Runny nose makes life difficult

Dear Dr. Gott: I am having a health problem for which I seek your valuable advice. via Monterey County Herald

[Barb Yates]

My daughter has had repeat sinus infections for most of her life...coupled with asthma and Crohn's disease it is a neverending saga and not much drainage!!!! She had sinus surgery age 17 which greatly relieved her symptoms for a few years(in regard to frequency of infections and duration. SInce 2003 they began again, though there was some drainage initially. Drainage with the infections now has not occurred for two years (she is 28 now). She has all the symptoms of chronic sinusitis...including general debilitation from the frequency of the infections, adding also depression and hopelessness. Recently, there has been no request for mucus culture, and CT scan was reported as "normal", though how it could be normal is a question as he has a deviated septum. This chronic illness, along with the others has created a cycle of several attempts at college with the inability to finish and affects her work and social status negatively. Does anyone have any advice or other possiblities of cure/healing that is not common? As they have been tried with out success. Thankyou before hand for any contribution.

[Dr T]

Barb Yates wrote:

My daughter has had repeat sinus infections for most of her life...coupled with asthma and Crohn's disease it is a neverending saga and not much drainage!!!! She had sinus surgery age 17 which greatly relieved her symptoms for a few years(in regard to frequency of infections and duration. SInce 2003 they began again, though there was some drainage initially. Drainage with the infections now has not occurred for two years (she is 28 now). She has all the symptoms of chronic sinusitis...including general debilitation from the frequency of the infections, adding also depression and hopelessness. Recently, there has been no request for mucus culture, and CT scan was reported as "normal", though how it could be normal is a question as he has a deviated septum. This chronic illness, along with the others has created a cycle of several attempts at college with the inability to finish and affects her work and social status negatively. Does anyone have any advice or other possiblities of cure/healing that is not common? As they have been tried with out success. Thankyou before hand for any contribution.

It sounds as though your daughter may have an issue with toxicity. Her Crohn's Disease appears to have reduced her ability to excrete toxins effectively. This creates a higher level of poisons within her system that leak out into other systems.This combined with traditional medications that further increase her levels of toxic substances can potentially lead to organ failure. Look for increased acne and eyes of yellow as well as edema (swelling) of her abdomen. Get together with a reputable Naturopathic Doctor who has been at it for 20+ years or so to get a different kind of treatment for her health.

Note that this is just an opinion based upon limited knowledge of your daughter's case and should only be taken at face value. Get to someone that can help outside the Medicine box (so to speak).4 years the traditional method have lost great amounts of time for her. It will take time to heal. Good luck to you both.

[Nucca Chiro]

Again I get to agree with Dr T for the most part. I would also suggest you check her posture, as upper cervical work has had some success with alleviation of sinus and asthmatic symptoms in some cases, and *might* be able to help your daughter as well.

Performing a very quick check of her posture is easy - simply have her lay down on the floor on her back. Then have her bend her knees to about 90 degrees so her feet are flat on the floor. Have her lift her hips off the floor (so she only has her feet and from her shoulders up on the floor, then lower again and straighten her legs (then relax). If you stand at her feet facing her head and look at the inner "bumps" of her ankles and can tell that one is higher than the other, then that indicates she has an imbalance in her postural muscles which is most likely caused by a misalignment of her upper neck.

The reason this becomes important and can affect such things as asthma and chronic infections is because this imbalanced state causes added stress to the body, and can be enough to put your body into a continual "fight or flight" scenario. This results in a lot of different disorders and problems as the body ignores "non-vital" issues (sinuses) in order to focus on survival systems and will occasionally over-react to any insult to these symptoms (some asthma).

Upper cervical chiropractic is by no means a cure-all, but it often has success when all other medical treatments have failed simply because it is an inside-out approach rather than the typical medical model of outside-in. If you want any more information or to find a doctor, a site you can check is http://www.nucca.org or http://www.upcspine.com

Best of luck, and I hope your daughter starts feeling better very soon.

[Also Crohns]

I have just been diagnosed with Crohns by accident. I was having a gastroscopy and the surgeon suggested a colonoscopy at the same time since I had never had one. The reason that I was having the first procedure was a worsening sinus problem that had been ascribed to GERDS which I had controlled to the point that I used no medication for about a year prior. Only slight stomach irritation was shown, but the bowel specimens showed Crohns. My reading since then has given support to the idea that the bowel is more permeable due to the Crohns and possibly concurrent infections in the bowel. (There are some suggestions that Crohns may be caused by mycoplasma sp. infections, which may cause bowel permeability by itself). This permeability results in the immune system being sensitized to normal systemic flora and also then causes reactions to those flora in places where they occur - like the nose and throat. Sinusitis is characterized by eosinophile reaction to normal nose flora - people without sinusitis also have the same flora, but they do not have the immune reaction to them. The solution would seem to lie in reducing the permeability. Other sources I have found cite the ability of probiotic preparations to reduce bowel permeability, so I would suggest that you try using an enteric coated probiotic capsule available at most health food stores and see what happens. (Enteric coated capsules result in between 10 and 1000 times more probiotic reaching the colon - the stomach destroys most probiotic bacteria).