A cold is a common condition that almost everyone has had at a particular point in their lives. However, if you have a cold that won’t go away, it can be another condition called sinusitis. This is an inflammation of your paranasal sinuses, your bone’s cavities surrounding your nose. At this limit, you need to seek medical assistance from medical experts like Gregory Pippin, MD, and Ali Fatakia, MD, of ENT of New Orleans, who diagnoses and helps patients with sinusitis in Marrero. However, managing the condition can be a comprehensive practice that can include your collaboration with your provider.
Your First Line of Defense
Have you thought about it like this! You can relieve some sinusitis symptoms at home. Through nasal irrigation, a simple, cheap, and effective procedure, you can help manage your condition. This can help you avoid antibiotics and nasal sprays and improve your life in general. This is how you should go about it:
- At least every day, you can stir iodized salt and baking soda a half teaspoon each into two cups of lukewarm distilled water.
- Fill the solution in a syringe.
- Lean over and insert the tip of the syringe inside your nostril and squeeze the solution.
- Repeat the procedure to your other nostril.
Treating the Sinusitis
Although nasal irrigation can help improve some sinusitis symptoms, it may not be enough to manage the condition. This is where you seek expert care from the sinusitis experts at ENT of New Orleans. The management of your infirmity will depend on the severity of your condition. This is depending on how long your condition lasts.
If your condition lasts a month or less, it can be said to be acute sinusitis, and if it lasts for around three months, it can be said to be moderate or subacute sinusitis. If your condition lasts for several months or years, it becomes chronic sinusitis.
Your provider will diagnose your condition and begin the treatment with simple remedies such as professional nasal irrigation as they progress with other treatments as the need arises. Also, depending on your particular needs, prescription medications and surgery can become an option.
Note that for acute sinusitis, you can get better without treatment. However, it is good to ease the symptoms as it can help you avoid the need for stronger medicine if your nasal passages remain clear. Besides, it is hard to tell who will develop chronic sinusitis.
Preventing Sinusitis
Forget about the treatment as it happens if the sinusitis exists. What about making the condition not exist? It can happen. You can do particular things to minimize your chances of developing sinusitis or manage early symptoms of sinusitis before they advance. Some suggestions include:
Clean Your Nasal Passages Daily
You can achieve this by running water gently into the nasal passages clearing excess mucus moistening the membranes.
Drink a lot of Water
By maintaining good hydration in your body, your mucus will be maintained by being thin and loose.
Inhale Steam
There are several ways you can inhale steam. You can linger in a hot shower or bring water to a boil and bend over to inhale the steam with a towel over your face. Be keen to keep distance to avoid burns.
You can also avoid dry environments, antihistamines unless prescribed, and be careful with your decongestants as they can make your symptoms worse.
If you are experiencing sinusitis symptoms, you can get more help on managing the condition by working with a sinusitis specialist. You can contact the providers at ENT of New Orleans for help.
