer fatigue can be a problem for months, even years, after treatments end.

Reader Dr. Zoe E., cancer survivor with personal experience writes:

"I don't think I'm quite ready for prime-time yet - but if I can be a source of encouragement to those trashed by chemo, I'm happy to be displayed.

"Yes, exercise helps if you can do it. Lots of people are lucky to experience low toxicity during chemo and are able to keep up their exercise programs or active life through treatment. Others are laid low and must stop treatment or are just trying to recover enough between treatments to continue them.

"While the Lance Armstrongs and Tony Snows of the world are inspirational, it would be a bad thing if the general population thought that people should be able to work and function during cancer treatment. Many, maybe most, can't and they shouldn't feel bad about it. Chemotherapy is as close to killing you as modern medicine gets."

Getting enough exercise to improve strength and quality of life doesn't only mean exhausting yourself or stopping your day to change clothes and go "do exercises." Some posts with ideas:
What is "Fitness as a Lifestyle?"
How Good Would You Look From 400 Squats a Day - Just Stop Unhealthy Bending
and
How Often Should You Be Healthy?

Dr Zoe sent an update the day before yesterday:

"I did the Relay for Life on Saturday (a fund raiser for the American Cancer Society). It's a 12-hour team event where you keep one person on the track for the full time. I did the Survivor's Lap and several more with lots of rest stops. I managed to hang out there for 4 hours before I got too pooped. No photos though, I'm even more camera shy than blog shy! You can draw a picture if you want."

One of the benefits of exercise is that your body produces more of an interesting compound called heat shock protein. Heat shock proteins (HSP) are families of proteins that do several things including accompanying and helping other proteins under stress (called chaperoning). Heat shock chaperones keep the other proteins neatly folded when they are being deformed by stress factors such as infection, ultraviolet light, starvation, heat, and other harsh conditions. Heat shock proteins help cell survival and are thought to mobilize immune function against infections and diseases. One of the big stressors of focus in heat shock study is cancer. Heat shock proteins have been investigated for their role in activating immune response to cancer, and in cancer vaccine research.

Molecular physiology isn't my research area, so I haven't done any work in it personally. I just read the work of others. Heat shock proteins are intensely fascinating to me for their role in exercise, in increasing tolerance to hot environments (interestingly, cold too), and other extreme challenges to the body. I hope to post more about it from the sports medicine meeting next week.

Get exercise that is healthy and fun, and as a normal part of how you bend and position your body in healthful ways during your day.

Labels: cancer, cold, heat, injury, performance enhancing modality, readers inspiring story

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