Because they truly do care and want to see an end to your misery, helpful souls will often suggest different remedies they may have heard or even tried themselves. At the beginning of my saga, it started with my midwives telling me that my sinus congestion could be relieved by placing my face over a steaming pot of water with a towel over my head. Sure it helped for a few minutes, and was great for my skin, but it didn't "cure" anything. Most of these helpful suggestions do something in the way of relief, but none offers a cure, as there is no cure for chronic sinusitis. In desperation I have tried almost everything anyone has ever suggested, with more or less than a grain of salt for each. I will put a star on the things that seemed to help the MOST.
Here are some of the things I have tried over the past three and a half years:
- Neti Pot
- Sinus Rinse *
- Steam bath
- Hot shower
- Hot compress
- More vitamins
- Special vitamins with "phytonutrients"
- Taking oregano
- Taking Fish Oil
- Changing my diet * (with serious restrictions only, hard to do when you are exhausted all the time...)
- Eliminating dairy
- Eliminating caffeine
- Eliminating alcohol *(OK yes that helps)
- Sleeping more *
- Exercising more
- Exercising less
- Accupuncture
- Reiki
- Massage
- Avoiding germs
- Avoiding children
- Changing my toothbrush more frequently
- And again, over and over, the "Neti Pot" (which was a brand-new concept to me back in 2007, so I do not fault anyone who is late in the game from making the suggestion. A special thank you to my friend Suzanne who first introduced the idea of nasal irrigation to me, long before even the local ENT!)
