Paleo Diet and Sinusitis page 3

[praetorian55]

I just found this thread after searching to see if going primal has been the cause of my dramatic improvement in sinus and allergy related improvements over the past several weeks. I guess I was on the right track!

In 2010 I had surgery to fix several years of symptoms related to my sinuses and my ear, worse on the left side of my head. My sinuses were always so inflamed that I could not breathe out of my nose, always had chapped lips, and people would always ask me if I was sick. When running, if I tried to breathe out of my nose, I would get pressure in my left ear! Turns out I really did have some real issues (deviated septum from an early break, and enlarged turbinates). Surgery and recovery was hell (imagine someone hitting your nose bone/cartilage with a hammer and a chisel - exactly what happened to me!), but did improve my situation - but not all the way. I would still get inflamed every once in awhile and my left nostril would "seal" shut. Flonase helped a bunch, but left my throat sore and changed my voice while I was on it.

I started down a path of fitness (first with P90X) and diet (first with franken-low carb) still splurging on sweets and SAD stuff. I did lose weight but saw no improvements in my sinuses. Through a forum I frequent I learned about marksdailyapple and tried it - wasn't too big of a pain as I had already gotten "used to" low-er carb eating - This was just clean eating on top of it.

Looking back, it's easy to see but I didn't put it together at first. After a couple of weeks I noticed that would wake up without my left nostril "sealed" shut and wouldn't have post nasal drip. This time of year is when my grass and other allergies would normally cause some issues. After weeks of improvement with this and my asthma (stimulated by allergies) I started searching around, which led me to this thread.

Sorry for the long story - just kind of excited that my intuition led me to the right place, even if it did sound crazy at first.

[JohnnyMcneely]

Hi Primalpam,

Do you still get nasal polyps?

My mum just got them removed and has just came out of hospital a few days ago. I have been trying to get her to adopt the Paleo diet. Do you think the diet made a big change to the symptoms? How are you feeling these days?

[Cryptocode]

Any time I get a cold or flu, it goes immediately to my nose, throat, and secondarily to my chest. Any kind of flu or cold.

In the two years before PB my nose was always stuffy, I snorred, and there was a build up of mucus or phlem in my throat, nose and mouth to the degree that while sleeping I'd drool significant amounts and find a pretty wet pillow in the morning.

All these symptons disappeared in two days on PB. However I've found the if I eat anything with wheat these symptoms return in full within 4 hours and then it takes another 2 days for them to disappear.

[frenchie79]

I stopped having sinus infections since I started PB... I used to have them 2 to 3 times a year... each time it required antibiotics and a week off work to clear out. The headaches were oh-so-f-king intense!!! They are gone now and even though I am dealing with other crap right now (unwanted weight gain), I am still not considering going bad to a vegetarian/SAD diet.

[kathydq]

I am an ear, nose & throat doctor and I am looking into a possible link between diet and sinus symptoms. If you have suffered from chronic sinus symptoms, please fill out this survey. I plan to use the results to design a study to look for a link. Thank you.

Paleo Sinusitis Survey

Stopped all Dairy, except for very occasional ice cream. Also eat occasional milk chocolate. All sinus headaches are gone now for 7 months and bunged up nose is clear. Also have much clearer throat (sing in a choir so this has made a big difference). Have just stopped eating potato to try and improve IBS.
As a child, suffered very badly with catarah and congestion. We drank full fat milk constantly from the fridge. The congestion was attributed to living close to factories. Can remember days, as a child, when I felt I couldn't breath as my nose was closed up. Sent home from school for this! Always wanted to try eliminating dairy to see if it would make a difference and it did!!!!

[StephenHLi]

I urge anyone to consult the appropriate health care professional prior to initial use, but these may be helpful:

Cordyceps

Mullein