Dry Air and the Death of My Nose and Sinus (Home Depot, living)

[flamadiddle]

lol, it's the altitude/dry air. I experienced the same thing. Within a week of arriving, my nose/sinuses were doing back flips. Nose bleeds and all kinds of issues. What will "help" is a humidifier. Get one and put it next to your bed at night.

I don't have allergies and whenever I'd travel back to Georgia, the problem went away. As soon as I returned to Denver, whamo! here we go again...

[twemh]

Thanks for the input everyone. I thought it was just me and my immune system was going to hell. Sorry everyone has to experience this, but maybe I can try what everyone suggests and hopefully get better. Puts a damper on life when you feel like **** all the time.

I'm starting with the humidifier and try more things as time goes on...

I'll keep you posted!

[Suzatlarge]

I too experienced sinus/allergy problems for the first time, long ago, when I moved to Denver from the Texas Gulf Coast. Not fun. It turned out that twice a year - spring and fall - there are weeks when I have allergic reactions when some pollen levels are high. With some lower level allergic episodes at other times.

About 25 years ago I read the first edition of a book called Sinus Survival, by a Littleton doctor, Robert Ivker. It was recommended by friends who'd had remarkable healing of their chronic sinus/allergy problems when they became his patients and followed his advice/treatments. (Seriously, one of them actually looked different; her face had been slightly swollen for years from sinus inflammation and it had gone back to normal.)

I didn't follow all his advice, but my takeaway from the book was that the dryness and pollution* here really stacks the deck against sinus health. It's where I learned about saline rinsing. Back in the early 90's, before it was so commonly recommended/practiced. I do feel better when I'm conscientious about the rinsing.

Over time, Dr. Ivker has gone more into holistic medicine than he was when he wrote the first edition of that book. There's a lot of info on his Sinus Survival website. [Edited to add: after posting this I explored the website. It's a mix of info and sales pitches to pay a hundred bucks for a "gold membership." Sigh.] The book's now in its 4th edition. I just ordered a used copy.

I second all the recommendations of humidifers, and saline rinses, and saline sprays. Also, trying antihistamines, to see if there's one that can help without putting you to sleep during the day.

Good luck.

*Pollution: Denver no longer has that nasty infamous Brown Cloud of the 70's and (I think) 80's, but it's a urban area and that ain't fresh mountain air we're inhaling around town.

[randomparent]

Noticed that the Cottonwoods are starting to snow a couple of days ago. It's going to be a rough few weeks for this family. We all react to it with itchy, watery eyes and stuffy noses.

[sunsprit]

dry air along with the general allergens play havoc with those susceptible to hayfever and pollen related allergic reactions.

the best results I've had to deal with the seasonal allergy problems was to use homeopathic nose drops and tablets to minimize the allergic reactions. But even these vary in effectiveness and can require changing through each allergy season depending upon what's triggering the allergic responses.

Some years will be more severe than others for the pollen densities and individual reactions will vary. What you are experiencing is a fairly common Denver area problem and can be very severe in the foothills and mountain areas with foliage and trees that aren't found in low altitude riparian climate zones.

[Count David]

Since moving here in 2007, I haven't had nose problems, head colds, sneezing/etc, but I always get a rash on my back in May-June.

Without fail.

[Timmyy]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Since moving here in 2007, I haven't had nose problems, head colds, sneezing/etc, but I always get a rash on my back in May-June.

Without fail.

I was trying to say something funny about that but I just couldn't up with anything. Ha!

I get itchy eyes and the sneezes this time of year. It doesn't stop me from going outside though.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Timmyy

I was trying to say something funny about that but I just couldn't up with anything. Ha!

Must be some disease I have that likes mid to late spring.

[BarryK123]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Must be some disease I have that likes mid to late spring.

How about - stop laying in the poison ivy, looking up at the sky

[High Plains Guy]

I just moved from Florida to west Kansas, only 5 hours away from Denver, and I've been dealing with it too. You have to understand, allergies are not better or worse from one place to another (with the possible exception of places in the frozen tundra where pollen and allergens are likely to be nonexistent)... they are just different from one place to another. So all the allergens that my body built up an immunity to back in the Southeast were replaced by allergens in the Great Plains. The same goes for you.

It's going to take some time for the immunities to develop, but in the interim I have been using Zyrtec, and I recommend the same for you. If it gets intolerable, there's nothing wrong with seeing an allergist and getting allergy shots, because those will be specific to the allergens in your geographic area. Very effective treatment, in my experience.

Also, the dry air definitely irritates sinuses, and as others have already recommended, I too recommend using a saline nasal spray to keep things lubricated up there.