Amazon icon Audible icon Autographed icon Book Bub icon Booksprout icon Buy Me a Coffee icon Email icon Facebook icon Goodreads icon Instagram icon Mastodon icon Patreon icon Periscope icon Pinterest icon RSS icon Search icon Snapchat icon TikTok icon Tumblr icon Twitter icon Vine icon Youtube icon LinkedIn icon

Tag: sinusin

Natural Sinus Remedies for Stuffy Noses and Colds

This question was posted on my local mom’s listserve today: My son has had a cold for several months now and after rounds of antibiotics, nasal steroids and surgery, his cold isn’t going away. A nurse at his ENT dr’s office suggested a sinus rinse. Well, it appears that a sinus rinse is torturous for him and he screams and moves away as best as he can. Does anyone have any suggestions? I’ve showed him videos on the Internet of other children doing the same thing which was no help. I can stomach only so much of his screaming. ~Annie

Annie, I can relate to your dilemma! My kids balk at doing sinus rinses, too, but I’ve come up with some alternatives that they can handle and work to not only bring immediate relief but also to speed healing by clearing sinus passages.preservative-free saline sinus spray

1. Instead of an active Sinus Rinse involving flushing out the sinus passages, I tend to use a preservative-free saline sinus spray with my kids. They accept it better, and will blow their nose after I squirt into the nostril. The saline loosens the mucous so that it will move out more easily and uses osmosis to decrease inflammation in the sinus cavity. Unfortunately, however, this may be hard with a 2-year old who may not understand how to blow his nose properly. Just have him do the best he can.

heel sinusin nasal spray2. Sinusin by Heel is a miracle remedy for opening clogged nasal passages. Agitate the bottle first by slamming it into your palm a few times, then squirt up each nostril. Encourage him to blow his nose, but don’t get into a fight about it; it’s ok if he doesn’t blow, too. Sinusin is non-medicinal and homeopathic, so you can feel safe about using it with your babies, and short-acting, so feel free to repeat it when he appears stuffed or runny again. Sometimes I find doing a second round immediately does the trick. I find Sinusin at Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocers, but I know it is also available on Amazon and may be also at Whole Foods.eucalyptus oil for a cold

3. Place a humidifier in his room at night with a vaporizer dish filled with clean water and 2-3 drops of eucalyptus essential oil. Eucalyptus is a purifying essential oil and breathing the moist, scented air will help clear his sinus passages while he sleeps.

Cold Calm tablets for relief from the common cold4. Homeopathic Cold Calm by Boiron when taken as tablets dissolved underneath the tongue can offer safe and effective short-term relief from cold symptoms. Give him a tablet whenever symptoms appear; if the symptoms decrease or lessen, you know you have the right remedy. If there is no change within 30 minutes, it is not the right remedy so cease taking it. This one is definitely found at Whole Foods – often next to the registers during cold seasons– as well as at Vitamin Cottage.

Of course, you can use all of these remedies for yourself, too, when needed, with no negative side effects or concern for drug interactions.

To help keep him healthy, consider offering him lots of vitamin C and a daily drink of Good Belly Probiotic Drink.

Nourishing Remedies for Run Down Bodies

My friend has already had a rough winter. What started with a cough in September morphed into bronchitis and then into pneumonia. Even after multiple rounds of antibiotics, here it is almost Thanksgiving and she has puss-filled spots on her tonsils but tests negative for strep, feels worn out, run down, and far from healthy. Another visit to the doctor started her on anti-viral meds but they upset her stomach and gave her constipation.

I told her I thought she needed to nourish, support, and rebuild her body to feel healthy and strong again. She was on the edge of collapse, crying a lot, and generally feeling crappy. I’ve found that sometimes people need to get to the bottom before the wake up and start caring for themselves better. I confess to being there myself at times.

I understand: it’s easy to get depressed when you don’t feel good and haven’t for a long time. Personally, I’ve never found much value in those anti-viral meds, particularly if you don’t start them at the onset of an infection. I wanted to kickstart her off to reclaiming her health naturally, so I gave her the following recommendations:

As an antiviral, prepare and take immediately:
Garlic tea. Peel and crush several cloves of garlic and place in a mug. Pour in 6-8 oz boiling water and let steep at lest 5 minutes. Squeeze in up to 1/2 fresh lemon juice. Add honey or agave until it tastes pleasing. I like to drink this before bed and let it marinate in my cells overnight. Repeat in the morning, if needed, and as frequently as necessary. I’ve never needed to take it more than 3 times.
To combat the existing viral infection and find some immediate relief from symptoms, I recommended the following protocol to follow several times daily:

Gargle with warm salt water. Let it bathe and soak sore tonsils. Prepare it as hot as comfortable, but don’t burn yourself.

Use SinusRinse or a netti pot to rinse your nose with warm salt water at least morning and night, and more if desired. Mix in a little baking soda to make it more comfortable, or just stick with the pre-mixed SinusRinse packets.
For her stuffy nose:

-Homeopathic Sinusin (formerly called Euphorbium) spray as needed to open nasal passages and reduce swelling (this stuff is like magic!). Use after a sinus cavity rinse.
Homeopathic hepar sulphur. 4 pills under the tongue before bed and upon rising, if needed.
-Run a humidifier at night.

To nourish her body and rebuild after antibiotics, she should take the following daily:

Probiotics. We like Good Belly non-dairy probiotic juice, but any probiotics from the refrig case should be fine for daily use. Because she has been on antibiotics, she should take this Primadophilus Intensive course to begin with and rebuild her system.

Super green nutrients. You can find these as a powder supplement, or as “Supergreen” food or drink. It’s basically a combo of spiralina and other green algae and veggies. At our house, we mix some super greens into our Good Belly juice with breakfast every day, especially during this cold and flu season. Our favorite super green liquid is Body Balance, which you must order from an MLM distributor. Odwalla makes a nice Superfood drink, too.
My friend went to the health food store, loaded up, and started taking care of herself that very night. Here is the email she sent me the next morning:

“Just wanted to let you know that i just finished my garlic and lemon tea (and my husband had his), gargling salt water and doing my sinurinse. i can’t believe the difference of today vs. yesterday. thank you so much for all of your advice, it really is working!”

When I spoke to her later that day she emphasized not only that she felt healthier and stronger in less than 24 hours after starting this regimen, but that she felt empowered and optimistic about her health for the first time in months. She continued on to say that her throat, which had pained her for months, already felt better. In fact, she wasn’t sure it was hurting her at all anymore.

“I’ve been waiting around for the antibiotics and the antivirals to work and just getting more and more depressed that I wasn’t getting better. Now I feel like there is something I can do to positively impact my health!”

Excellent! That’s how I started down this path of natural health myself: I wanted to be proactive about my health and know what I could do to help myself have a better life with multiple sclerosis. Being empowered about your health can impact not only how you feel physically, but your mental state, energy level, and positive outlook. Personally, I find it extremely depressing when I feel helpless to effect change, and since my life and body mean the most to me, I choose to take actions that will help me along rather than put all of my faith in an often elusive pharmaceutical “cure.”

We should all take a personal responsibility for our own health, I believe. Power to the people!  🙂