Prevention of Viral Respiratory Infection; colds, flu, SARS, H5N1, v. pneumonia

[Bamawing]

I despise lawns myself. And I shouldn't have read the nearly-invisible writing, but I just got curious...

Today, even with the nasal swab AND the alavert, I was about to keel over dead. Stupid nose just keeps on running regardless of what I want to do to it.

[anthropositor]

So sorry for your discomfort Bama.  It does sound like you are having an extreme reaction to one or more airborne allergens and that your body is doing it's best not to allow you to intervene effectively with the antihistamine.  Unfortunately this sometimes becomes a vicious cycle.

Let me ask, has your air conditioning system ever been corrected?  Leaving the antihistamine aside, what kind of oil or oils have you been using for the swabbing?  You may get some relief by simply going to a new oil.  If you are using an oil currently other than coconut oil for example, I would just switch to that.

Surgical masks are NOT effective prophylaxis against viruses.  But they CAN be effective against a variety of other airborne allergens, particularly when they are periodically dampened.

A negative ionizer could also be helpful, although they are often unwarrantedly expensive.

Do what you can to wean yourself from the antihistamines.  Keep me posted on developments.
Anthro

[Bamawing]

So far I've been using two different oils: olive and grapeseed oil (my hands were SO dry that day, and this stuff was cheap, and I thought hey, why not?) The olive oil does better than the other... it seems to bother one spot in my left nostral.

I'm glad to hear you say that the antihistimines are bad news, though. I'll go without tomarrow.

At the moment, I've had a trying day emotionally, I feel less-than-par physically, and I wish my nose would stop itching.

More grump. Sorry.

[anthropositor]

Well flu season is almost over but allergy season has commenced and apparently a lot of people are pretty miserable.  Remember, the very first post on this thread will provide you with the means of preventing such misery.

[anthropositor]

I really don't pay much attention to pollen induced allergy season.  Certainly seem to be many miserable people right at the moment.  And apparently there are still some coming down with influenza as well.

For those of you who have not yet learned the procedure to prevent these miseries, if you go to the very first post on this thread and follow the directions contained, your lives are going to get a lot better.  There is no down side.

[anthropositor]

In the next couple of days I will be saying something that may have something to do with the emerging and evolving viruses on my blog.  Directions for getting there are in my profile.

[Alohamora]

Hi Anthro,

What do you think of this http://www.sinucleanse.com/index.htm ?

[anthropositor]

Depending on who you buy these "products" from, you will spend $25 - $30 for some measured tiny packets of salt, a "Neti" pot that looks like a little plastic Alladin's Lamp, and a small portable plastic bottle for irrigation when you are out and about.  I presume the saline solution to be quite dilute.  At least I hope so, because I do not approve of putting desiccating solutions up the nose.  Even mild ones.

To do so will dry the membrane to some extent.  This is not only unnecessary, it is counterproductive.  I challenge any doctor who advocates this to come here and support his position.

The rationale might be that tears have traces of sodium chloride in them and drain through the punctae into the lachrymal drainage system in the nasal passage.  Should one of these "doctor's" show up to debate the matter, I will take the opposite side of the question.

There could be some special condition of the sinuses which could conceivably benefit by a more copious lavage than the swabbing with clear water-soaked swabs as outlined in the first post of this thread, but the salt is still unnecessary window-dressing.

But there are many more dangerous forms of snake-oil out there than mild salt water.  If you can afford to spend 100 times the materials cost of the product-line and it gives you some perverse comfort to do so, you can't hurt yourself too much with this nonsense.

[Bamawing]

Ah, neti pots! I think they're pretty. And I did wish for one, fervently, when I managed to inhale some shampoo. (I'm still not sure how I did that!) I managed to rinse it out with a glass of mildly salty water, stopping for manditory giggle breaks periodically. It really was a silly situation, if an uncomfortable one.

The purpose of the salt is that plain water burns in the uppermost parts of your sinuses. I know this is odd but it's true. I had to add some salt after the first attempt, and it did feel better. Must be similar to your eyes... getting water in your eyes in the shower isn't pleasant, but they stay wet with saltwater.

Of course, saltwater will burn, too, if you squirt saline up your nose when the air's dry. I did that for a while to combat nosebleeds when I moved to Virginia. That really was a horrable winter.

[anthropositor]

Bama, I think that was your body's way of trying to tell you not to pour salt water up your nose.  Avoidance of shampoo in the sinuses is a good idea too. 

Any new person stumbling on this thread would do well to go back to post one.  Hope you start using the technique described.  You will find that it works well.

And Bama, should you snort shampoo inadvertently in the future, you might try some coconut oil next time.  Clear water will do for a first flush.  The coconut oil should be quite good to soothe the detergent irritation of the membranes.

[Bamawing]

True. Nose hairs do not need shampooing.

* Bamawing makes a mental note to add "get oil and bottle" to her list. She lost her last nasal oil bottle, more's the pity.

[anthropositor]

Well Everyone,
This is the time of year that it is very good to get going on the method of preventing colds and flu outlined in post one of this thread.  Many of us continue throughout the year for the benefits in reducing allergic responses to airborne allergens, but those who are not troubled with allergies often do not continue with daily regularity throughout the summer.  It is a good idea to re-establish the daily habit before contagion becomes widespread in your surroundings.

[Bamawing]

Swabbed myself today and yesterday. It's helping a lot with the pollen.

[anthropositor]

Doesn't work as well against the airborn allergens as it does to prevent colds and flu, but it still cuts into the severity of the allergic reactions quite substantially.  Most people I talk to can reduce or eliminate the allergy meds they were using withen a few days after commencing the oil swabbing.

[anthropositor]

I didn't respond earlier to the comment about using water soaked swabs, stinging the upper portion of the nasal passage.  It does not happen with me.  Maybe I'm insensitive.  But upon further thought, it could be that you are using tap water right out of the faucet.  There is considerable variation in the water in different locations.  Freshly out of the tap, water is often laced with chlorine.  I can see how that could cause some stinging.  My tap water is reasonably low in chlorine and after filtering with activated charcoal. any chlorine that remains is negligible.  Those of you with really bad municipal water might want to boil it and let it cool.  This will eliminate virtually all the chlorine.  Or charcoal filter it the way I do.

Filtering your water does cost a little effort and a few cents a gallon, but look at the horrendous waste that is involved with bottled drinking water.  It comes in plastic bottles which are usually discarded after one use.  And it is often only municipal water that has been filtered and/or ozonated at the bottling plant.

Then it is trucked to the store where you bought it, and brought home in your car.  Each of these things consume fuel.  That is on top of your paying perhaps a buck a gallon at the store.

I can think of no reasonable reason to use commercially bottled water, and every reason to filter it yourself, even though the filters are more expensive than they should be.  In spite of that, prorated for the life of the filter, your water is still only going to cost you about a nickle a gallon, tastes better, and is probably better for your health.  So where is the down side to filtering your water?  Seems like a no-brainer to me.

I do not feel the same about water-softening systems, which add some sodium traces to the water in the process of getting rid of some of the other minerals.  Charcoal filtering is quite satisfactory for that as well, except it won't help much in the shower.

Let us try not to squander our limited resources.  The problem is serious now.  It will be critical before long if we don't pay attention.

[anthropositor]

In the past month, visits to doctors for flu like symptoms have tripled from 2% to 6% and rising, here in the US.  While the culprit is not H5N1 (avian) flu, it is still a matter of considerable concern.  The strain responsible for most of this increase is H3N2.  This strain seems to be affecting children most seriously.  The fatalities have been pretty much confined to young people, some of them with other pre-existing problems like asthma.

Those of you who have not yet  become familiar with the procedure which, if regularly done on a daily basis, will provide excellent protection against both influenza and rhinoviruses (colds) can read post one of this thread and follow the directions.  You will also find your reactions to airborne allergens are far less severe.  To your health.

[Bamawing]

Welcome back, Anthro. I've missed you.

I also wish to state that after this winter, I will have gone 3 semesters over two school years without catching a cold. (My dear hubby, who poo-poos this system, caught a cold last week to his dismay and my delight. Dispite no change in habbit (we still smooch) I have not caught the cold from him.)

As soon as I'm a fixture in a school, I plan to spread the word about this!

[anthropositor]

It is successes like yours which best spread the news about the value of this procedure,  It’s now been a quarter of a century that I’ve been doing this.  In those early days, people were not entirely receptive to talking about the proper maintenance of the nose.   Nose talk was not XXX, but it was certainly x.  It is why I use the phrase nasal passage instead of nostril, mucosal secretions rather than….  The other phraseology I employ in post #1 of this thread is very helpful in preventing the listener from being distracted by embarrassment.  People do not reason well while blushing.

When we do this procedure, we not only prevent our own illness, we also stop being vectors for the further spread of flu or rhinoviruses (colds).  In a sense, good health is contagious.  The more healthy people there are proportionately, the less likely epidemics can erupt into pandemics.

[,.]

Hello and thank you for this info. I forwarded to all my friends. I also rinsed my nose in the shower as a first step to change. I have a couple questions you m,ight be able to help with.

1. Have you heard of a nettle or netti pot to rinse out the nose and if so, it is good better or not as good as a q-tip for the washing?

2. My brother has really bad sinis infection that has gone on way too long (no insurance and dr gave antibiotics that didn't help) to the point he takes sinus meds chronically and has headaches on top of his head daily. I worry he could have menningitis by now. Please tell me if you know what he can do to help himself. He is now on the second round of antibiotics this time.

[anthropositor]

Some of the people who now engage in this procedure were users previously of the Netti Pot.  It is an irrigation device whose purpose is the flushing of higher portions of the nasal system than is usually warranted for most people.  I neither advocate nor oppose the use of a Netti Pot.  They are sometimes used with saline solutions.  I do generally oppose saline solutions in the nose.  They have some drying effect on the nasal membranes that may do more harm than good.

With the procedure I have outlined on this thread there is no actual flushing of the sinus system.  The central part of the procedure is the oil coating of the vestibular inch or so of the nasal passages, preventing their microscopic chapping which provide entry points for opportunistic viruses and bacteria.

A secondary factor is the capture of dust and other airborne particulates by the oil.  And the reason the oil works better than the natural mucosal secretions of the nose is that those secretions can and do, particularly in the presence of dust and other airborne particles, dry out, often bonding concretely to nasal hairs.  In removing this nasal detritus the hairs are sometimes pulled out, causing microscopic lesions which provide even easier entry for pathological organisms and viruses.

Excellent question.