Chronic Sinusitis as an Inflammatory Disease like MC

[Polly]

Hi All,

As Tex said, some think that chronic sinuisitis may be an inflammatory disease like MC. I am beginning to think this may be the case in my experience. I have had 4 sinus cultures now, and they have all been negative or "normal flora". Of course, I have been on a lot of antibiotics (groan) which could suppress any bugs; however, even my very first culture before any antibiotics was negative.

So it may be that my body is reacting to one of its "normal" components (in this case the normal sinus flora) as it does in MC when it reacts to our normal (beneficial) gut flora. If the body stops recognizing normal bacteria "residents" and begins seeing them as foreign invaders, it then mounts an immune (inflammatory) response against them. It is the inflammatory response that causes us lots of problems, since in the process those very destructive cytokines and chemokines are released.
Also, as we all know, killing off the "good" bacteria leads to overgrowth of the "bad" bacteria, causing additional problems.

I have been taking larger doses of vitamin D for the past 2 weeks - 4000 IUs a day now for 2 reasons:
1. Vitamin D enhances the body's own natural antibiotics (called AMPs or antimicrobial peptides)
2. Vitamin D helps to decrease that old inflammatory response, lessening the release the cytokines and chemokines that damage tissues.

And no, I'm not worried in the least about toxicity, when you consider that the skin makes 10,000 IUs of vitamin D after 15 min. in a bathing suit in the summer at midday.

It is still too early to know if this has helped. I called my internist and asked him to order me a 25(OH)D blood test to measure my Vitamin D level. The latest thinking is that the range considered normal should be greatly increased from what it is now - up to perhaps 90-100 nmol/l. See this reference from Harvard - it is a good review article:

www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/84/1/18

Also, there is lots of good cutting-edge info at:

www.vitamindcouncil.com

Love,

Polly

P.S. Has anyone else suffered from chronic sinusitis?

[Pat]

Polly,

I have had chronic sinusitis forever. As a matter of fact I think that the antibiotics may have contributed to my MC. I also took a lot of tetracycline as a teenager and young adult for acne. I know that when I was given Neomycin last April my symptoms (MC) became much worse. I took allergy shots for 4 years in the early 90's which helped trememdously with the sinus problems. Now I just use saline spray and Mucinex and occasionally decongestants. That combination helps enormously. I had to have an MRI of my brain last June because of the unilateral tinnitus. But the only thing it showed (thank goodness) was my clogged sinuses. My doctor(ENT) told me to do my saline, Mucinex, decongestant routine. So far so good. It hasn't helped my D at all. That is the same no matter what I do.

I am interested in what Tex said about a relationship between sinusitis and MC. I cannot find any info on that. I did find an article on UC/Sinusitis. Any info there?

Pat

[tex]

Pat,

Is this the article that you're referring to? It shows how UC can be induced, (in mice), by introducing a drench containing a chronic sinusitis-derived superantigen, such as Staphylococcus enterotoxin B (SEB).

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articl ... tid=555745

The article referenced below sheds a lot of light on the connection between chronic sinusitis and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, (IBDs), in general. Though the article only considered patients with Crohn's disease, and UC, I would be quite surprised if the connection did not apply to MC as well. MC patients are rarely included in IBD studies, probably because less information is available on it, due to it's relatively recent discovery, (about 21 years ago), and consequently far less patient history is available for studies of this type. For anyone who is not sure, yes, MC is an inflammatory bowel disease.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entre ... s=12751702

As you can see by the article, the connection is very pronounced, as it applied to about half the patients that were treated at the IBD center that was picked for the study.

Tex

[tex]

Polly,

To be honest, I had forgotten that you were taking antibiotics to target a "phantom" bacteria. I forgot all about the negative culture tests. My remarks were, as I said, mostly just thinking out loud, and hoping that you might shed some light on the subject, and obviously, I wasn't disappointed.

Thank you for the insight, and all the information. Incidentally, that Vitamin D Council site that you posted a link to, has a a great page on autism, with links to information on how vitamin D deficiency causes autism, and many other considerations. I'm going to give that link to a friend who has a son with severe autism.

Excellent post.

Love,
Tex

[Polly]

Glad you found the info helpful, Tex.

Love,

Polly

[grannyh]

I have been plagued with sinus problems for years.. until I had massive dental work clearing up infection that was below the gumline plus removing a couple of upper teeth. A tad drastic but what an improvement after years of drugs for sinus clogs and infections.
grannyh

[annie oakley]

I'm On antibiotics for a sinus Infection and still have a headache. I also have been pleagued with them for years and have thought seriouly of pulling all my teeth....costs alot of money and but it has been a thought. Love Oma

[grannyh]

An xray showed two upper teeth were way up into the sinus area..once the teeth were removed... the sinus infections went away. Those two teeth abcessed a lot too... before they were removed

[Lucy]

Hi there,

Polly, do you think all our diseases are similar to peridontal disease. Peridontal tissues are damaged by the so-called "over-production" of the chemical mediators resulting from chronic infection and inflammation, right?

Yours, Luce

[mle_ii]

Never really had any sinus issues per se, though lately it seems like my sinuses are a bit drier. That and it seems that every year around this time I seem to have a permanent sore throat each morning, though I noticed (perhaps coincidence) that once I cracked the window just a bit that it went away. Seems to happen most around this time of year when the gas furnace is on more.

[harvest_table]

Has anyone else suffered from chronic sinusitis?

Yes I did, for over 4 years prior to my DX of CC. It was rough, and took lots of medications for it.

Since my DX I haven't had any problems with it though. Could be the medications I took to get my MC back on track helped (Pred & Entocort) along with a diet and lifestyle changes but some major dental work I had done a year following my DX without a doubt helped clear up chronic infection and inflamation.

Love,
Joanna

[artteacher]

Hi Polly, missed you,

Your question made me perk right up, because, yes I have had sinus problems forever. And when I've eaten something I shouldn't, sinuses drain like crazy. I'm think when my sinuses are doing that, so is my intestinal tissue (producing mucus to protect itself). Or maybe the drainage itself is irritating. Or the acid it contains is irritating. ?

I did find that some laundry detergents aggravate its: Costco, for one. Now we use All-Free n Clear and it helps noticeably.

I took a lot of antibiotics before my MC problems, and wonder if that's what triggered it.

Marsha