Mens Health Blog. Medical Blog

Because the respiratory tract is a series of cavities (sinuses, lungs etc.), connected by air passages, viruses can spread from the nose to the sinuses and throat and into the middle ear trachea, larynx, bronchial tubes and lungs. Secondary infections spreading to these locations can cause complications, some quite serious.

Sinusitis is a common dysfunction which frequently occurs after a cold is complicated by a secondary bacterial infection. Sinusitis is inflammation of the mucous membranes of the air-filled sinus cavities, which are hollow spaces in the bones of the skull. The frontal sinuses are above the eyes, the maxillary sinuses behind the cheeks. They are lined by mucosal cells which produce mucus that drains into the throat.

When the nose is blocked by a cold, this discharge accumulates and blocks the nose still more. The sufferer must then breathe through the mouth and speech often becomes nasal. Tenderness and headache pain are also often experienced in the cheeks and forehead; below, behind and above the eyes; and in the upper teeth, especially in the rear upper jaw. Vision may also become blurred. Adding to the discomfort is further pain caused by irritated nerve endings in the sinuses themselves.

If the frontal sinuses are affected, headache pain usually appears over one or both eyes, especially upon waking or on bending forward. If the maxillary sinuses are affected, one or both cheeks may be tender and painful, and pain may be experienced in the upper jaw.

Sinusitis is not normally dangerous but when it appears together with a cold, and then continues to produce a copious green discharge after the cold ends, it may be due to a bacterial infection. Or it could be due to an allergy. If you suspect a bacterial infection, a physician can confirm sinusitis by X-ray diagnosis. Otherwise, treatment is similar to that for a cold.

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However, exciting new discoveries are emerging to show that the type of optimal, or peak, immunocompetence that can consistently annihilate a cold in a very brief time can be achieved only by a holistic or whole person approach.

It has been found that three principal factors can enhance immunocompetence. They are:

1. Nutrition and light eating; 2. Regular exercise; 3. Positivism, which translates into thinking positively, staying emotionally calm, and being physically relaxed and free of tension.

While our eating habits, and how we exercise, form an important and essential contribution to bolstering immunocompetence, recent advances in immunological methodology have confirmed that Positivism is the largest single influence on the body’s health and well-being.

Put together, Nutrition, Exercise and Positivism interact synergistically so that the sum total of their overall results is many times greater than the cold-fighting power of any one of the three factors considered alone.

This explains the varying results and the controversy which has surrounded such unholistic therapies as taking vitamin C without the support of other essential nutrients, and without the wider support of exercise and Positivism.

When vitamin C therapy is supported by other essential nutrients, and by exercise and Positivism, immunocompetence can be dramatically boosted, often in a matter of hours.

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