Fighting Sinus Infections

CHICAGO, IL (American Health Newswire) -- If you suffer from sinus problems, you're not alone. 37 million Americans have trouble with their sinuses, leaving many with headaches, fatigue, and that stuffy feeling. From all-natural to surgery we'll show you some ways to beat that nasty sinus infection.

Getting work done at the office was no easy task for Lydia Mason who battled sinus infections for years.

"It was difficult for me to breathe," Lydia told American Health. "I was always blowing my nose. If I was at work, at meetings, I would have to leave sometimes because I was constantly blowing my nose.

"Without the ability to smell, she also lost her ability to taste.

"That's terrible when you can't taste your food," Lydia said.

Dr. Janaki Emani hears those complaints often.

"With a sinus infection, or even the common cold, fluid will build up in all of your sinuses," Janaki Emani, M.D., ENT, a surgeon at Weiss Memorial Hospital and a clinical associate at the University of Chicago, explained.

To help clear them out, try this effective method: nasal irrigation. It's been around in Ayurvedic medicine for five thousand years. Use a Neti pot or bottle, then buy or make your own rinse. Just mix eight ounces of lukewarm water with a half-teaspoon of sea salt.

"The goal is that it drains in a reasonable fashion as opposed to sitting in there and building up over time," Dr. Emani said.

With chronic sinusitis, surgery could be your best option. Balloon sinuplasty can now be done on an outpatient basis, meaning less risk and less recovery time.

"It really focuses on less is more," Dr. Emani said. "You go in, and you don't physically remove any of the bone, you dilate them, and you wash out the sinuses."

That's the option Lydia Mason chose. Now, she's enjoying her favorite foods once more.

"We're having a curry dish. I couldn't taste curry before," Lydia said. "I can taste the wonderful spices of the Thai food. It's wonderful!"

Dr. Emani says balloon sinuplasty is often a good option for those who have suffered years of headaches, sinus congestion and sinus pressure. It can also benefit people with chronic sinus issues who are at high risk for general anesthesia. The surgery is non-invasive and uses a balloon catheter to open up blocked sinus passageways.

New Tick-borne Bacterium Infecting Humans

(American Health Newswire)--A new tick-borne bacterium is on the move and infecting people across the country.

Ehrlichiosis is an infectious disease transmitted through the bite of a tick. In the United States, this disease is mainly found in the southern central and southeast states but this new bacterium, not yet named, has been identified in more than 25 people and found in deer ticks in these two states. 

Doctors at the Mayo Clinic, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin, and state and local health departments say that this disease can cause feverish symptoms in humans who contract it.

Ehrlichia infect and kill white blood cells and can cause fever, body aches, headache, and fatigue. If the disease goes untreated and becomes severe in multiple organs such as the lungs, kidneys, and brain, patients may require hospitalization but rarely the disease results in death. Bobbi Pritt, M.D., a Mayo Clinic microbiologist and director of the Clinical Parasitology and Virology Laboratories was quoted saying, "Before this report, human ehrliochosis was thought to be very rare or absent in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Therefore, physicians might not know to look for Ehrlichia infections at all." Risk factors for ehrlichiosis include: living near an area with a lot of ticks, owning a pet that may bring ticks into the home, and walking in tall grasses.

Thousands of blood samples from across the United States have been screened by the Mayo Clinic and the bacterium has only been detected in specimens collected from Wisconsin and Minnesota. Although thousands of ticks have been analyzed from across the country, only those from the two states have been identified as being carriers. Doctors caution people to apply insect repellant and wear pants and long-sleeved shirts when active outdoors to avoid tick bites.

Unfortunately traditional blood antibody tests can provide misleading results that fail to accurately identify this new species. A new specific antibody test for this bacterium has been developed by the Center for Disease Control but is not yet widely available. In its replacement, a molecular blood test that detects DNA from the Ehrlichia species is the preferred method for detecting the disease in symptomatic patients. Physicians should also consider testing these patients for other tick-borne diseases such as Lyme, babesiosis and anaplasmosis, all prevalent in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

SOURCE: New England Journal of Medicine,  August 4, 2011

The American Health Foundation will celebrate its 13th Annual "Senior Achievement" Awards
Luncheon on Friday, November 11, 2011 (11.11.11.) at Benevenuto's Restaurant, in Boynton
Beach, Florida.  The event honors five outstanding volunteers/staff whose service to the community inspires, enriches and contributes to the "good" of many.  All of our past honorees represent a wide spectrum of volunteer and staff effects including mentoring the children, wildlife and environment, health and medical care and everything in between.