Rhinitis And What To Do About It

Symptoms and treatment for runny nose and congestion

by Murray Grossan, M.D.

Rhinitis is a fancy word for runny nose, drippy nose, congested nose. Rhino is nose and (itis) is for inflammation. Doctors have to use big words so they can charge more.

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The body tries to protect itself. When a common cold or a toxic product hits the nose, you sneeze to try to get rid of the infected material. In addition your body tries to dilute the toxin or virus – the less concentrated the toxin the easier it is for the body to correct the problem.

That’s why you need to drink lots of water for rhinitis. That’s also why you drink lots of water for stomach poison, in order to dilute it.

Allergic Rhinitis
You can have allergic rhinitis. Here the body is “stupid”. Instead of sneezing and dripping when you are around a huge amount of dust, your nose doesn’t react to a small amount of dust or whatever you may be allergic to. Allergic rhinitis varies in degree. One person has rhinitis when he dusts the piano. Another gets it when they enter the room where the dusty piano is located. Some are so sensitive that they sneeze when the enter the room after the piano and the rugs have been thoroughly dusted.

When we test a person for allergies we need to know how sensitive he is to the pollen or dust. So we dilute our test materials

1:10
1:100
1:1,000
1:10,000
1:100,000

Sometimes a test dose of 1:100,000 may even be too strong. That is why we keep resuscitation materials on hand in the allergy office.

Allergic rhinitis often responds to allergy pills such as Allegra, Claritin, or dozens of others. Some patients get relief from nasal sprays such as Flonase or Rhinocort. Whichever works best for you, you must still keep the bedroom free of dust and odors, use unscented lipstick, avoid hot spices and iced drinks.

Allergic rhinitis is like arithmetic. It takes 10 to give symptoms. Add, pollen, dust, fatigue, spices, getting chilled and get 10. Subtract the spices and you may get 8 – not enough to give you symptoms. But when the pollen count goes higher, this can get you up to 10 again. So try to reduce the equation – less dust, spices, odors, fatigue.

It is a good idea to check out the pollen counts to see which pollen is causing your symptoms. Then you can identify which tree or weed is causing your problem.

In Los Angeles, allergic rhinitis is worse when the Santa Ana winds blow. This blows in dust and pollen from the surrounding area. Most allergic persons are worse then.

When you drive, you MUST drive with the windows closed. If the windows are open, the faster you drive, the more pollen goes into your nose.

Chemical Rhinitis
The new products keep coming out faster than they can be properly scrutinized for health factors. It is well known that chrome, diesel, smog, Skydrol, all irritate the nose. Most volatile solvents do too. Your state occupational safety unit , OSHA, can help you identify which products might be harmful to you.

Bacterial Rhinitis
There are dozens of nasty bugs out there, but some are nastier than others. Some produce a chemical that paralyzes the cilia and causes a serious infection. This is why pulsatile irrigation may be very helpful; the fewer the bugs are washed away, and the quicker the cilia return, the quicker your health is assured.
Is it sinusitis or rhinitis? Often it is both. If the nose is inflamed, and the sinus x ray is clear its just rhinitis.
If the sinus x ray shows disease and inflammation and the culture taken from within the sinus grows bacteria, then it is sinusitis.

Viral Rhinitis
This is the most common nasal condition and is referred to as the common cold. There are dozens of types that cause cold symptoms, which is why there isn’t a good cold vaccine available yet.

For most persons this lasts a week and then they are OK. When it lasts longer, it means that a sinus infection has taken place as a result of the cold.

Why do some persons develop a sinus infection after a common cold? Several possibilities:

• Blowing your nose so hard that the tissues swelled and blocked the sinuses.
• A particularly virulent cold virus
• Being fatigued, exhausted, getting no sleep
• Some of the medications dry out the nose so much that the cilia couldn’t get rid of the toxic products
• Not drinking enough fluids such as hot tea with lemon.

Treatment
I am appalled whenever I ask my patient what they have in the medicine cabinet. Thanks to the 12 billion dollars spent on medicine advertising each year, each of my patients have a minimum of 3 “cold” remedies in the cabinet.

Not that some aren’t fine. But this idea that the advertisers have promoted that the moment you have a sniff or snort, you must spray your nose and take their pills is stupid.

For most common colds, just resting, hot tea, chicken soup will do it. Some of the nose sprays rebound and you get addicted. Some of the sprays have preservatives such as benzalkonium that can make you worse. Some of the pills that dry the nose dry things too much and make you worse.

Notice that no one advertises hot tea and chicken soup, and plain resting! What they advertise are products that MIGHT shorten the cold by one day in SOME persons. Unfortunately, later on you learn about the side effects of some of these products that are the most advertised.

The worst cases are those who panic the moment the nose feels stuffy – immediately they use all kinds of sprays and pills. And then they get anxiety because of the “congestion”. If they would just relax, rest, give their body a chance, in most cases the symptoms are over in a day or less. Instead, they have used so much medication that the medicines are making them jittery and nervous and they feel worse.

Of course it the symptoms persist or get worse, then its time to seek relief, but not within the first hour.

Rx

1. Lots of fluids. Especially tea, lemon and Chicken Soup
2. Avoid ice drinks. Avoid getting chilled.
3. Dress correctly. Don’t sit in a draft
4. Rent a comedy video. Happy white cells are stronger.
5. Drink enough so your urine turns light.
6. Don’t blow your nose hard! Be gentle. Don’t force air if your ears get blocked. It's OK to open your mouth widely, but forcing the ear open can push pus into the ear.
7. Warm compresses to the sinus area

OK, you say, all this is lovely theory, but I’ve got to go to work, take care of the kids, etc. what can I do?

Sudafed is a decongestant that helps many persons. Read the label carefully.

Many patients claim to do well with vitamin C. If the stomach tolerates it, 500 mg is the maximum dose. Over this amount can cause you to lose calcium.

Many patients get relief with the Tylenol type “cold remedies” and “flu remedies”. These are reasonable formulas and can be helpful.

Benadryl is useful. Dries you out and puts you to sleep. I have recommended liquid Benadryl for kids who have colds to help them sleep and help prevent colds going into the ears.

You can be sure that what works for one person may not work for another and your doctor is the best source of information.

Prevention
If you only get a cold once a year I don’t see any point in bothering about it.

For those who get frequent colds, there is a chemical called ICAM – 1 in the nose that is the portal of entry for the common cold virus. For years my patients insisted that by using the Hydro Pulse® irrigation daily they prevented getting a cold. Frankly, I never paid attention. Then research started coming out that verified this claim. Now I believe them.

If you are prone to frequent cold infections, during the cold season, consider daily Hydro Pulse irrigation. This removes the ICAM –1 and may reduce the number of colds you get.

If you are stuck behind a diesel bus/truck and inhale the fumes, consider rinsing the nose when you get home to remove these products.

If you are in car with an air bag blowing up, that powder tends to stick in your nose and should be washed out. I have seen persistent symptoms from this powder.

If your workplace has bad fumes, check with OSHA to see if these fumes are dangerous for you. If it is a new product that is upsetting you, have the doctor measure your nasal cilia to see if there is a problem due to those fumes.

For some reason I can’t figure out, OSHA tells you to wash your hands when you are exposed to certain chemicals to remove them from your hands. They may even advise always washing your clothes. But they never tell you to rinse your nose with saline to remove chemicals from your nose! Many of my patients in certain industries have been helped by simply rinsing the nose to remove these chemicals.

Other suggestions at www.ent-consult.com

If you are a postal worker and inhale a suspicious powder, immediately rinse your nose with saline. Use a nasal wash bottle or just cup your hands. You may be washing out anthrax spores. One such lavage product to keep handy is at Hydromedonline.com.

In summary, if you are diagnosed with Rhinitis, try the hot tea and rest first.

First Published: August 2003
Updated: April 2007

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