When you have stress, you get a release of adrenalin and other chemicals.
These chemicals have a major effect: Rapid Heart Elevated Blood Pressure Less Glycogen to the Brain Blood shifts to the muscles Lowered Immunity to infection Regularly we have patients that have failed therapy.
When we put them to bed and rest, they are improved.
George F.
had a bad nosebleed.
I treated him and he continued to bleed.
He was obviously very anxious and stressed.
I hospitalized him.
As soon as he got into bed, the bleeding stopped without any further medication or therapy.
We often see an anxious patient admitted to the hospital in pain.
The nurse comes, reassures the patient and administers a shot.
Before the shot has a chance to work, the patient's pain is gone.
We commonly see the same relief when the nurse gives a shot of saline or a placebo.
The brain makes the pain relief.
When we reduce stress and anxiety in a sinus infection, we engage the brain to help the patient get well.
No matter what the illness, anxiety can make it worse: the more it itches, the more you scratch, the more anxious you get, and the more it itches.
We understand today that the immune system "rests" when the products of stress flood the body.
Thirty seven million persons have chronic sinusitis.
This usually means that they may get over the infection they had in January, but by March they have another one.
With medication, they feel better, but then they are sick again with a sinus infection in July! No question, but that if we can lower the anxiety, especially the anxiety reinforcement, this patient has a better chance of getting well.
Albert P.
, had recurrent sinus infections.
He did well with his antibiotic treatment.
He did get well, was free of symptoms and able to return to work.
But every three months he was back with another sinus problem.
Finally I treated him by reducing his stress level.
With his stress level healed, his immunity improved.
These are the actions Albert followed: a.
He was instructed to breathe in count of four and out count six.
When you exhale, the largest muscle in your body, the diaphragm, gets a signal to relax.
If you make the exhalation longer, then the entire muscle system is signaled to relax too.
b.
He was instructed to relax his face, jaw and shoulder muscles.
If these muscles are properly relaxed, that sends a no-tiger signal to your stress center, and no harmful chemicals are released.
c.
He was put on Hydro Pulse sinus irrigation.
The relaxing pulse rate, as well as restoring lazy nasal/sinus cilia, also produced an overall relaxation.
He was in charge; he was doing something significant for his health.
When he did the daily pulsatile irrigation, he recalled how good that made him feel, the brain remembered that good feeling and what chemistry it used to make him well- the immune system was amplified.
As a specialist in Ear Nose and Throat, I see the patients who have not done well on conventional therapy.
Persons who, despite expert doctors, continue to have chronic sinusitis.
In such a practice we need the best tools possible.
In my opinion, raising the level of immune response is a necessary tool.
Today we have increasing evidence of bad effects from antibiotics.
For example, if Erythromycin is given to a heart patient who is taking a channel blocker, that combination can cause a severe drop in blood pressure.
If young children are given excessive antibiotics, this may alter their immune response and lead to one of allergy or asthma.
A worse problem is that bacteria are developing resistance to popular antibiotics and new ones are not becoming available.
Therefore, reducing one's stress level in order to better handle infection is the reason why stress relief is part of the sinus treatment today.