Polski
When sinuses are seriously congested or completely blocked, the popular techniques of irrigation in standing position will not be of much help and could even not be possible at all.
The most effective and probably the cheapest of all techniques is the bat method, which additionally doesn’t require any special equipment, just a dropper bottle or a dropper itself, which literally costs pennies.
My allergologist once taught me how to do that, and it goes like this:
1. prepare a saline solution for sinus irrigation – you can make it in many ways, but make sure to always include ingredients which are anti-inflammatory and decrease surface tension, e.g.:
– over-the-counter saline solution (preferably some highly concentrated natural brine) DYI brine – let’s say 10 ml (you can dissolve salt in colloidal silver, you can also add a pinch of baking soda if you suspect a fungal sinus infection),
– 4-5 drops of 3% hydrogen peroxide (it’s best if you can buy/DIY food grade hydrogen peroxide, as those over-the-counter products usually contain harmful stabilizers),
– you can add a few drops of 1% Lugol’s iodine kilka kropli płynu Lugola 1% from the drugstore (though I choose 1 drop of my DIY 10% Lugol’s – I make it myself, again, to ensure its purity).
2. lie on your back with your head just over the edge of the bed and hang it as low as possible – if you push your head back far enough, the salty solution will not pour into your throat, which is a very, very good thing,
3. drop by drop fill each nostril with the saline until your cavities can contain no more,
4. hang on down there and appreciate your fascinating ceiling as long as you can, preferably at least a few minutes,
5. super-carefully keeping the nose in exactly the same spot, and a tissue in the ready, roll onto your belly and immediately blow your nose.
6. Voila! (but don’t go outside for the next 20-30 minutes, so that you don’t immediately catch a cold)
At first you can repeat that 2-3 times per day, then – as you’re getting better – less and less frequently.
Important note: saline with hydrogen peroxide may give you a burning sensation behind the eyes and at the top of the head! If you can stand it, do try, because it’s actually a good sign. If it’s too much though, don’t worry – just blow your nose and flood your sinuses with saline only – the very fact of rinsing the mucus and bacteria out will be a milestone on your road to recovery.
Also, if you decide to use hydrogen peroxide in your saline solution, it’s strategically wiser to start with a lower concentration and increase it slowly, then to start too strong and give up at the first try. This is a super-effective method, so do give it a shot!
Thanks to the bat-method sinus flooding some people get rid of chronic infections, even those that have lasted for years and resulted in calcifications.
If the mucosa is so swollen or your nose so blocked that no liquid can come through, then you can occasionally use some form of pseudoephedrine spray (eg. Nasivin, Otrivin), to quickly shrink the mucous membrane and let the saline fill the sinuses. Just remember that, though highly effective, pseudoephedrine is also highly addictive and should never be used longer than 5 days in a row. (I myself got unintentionally addicted years ago and coming around cost me too much time and effort to treat it lightly. It’s not worth the risk.)
In order to ‘open’ your sinuses you can also try a hot bath with salts (gray, pink, Epsom), essential oils and peroxide. When it comes to dosage, I’m no shy at all – a handful of this, a handful of that into the bath (probably up to 1,5 glass), plus 4-5 small bottles of over-the-counter 3% hydrogen peroxide and possible a few drops of Lugol’s iodine. The first time I decided to experiment with pouring hydrogen peroxide into my hot tub, my sinuses opened so suddenly and violently, that I heard a loud POP!
But don’t be too liberal with Lugol’s drops, because it’s abrasive and irritated the skin. I once splashed it into my bath so extravagantly, that my bottom stung until morning. But the cold was gone anyway :)))))
If you decide to use oils, only use decent essential oils (not synthetic!) and no more than a few drops (eucalyptus, peppermint, lemongrass, etc.) – they’ll float on the surface and give you a nice inhalation.
In addition I prepare for us antiinflammatory vapor oils – because I’m a truly bored individual, I make them in two versions: bracing (rześki) [eucalyptus, lemongrass, lemon, peppermint) and gingerbread (piernik) [cinnamon, frankincense, peppermint, myrrh, ginger). If I get bored with them, I’ll make up new compositions 😉 You gently rub them into the skin of your forehead, neck, chest, back and make use of the whole goodness of cold-pressed hemp oil and all those antiinflammatory aromas (just make sure you don’t rub them in too intensely, because you might end up with some serious skin irritation). What’s more, those same oils will ease inflammation when rubbed into aching muscles and joints.
Those same oils sigh gently but relentlessly in our ultrasonic diffuser whenever we suffer from a cold, especially at night. Of course, we rub them also onto their skin, lie beside the sick individual and enjoy the pleasant smells 🙂
When it comes to clearing the nose of very small children, I found KATAREK device most helpful. I don’t even know now how we had possibly survived all those snots in our older kids, but our life with our younger ones was way easier! Yes, we must consider the fact that we can wake up the neighbors in the middle of the night with our vacuum cleaner whirring, but that’s better than waiting for the mucus to flood the bronchi or the lungs…. And we have suspicions that our neighbors still like us anyway 😉
For a while we also used a special nose inhaler attachment (Pic) for our nebuliser, that you can fill with saline and ease your children’s breathing. Moist mucosa produces far less mucus, so it’s a perfect solution for the kids, but also for our pocket, as we no longer need to buy those ridiculously expensive OTC sea water sprays. Less handy, for sure, but what difference does portability make if you’re stuck at home anyway?
If your sinusitis is recurring, you can safely assume your immunity is compromised. If you hit hard at the very beginning you can prevent the infection from spreading (some 3% hydrogen peroxide into each ear for a few minutes, a megadose of vitamin C, a megadose of iodine, propolis, sauna, hot salt bath with hydrogen peroxide, etc.), but you also must look into your eating habits and plan a smart supplementation to boost your immune system.
PS In her lecture on vitamin C, dr Suzanne Humphries mentions a method to immediately decongest your sinuses – put a pinch of sodium ascorbate and quickly inhale it through the nose. I never had sodium ascorbate at hand, so I could never try this method out, but it both excites and terrifies me. Because if it’s as intense of a feeling as when I accidentally inhale ascorbic acid powder then it’s only for the tough. But on the other hand = what if it really helps? Ok,I’ll make some ascorbate and I’ll see!
PPS DIY saline solution for sinus irrigation is so simple to make and it looks like this: boil 500 ml of water, add 2 tablespoons of salt (4,5 g), let it cool and voila!