Treating Sinus Infections (new guidelines)

Oh, the joys of cold and flu season. For moms still in the trenches, this season comes with a special brand of misery. About the time the children you've nursed back to health feel better, you're battling extreme exhaustion. Now sick yourself, you have to deal with hungry, energetic, mess-making children who don't understand how awful you feel.

Crawling in bed to drink fluids and rest is impossible. At this point a mother is at the Lord's mercy, unless her own mother or sister live nearby.

My children are all significantly better and despite my attempts at avoiding sinus infection, I was up with extreme facial pain last night (classic sinus-infection symptom). Each time I get one of these nasty infections, I research what I can do from home, and when I should see a doctor.

Advice has changed and now aligns with the supposedly "mainstream" thinking on ear infections. That is, more than 90% of sinus infections are caused by viruses, not bacteria, so antibiotics won't cure them. Moreover, using antibiotics will contribute to the production of "super bugs".

Taking a mucous culture to determine if the infection is viral, bacterial, or fungal, is not practical, since only a part of the sinus cavity is considered sterile--the part enclosed in bone that's impossible to culture. So doctors who prescribe antibiotics do so as a "just in case" precaution for very old or very young patients, or because the patient is demanding an antibiotic.

Both sinus and ear infections can lead to extreme pain, making it hard to accept that doctors can't help. Living with pain isn't something we expect in this modern-medicine era.

There are a number of things we can do to battle the infection without a doctor's help, however.

Sinus Infection Treatments: What Helps and What Hurts? 

~ Promote drainage by inhaling steam over a pan of hot water, 2 - 4 times a day (not on the stove).

~ At night use a steam vaporizer.

~ Drink a lot of fluid to help promote drainage by thinning the secretions.

~ Use an expectorant. Expectorants are drugs that help expel mucus from the lungs and respiratory passages. They help thin mucous secretions, enhancing drainage from the sinuses. The most common is guaifenesin (contained in Robitussin and Mucinex). Note that an expectorant is different than a cough suppressant. A cough suppressant is used to stop a dry, irritated cough to promote better sleeping. Productive (mucous) coughs are necessary to prevent bronchitis and pneumonia, and they should not be stopped, but encouraged. Never use a cough suppressant for a productive cough.

~ Use over-the-counter (non-saline) nasal sprays and decongestants with caution. After 2 or 3 days, they can hurt more than help, due to a rebound effect. A decongestant dries up secretions by reducing the swelling in nasal passages; it's the swelling that produces excess mucous. But as the process works, the decongestant also thickens the mucous, making it harder to expel.  So use a decongestant only at the beginning of your respiratory infection, and sparingly after.

~ Unless you're sure your problem is caused by allergies, avoid antihistamines, especially Benedryl, which tends to thicken the mucous.

~ Relieve the pain with ibuprofen, which reduces inflammation, thus promoting drainage. Tylenol will help with pain, but not with inflammation.

~ If you suffer from recurrent sinus infections, your doctor may prescribe a steroid nasal spray to help maintain open sinuses. Our sinuses inflame because of illness, or because of allergy, or because of a foreign body presence. If the narrowing of passages (swelling of passages) is due to allergy especially, you may be given steroids, such as prednisone.

Natural, Safe Decongestant Practices (found here):

~ One simple home remedy that may serve as a natural nasal decongestant is inhaling steam. Pour some boiling water in a large bowl. Place a large towel over your head, which should also drape the vessel. Inhale the trapped steam by taking deep breaths. The same method also serves as a natural expectorant.

~ Make a mix of salt (1/4 tsp.), baking soda (1/4 tsp.), and water (8 ounces). Stir well and pour the solution in a nasal dropper. Closing one nostril, squirt the dropper into the other and inhale deeply ensuring the solution reaches the sinus cavities. Thereafter, blow your nose gently and repeat for the other nostril.

~ Prepare some black tea, as usual, and add half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper in it. The active ingredient in the pepper, that is capsaicin, helps in reducing swelling and inflammation. So drinking the tea will soothe the nasal passages, and make the mucus thin and loose thus, stimulating drainage, and clearing up the congestion.


When To See A Doctor: 

According to this March, 2012 article, here are signs that your problem is bacterial, and that a doctor visit is necessary:

How to tell if it's bacterial

A sinus infection, properly called acute rhinosinusitis, is inflammation of the nasal and sinus passages that can cause uncomfortable pressure on either side of the nose, and last for weeks. Most sinus infections develop during or after a cold or other upper respiratory infection, but other factors such as allergens and environmental irritants may play a role.

According to the guidelines, a sinus infection is likely caused by bacteria, and should be treated with antibiotics, if any of these criteria are met:

• symptoms last for 10 days or more and are not improving (previous guidelines suggested waiting seven days)

• symptoms are severe, including fever of 102 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, nasal discharge and facial pain lasting three to four days in a row

• symptoms get worse, with new fever, headache or increased nasal discharge

Last, but definitely not least, pray my sister. Ask your family to pray too. These infections are nasty, nasty, nasty. You deserve not only prayer, but lots of sympathy. :)

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Thankful Thursday

source

1 Chronicles 23:30
to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening;

Thank you, Father....

~ that the children have some energy back, even as Mommy has no energy. We last had influenza in 2009 during the H1N1 outbreak. Beth was 10 months old and she and Momma ended up with raging sinus infections. This time I know better and my head in under a towel over a steamy pan a few times a day. The kids won't stay in that position long, but I'm trying...

~ for this site with its budget desktop PC reviews. We're simple, low-tech people with no home theater, no entertainment center, no Netflix, no gaming devices, no photo shop, no video camera. We don't currently even own a digital camera (it broke after Thanksgiving), but my honey is working overtime to replace it so we can continue to photograph their childhoods.

As far as PC's go, we need something simple but reliable that we can keep another 8 years. The CNET site gave me great information I can take with me to Best Buy, which appears to be one of the few stores still selling Windows 7 PC's. The more I read about Windows 8, the less I want to buy it.

~ that on taco and pancake and roast chicken nights, nobody grumbles about the food.

~ that Peter is busy planning the garden already. On a garden website he found seeds that turn into ginormous pumpkins. All the kids are excited about the pumpkin they envision entering in the Fair.

~ that the ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication) prayer acronym makes sure we thank and praise the Lord daily as a family.

~ that common illnesses no longer kill in mass. I finished the Wright Brother's biography but it ended with their first successful exhibition flight, performed for the Army. I read on my own to find that later one of the Wright brothers died of Typhoid Fever at age 45, their mother died early of tuberculosis, and their younger sister died of pneumonia.

~ for the enchanting way sunshine radiates off the snow, pointing to His Glory and Majesty.

What are you thankful for today?

Windows 7 or 8? Help!

We have two desktop computers, one 7.5 years old and another that's 10 years old (both have Windows XP). Curriculum I'm interested in for the boys this year requires an updated operating system. I've decided we'll keep using the 7.5-year-old computer because it can still be used with their Math CD Rom program, Teaching Textbooks, and it's located in a quite bedroom. A quiet room is a necessity for their math program.

For other curriculum requiring an updated operating system, I'm looking at laptops and noticed that Windows 8 is not particularly liked? As in...it's not user-friendly at all, especially for non-smart phone users (who aren't used to touch-screens)?

Has anyone updated their computer lately? Can you tell me how you adapted to Windows 8? My boys like technology and would probably enjoy learning a new system. But the mom here? Not so much. Should I try to get something with Windows 7? How did you adapt to Windows 7 after using Windows XP?

Any recommendations on laptops for $550 or under? I've never owned a laptop, and only briefly ever used one. Thank you!

My Blessing List (during influenza)

1 Thessalonians 5:18
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.



Influenza made its way into our home last Tuesday and everyone but my husband fell sick. Isn't it ironic that we all got a flu shot last December, except him? He had shingles at the time and decided to wait to get it--then he forgot.

This is miserable and it does take time to recover, with the cough, congestion, and headache lasting a long while. I just hope husband doesn't get it because his will be worse.

So far we've stayed out of the doctor's office and I pray it stays that way. Flu shots make the illness less serious, even if they don't get the strains just right.

I skipped Beth's Sunday methotrexate dose to avoid suppressing her immune system again this week. Her only side effect from this chemo drug (so far) has been one canker sore in her mouth. I've never had one but I can tell it's painful. Folic acid helps avoid them and other side affects so I got permission to give her an extra half-serving of vitamin gummie, since none on the market have more than a 50% daily allowance for folic acid.

I have to dig far to come up with some blessings right now, but I'm determined to try:




Dear Father, thank you....


~ for pretty snow falling for a few days. I'm celebrating snow today with some beautiful pics found here.

~ for wholesome library movies to keep everyone resting and drinking fluids.

~ that though I'm weaker, I'm still able to do laundry and dishes and meals, and a little sweeping. That's God's grace in action.



~ my once-a-year perm time finally arrived and life is sweeter without straight, limp hair. The curls also hide the white, forty-something hairs a little better. I have to wash my oily hair once a day, and the bangs twice a day. My face stopped breaking out for the most part at age 43, but the oily forehead appears to be here to stay, despite the witch hazel applications. When I think back to the acne (starting at age 12) and all the damage it did to my face and psyche, I ache for my four children and pray so hard they'll not inherit it. Modern medicine just hasn't been able to help this sad condition.



~ gingerbread pancakes (the ginger helps settle stomachs a bit too. Kids can get nausea with the flu, but adults usually don't.)



~ for psalms that soothe the heart and the aching body.



~ the kids are too weak to do school, but I've been reading the next biography--The Wright Brothers--and loving it. My boys will hang on every word of this book. They're both entrepreneurial in spirit, like the Wright boys were at this age.

The Wright boys' father was a minister but he also liked to make things. His shed full of tools really gave his boys a great start. The first thing they ever made? A sled--one that was longer and narrower than all the other boys' sleds, because their mother taught them about wind resistance. She drew a picture with dimensions and explained about the wind resistance. Her sons never forgot her lesson about wind resistance, and that if the drawing is right, the object you make will be right.



~ for prayer and that while I care for sick little bodies at night, I'm awake for extra prayer time and prayer always makes life sweeter.

~ for picture books about snow. I love books about the different seasons because they point to God's glory so often. Snow books are always a lot of fun.




What are you thankful for today?

Schooling vs. Education

 Tom started school. The schoolmaster, Mr. Engle, had a terrible temper. He didn't like children very much. Most of all, he didn't like Tom Edison, who asked so many questions.

One day Mr. Engle lost his temper. "Tom Edison", he thundered, "all you do is ask silly questions. There is nothing I can do with you--your brains are addled!"

When Mrs. Edison heard what the schoolmaster said, she was angry. Addled! Weak in the head! Her son was not addled. But she could not say as much for Mr. Engle!

Mrs. Edison took Tom out of school. She would teach him herself. Tom never went back to school. In all his life, Thomas Edison spent only three months in school.

Tom Edison didn't go to school, but he was a great reader. He read all kinds of books. When Tom was nine he read a science book. It told about chemicals and carbons and electricity. Electricity. How Tom loved that word. This book changed Tom's life. He decided to become an inventor.

Excerpt from The Story of Thomas Alva Edison Inventor, pps. 13-14, by Margaret Davidson.

When Thomas Edison reached 12 years old, he needed money for his science books and experiments. He went to work on a train, leaving his home in Port Huron every morning at seven o'clock. He sold newspapers on the Detroit express, along with molasses candy, apples, sandwiches, and peanuts. He made money, but not enough for his books and experiments.

What could he do to earn more money? Tom thought about this for some time. Then he had an idea. He would put out his own newspaper. He would write it, and print it, and sell it.

But where could he work? There was plenty of room in the baggage car on the train. Tom bought an old printing press and put it in the baggage car. And he started to work--writing, printing, and selling copies of his own newspaper, The Weekly Herald. 

Tom didn't spell very well. Sometimes he forgot to put periods at the end of his sentences. So they ran on and on and on. But people bought his newspaper. They liked the stories in The Weekly Herald. And Tom's spelling made them laugh.

Excerpt from The Story of Thomas Alva Edison Inventor, pg.16, by Margaret Davidson.

We read this Thomas Edison biography in our homeschool this week. The book is short, simplistic, and written for a younger audience than my boys' current ages. It expounds on Edison's questioning nature, his hard work, and his pioneering technology, but it speaks nothing of his heart. Perhaps Sonlight chose it merely to inspire students to believe in themselves, to work hard, and to think outside the box? 

Finding the book lacking, I read more extensively on my own this week and found that Thomas Edison was a practical atheist, and in some respects he was mean-spirited. Now I see why Sonlight chose such a simplistic book to portray him. They didn't want to leave him out of the historical survey, but they also didn't want children to admire some of the more selfish, unbalanced aspects of his life and heart.

Thomas Edison offered George Washington Carver, God's Scientist, $100,000 dollars a year to come invent with him. "Together, we will change the world," said Edison. One of Edison's fancy-suited assistants went down to the university and presented Professor Carver with the proposal. 

But Carver? He was a man after God's own heart, and I think he knew Edison wasn't. Also, God had plans for Carver to continue to bless his people through crop education. Carver fought poverty and gave glory to God by teaching the South--and the rest of the world--how to cultivate food. 

Edison? He fought for patents and became a very rich man. Carver made $3,500 a year as a professor, and he didn't even cash most of his checks. He had no use for money, he said; God provided everything he needed for free.

Henry Ford, the motor-vehicle inventor, was a friend to both men. I am curious to know how Henry felt about the Lord? He befriended a fellow inventor who gave God the glory for everything, and another who thought mostly of himself. What did Henry Ford make of these men? I want to know more.... 

Simple though it was, this Thomas Edison biography spoke to me as a homeschooling mother. 

I'm so grateful to be educating at home. 

Staying home to disciple and educate my children is worth every feminine skirt I can't buy, every fancy dish I'll never own, every trip to Washington D.C. we'll never take, every hair cut I won't get, every clean and stylish throw rug our floors won't see. 

God has taught me value...true worth. My children are free to live and laugh and think outside the box. They don't have to conform to what an overly-busy teacher--concerned about test scores--expects from them six hours a day. They have many hours a week to spend reading and interfacing with ideas. They have time to experiment, to invent, to play. 

This week alone they invented a new card game, a boat that floats, and they thought outside the box to use their toys in new ways.

They pretended to be real train operators on the playroom couch, marking their destinations on a US map they drew up. They announced each city stop as they pulled up to the "station". 

My Peter still doesn't begin all his sentences with capital letters--yes, he knows the rules--and although his spelling is improving greatly, it isn't entirely conventional yet. He can't print well without a dotted line. 

But he devours books and talks about his ideas. 

And he dreams. 

He dreams of soil experiments, of beautiful gardens, of the natural pesticides he'll invent. He dreams of crops and harvest time. He dreams of family working alongside him. He dreams of bouncing babies on his knees and reading the Bible to his family.

There's so much more to an education than the schooling. Just as cleanliness is not next to godliness, proper punctuation and instantaneous retrieval of multiplication facts are not the gold standard of a great intellect. If they have to think for five seconds, that's okay. If they always need another draft, that's okay.

Thomas Edison didn't spell well at age 12? Oh, well. Spelling proficiency isn't indicative of a sharp mind. By the end of high school most well-read children will spell well enough. I do spelling lessons most days of the week, but sometimes I don't know if my son is improving in spite of them, or because of them.

Thomas Edison's intellect and aspirations weren't limited to what a teacher thought of his skills, thank goodness.

He once wrote of his mother:

"My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint."

As homeschooling mothers we mustn't get distracted by skill acquisition. Skills are merely a means to an end. Our goal is a well-trained mind--one that first meditates on Him and on His Creation. The mind is a gift to be stretched--to be exercised by the meditation of ideas and the solving of problems. 

Educating our children should be about exposing them to all of God's gifts. For hasn't God given us what we need for fulfillment, both through relationship with Him and through Creation? In his graciousness, he's held nothing back.

Here are a few gifts to share with our children:

~ The gift of beauty in the natural world--flowers, trees, rivers, lakes, mountains, insects and other animals. 

~ The gifts of the arts and the written word--music, painting, sculpture, dance, novels, poetry.

~ The gift of natural resources for our basic needs and for ingenious invention.

~ The gift of patterns around us--in math, in art, in music. 

No, I don't admire Thomas Edison's heart, but I see how his mother did right by him. 

"My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me." 

• Teach them to go to the only source of Truth--to measure everything against God's standard.
• Believe in your child's potential.
• Set your gaze on what she can do.
• Don't be the anxious teacher, bent on checking off skill-mastery.
  
• Be the inspiration for a mind that's always stretching.
• Clear the calendar to allow time for nothing, which really means, give them time to invent and explore and play. A too-busy schedule is not the father of creativity, but the killer of it.
• Let them make messes.
• Let them fail and start again.
• Champion their God-sized dreams.
• Buy few toys and stick with classics. Pre-made toys, like commercial entertainment, can stunt the imagination.
• Teach them not to remember facts, but to acquire the tools of learning.
• Teach them to ask questions and find answers.
• Teach them that God has provided more than enough for their physical and spiritual fulfillment, and if they covet more, let it be more love in their hearts, not more things. The acquiring of things is a waste of the time God so graciously gives.
• Teach them that the world rarely chases what is good, and that God provides an abundance of good, all for free.
• Teach them that sin ruins and holiness blesses.
• Teach them that God's love never ends, that his faithfulness never wanes, that his comfort is ever-present...just a quiet time away.
• If traditional school crowds out the time you need to teach all these things, then follow Mrs. Edison's advice and think outside the box. Get rid of the school.

Ecclesiastes 7:12

For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Deuteronomy 11:19

You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Proverbs 4:13

Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.

Proverbs 16:16

How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

More on what the Bible says about education here.