Combating Sinus Allergies
Sinus allergies are the devil.
Your nose is stopped up, you may feel light-headed at some points, and sometimes there’s uncontrollable post-nasal drip.
What causes sinus allergies?
The obvious answer is allergens such as pollen, pet dander, dust, mold, and mildew, but sometimes things you aren’t even allergic to could trigger an allergic reaction in your sinuses such as smoke and synthetic fog from fog machines. It all depends on how your respiratory system reacts to the things you inhale, whether you’re aware of these things or not.
How can you differentiate sinus allergies from a cold or the flu?
The common cold and influenza are both caused by viruses. Viruses are typically identified by a sore throat and a fever. Although some allergic reactions can trigger fevers, very rarely will a sore throat come from an allergic reaction. You may feel itchiness, dryness, irritation, or even experience swelling, but there aren’t many instances where a sore throat is caused by allergens. Another telling sign is how your body reacts to medication for allergies. If your symptoms don’t improve or get worse, it’s definitely something more serious than an allergic reaction.
When should you treat allergies?
Most sinus allergies can be left “untreated” and clear up on their own in a week or two. (I don’t recommend this, though.) If your allergy symptoms are absolutely unbearable, that’s the point where you would begin “treatment.” Allergies can be treated with the following:
- Hot tea: You can actually combine this remedy with other remedies such as lemon, peppermint, honey, etc. which I’ll explain further below.
- Warm salt-water nasal irrigation:
- Hot showers:
- Eye drops: Avoid using eyedrops if you’re wearing contact lenses, or at least take your lenses out before you plan to use eyedrops.
- Suction cups:
- Raw honey:
- Cough drops:
- Peppermints:
- Sliced lemon/lemon juice
- Humidifier (overnight): I’ll admit, I’ve never tried this, but by all accounts of people who try this, it works to some degree.
- ACV: The sourness of apple cidar vinegar somehow makes your nasal passages open up.
- Hot sauce: This will make your nose run. (Be sure to have tissues handy!) If you’re not that hungry, just take half a spoonful of the sauce by itself.
- OTC medicines: If food-based and cleansing remedies aren’t working for you, you can always opt for over-the-counter medicines. Allergy medicines typically have antihistamines which counter the histamines responsible for the allergic reaction. In case you weren’t aware, histamines are the agents released as a response to inflammation (damaged tissue) that are responsible for the swelling… Because allergens are considered foreign objects by the body and must be removed during the tissue repair process, histamines will remain active until…
***BONUS — FUN FACT ABOUT SINUS ALLERGIES:
Don’t blow your nose. I have no clue how the logistics are even correct on this, but apparently, when you blow your nose, you’re actually catapulting the allergens further into the sinus cavity which makes the allergic reaction even worse. I still don’t know if I believe this, because the mucus in the tissue is full of allergens as well. Plus, if I’m blowing outward, what force is pushing the allergens inward? Also, what does this mean for sneezing? Isn’t that basically the same thing? It doesn’t make sense at all, but this point is worth mentioning, just in case you want to look into it.
Get well soon!
***Originally published on raysaywhat.com, February 2019.
