Tissue Issues
Allergy
time is a season for sneezing. Do you know what's best for
your nose? Believe it or not, blowing your nose can make the
situation worse.
There's
nothing fun about having a cold or allergies. One of the worst
symptoms is a stuffed-up nose, but some experts are now saying
that blowing your nose can make it worse. "It
has changed the way we approach trying to treat the common
cold now," says Dr. Birgit Winther, an otolaryngologist
from the University of Virginia.
That
'stuffy feeling' you get during a cold has a lot to do with
the amount of fluid in your sinus area. Doctors at the University
of Virginia gauged the pressure inside the nose during sneezing,
coughing and nose blowing. Sneezing and coughing had little
impact, but nose blowing created very high pressure -- enough
to push mucus back inside the sinus cavity.
"If
you push fluid from the nose into the sinus, than this may
likely infect the sinus with virus," Dr. Owen Hendley,
a pediatrician from the University of Virginia, says.
"I
think you are opening the door to more complications by depositing
the nasal mucous in the sinuses," Winther says.
Over-the-counter
cold medications may be the best short-term solution to ease
your sinus problem.
"The
point is to start early and not wait until the symptoms are
too bad so you can't stand it, because then it's too late,"
Winther says.
There
are other options.
"With
due respect to my mother, who taught me to blow my nose instead
of sniffing back, I do a lot more sniffing back," Hendley
says.
If
you absolutely have to blow your nose, blow gently, experts
say.
Click
here
for more information on allergies.
