ADVERTISING: Advertorial — Sinus sufferers listen up!

This is certainly the time of year for sinuses to flare. With everything in full bloom, and forest fire smoke in the air, those with troubles with their sinuses are really struggling. While essentially everyone has sinuses, not everyone flares even with the worst air quality. So why do you?

Sinuses are nothing but empty spaces in your face — above, between and within the eyes, and the cheekbones. They are there, normally with a very thin layer of mucus, to filter and to create moisture to keep the sinuses and the air we breathe moist. If there are irritants, viruses, or bacteria, the sinuses create more mucus to move it out. The sinuses are supposed to be empty, with an opening for drainage. If the sinuses start producing too much mucus, it backs up into the normally empty cavities and can fill them up. The more full they are, the more discomfort you feel.

From what I’ve said already, we can deduce that smoke, dust, pollens and other things in the air can cause the sinuses to produce an abundant amount of mucus. But there are other issues that make you more prone to sinus problems.

Down the center of your nasal passages is a cartilaginous material called a septum. Its job is to separate the passages equally down the center. If that septum is deviated to one side or another, it can create a road block for effective mucus flow. Deviated septums are caused by injury. Fixing that can help open up the closed nasal passage.

Some people have narrow sinuses or even an extra sinus that can impede proper flow of mucus. There isn’t anything that can be done to change that.

The foods you eat is something you can change. Pasteurized dairy products are some of the worst excess mucus-producing foods in our diet. Followed by wheat/gluten and sugar. To determine if they are problematic for you, take them out of your diet for three weeks (normally I recommend two weeks, but it takes two weeks for the body to clear dairy). Use a neti pot or saline spray to clean the excess mucus out of your sinuses, and keep the food out for the three weeks, without a single cheat. After 3 weeks, put it back into your diet, breakfast, lunch and dinner in a normal to large amount (we want a good test). If your sinuses clog up again, you’ve identified at least one culprit. Test the other things next. I recommend you only test one type of food at a time.

To clear up stubborn sinus issues, you may need acupuncture. It is amazing how quickly acupuncture works to clear your sinuses. Many people get relief within minutes! But it does take more than one treatment for the effects to last and for the underlying mechanism to be addressed. The use of acupuncture, nutrition, herbal medicine and other complimentary modalities helps an abundance people plagued with sinus issues, and may help you as well!

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Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with over four decades of experience. Carling is a “Health Detective.” She looks beyond your symptom picture and investigates WHY you are experiencing your symptoms in the first place.

Carling is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d’Alene clinic. Visit Carling’s website at www.vitalhealthcda.com to learn more about Carling, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles.

Carling can be reached at 208-765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.