The Bacteria Blues

No one knows better than I do the misery of sinus infections. Up until last year, I had always rushed to the doctor several times a year to combat them with antibiotics. Now after two sinus surgeries, my sinuses drain better than they did before and I have successfully beaten infections without pills. However, if I had been more proactive at the beginning of my sinus infections, I could have possibly avoided surgery, antibiotics, and this whole health mess altogether. I know how tempting it is to rush to urgent care and get a prescription for antibiotics, but I am here to support you and beg you to WAIT! Keep in mind that the option to go and get antibiotics will always be there, we are not in a shortage supply of antibiotics in the United States, in fact we have the exact opposite problem: antibiotic overuse. We live in a fast pace society of instant gratification. If we get sick, we go to the drug store to load up with decongestants so we can power through work. We go to the doctor if we’re not better in two days and bombard our body with antibiotics which may make us better instantly (or not in my case), but leave us with a host of side effects to deal with afterwards.

It’s no secret our bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. We have started to create an uncontrollable monster of antibiotic resistant bacteria because the more we use antibiotics, the more bacteria become resistant to them. There have been several cases across the world and the in the United States where people have died or had serious life altering consequences from bacteria resistant infections. It is becoming a serious public health issue and one of the ways we stop this problem is stop rushing to the doctor the minute we feel we have any type of infection. In addition, sinus infections are not always bacterial, they could be viral or fungal. In fact a research study done by the Mayo Clinic showed that 96% of patients who underwent sinus surgery for chronic sinusitus had fungus in their infections. Ent’s (Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctors) often skip the process of doing the cultures and just want to do the surgeries to drain infections.

It is said that about 80% of your immune system is located in your gut. This consists of about 3 trillion bacteria residing in your intestines. If you extracted all your bacteria, it would be around the size of a basketball! Antibiotics wipe out all of this, which not only can cause digestive issues, but also hurts your immune system. After my sinus surgeries and many rounds of these lovely drugs, I promptly got tonsillitis a month later that took me months to recover from. My bacteria had started to become resistant to antibiotics and my immune system was so depleated it simply did not have the capacity to fight off infections like it had before. Currently all of my health issues stem from the side effects that antibiotics had on my stomach including fatigue, malapsorption, indigestion,acid reflux, Candida, SIBO, and leaky gut. Hipocrates had it right when he said, “All disease begins in the gut.” Therefore, it’s imperative you do everything you can to preserve and protect your stomach! It will affect your overall health greatly.

Lucky for us, there are so many other ways to address sinus infections! I am here to share the remedies that I have used and have worked for me. A great resource for natural remedies I have gotten many ideas from as well is http://www.earthclinic.com/ .

Just Salt It

Low-sodium. Reduced-sodium. No-sodium.

We often hear concerns about a high-sodium, highly salted diet, which is fair considering that roughly 610,000 Americans suffer from high blood pressure or some kind of heart disease (CDC). It’s true, lowering your salt intake can greatly improve your health if you’re unfortunately afflicted with blood pressure problems, and as we grow older, the body becomes more susceptible to increased blood pressure, high cholesterol, and coronary heart dysfunction.

However, those of us who have different health hurdles to navigate, such as low energy levels, depletion of electrolytes while fighting an infection, and problems with nutrients absorption, adding extra salt to our diets can be a very good (and sometimes necessary) thing.

Let’s start with the fact that, assuming you’re on an anti-inflammatory diet, much of the food you’re eating is cooked at home and potentially bland. For example: for the first 6 months of my anti-inflammatory diet, I ate only cooked or steamed greens and chicken or fish. That’s about it, save for coconut yogurt and almond butter.  Eating the same thing daily, and spicelessly, can get boring – which sometimes leads to caving in and buying something you really shouldn’t eat. I’m guilty of this on many occasions. In this context alone, salt can make meals more palatable and interesting, despite the common tale of “salt is bad for you.”

Too much salt IS bad for you, but the right amount of salt helps to motivate your body to re-hydrate and replenish your electrolytes (in turn raising your energy level), which IS very good for you. My Lyme doc (before she retired last month) told me that salt is an essential part of a Lyme diet, as Lyme affects the adrenal glands, which causes self deficiency. Similarly, a large part of Lyme recovery is detox: our immune systems are overloaded with toxicity as the antibiotics (natural or chemical) break up the bacteria. High levels of toxicity mean that hydration and movement of body fluids is extremely important. Therefore, extra amounts of salts activate thirst, which leads to higher levels of hydration, and the removal of harmful bacteria from our bodies.

Just these simple factors means that, in a Lyme world, salt is a commodity that should be spread far and wide. And not just intracorporeally, but extracorporeally as well. That means, put it on your skin. Take a bath in salt water. Once a week, surround your body with warm water brimming with Epsom salt – not only does it help your muscles relax and with sweat detox, but your skin soaks up the salt nutrients as well.

Next time your vegan friend tells you that salt is bad for you, take a spoonful of sea salt and swallow it in front of him. Just kidding, that would be gross. But seriously, salt is great.

Here’s more information on the benefits of salt in your diet, written by Chris Kresser.

http://chriskresser.com/shaking-up-the-salt-myth-the-dangers-of-salt-restriction/