Some
Americans Fight Sinus Infections With Fewer Drugs,
Healthier LIfestyles
By
Shelly Schlender Boulder, Colorado
Sinuses
are hollow cavities inside the skull that filter the
air we breathe. They're supposed to function effortlessly.
But in the United States, sinus inflammation is one of
the main reasons Americans seek medical help. Decongestants,
allergy medications and antibiotics are commonly prescribed
for this condition, but a growing number of health experts
believe these medications are over-prescribed, leading
to an epidemic of sinus infections. Some Americans are
fighting back with fewer drugs and more lifestyle changes.
As
a jazz band teacher, Mike Simpson helps kids, and he
likes to blow his horn. But Mr. Simpson had a problem
that often kept him home. He easily caught the sniffles,
and once he had them, they wouldn't go. "I'd get
a cold like everyone would sometime in January or early
February, only instead of being over it in two weeks,
three weeks, mine would go right into pneumonia," he
says.
He
took medications to fight the pneumonia, but in a few
months, he'd be sick again. "I'd have 102, 103 degree
[38, 39 degree Celsius] fevers that would come out of
nowhere," he says. "I could be doing anything
and boom, the fever, the chills, the massive headaches."
According
to Mr. Simpson, the problems centered in his sinuses.
His medical doctor prescribed antibiotics, but they only
worked for a little while. Sinus surgery didn't help.
So it was back to more medications. "Amoxicillin
was like aspirin to me. Erythromycin. That stuff. Maxaquin,
within a month after they'd given that Maxaquin to me,
the federal government had recalled it because of health
problems," he says.
Meanwhile,
the "bugs" in Mr. Simpson's body got better
at resisting medication. When this happens, many physicians
prescribe more powerful and more expensive drugs, and
that's what Mr. Simpson's doctors did, until one day,
one single bottle of pills cost $650. If these new pills
didn't work, or his insurance refused to pay the bill,
Mr. Simpson worried, then what? "I couldn't afford
$1,300 or $600 for a bottle of pills. That sent me on
a mission. I think the dollar sign of what I was taking," he
says.
Finally,
Mr. Simpson's medical doctor agreed that antibiotics
had failed him. In fact, some experts blame antibiotics
for many chronic illnesses.
" They
contribute heavily to this epidemic of respiratory disease,
not just sinusitis," says Rob Ivker, a medical doctor
who is co-founder of the American Board of Holistic Medicine
and the author of Sinus Survival. "When you take
an antibiotic, it not only kills the bacteria that are
causing the infection, you're killing the good bacteria
that are filling our bowel and the mucous membranes that
line the respiratory tract, the nose, the sinuses and
the lungs," he says.
He
says that killing good bacteria gives drug-resistant
microbes room to flourish, creating a nasty cycle in
which harmful bacteria, funguses and other microbes that
are resistant to anti-microbials grow out of control,
robbing the body of nutrients and causing disease.
Fortunately,
Mike Simpson says, his doctor finally sent him to specialists
who boosted his health through lifestyle changes, including
a better diet. "For me, a key was cutting out a
lot of the fun foods I thought were making me feel good," he
says.
So,
he gave up candy bars, chips, pizza, cookies, donuts.
Mr. Simpson says he learned that just as fertilizers
can make a patch of weeds grow faster, once anti-microbials
have killed off the "good bugs," the "bad
bugs" in our bodies flourish when they feed on junk
food and sweets. He switched from coffee and sodas to
water. On weekends, he cooked loads of healthy food,
so he could pack lunches of grilled chicken with vegetables
and rice.
" It's
not easy to pay attention to foods. We don't want to
do those things. But Mike is a special person because
he had the power and the willingness to pay attention
to the diet," says nutrition expert Wolf Becker,
who counseled Mr. Simpson to eliminate junk foods, along
with common allergens that can clog the sinuses, such
as milk and cheese. "Dairy would be number one.
Sugar. You cannot go on drinking cokes and even fruit
sugars are not the greatest in that area. Alcohol would
not be a good idea," he says.
Both
Mr. Becker and Dr. Ivker say that a healthier diet and
fewer antibiotics could help millions of sinus sufferers,
as well as people with other respiratory conditions.
As a long-time sinus sufferer, Mr. Simpson agrees. He
says when he starts wishing for candy bars, he recalls
how sick he used to be and compares it with how he feels
today. "You don't have any problem eliminating your
headaches, the fevers that come out of nowhere. Your
mood swings are up and down. The sun's much brighter
today. I'd wake up in the middle of the night, after
I'd been on this for maybe a year, and it was like oceans
of blue air were coming in my head when I wake up," he
says.
Mr.
Simpson says that it's been three years since he needed
antibiotics. Thanks to his improved health, he says he's
still teaching jazz and blowing his horn.
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