Better Living Through LESS Chemistry: 8 Natural Alternatives to Toxic Cleaners

Posted on26. Aug, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

Volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) are ubiquitous – they are all around us, and in us. In addition to allergies, rhinitis, asthma, alterations in our immune systems, and neuro-toxicity, these toxins have been linked to cancer, diabetes, and birth defects. We have recently reviewed how to reduce them in our water and our food. Here are some small steps that will make a BIG difference in your life.

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What is the Unified Airway?

Posted on29. Jul, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

In practical terms the Unified Airway Model predicts that challenges affecting one anatomic area of the aero-digestive tract will also likely affect one or more of the other components. Here is the evidence for he UAM, and how to use it to get your kids better.

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Use Plants to Purify and Detoxify Your Air

Posted on15. Jul, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

Interesting story: We have NASA and an asthmatic in India to thank for finding the right plants to detoxify our air for us. That’s right, NASA – the space people, and a business man with severe asthma. And plants also provide us with oxygen as an added benefit. Here’s the story …

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The Human Pollution Experiment …

Posted on08. Jul, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

“… OK then, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, we’ll put your little Sally in this box for 6 months, and pipe industrial waste smoke into the box to see how that affects her nose and lungs and stuff. Oh, and we’ll need to take some surgical biopsies occasionally. You’re cool with that, right?
Just sign here …”

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Honey – Nature’s Antibiotic

Posted on24. Jun, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

You may have noticed that your honey never seems to develop mold or bacterial contamination, even when it isn’t refrigerated after opening.  We now know why this is: honey has innate anti-microbial activity. Honey is a natural antibiotic !!  Who knew? Well, it seems that ancient humans knew:  For over 2 thousand years humans have [...]

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The Cost of Sinusitis – Nearly $6 Billion Annually

Posted on17. Jun, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

Aside from the fact that chronic rhinitis and sinusitis and other chronic aerodigestive inflammatory diseases (CAID) make our children miserable and decrease their quality of life, what are the costs of sinusitis to society? We know what our child’s illness costs us personally – missed work days due to taking them to the pediatrician’s office, staying home with them because we couldn’t get sitter care on short notice, emotional drain of worry over our sick child, etc. These are some of the personal, indirect costs of childhood illness. But what are the greater costs to society ? What are the direct costs? Is there a way to put a dollar value on what we spend to diagnose and treat sinusitis?

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The 8 Basic Principles to Control Your Child’s Sinusitis

Posted on10. Jun, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

For most of my sinusitis patients, the doctors have tried everything to treat their sinus troubles. Their parents feel like their kids are an ongoing experiment for those docs. Chronic sinusitis is a challenge. Everyone is frustrated: the child, the parents, the docs. There is no easy answer. No quick cure. Even so, you CAN make things better with a few simple rules. Here are the 8 basic tips that you can follow to improve the quality of life for YOUR little boogor-head.

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Thanks ShoutOut

Posted on07. Jun, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

I want to thank “Dr. Hana” for helping put a check mark next to one of my BIG to-do’s. It isn’t often that one of the BIG items on my long (way too long) to-do list gets a check-mark. It is truly remarkable when someone else takes care of the check-mark, with no effort on my part.

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Sinus Rinses: if once/day is good, is 4x/day even better?

Posted on03. Jun, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

And other stuff on my mind …

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Saline Sinus Rinse Poll Results

Posted on25. May, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

We had 66 votes total – not a huge number, and probably not enough to do statistical analysis (thank goodness), but interesting results nonetheless. Here are the results, and some recommendations:

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The “Ciliopathies”

Posted on20. May, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

When those little hair-like cilia don’t work normally, bad things happen. The medical terms are “dysmotile cilia syndrome”, “primary ciliary dyskinesia”, and acquired or “secondary ciliary dyskinesia.” All contribute to ear infections (otitis, mastoiditis), sinus infections (rhinosinusitis), and other respiratory infections. Whether “primary” or acquired, here are some tips that might help.

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Saline Sinus Rinses: What Good Are They? 4/4

Posted on13. May, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

If you insist on making your own saline solution …

Before I switched over to the store-bought, Nasopure saline rinse system, this is the recipe I used for years:

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Saline Sinus Rinses: What Good Are They? 3/4

Posted on06. May, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

It’s one thing to have someone suggest that you should do saline sinus rinses. They usually won’t tell you how to do them, like it’s something too indelicate to discuss. Well, let’s discuss it now …

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Saline Sinus Rinses: What Good Are They? 2/4

Posted on29. Apr, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

Medical Evidence to Support Sinus Irrigations: A study from the University of Michigan (well-designed, and executed as a randomized, controlled trial of over 100 people with chronic rhinosinusitis) found that symptom severity and symptom frequency were significantly reduced in those who used sinus rinses on a daily basis compared to those who did not. Similar [...]

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Saline Sinus Rinses: What Good Are They? 1/4

Posted on22. Apr, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

I have been personally coping with allergic rhinitis from the age of 6 or so, and with recurrent and chronic sinusitis for at least 20 years now. Although I was fortunate that allergy desensitization (allergy shots), gave me great relief, somewhere around age 8, I am not completely symptom free. Antihistamines, the standard conventional treatment, were not much benefit. And I hate the side effects. So, about 10 years ago I began using the home remedy of nasal-sinus irrigation using a weak salt water (saline) concoction. This is a method of cleansing the nasal and sinus cavities.

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8 Dangerous Complications of Sinusitis, But 3 That Can Kill

Posted on19. Apr, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

Complications of sinusitis are fortunately rare. Some of these complications can kill you. Some of them can leave you blind. What are the signs and symptoms? Which symptoms warrant medical attention RIGHT NOW?

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Sinus Anatomy: The Cliff Notes

Posted on16. Apr, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

You may have fallen asleep while reading my post on Nasal and Sinus Anatomy yesterday.  Or more likely, you just clicked away somewhere else.  That’s understandable – that was a little too wordy (nearly 1,000 words), and a little too technical.  Lot’s of new vocabulary.  I was kinda hoping the pretty pictures might keep you [...]

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Nasal and Sinus Anatomy (and Histology)

Posted on15. Apr, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

The nose and sinuses are complex. Aside from looking beautiful, your child’s nose (and sinuses) acts as: air-conditioner, warming or cooling incoming air, and moisturizing it for the lungs, and an immune barrier against airborne microorganisms and pollutants. The complexity of this job is reflected in the complexity of the anatomy and histology of the nose and sinuses. Here is a review of how it all works together. WARNING: Long, technical post. But it will help you care for your child’s nose, sinuses, etc.

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3 Year Old Boy Hospitalized For Severe Sinusitis: Simple Cure

Posted on08. Apr, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

There are good scientific studies that have evaluated the efficacy of saline sinus rinses. But seeing is believing. At a time when I was only sporadically doing my own sinus rinses (have I mentioned how I detest doing them?), a distant children’s hospital asked me to help them treat a seriously ill little boy, who was hospitalized with sinusitis. Here is what I recommended. Here is how it turned out …

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What to Look for in a Humidifier: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Posted on31. Mar, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

A dry nose leads to 2 things: nose bleeds, and sinusitis. In order to avoid nose bleeds and sinusitis, the lining of your nose needs to stay moist. Keep those cilia happy! That’s where your humidifier comes in. There are many choices, but only 1 great choice…

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