Stuffy nose

This suggestion is one my sister in law made for my husband. And then I saw it on a talk show. My sister in law swears by it. It's a netty pot. Dr OZ was on Oprah. And they showed how to use it. Here is a link http://www.oprah.com/health/oz/oz_20070426_350_106.jhtml certainly not conventional, but it works.

Well, if you have central heat, that could be drying your sinuses out. I've had that problem a lot. I know how not fun that is. If you can, get a humidifier. A cool mist one works, but I've had success with a warming one. You just have to watch kids around it because of the hot steam. But to help with congestion you can add a 'medicated' liquid that can be added to the humidifier. But if you wanted an all natural alternative. Get some tea tree oil and smelling it can help a little. And adding it to a humidifier can help a bit too. But only a drop or so.

One of the best ways (and cheapest) to knock an infection in the sinuses is to eat raw garlic cloves (if you can stand it of course!) garlic oil or extract can be taken in pill form as well but doesn't work as well. Crushed up garlic (I prefer covering it in honey myself) is a great way to get over many of the little annoying sickies that go around. If you can't stand to take it crushed up you can even swallow the clove whole and it will still work. I will warn you though that some people have trouble with their tummy after doing this. I would strongly suggest you take it on a full stomach (after a meal kinda thing). And of course make sure you are drinking plenty of good filtered water! Also taking "mega doses" of Vit. C (like 5-10 grams a day or more) would help, your body flushes out any extra so its really quite safe! The other suggestion here I would have you have been told already, get and run a vaporizer/humidifier. I run one almost 24/7 during the winter whenever my heat is running. It does wonders for keeping your nasal passages from drying out so bad. Hope you get to feeling better soon! ~Rachel

better go and see your doctor

This might sound kind of far-fetched, but you could perhaps have a condition called a deviated septum. You may have heard of it or even considered it. Basically, your nose may or may not look crooked from the outside, but the inside (the bone in the middle [a.k.a. the "septum"]) is so crooked that it's overcrowding one nostril and allowing gracious amounts of space in the other nostril. The reason I thought about this when I read your discussion is because I had a roommate as well as my boyfriend who had the same thing. Unfortunately, the only way to correct the problem is surgery. They've both had great success with it, though. It's worth it if you find out that's what you have. You might think, if one nostril is overcrowded, then why can't I breath normal out of the other nostril? The body's normal reaction to this condition is to create a callus-like structure (almost like an extra bone) in the spacious nostril because too much air passes through at once and the body has to compensate for that. It sounds really strange, but I suggest talking to a different doctor and finding out if you have this condition. The surgery will basically straighten out the bone in your nose and if you have a crooked-looking nose in the first place, it's a great excuse to get a nose job! (LOL) I can't believe my boyfriend has had a nose job before me!! Ha, ha. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. I know all the details since I went through the whole thing with my boyfriend. It took about a week for him to get back to "normal" and another week to recover completely. It's a free ticket to a week off work. You can probably read up on it over the Internet too. I hope this helps! I also hope you're able to eliminate the constant sniffles. Good luck!

Sounds like you need to find a new doctor. How would he suggest that they be "fixed"? If your nasal passages are swollen there is a reason. The nose strips do not do much of anything other than help sleep appnea. Sounds like you have an infection in your sinuses and you need a GOOD doctor - probably an ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) specialist to take your problem seriously and provide the proper treatment.

Check out www.curezone.com There is a section on oil pulling. I won't go into detail as that would take forever. Oil pulling works for so many things. It will help with your problem as well. Go through the forms, there is a lot of wonderful imformation there.