by Dr. Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman and Dr. Robert Ullman
Sinusitis
The Symptoms
Sinusitis and bronchitis are two very common conditions that accompany the cold, damp winter doldrums, especially in northern climates. Sinus pressure and resulting headaches, nasal discharge, postnasal drip, and deep, racking coughs can bring discomfort and misery. Fortunately, homeopathy can help these illnesses rapidly and effectively, usually without the need for antibiotics.
The beauty of homeopathy is that it is not necessary to know whether it is viral or bacterial. With homeopathy, there is no one medicine for sinusitis. Just match your symptoms to those of the remedy choices, and you’re good to go. Sinusitis may result from viral, bacterial, or fungal infection, or from acute or chronic allergic reactions. It is usually characterized by increased mucus, with stuffiness and/or green or yellow, stringy, viscous or fluent nasal discharge, and increased pressure in the sinuses. Facial pain in the regions of the maxillary and frontal sinuses and headaches are common. The deep sinus pain can be helpful in distinguishing sinusitis from the similar symptoms of the common cold. If a bacterial infection is present, there may be fever and chills, either low grade or rising higher as the condition worsens. A bacterial sinusitis, if untreated, could lead to a more serious systemic infection, or at least contribute to the development of bronchitis or pneumonia. In any case, relief should be rapid with the right homeopathic remedy.
Homeopathic Remedies for Sinusitis
- Kali bichromicum (potassium bichromate): Suppose you say, “I feel so much pressure in my sinuses, they feel like they would burst!” “I am so stuffed up, and the mucus is this yucky yellowish green stuff that comes out in strings.” The pain is at the root of the nose, between the eyes, or in the maxillary (cheeks) or frontal (forehead) sinuses. root of the nose. By this time, the remedy is clear to most homeopaths: Kali bi, as we call it, is the most frequently prescribed homeopathic medicine for sinusitis.
- Pulsatilla (wind flower): Your have yellowish-green nasal discharge. The consistency is thick and bland. Mainly you feel stuffy while inside or lying down. Your ears may be stopped up. You feel unusually whiny, weepy, moody and you feel worse in a hot, stuffy room and better from being outside.
- Mercurius (mercury): You notice a fluid, yellowish-green discharge that drips down the back of her throat, causing a moist cough and throat clearing. You sweat, have bad breath, your tongue is furry and thickly coated, and you may notice teeth indentations on the sides of your tongue. You feel alternately hot and cold, like a thermometer.
- Nux vomica (Quaker button): Your sinus symptoms are worse in the morning, especially sneezing and a runny nose, but you can stuff up in the evening and night. You feel worse going outdoors. You are impatient, grumpy, and want everything right now. You notice that you are chilly as well.
- Hepar sulphuris (calcium sulfide): You are extremely sensitive to cold and want to wrap up and stay warm. You sneeze from every draft. Your nose stops up when you are exposed to cold air or a cold, dry wind. Your nasal discharge smells like old cheese. You may have a sore throat that feels like sticks in your throat. You are much more sensitive and irritable than usual.
What You Can Expect from Homeopathy for Sinusitis
Within hours of taking the right homeopathic remedy, your sinus pressure and pain should decrease, the fever should go down, the discharge will return to clear and any congestion will improve significantly within twenty-four to forty-eight hours. The illness may simply go away at that point. Sometimes even though the correct homeopathic medicine is effective for the symptoms of the sinusitis, the illness may progress into the chest, leading to a cough until the mucus is fully expelled.
Bronchitis
The Symptoms
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchial tubes in the lungs that may occur secondary to sinusitis, or to a cold or other upper respiratory infection, a fever, a sore throat, nasal discharge or post-nasal drip. It may be triggered by infection, allergies or irritation from chemicals or other inhalants. An episode of bronchitis can last last several days to several weeks. Some occurrences of acute bronchitis may become chronic if left untreated, or if the cause persists without being address.
The symptoms of bronchitis are mainly cough and sputum (mucus from the lungs). Homeopathic remedies are differentiated by the sound, painfulness and timing of your cough, and the stickiness and color of the mucus, both of which give an indication of the source and severity of the illness As in any homeopathic prescription, other factors also influence the choice of remedy, including onset and duration of symptoms, environmental exposures to wind, damp and cold, and emotional factors and stressors.
Homeopathic Remedies for Bronchitis
Wet coughs
- Antimonium tartaricum (tartar emetic): You need Antimonium tart if you have a loose, rattling cough and you can’t bring up the mucus. It is commonly used in bronchitis of infants or the elderly. Kids needing this remedy don’t like to be touched or looked at.
- Coccus cacti (cochineal beetle): You have thick, stringy mucus, especially in your throat. There is a lot of throat clearing and your throat tickles violently. The racking cough may lead to vomiting long strings of mucus. The same stringy mucus may originate in the sinuses and drop profusely into the throat and lungs. Both heat and cold make you worse.
Dry coughs
- Bryonia (hops): A dry cough worse if you move and better if you stay perfectly still. Even just the movement of the chest during respiration or coughing can be painful, or lead to extended bouts of coughing. The cough is hard and dry, without much expectoration. There is shortness of breath, but deep breathing worsens the cough. You are very irritable.
- Drosera (sundew): You have violent fits of hard, painful coughing with choking and gagging, even vomiting at the end of the episode. The cough is dry, barking, croupy and spasmodic. The cough may come from a sensation of dryness and irritation in the larynx, as if from a feather or crumb that is stuck there. Your cough may get worse from
lying down in bed, from the warmth of the bed, and especially at night, after midnight. - Hepar sulphuricum (calcium sulfide): With your cough, you are extreme irritable and unusually sensitivity to cold. You have a very low pain threshold. Their coughs often come on after exposure to cold. You feel much worse from cold and drafts, and nasal congestion is worse in cold, dry air. You want to bundle up or snuggle up to the heater.
- Phosphorus (phosphorus): With the bronchitis you are very thirsty for cold drinks and want company. You may also crave carbonated beverages. The cough is hard, hacking and painful, at first dry, then looser as time goes on. The chest feels tight and oppressed, and coughs may linger on and on. Be careful because the bronchitis may lead to pneumonia.
- Rumex (yellow dock): You have a dry cough that begins with a tickle in the pit of your throat or a rawness in the larynx or trachea. Your cough can be aggravated by uncovering or undressing, and is typically dry and tickling, often preventing sleep. The cough can indeed come on as soon as the head touches the pillow and continues as long as you are lying down. Mucus tends to collect in the throat and must be hawked out.
- Spongia (toasted sea sponge): Your cough is deep, dry, hollow and barking. It sounds like a seal a seal’s bark or a saw cutting through wood. There is considerable hoarseness, and a feeling of a plug in the larynx with anxious, gasping breathing and a suffocating feeling. Your breathing is short and difficult, and the air passages feel dry.
What You Can Expect from Homeopathy for Bronchitis
Your recovery, with the right remedy, could be rapid, within a day or two, or could take several days to a week. Be sure to rest. If you have a wet cough, avoid mucus-producing foods and drinks (milk, cheese, bananas) and drink licorice tea as an expectorant. If your bronchitis worsens, you begin to feel weak, or your sputum turns a rusty red, seek medical attention for a possible pneumonia.
In most cases of sinusitis and bronchitis treated promptly with homeopathy, you will not need antibiotics, decongestants, inhalers, steroids, or codeine cough syrups.
If you are not seeing a significant improvement within 2-3 days, contact your homeopath. You may need your constitutional remedy or another more specific acute remedy.
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