What to Do for Sinitus and Post-Nasal Drip

Arrrrrghhhhh. For the past few days, I've had a nasty post-nasal drip going on. Slimy snot dripping down my throat. YUCK. I absolutely detest this condition. What I have been stupidly doing about it is ignoring it and just sucking on sugar free cough drops. They help the tickle in my throat, or rather, they make it so I don't feel the tickle in my throat so I can ignore the fact that I have a problem. See? Stupid.

Yesterday was particularly bad. I had so much mucus in my stomach (from the snot dripping down my throat) that I kept having to puke. Which I also hate. This is my body's intelligent way of telling me to FIX THE DAMN PROBLEM and quit ignoring it. I like that about the human body--it wants the root cause fixed, not the damn symptoms that we all spend gazillions of dollars allievating, or did before we all became broke. Big Pharma would rather you just keep treating your symptoms, because they'll make a LOT more money off of you when your body can't cope with the crap anymore and starts giving out and getting a really terrible disease.

To hell with that. Today I snorted salt-water up my nose to rinse out my sinuses. That helps some and has cleared it up a bit. I also gargled with it. I checked Dr. Duke's The Green Pharmacy, and he said these things: eat raw garlic, or add lots of garlic and onions to a basic vegetable soup, goldenseal, echinacea, eucalyptus (put a few drops in steaming water to inhale), oregano tea, ginko, horseradish (a straight spoonful if you're brave), shoving mint leaves up your nose for a bit, and eating pineapple. I have nearly all of those and I'll be using them over the next day or so. Then I checked Heinerman's Encyclopedia of Healing Herbs & Spices, and he mentions horseradish and a walnut leaf tea.

I want to kill the infection that is causing this, though, so I also checked Earth Clinic. There's pages and pages of what to do for sinitus, post-nasal drip, sinus infection. Here's the one I think I'm going to try next:

[[YEA] Penny from Fresno writes: "Clean out a medicine bottle with an eye dropper. Put one eye dropper of 3% hydrogen peroxide, one pinch salt, one pinch baking soda, and purified water. Shake well. More hydrogen peroxide can be added if a little discomfort is not felt (some is normal). Next, get down on knees putting head on floor and put a little in each nostril and keep in there awhile, making faces to move it around, move head, etc. to move it around. This has stopped a severe sinus infection I had dead in its tracks AT ONCE. I learned it online by a man who does a much more severe version of this, so you can make it stronger at will, but start weak like I mention. Just a normal medicine bottle. Never put the straight peroxide into the nose! It must be very diluted, so one eye dropper per bottle. It should sting just a little bit. Some say a TEEEEEENNY bit of cayenne in the formula works wonders too."

[YEA] Dani from Savannah, GA writes: "I have had a sore throat due to my sinus congestion/drainage for 4 days now. I assume it is due to allergies. I never had this problem until a few years ago, and it happens several times a year. I always end up at the doctor with a sinus infection and bronchitis. I'm tired of taking antibiotics, so I found this website and thought I'd give it a try. I tried 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1 tsp hydrogen peroxide mixed in about a cup of warm water. I layed on the couch and used a bulb syringe to squirt up my nose. I won't lie-when it flushed my sinuses and ran down my throat it did burn. Immediately after, I could breathe from both nostrils. It took a few minutes to quit burning, but it works. My nose began draining lots of mucus that was trapped in my sinuses. I gargled with milk and that soothed it. I also did the gargle recommended on this site for a sore throat-10 oz warm water and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper and drank a shot of it also. This also immediately soothed my sore throat. I'm really amazed and relieved after days of feeling terrible. This really works and I'm very grateful to everyone who posted these remedies !"

I know the herbs will help kill the infection, ditto the garlic, but if I still have this crap tomorrow, I'm going to try this cure, mainly because I think it will work for me. If the salt nasal irrigation worked, as it did a bit for me today, then maybe the added baking soda and hydrogen peroxide will kick it up a notch. With home remedies, it is good to remember that one size does not fit all. It's best to try things and see if they work. If they do, great! Hey, they're cheap! And you're starving the beast of big pharma. If not, try something else. Our bodies are remarkably similar, and remarkably different as well.

Sorry about the disgusting aspects of this post. But what the hell. You're all grownups, and if you are a kid, you know all about snot, right? :)
Onwards,
HM