I got real sick 2 wks before IM FL last year. I was eating raw garlic like crazy. I think it helped, although it might have been the Z pack (Zithromax) I took at the same time.
Go to the health food store and buy a Neti Pot. It is like a little teapot that you fill with saline and drain/rinse your sinuses out. Like Ocean Spray on steriods. I have allergies and horrible sinuses and do that on a regular basis. Havent had a bad cold/sinus infection in a couple years.
You will drown the first few tries then get real good at it. Aloha G
If it is just a cold I never would have stopped training. Get extra sleep, make sure that your nutrition and hydration is optimal and there is nothing else to do.
My Dr. gave me the following rules for training when sick (these guidelines are for an otherwise healthy 30 yr old male)
- Do not train if training causes an abnormally high heart rate.
- Do not train if training induces additional coughing.
- crap, I can’t remember the third rule.
It can all be summed up by, if the symptoms are all above the shoulders and if you are willing to add extra rest and good hydration/nutrition then go for it.
I can add a vote for the nasal irrigation. I do it twice a week, it is quick, painless and so far I have never gotten a sinus infection when I was flushing regularly. )
the nasal flush other recommended works well. I use a baby nasal bulb with saline. I had a really bad infection a month ago and this flushed it out.
NO NO NO
Dare I go into the antibiotic abuse and resistant bacteria spew again! I’m about to go looking for my soapbox.
Kittykat - A “Z-pack” is just a clever marketing tool by the manufacturer for a 3 or 5 day course of azithromycin with an initial loading dose. Wasn’t I supposed to see you in my office sometime anyway 
yes, I was supposed to see you…and I gave a good look at my tootsies while in the steam room, and I’m way ahead of you–will call either today or tomorrow to book an apt. I’m warning you–it’s not pretty.
doctor Time… if it’s not a fullblown sinus infection, you should be OK by Friday. If it is, you may well need antibiotics, but I prefer to avoid them whenever possible.
I lost last week to something similar that the kids brought home. This week it’s just the sinuses, so I’m training through it and giving it another week before taking it to the doc. Vit C, E, and zinc usually help me to get over colds/sinus nonsense quickly, but this one has been resistant. Lemon Echinachea ‘Throat Coat’ tea works well on the sore throat too.
I have been using the Neti Pot all this week. It is getting better each day. This has been a nasty season, my spouse has been to the dr three times in 3 months. I missed it the first two times but no so lucky this last time. Good luck.
Hey Kitty, aplogies in advance but when I feel a bit under the weather I do a reverse clense, usually works for me - no joke.
Basically I eat and do all the things I would not normall eat or do, this includes: a huge hunk of red meat, entre big bag of chips and salsa, a tub of ice cream and mindless TV. If I am still hungry some BBW sausages dipped in ketchup and mustard.
Now my theory on why it works is simply that after all that food my body has to crap it all out and in that process it also clears out what ever is ailing me.
But really, it works for me.
Back in November I had a simular situation… I had like 3 friends tell me to buy theraflu… They all swore by it. It is by far the most disqusting thing I have ever put in my mouth, but it had me back on my feet in no time.
Hope you get to feeling better,
Kevin
Try Mucinex and sudifed(these are over the counter) Keep drinking fluid and get plenty of sleep.
I’m in the exact same boat, and this time of the year is so critical. The only consolation is that a pile of snow is on the way and I would stay inside anyway. Good luck
kittycat…
I am biased so bare with me.
Sinus issues, I do the following: Chiropractic (chiro rocks with sinus points), sinus pampering. FLUIDS. Moist heat across the neck.
Worked in Spas for years, easy at home method: heat up several towels in a crock pot (water + hand towels) add in a few drops of a sinus blend (most health food stores will have an essential oil blend geared towards sinus, you can create one with jojoba/eucalyptis/rosemary/sage) in the heated crock pot. Preferably someone else will gently apply the heated towels to your face. Lie on your back and have the towels pressed into your sinus points. Big ones are at the inner corners of your eyebrows and about 1/4 the way across the eyebrow going lateral, the entire bridge of the nose and right under the eyes. There are several points both in your feet/hands and ears (reflexology points). For sinuses I think it is the tip of the toes --have your husband massage your feet and hold the tips of your toes pushing inwards, and base of the skull along the Occipital ridge (shelf at back of head). The essential oils can be pressed onto the pressure points with the heated towels. If this is too much, treat yourself to your local day spa that has a sinus service.
Couple other essential oils off the top of my head–ones mentioned above are the most important for sinus issues but: Spanish Marjoram is very spicy and relaxing and great for migraine headaches and tension in your neck, wild chamomile is used as an antibacterial and anti inflammatory, I like Petitigrain and of course Lavender for relaxation purposes.
***If you are going to buy essential oils only buy oils that are kept in brown or dark blue bottles. Pay extra for the rich oils, you will thank yourself down the road when they are still effective. You should see my ‘medicine’ cabinet, all it has is aromatherapy oils right next to the parafin wax.
Hope you feel better!
Stop being a baby and push through it. Coward! By the way Amy slaps a lot harder.
There’s an old trick that my grandma taught me. If you get someone to punch you really hard in the gut, you will forget about your nasal congestion. Works every time.
Man, if you made a list of every suggestion made by everyone and took their advice/medicine/food/rest/activity/flush/etc. I’m pretty sure you’d be killed.
2000 mg of Vitamin C?
-SD
there are some good suggestions here. and my friend in Florida told me to take 10,000 mg of C. (I didn’t and won’t do that…lol)
the bad news is that now I have a horrible painful chest situation where I’m coughing and it hurts terribly. It was a rough night. The sinus issue is almost done with–the cough and chest is my major concern now.
So, I just bought a warm mist humidifier and have a high quality eucalyptus oil in it. Also I got castor oil and a heating pad/wool cloth to do a warm compress on the chest. This combined with a good diet and a hot steam room will hopefully do it for me. All I know is that the chest thing is serious and can lead to big problems later. But, I’d prefer to take care of it with natural remedies as opposed to antibiotics…I think I can do it. We’ll see. Wish me luck!
if anyone has chest therapy ideas, please let me know…I’ll do anything at this point.
kittycat
see my earlier response, "I can see not wanting to go on antibiotics for every little thing but a persistent sinus infection can easily lead to bronchitis which can lead to pneumonia, which can lead to death. Yeah, I’d do the antibiotics. "
Let us know when the pneumonia hits.
Go to the caribean for a couple weeks!
**Conventional Medicine **
In healthy people who have normal lungs and no chronic health problems, antibiotics are not necessary, even when the infection is bacterial. The productive (phlegm-producing) coughing that comes with acute bronchitis is to be expected and, in most cases, encouraged; coughing is your body’s way of getting rid of excess mucus. However, if your cough is truly disruptive – that is, it keeps you from sleeping or is so violent it becomes painful – or nonproductive (dry and raspy sounding), your doctor may prescribe a cough suppressant. In most cases, you should simply do all the things you usually would do for a cold: Take or acetaminophen for discomfort and drink lots of liquids. perosonally I believe this. if the condition worses (by more severe symptoms) then I will go to a doc and consider antibiotics. Right now I’m feeling physically better–about 50% better than this weekend, but have the chest issue. This gradual improvement leads me to believe that I can recover from this with natural approaches. Antibiotics, IMO, are only for severe cases of illness in which antibiotics are effective. It is no secret that they are abused and overprescribed in the US. As a result we have new strands of illness and no prevention approaches in medicine. So, what I’m seeking are natural remedies, not a prescription that won’t work (probaby) and weaken my immune system further. It’s a different philosophy than what Western medicine pushes, and I know not everyone agrees with it.