Sinusitis What Is It? Information On Sinusitis & Some Natural Remedies

By Peter Salazar 

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Individuals who seem to experience recurring instances of prolonged colds may actually have sinusitis. If one notices that a cold or allergy seems not to get cured, it is possible that the individual has sinusitis. Sinusitis is the inflammation of the sinuses due to infection. The sinus is a hollow space or cavity inside the facial bones. The sinus' lining contains mucous membranes.

Sinusitis consists of the infection of the sinuses. The usual indicators of sinusitis include cold-like symptoms, sneezing, sniffing, and mucous secretions from the nose. Other people experience severe discomfort brought about by headaches that sometimes accompany the other symptoms. Doctors usually characterize sinusitis as acute, subacute, chronic or recurrent.

Acute sinusitis lasts for 4 weeks or less. Subacute sinusitis lasts 4 to 8 weeks. Chronic sinusitis can continue for several months or years. Recurrent sinusitis, which refers to several acute attacks per year, may be caused by different organisms. [NIAID, NIH]

Sinusitis may be started with a cold. Virus causes colds but do not cause sinusitis directly although they cause the sinus to inflame. The inflammation of the sinus increases the chances of contracting acute sinusitis. Facial pain may also accompany sinusitis, making this condition a truly inconvenient disease. Sometimes, sinusitis may cause swelling of the eyes and parts of the face.

All human bodies have healthy bacteria in them. Some of these bacteria live in the upper respiratory tract and are usually harmless. If the body's defense mechanism weakens, the bacteria may divide uncontrollably and infect the sinuses. Once they affect the sinus, the symptoms of acute sinusitis appears. There are other types of sinusitis that are caused by fungi. These are mycetoma fungal sinusitis, allergic fungal sinusitis, chronic indolent sinusitis, and fulminant sinusitis. A weak immune system makes it possible for fungus to infect the body. Fungi usually favor dark and moist environments. The sinuses, which are naturally of moist and dark cavities, are a perfect environment for the fungi to breed. When fungal infection sets in on the sinus, then we have fungal sinusitis.

Antibiotics do not aid in the prevention of sinusitis.

The number one vitamin that can reduces the risk of contracting sinusitis is Vitamin C. Vitamin C, a widely known immune system booster, offers advantages to people whose allergy attacks lead to sinusitis. Flavonoids are also good in this area. Vitamin A is known to protect the mucous membranes. It is also good to take in supplements containing vitamin E since this vitamin increases immunity to disease.

Know the Signs of Childhood Asthma

By Abbie Frank 

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According to the Mayo Clinic, a well respected medical resource, and the American Family Physician, a newsletter from the American Academy of Family Physicians, childhood asthma has risen significantly in over the past few decades. The American Lung Association states that in 2004, an estimated 4 million children under 18 years old have had an asthma attack in the past 12 months, and many others have "hidden" or undiagnosed asthma.

Asthma is the most common cause of school absenteeism due to chronic disease and accounted for an estimated 14 million lost school days. They claim that childhood asthma has become more widespread and is now the most common chronic illness in children.

If you have children, it's important that you can recognize the symptoms and signs of an asthmatic condition. Understand that the symptoms below "may" indicate asthma, but could be symptomatic of a wide range of bronchial or pulmonary illnesses.

The most common signs and symptoms of childhood asthma are very similar to bronchitis and other respiratory infections. The symptoms include:

1. Coughing. The need to cough is created by mucus, which builds up and needs to be cleared. The mucus is usually caused by some type of infection or irritation. Coughing is symptomatic of many childhood and adult illnesses. Notice that although coughing is a symptom, the type of cough plays a role in understanding the cause. Simply put, a rattling or lose type cough is very different than a tight or hacking cough and both types can indicate certain illnesses

2. Wheezing. Wheezing is most commonly associated with asthma, however, all children with asthma do not necessarily wheeze. You can identify wheezing as a whistling type sound when your child breathes.

3. Chest congestion and tightness.

4. Shortness of breath

While these signs and symptoms may indicate childhood asthma, they may also point to various illnesses common to kids. As a parent, you cannot be expected to understand how various symptoms may interact or be able to accurately diagnose an illness such as asthma.

Another factor to consider is frequency. The child who frequently coughs or suffers ongoing or recurrent bouts of respiratory infection illnesses such as pneumonia or bronchitis may have childhood asthma.

As you can see, the diagnosis of this disease can only accurately be done by a medical doctor. Childhood asthma is a disease that has been strongly associated with genetic factors and usually involves some aspect of allergies. In the American Family Physician newsletter of April 2001 it was suggested that almost 80% of children with asthma can be expected to have allergies. This suggests that one strategy to control childhood asthma attacks is to control the environmental factors that may trigger an event. Those triggers may include dust, dirt, pollen and other factors. Visit the link below and get a free report on how to control on how to control and eliminate common allergy and asthma triggers in your home