The Causes of Sinusitis
By Dr. Rob Ivker
Since this is my initial Sinus Survival Blog entry, I’ll cut right to the heart of the matter by telling you why this holistic approach to treating sinus problems, asthma, and allergies is so effective – it addresses all of the causes, in addition to treating symptoms. In subsequent blogs, I’ll discuss a variety of different methods for treating, mitigating, or eliminating each of the causes for the growing epidemic of respiratory disease.
Sinusitis, either acute (sinus infections) or chronic (recurrent infections and long-term misery), has been the world’s most common respiratory condition for the past 30 years. Why? There are several reasons. But unfortunately a key factor has been the inadequate therapeutic response of most members of the international medical community. They have for the most part refused to broaden their perspective, while continuing to simply treat the symptoms and not the causes of this complex problem.
The job of the nose and sinuses is to protect the lungs, and they do so by serving as the body’s air filter, as well as the humidifier and temperature-regulator. Since 1980, when I first made the commitment to cure my own chronic sinusitis, my belief has been that the modern-day plague of air pollution has been a primary cause of this global respiratory epidemic.
In most cases, a lifetime of sinus suffering begins with inflammation of the mucous membrane lining the nose and sinuses that never completely heals. For the majority of sinus sufferers this inflammation persists as result of breathing polluted and dry air about 20,000 times a day for much of the year, but especially during the winter months. The inflammation worsens with every cold, sinus infection, and allergy attack, and is often compounded by a gradually weakened immune system. Major contributors to diminished immune function are the overuse of antibiotics, which in turn can lead to a yeast/candida overgrowth; and emotional stress, typically repressed anger and/or suppressed tears or grief.
Allergic fungal sinusitis, a condition first identified by the Mayo Clinic in 1999, is present to some degree in the vast majority of people with moderate to severe chronic sinusitis. The more acute inflammation in these patients results from the release of massive amounts of toxins from the many millions of candida organisms. These sinus sufferers require an aggressive antifungal treatment program in order to overcome this highly challenging condition.
Sinus dis-ease, a multi-faceted condition, with several significant contributing factors, requires a whole-person (body-mind-spirit) approach to both cure the ailment and to heal the life of the sinus sufferer.
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