Airborne: A Cure for the Common Cold?

I don't s'pose the stuff does much good.

I have a biomedical question...probably should post a new thread but I can't think straight enough.

I have nasty sinus headaches and have had a couple of sinus ops over the years.

I wonder if there isn't a simple effective way of clearing sinuses?

Water jets, ultrasonics..or would this just compact the congestion? Endoscopes with laser?

Vacuum cleaner up my snout?....I just want a decent night's sleep...

<curls of feeling sorry for my cattly self>

Del

Neti pots and OTC saline nasal sprays do help.

Cheers... I snort up plenty of diy saline (pinch of bicarbonate of soda, spinkle of salt..water as hot as I can put up with)

What is a neti pot??? It sounds like something you catch Lobsters in !!!

Del

The Neti pot. Yes, the process is strange, but it works.

Ha!

Cheers..that's sort of what I do..but I use an ordinary glass full of saline, block one nostril with a finger, snort up the saline throught the open nostril and spit it out. It does help a lot and is v good a few days after an op'.

I remember as a kid (5 or 6) being told that your nose joins up to your throat so I wnt to the dinking fountain and tried to drink via my nose....eughhh... cold fresh water is horrible... wrm saline is fine tho' once you have the knack.

Prob with all this is it works best with the sinuses behind the nose..the ones at the top are harder to deal with with. I currently have one full of crud which is pushing my eye out of alignment...causing double vision.... I'm awaiting a scan and probably another edoscope job...

You'd think there would be an easier solution to what is basically an engineering problem.

I wonder what sort of pressure is being generated in my ethmoid sinus such that it is distorting the orbit?

Del

Del,

I feel for you. I also have chronic sinusitis. I've only had 1 surgery, but that was enough. You are a brave man to have gone through it again. I've never spoken to anyone that was completely "cured" by the operation. It makes things better, but I still get 2-3 bad sinus infections a year, have nearly constant post-nasal drip etc.

My understanding is that there is not much they can do about the upper sinuses. They open up the lower ones, and hope that this will aid drainage from the ones behind the eyes.

I also get the pressure behind the eyes. Usually if i rub the eyes with some pressure, the glop in the sinuses comes out around my eyes where I can wipe it away. This relieves the pressure (sorry to be so gross).

I have never tried it, but there is an attachment for a dental water pick that is sold, and is recommended by ENT docs:

http://www.alerg.com/page/A/PROD/SST/SST2100?gclid=CM29wZGllJACFTkjFQodEgIr_g

Hope this helps.

Tad

Cheers...

I had a quick peek, it looks interesting, I shall have a closer look after I've eaten.

It is a pretty gross subject...

I grossed this guy out once ..I'd concealed a load of rubber bands in my hand...I was telling him about all the muck that comes out when they rinse your sinuses..

'It looks like a load of rubber bands' I said...I then pretended to sneeze and threw out the hand full of bands...

You should have seen him jump!

It's not much fun when they push that big hollow needle straight into your skull and pump water in...feels like your head will explode...but it's a relief when they get that crud out.

There must have been plenty of people dieing from that sort of infection in pre-antibiotic times...nasty way to go.

Del

I had sinus headaches and nosebleeds for many (~25) years until having my deviated nasal septum surgically corrected. Prior to that the only relief I could get was from the use of hot compresses on the sinus area. A coworker who had a similar problem put me on to the use of the hot compresses; he indicated the sinus pressure was relieved by the heat since the warmth reduced the viscosity of the mucous. Anyway, it worked for me and it was cheap.

Btw, I was raised in the Pittsburgh, PA area during the '40's and '50's when pollution from the steel mills was at much higher levels than now (they have virtually all closed); however, I never had a sinus problem there. Later, as a chemical engineer, I moved further down the Ohio River to what was known as "Sinus Valley" by the locals. I guess it was the difference in pollutants that caused me the sinus grief. I moved back to the Pittsburgh area later, but the problem remained. Anyway, thats my 2 cents worth.

I've used this to good effect, even tho' it sounds strange - or horrible, depending on your point of view. Like the hot saline snorted up one nostril and then the other, water as hot as you can stand it (practice first with plain water) in which you make an infusion (like steeping tea) of extremely finely ground cayenne pepper (yes, the hot red stuff you can't really eat). Let it sit for a few minutes in water too hot to snort, and when it cools down to the right temp, have at it. One or two snorts in each nostril should clear them nicely and provide some temporary relief.

Wife & I take this stuff all the time - works for us....but all the same, this recap is very good information.... too much vitamin C alone, can be a nasty bugger...

Like 99% of the things on the market, it is not a cure.

Most cold products only hide the symptoms.

This one sounds like only a vitamin supplement (a bit of preventative action).

The only product that I found that will stop a cold is Buckley's original formula.

As far as sinus problems go, the best is salt water wash such as the neti pots listed earlier. Personally, my sinus problems were cured by salt water while scuba diving in the ocean.

I don't like that it has salt. The western diet already has at least 700% too much salt

The trouble starts when the fluids the sinuses discharge all the time thicken, then practically clog up the system. Not only you get the discomfort, headache, but when it changes color from clear you have an opportunistic infection too. The time is close then to get some real medication for that.

The salty wash is a decent flush, but there is one distinctly better. That is a Personal Steam Inhaler. You can buy it and the menthol based liquid in any drugstore. It is the size of a large beer mug, and the soft upper part molds itself around your nose and mouth. You put maybe a quarter cup of water in it, put a smallish square paper towel soaked in the menthol liquid (find you comfort zone, how much of it you can tolerate) and turn it on. Inhale. You regulate the steam temperature by how much fresh air is mixed in. It takes 5 - 10 min. a few times a day. Works like a charm. Using it at the first sign is much better than toughing out first.

By the way, you get the problems in the warm seasons from allergies, that is why the salt flush works. In winter the relative humidity is low, your nose etc. can dry out, that is how it starts. A room humidifier for your bedroom goes a loong way to avoid the troubles. I have decades of experience with it in my family.

I wouldn't tell anyone to take airborne. Both times I tried to take it to ward off a cold, I still ended up with cold symptoms, but even worse, horrible nausea. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling sick and couldn't shake the nausea for a full almost 24 hours. It may hlep a cold, but to me, blowing my nose more than usual for a couple days is better that horrible nausea that ruins plans.

I have had a lot of success with Airborne (or the target generic equivalent). Maybe it is just the placebo effect, but I feel like it makes a difference. However, I will caution you that it really does lower the levels of iron in the blood if you use it for a few days straight (I only use it once a day, despite what the packaging suggests). I tried to donate blood once after 4 or 5 days of using the generic airborne and my iron levels were the lowest I had ever seen them and they wouldn't allow me to donate. So use these supplements wisely!