Ralph Metson, M.D., Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Question: Are there any effective ways to treat sinus infections using alternative medicine?
Answer: I like to think saltwater irrigations are an alternative therapy for treatment of sinusitis. It works so well and there's no side effects. As an alternative to the bulb syringe with the glass of warm saltwater, nowadays you can get in your local drug store or pharmacy a squeeze bottle with pre-packaged salt. You take one package of salt, put it inside the squeeze bottle, fill it with warm water, and again, twice a day just flush water in each nostril and it runs right out. It gets you breathing again and feeling better.
Other alternative forms of therapy include acupuncture, or acupressure, which are particularly good for patients with persistent facial pain or headaches which don't get better despite conventional therapy, recurrent infections where pain is the primary problem.
Herbal remedies to treat sinusitis - and there are many available - are taken by a wide number of patients in this country. No randomized control study have definitively shown that herbal remedies work for sinusitis, but many of my patients feel that they do get a benefit from talking this alternative form of therapy. And I don't mind them doing so, so long as it doesn't prevent them from using conventional therapy as well.
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