Healing Chronic Sinus Inflammation

Are you always congested, have post nasal drip, and/or pain? Or do you feel like you’ve been battling a sinus infection that just won’t go away? Have you noticed a decrease in your ability to taste and/or smell? If so, you may be dealing with chronic sinus inflammation—AKA chronic sinusitis.

Symptoms and Causes of Chronic Sinusitis

Imagine, if you will, a tiny cave system within your head—these are your sinuses, a connected system of tissue-lined hollow spaces behind your cheekbones, forehead, and nose that help filter the air you breathe. The tissue within them creates mucus that not only keeps your nasal passages moist, but traps debris including bacteria, viruses, and dust-carrying allergens, preventing illness and infection.

That mucus plays an important and largely unnoticed role in keeping you healthy—that is, until something prevents it from moving through your nose as it should! When your sinus tissues swell, it traps mucus, leading to congestion, infection, and inflammation. When that inflammation continues unabated, it can turn into chronic sinusitis.  

Chronic sinusitis is defined by a sinus infection that lasts longer than 12 weeks. This is a significant difference between an acute sinus infection which typically clears up within 10 days. Symptoms of chronic sinus inflammation include:

·      Thick yellow or green mucus

·      Postnasal drip

·      Congestion

·      Pressure or tenderness in the face, especially around the eyes, nose, and forehead

·      Headache

·      Toothache

·      Cough

·      Fatigue

·      Ear pain

·      Loss of taste or smell

·      Bad breath

Sinus inflammation can affect one or more of your sinuses. In fact, you have four pairs (eight total) of major paranasal sinuses which include the maxillary, frontal, ethmoid, and sphenoid sinuses, and your symptoms can vary based on which ones are impacted.

So, what exactly causes this inflammation? Potential triggers and risk factors include having asthma or allergies, nasal polyps, a tooth infection, cystic fibrosis, and/or a weakened immune system. When left untreated, chronic sinusitis can lead to serious infections that can spread to your eyes, brain, spine, or bones, so it’s important to have this condition diagnosed so that it can be properly managed.

If You Do Have Chronic Sinusitis

Easing and potentially curing chronic sinusitis all comes down to one main principle—controlling inflammation. While you may need to use nasal saline irrigation (like a neti pot) or prescribed sinus rinses, steroid sprays, or undergo surgery to fix anatomical issues such as a deviated septum or to remove polyps or scar tissue, you can—and should—also manage the condition through the food you eat. People with a predisposition to chronic sinusitis can experience multiple episodes, and preventing inflammation is the best way to prevent recurrences.

How Nutrition Can Help

Working with a nutritionist is about so much more than just managing your weight. Food is medicine, and the way you eat can be the difference in suffering through certain conditions or enjoying lasting, lifelong health. To that end, there are several ways I can help you relieve and prevent chronic sinusitis:

1.     Design an anti-inflammatory eating plan that works for you and your lifestyle. For better or worse, there is truly no “one-size-fits-all” healthful way of eating. A plan that’s designed to fit your needs, tastes, and accessibility is key to ensuring long-term change.

2.     Identify your trigger foods. Tracking what you are eating and working to tweak the specifics are essential in identifying foods that can trigger inflammation and sinusitis—but they’re notoriously difficult to do successfully on your own. I will guide you through every step, ensuring you identify any problem foods.

3.     Keep you accountable with regular check-ins. Making big lifestyle changes isn’t easy, and you’ll get the support you need through regular check-ins to track your progress. What you do only some of the time isn’t what makes a difference in your health—it’s the stuff you do long-term.

4.     Ensure you eat to support your gut health to bolster immunity. In addition to anti-inflammatory eating, targeted, high quality supplements almost always increase the support of your gut health. Often food alone can’t make the changes we need. A healthy, balanced gut microbiome is essential in boosting your immunity and thereby improving sinus inflammation. We’ll work together to determine the specific nutrients you need from the highest quality brands available.

Lower Inflammation Means Better Overall Health

By lowering inflammation in your sinuses, you’re lowering inflammation throughout your body, leading to better—and lasting—wellness. Anti-inflammatory eating also supports the prevention of diseases and chronic illnesses including heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, and autoimmune disorders. So even if all you’re treating now is chronic sinus inflammation, a lifestyle change that promotes anti-inflammatory foods will help you age better and prevent more issues down the road.

If you’d like to learn more about how I can help you manage your chronic sinusitis—or how lowering systemic inflammation in general can improve your overall wellbeing, please contact me!