Sinus Attack

On Thursday morning I woke up with a nasty sinus headache. I attributed it to the weather change—for the better, but change is change to my sinuses, and they react. Despite my healthy lifestyle philosophy, I wanted a quick fix so I took a couple of Benadryl. It occurred to me that I should have started a regimen of irrigation with warm water, salt and baking soda, but I felt lazy. With the pain masked, I took a long walk along the lake instead. During the course of the day if I felt the headache coming back I popped a couple more pills. I felt better, until I didn’t.

The next morning it was more of the same, except now I also felt tension in my shoulders and neck from the headache, and the Benadryl was no longer helping. So this time, after irrigating and feeling some relief, I called my massage therapist and got squeezed in for a 10am with him. He pulled out all the stops for me. Besides working on loosening my neck, shoulders and back muscles, he massaged my sinuses. He also introduced me to the “scaling” muscles in my neck, which he said were great for draining the mucous and lymph glands. These are the muscles used when singing, he told me, and if I really wanted to help myself I should go home and sing at the top of my lungs and that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to do that on a regular basis. He wasn’t joking.

Next came some reflexology. The first two toes are related directly to the sinuses so he pressed hard on those points. It hurt. A lot. But not as much as the sooji hand needle. I wish that I could at least take credit for dreaming up the fake English translation for sooji: “90 days past due.” That credit probably goes to a bunch of acupuncture students (of which my therapist was once one), sitting around between patients while doing their required clinic hours, talking about their future careers.

I can, however, vouch for the pain that inspired it. The sooji hand needle looks like something the dentist would use to attack a bad case of tartar but it has a blunt tip, which could fool you into thinking it wouldn't hurt much. The sinus acupuncture points are on the tips of the middle fingers. the level of pain is directly related to the degree of blockage. I'd estimate that mine—blunt tip or not—must have been hovering, oh, around 99%.

I left feeling much better, though, just like I did after taking that first round of Benadryl. And later the pain came back, just like it did with the pill popping. It’s now Sunday and I’m finally starting to feel like whatever I had is on its way out; the body will heal itself eventually whether you help it or not. Had I gone the natural route from the beginning it would of course have been much better for my body. The problem with Benadryl is that it dries up the sinuses so much that it irritates them, thereby exacerbating headaches and creating a vicious circle. But it’s easy to pop pills. Not only isn't it easy to fit the more time-consuming route into your schedule or your budget, but you have to be committed to put aside time for regular irrigation, for loud singing and to have daily visits for rounds of torture by reflexology and acupuncture. It’s no wonder people pop pills.