TESTING – CT Imaging the Sinuses

Posted on02. Dec, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

Another family just came to see me, referred for “sinus headaches”. They bring a computer disc with them containing the CT scan of their 4-year-old’s sinuses. The child has had many CT scans. As we review them, it quickly becomes clear that no one has ever reviewed ANY of the scans with them. So I gave them a short course in “Reading Sinus CT Scans”. Here it is …

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Reflux in Children – Causes and Treatments

Posted on18. Nov, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

So, my last post discussed the role of reflux in asthma. Note that medical research shows that reflux plays a big role in rhinitis, sinusitis, and otitis also. This article discusses causes and treatments for reflux. What Causes Reflux? Let’s start the answer by saying “we don’t know”. The rest is mostly speculation, educated guessing. [...]

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Is REFLUX Causing Your Child’s Asthma?

Posted on11. Nov, 2010 by Russell A. Faust, PhD, MD.

About 75% of those with asthma have reflux symptoms. For adults, that means heartburn, burping. For children, they often don’t have classic symptoms. In fact, asthma or other respiratory disorders may be the symptoms in children. This brief post describes how to tell whether you should consider reflux as the cause of your child’s asthma.

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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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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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Some Good Books, and Other Stuff

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

By my calculations, if only 138 Million of you click through my link to Amazon and spend $1,000 each, I will have enough to help support my Fig Newton addiction. That’ll happen, right?

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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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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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About Russell Faust

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

Hi. I am Russell Faust, PhD, MD, author of of this site …   For a super-brief bio, see www.about.me/russellfaust Briefly, I am Board-Certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, specialty-trained in Pediatric Otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins, and recently (November, 2010), Board-Certified by the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine. [...]

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