clearing my sinuses?

[toasterwater]

Okay... so basically, I have recently realized that I may have had very congested sinuses for a very long time (like... maybe all my life). I'm not 100% on this thought, but it's a good possibility.

Although I do have a little bit of a cold or something right now, and that is probably contributing to the problem, I think that I basically can never breath through both nasal passages clearly.

I remember reading something about this theory that you only breath through one nostril at a time, and that can be bad for brain activity (this may or may not be true, but that's not the point of this thread). This theory was like a prelude to a breathing exercise that is supposed to be mentally stimulating... or something like that. Basically, you just close one nostril at a time, enabling you to breath deeply through both of them.

Well... Like I said... regardless of whether or not that exercise is useful or crap... I cannot do it because I can almost never breath clearly through both nostrils.

After talking to 2 other people about this, one of them said that he can breath clearly through both nostrils separately, and I am just weird. The other said that she has the same problem, and suggested I take musinex and sudafed to break up any congestion in my sinuses. I haven't tried this yet.

Things I have tried to clear my sinuses include:

Eating spicy food. I went as far as making a shot of hot sauce, ground up jalapeños, and kayan pepper. I swirled it around in my mouth and let it coat my tongue. It wasn't nearly as bad as I assumed it would be... but it didn't solve my problem either. Very little nose running occurred if any. I contemplated snorting chopped up jalapeños... but I decided that I probably run a good chance of getting an infection if I do that... So I decided not to.

I have these nose drops... they're like... basically salt water I think. Pretty simple concept: put them in my nose, and snort away. Well... these don't help much either.

I plan on trying the musinex thing, but I want to know if any of you have suggestions, experience, etc. to share.

I think that if I can clear my sinuses, it may also help (even if just slightly) with my tiredness thing...

Anyway, thanks in advance. All feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Oh yeah, and I also recall that in my experiences with running (which is pretty decently thorough), I was never able to do the whole "breath in through your nose and out through your mouth" thing. Just another piece of evidence that suggests there may be a problem.

[PerDev]

I have similar situation ..
I have coincidently got the book Perfect Health by Deepak Chopra

He suggest about cough Prakriti ..

and to get away from it there are lot of rituals he suggested ..

One is to avoid sweet, cold, spicy foods completly.
and get more ginger tea.

Originally Posted by toasterwater

Okay... so basically, I have recently realized that I may have had very congested sinuses for a very long time (like... maybe all my life). I'm not 100% on this thought, but it's a good possibility.

Although I do have a little bit of a cold or something right now, and that is probably contributing to the problem, I think that I basically can never breath through both nasal passages clearly.

I remember reading something about this theory that you only breath through one nostril at a time, and that can be bad for brain activity (this may or may not be true, but that's not the point of this thread). This theory was like a prelude to a breathing exercise that is supposed to be mentally stimulating... or something like that. Basically, you just close one nostril at a time, enabling you to breath deeply through both of them.

Well... Like I said... regardless of whether or not that exercise is useful or crap... I cannot do it because I can almost never breath clearly through both nostrils.

After talking to 2 other people about this, one of them said that he can breath clearly through both nostrils separately, and I am just weird. The other said that she has the same problem, and suggested I take musinex and sudafed to break up any congestion in my sinuses. I haven't tried this yet.

Things I have tried to clear my sinuses include:

Eating spicy food. I went as far as making a shot of hot sauce, ground up jalapeños, and kayan pepper. I swirled it around in my mouth and let it coat my tongue. It wasn't nearly as bad as I assumed it would be... but it didn't solve my problem either. Very little nose running occurred if any. I contemplated snorting chopped up jalapeños... but I decided that I probably run a good chance of getting an infection if I do that... So I decided not to.

I have these nose drops... they're like... basically salt water I think. Pretty simple concept: put them in my nose, and snort away. Well... these don't help much either.

I plan on trying the musinex thing, but I want to know if any of you have suggestions, experience, etc. to share.

I think that if I can clear my sinuses, it may also help (even if just slightly) with my tiredness thing...

Anyway, thanks in advance. All feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Oh yeah, and I also recall that in my experiences with running (which is pretty decently thorough), I was never able to do the whole "breath in through your nose and out through your mouth" thing. Just another piece of evidence that suggests there may be a problem.

[ChrisB]

Do you eat dairy products? If you do, try a 30 day trial eating dairy free. It worked for me.

[Trezker]

Dairy definitely clogs stuff up, everywhere.
That's the first thing I'd get rid of in my life if I wanted better skin and sinuses.

[toasterwater]

@trezker and chrisb

That's interesting... I do eat cheese pretty much on a daily basis... anyone have suggestions for a tasty (that's an important aspect of cheese ) non-dairy cheese that I might try?

Even if not... I suppose I can muster the willpower to give up dairy for 30 days ...

Thanks!

[toasterwater]

One is to avoid sweet, cold, spicy foods completly.

that seems to cut out a large portion of my diet... it's pretty impractical at least for the time being. i eat lots of sweet fruit, i enjoy spices, peppers, etc, and "cold"?... like temperature wise cold food? (I can't think of any other meaning for cold) I don't see what relevance that has on anything.

Thanks for the input!

[PerDev]

One simple Trick seems to work.

mix "black pepper" and "almond" and take one big spoon of it with water before sleep. This works

[James Reno]

I've done a couple of things lately and now breathe really well. One is complicated and expensive. Had surgery and got my deviated septum fixed.

The other is simple and temporary, but when I feel a cold coming on I eat a raw red pepper. Clears you up fast.

[JSB]

Does steam help? If you put your face over a bowl of steaming water (add eucalyptus for more kick) for a few minutes, with a towel over your head to keep the steam from escaping, does it open your nasal passageways?

If not, you may want to see a doctor and find out if you have a deviated septum.

If it's not an anatomical problem, I recommend using a neti pot regularly to keep your sinuses clear.

[toasterwater]

Originally Posted by JSB

Does steam help? If you put your face over a bowl of steaming water (add eucalyptus for more kick) for a few minutes, with a towel over your head to keep the steam from escaping, does it open your nasal passageways?

Wow... thank you so much!

I did the steam thing for a few minutes (Kinda busy at the moment, I'll do it for longer later) and it helped immensely!

When I blew my nose... A lot of what came out was blood (bright red)... My theory is that it must have been up in my sinuses for a while... because I don't think I have done anything recently to cause a bloody nose...

Anyway, I'll post my results after I do this more later.

add eucalyptus for more kick

I'll look for some at the drug store (not sure if that's where you might find it though... maybe the grocery store... I dunno.

As far as the whole deviated septum thing... I'll research that a little bit. I've heard this is frequent among cocaine users (Which I am not...) but I don't know how else someone may deviate their septum... lol

Thanks a ton for the advice!