Five Ways to Naturally beat Sinusitis Pain
I awoke in the night, head throbbing. My little cold, that I thought I had kicked, had now set into my sinuses, causing extreme pain–enough to wake me up from my sleep. I instantly realized what was happening. Sinusitis. Oh, the pain!
Whenever I get hit with a cold, if I don’t kick it within the first day or so, the infection almost always settles right into my sinuses. This results in throbbing pain in my head, teeth and face,and jaw, and usually a plugged up nose. And the pressure!
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Go ahead and laugh!
You may be wondering, after my nice little post about treating the cold and flu with natural remedies, why did the sinus infection set in? All I can say is, that we all do the best that we can do, and for me, this time, what I used wasn’t enough. To be fair, our current situation actually prevents us from utilizing several of the natural remedies that I referenced–remedies that normally do pretty well for us!
But, since we are living in our RV, with limited water, and limited showering capacity, I could not do the Hot/Cold Shower option. It’s too bad, because we do rely on this for an immediate immune boost.
Also, since the sinusitis set in on the weekend, we were out of reach for the AlliMed, which we also rely on. I have used AlliMed to knock out sinusitis in the past, but we were out, which is another bummer.
What else? Truthfully, I should have made the Rocket Fuel, even minus the ginger, which I did not have. But, since I thought I was OK, even that simple remedy got skipped.
I did use the Lipospheric Vitamin C, and then slacked off once I felt better, so there’s a lesson there to keep going beyond when you feel better, to be sure all of the bug has moved out of your system. I also made Elderberry tea, not the syrup this time, because I didn’t want to use honey, and and we were out of glycerin. That’s a lot of excuses, isn’t it?
So here I was, at 2 am, suffering with sinusitis pain
I knew that the pain was too intense to try to sleep, so I gathered my hydrotherapy supplies, and went to work. Having suffered many times with sinusitis, I knew the only treatment that gives me some pain relief. But, first, I had to unclog my sinuses as best I could. Here’s what I did:
1. Clear the nasal passages
- STEAM/DIFFUSE I chose steam this time. Because we are off-grid, we don’t have our generator running during the night, so I couldn’t run my diffuser, but the stove-top worked out fine. I just put a small amount of water in a broad pan, added some Eucalyptus and Peppermint essential oils, and covered my head with a towel. Then, I positioned my face above the steam (careful to not get too close!) and inhaled the vapor. This immediately began to open up my nasal passages. I did this for around 5 minutes. During the daytime, I would diffuse essential oils in my diffuser.
- HOT TEA Hot Peppermint Tea, or Hot Ginger Tea are both excellent for opening up your sinus passages from the inside out. You can add a little honey, but I don’t like the aftertaste, so I use Stevia powder instead. This also eliminates any sugars while my body is fighting an infection.
2. Rinse Sinuses with a Neti Pot
This is a handy little device uses for clearing out your nose. It’s simple but not always easy–because if your sinuses are still blocked, water doesn’t want to flow! I got the bright idea (from googling at 2 am–not always the best advice) of using a bit of hydrogen peroxide in the neti-pot. Whoa–never gonna try that again! Even though I diluted it “properly” it burned like crazy! It’s a scary thing to glance in the mirror and see white foam coming out of your nose! And more googling shows that it’s not really all that great of an idea. But I figured that out by my own trial!
Just stick with the 1 tsp of sea salt in a cup of warm, filtered water. Can add a pinch of baking soda so it burns less.
Using the neti pot is simple, you just tip your head over, stick it up your nostril, turn your head to one side, and let the water flow out the other nostril! The first time I tried this, I really had a hard time with it, but I found out that it was because my sinuses were so plugged up that no water could enter. Sometimes, you need to press the others nostril closed and suck the saltwater up into your other side (the side with the Neti pot in it). Then just let the water flow out, but be warned—if you have blocked sinuses, there is gonna be snot, and it’s might look scary! Yellow, green, or sometimes bloody mucus all indicate infected sinuses.
Another note—you may not get “everything” out the first time you try the Neti pot. This is one of those times where you repeat many times the treatments on this page, and eventually, you will get to the deeper, trapped, mucus. I speak from experience. Trust me.
Whether or not you can successfully perform the neti flush the first time you try it, the next treatment is the BEST for sinusitis pain relief!
3. Focused Hydrotherapy
You may wonder why I use the term, Hydrotherapy. It simply means using water for therapy. This treatment always gives me some relief from my sinusitis pain. I can count on several hours of pain relief after performing this treatment. Once you try it, you will see how wonderful it makes your face and head feel!
This is a simple, but powerful treatment!
Here’s how to do the Focused Sinus Hydrotherapy Treatment
Gather your supplies: You’ll need:
- Big Bowls or pans (your face has to fit inside)
- A smaller pan or measuring cup with a handle (to scoop in more water)
- Large pan/bowl hot water
- Large pan/bowl cold water
- Towels
- Washcloth
- Kleenex or TP
- Clock or your phone’s clock
- Ice pack or ice cubes
- Snorkel, optional
Once you have everything together, pour the hot and cold water into the pans/bowls, and place side by side on a table in front of where you will sit.
The Process of performing the Sinusitis Hydrotherapy Treatment
- Cover your work area/table with a towel.
- Place your hot pan/bowl on a table in front of where you will sit comfortably. Place the cold pan/bowl to the right, inserting ice or and ice pack if necessary. You want your water as hot and as cold as you can take it, but don’t want to burn yourself or freeze your brain!
- Place your pan of additional very hot water to the back, so that you may add more when your face pan cools off. Place an empty bowl to the side, and place a small pan or scoop nearby for scooping out cooled water and adding hot.
- Add a small washcloth or towel in an easy-to-reach spot, because you will use this every time your face comes up out of the water!
- Ladies–Hair up! Pin up your bangs out of your face, or they will get drippy!
- I like to wrap a hand towel around my neck, secured with a safety pin, clothes pin, etc. to keep my neck dry.
- Now, you’re ready to begin! Dip your whole face into the pan of hot for 3 minutes. Come up for air whenever you need to, and keep adding and removing water in order to keep it just as hot as you can stand it without burning.
- After 3 minutes of hot, switch to the cold. You only need to do the cold for 30 seconds! Please be aware that sometimes the cold water causes you to involuntarily inhale as soon as your face hits the water. This can cause you to suck up water into your nose. I deal with this by either blowing bubbles out while I put my face in, or just by consciously forcing myself to not inhale. The snorkel would be helpful in this case, but I’ve never used one.
- Do the Hot/Cold at least 3 times each, always ending with the cold!
Some notes to be aware of: This is not the kind of treatment that you’d want to perform while you have company, unless they’re really cool with body fluids, because you will see snot! Once you do one or two changes of water, your nose will begin to flow freely, which is actually what you want! Here’s where that washcloth comes in. You may want one for you face in general, and one for your nose, but that’s your choice. You can try to use Kleenexes, but your face will be so wet that I don’t really advise that.
What else? Once you get going, you will probably feel so much sinusitis pain relief with your face in the water that you won’t want to stop after 3 changes. I’ve been doing these treatments for the past three days, and unless I have something pressing to do, I go for at least five changes. I figure that setting up the water is the most time-consuming part, so why not just keep going? But, that’s just me. You’ll have to figure out what works for you!
Once you’re done, you can blow your nose. You will notice, most likely, that a LOT of pent-up discharge will now have broken loose from your sinuses. This really helps with the sinus pressure and pain! For me, although I got sinus pain relief every time I did this treatment, it was not until the third day of doing treatments that suddenly the dam broke loose, and the mucus began to break up sufficiently to afford me much more relief! So….does this mean that the treatment is no good? No–it actually relieves a lot of my sinusitis pain for several hours afterward.
You just have to look at your situation. If your sinusitis is mild, then simple remedies may be all you need to handle it! I certainly hope that is the case!
4. Another trick to bust sinusitis pain–Jiggle it away with massage
Somewhere in a box in storage, we have the Jeanie Rub Massager! (We use this thing normally for my husband’s achy back, and love it for sure) I found out on my last attack with sinusitis that this machine does an amazing job at breaking up trapped mucus from your head. I looked for a picture someone took of me using ours, but I can’t find it.
I just lie down on a sofa or bed with me head slightly elevated. Then I place the massager firmly on top of my head and turn it on. It’ll just about rattle your brains loose, but keep it on low, and you’ll be OK. You can also put it on your forehead and let it shake as well! I try to angle it over my my cheeks too, and just keep it up for 10 minutes or so. This will dislodge a bunch of your trapped mucus, and really does feel great!
Using the Jeanie Rub sort of reminds me of whenever we I used to go to my grandma’s house in North Dakota. She has this crazy shaking chair that all of the cousins would take turns “riding”. Seems like we thought it was like a bucking bronco. We always got in trouble for riding it, but I do remember that we all took rides whenever we got a chance!
5. Allimed
The (almost) end of the story
Here’s what I learned! For sinusitis pain– Allimed is gold! We were out of Allimed over the weekend, and so I did not begin as soon as I normally would have! Thus, my infection really set in bad, and I suffered greatly. At several points the pressure in my head was so intense, especially when I bent down!
Finally, my husband was able to purchase a bottle of Allimed, and I began on that last night! By today, after another hydro treatment, and three doses of Allied, I have begun to feel much better!
I get no kickback for promoting Allimed, I just really feel the benefits of it. I could have gotten a regular antibiotic, but prefer to go naturally if there is a good option. The Allimed is the strongest version of the stabilized Allicin, and it is good for the strongest infections. Incidentally, Sinusitis is one of those mentioned, along with MRSA.
This information is taken from the Sinus Survival website, located here Photo of Allimed from their website as well. Note that there are not many US distributors of Allimed, because of the regulations in shipping from the UK. We always get ours locally from The Mustard Seed, where they have Allimed imported at much better prices than I have seen on the web. It’s well worth it to pop in if you’re in the area.
1. Use a Proven Natural Infection Fighting Herb:
It is important to take all natural Allicin, for a cold or sinus infection. This is the number one component of the Quick Fix program and must be mentioned here. The only fully stabilized Allicin we have found is Allimax, AlliUltra and Allimed, all available at Sinus Survival. Allimed is the physician’s strength which is recommended by Dr. Ivker for a sinus infection. AlliUltra and Allimax are effective at reducing the severity and duration of a cold. Allicin is the sulfur reaction of crushed garlic. Peter Josling a natural chemist, discovered how to stabilize this reaction into a concentrated form to deliver 100% of the benefit of the allicin. Studies have shown it’s incredible benefits addressing viruses, fungus and bacteria, the 3 forms of possible sinus infections.
If you have a lesser infection, there are cheaper, less potent, but just as effective versions of the stabilized allicin. AlliMax comes in a couple of different potencies on amazon. You can just take what’s necessary for your particular illness. Still, look for the AlliMed, if you can find it!
As I mentioned before in another post, here is where we buy ours locally.
In closing…
I hope that you can take away several things to do to relieve the pain in your head from sinusitis! I am currently on day two of taking the Allimed, and feel no sinus pain or pressure. I’m still taking it, as the cold/drainage is still here a little bit, but I have seen a huge improvement, and can now function like a regular human being again!
Yay!
Shared at the Farm-Fresh Tuesday’s Blog Hop!
https://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2019/05/farm-fresh-tuesdays-blog-hop-week-2.html
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It’s nice to see all these options for helping with our sinus pain. Thanks for compiling this list. I occasionally do have sinusitis.
By the grace of God, I have never really suffered from this but my husband has. I need to share this with him.
I hope something can be a help to him!