On Sinusitis

[Cutting Holes in My Skull, The Sinus Model, A Lifetime of Illness, My Stats, Interventions]

2025.04.13

XCV

Thesis: When ‘authorities’ don’t do their job, we have to do it for them.

[Cutting Holes in My Skull]

I’ve been battling some sort of sinus infection for nearly 8 months now. Treatment has included antibiotics and steroids–there have been some moments of what felt like salvation, but nothing sustained. 

About two weeks ago, an ENT who ordered a CT scan suggested a surgery. This surgery would not only rectify my deviated septum, but it would also scrape away tissues in my sinuses and widen the sinus passages. Listen, if my nose is fucked up, maybe I need to get it fixed, but drilling holes in my skulls to widen the passages is irreversible and seems like quite the jump.

What’s worse: I asked about the root causes of my sinus issue, and the bombastic answer the good doctor gave me a number of times was: “It’s complex.” He went on to say that even if he knew what the cause was, surgery was always the only answer. 

He painted a picture of two alternatives: 

1. More antibiotics that probably wouldn’t work followed by a miserable existence with constant sinus pressure & drainage 

2. Surgery that, when combined with one more antibiotic, almost always works immediately. 

This was only my second appointment with him, and there was no effort to try anything else or to even understand what was actually wrong. I had to keep bringing up allergy testing for him to give me a referral.

In short, I’m outraged! Partly because I was given lazy advice, but more so because I am sure that a lot of people would have simply taken that lazy advice at face value.

And, in all honesty, I’m upset at myself. On my own end, I’ve been passively expecting the medical complex to resolve my issue for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been taking some steps here and there, but nothing huge—not yet.

So, while after my allergy test, I’ll be getting a second opinion from the best in network ENT within an hour's radius, I’m also taking the issue into my own hands now. 

And, I want your help. If I’ve told you about my blog, in 99% of cases, it means I respect your opinion. Below, I’ll explain how I’m thinking about the issue, the timeline, my health stats, and what I’m trying or have tried. If you can think of anything you’ve tried or done that’s worked to help with sinuses and/or inflammation, I would absolutely love to hear about it. 

Disclaimer: I am NOT a doctor. Rather, I am a guy trying to do everything I can to help myself while I find a doctor who actually wants to find and remedy a cause.

[The Sinus Model]

The sinuses are a network of sacs around your face. They produce mucus, some of which is expected & naturally handled. But, they can be set off by irritants, allergens, or infections to produce too much mucus, as is the case with me.

The way I’m viewing my present predicament is quite simple. We have two variables, Mucus Production* & Mucus Ejection. In a healthy system, you want: 

(Mucus Production) == (Mucus Ejection)

In my system, we’re stuck with:

(Mucus Production) > (Mucus Ejection)

So, the mission simply becomes lowering Mucus Production and/or increasing Mucus Ejection.

Most of my interventions are focused on increasing Mucus Ejection. I’m struggling to pin the production bit, and, likewise, am going to see a doctor.

*Production of mucus is usually referred to as “Secretion” but I think using the words secretion & ejection together would be confusing.

[A Lifetime of Illness]

A timeline of the last 8 months:

• Early August: In Europe. Felt a little congested.

• Mid August: Return home. Very congested. Deep clean my room.

• September: Feel better by middle of the month

• October: Start to slip near the end

• November: pretty sick by middle of the month

• December: I have a physical, get Doxycycline for the illness.

• January: Doxy did not resolve, see ENT who gives me more Doxy & a steroid course

• Mid February: It’s clear that antibiotics did not fully resolve it, so I schedule CT Scan

• End of March: ENT reviews CT and suggests surgery.

Really, I was a fairly sickly child & had many sinus infections growing up, but a CT scan in 2019 was nowhere near as alarming as what this last one was. Still, I would say I have been sick more than my peers since 2019, and many of my peers have noticed this, unprompted.

For your reference, below is a picture of the ct scan report.

[My Stats]

If this was a video game, this would be like my stats section:

• Physical Activity: I stretch 10-20 minutes a day, and do 100 pushups & 100 squats or lunges 9/10 days. Cardio is hit & miss, with probably 2 hours on average/week. Weight lifting session every ~10 days. At least one hour of pacing a day.

• Diet: Fairly clean. Banana pancakes for late breakfast, yogurt/protein milk/ protein shake for late lunch, then protein heavy dinner (chicken / fish / beef). Processed food from a restaurant (sometimes fried) maybe once a week. Take creatine.

• Caffeine Intake: Admittedly high. 3-4 cups of coffee / day.

• Drinking: In late October there was one night of debauchery at Gyu-Kaku, but other than that, I have had one drink on three separate occasions in the past 8 months.

• Skull Structure: A dental xray revealed that my back upper teeth are being pushed up, possibly by my tooth grinding. The CT Scan substantiates this with notes of projection of my teeth into the “maxillary floors.” Also, I have a “deviated septum”—the inside of my nose is crooked.

• Allergies:  I was tested maybe 15 years ago for allergies & came back positive re: cats, pollen, and mites. I live with a cat, so that could be a huge factor, but I don’t allow her in my room (where I spend most of my time) and religiously wash my hands when I’m done playing with her. Perhaps those precautions are not enough?

• Sleep: Usually 7 hours, typically in bed 1045-1130, up at 630. 20 minute nap maybe twice a week. 

• Nose Breather: I am a nose breather & the septum is not so deviated that I have any noticeable problems with this.

[Interventions]

All of that in mind, below are some of the steps I’ve taken. 

• Deep Clean Room: I deep cleaned my room in August & in December put all of my older books & vinyl in protective plastic casing. Have been maintaining cleanliness since.

• Eucalyptus & Steam: For the last 10 days, I have been steaming in a shower for ~30 minutes with some dried eucalyptus.

• Deep Breathing with Cardio: As I do cardio, I’ve started to breathe deeply & have found that this increases mucus ejection. I’m now targeting at least three hours of cardio a week, with a focus on breathing.

• Medication: Since surgery was suggested, I’ve been using a saline spray & Flonase each night as well. I used it Dec-Feb, too. I have an aversion to antihistamines & decongestants, as they make me a bit jittery & “spacy,” but did take them Dec-Jan to prevent coughing so I could sleep.

• Sinus Rinse: I am purchasing a sinus rinse for use today. 

• Spicy Foods: I am generously using various hot sauces (yes, they are a step or two up from sriracha or franks).

• Mouth Guard: In Jan, I started sleeping with a bite guard to reduce the negative impacts of grinding. I would imagine this would reduce inflammation system wide & increase ejection.

Interestingly, all of these except the Deep Clean are meant to increase ejection, rather than reduce production. I am doing my own research in regards to production & hope that the allergy test and second opinion can help make the cause more clear.*

I would not be opposed to a surgery to remedy my nose or potentially even allergy immunization, but want to attempt to establish a causal link before any one way intervention is taking.

So, if you have any methods to help clear my sinuses or ideas as to why they might be so congested in the first place, I would absolutely love to hear them. 

I’ll likely get back to writing about evolution & AI & philosophy & maybe even robots again for a few weeks, but I will certainly be returning to this issue & sharing everything I learn & what worked and what didn’t.

When institutions fail us, we go open source.

Live Deeply,

*While my teeth are not infected, I am very curious about the contribution of the grinding to the sinus inflammation… allergies seem to be the other big & ‘obvious’ one.