Infant Allergies
Thirty seven million persons have sinus disease. This is despite the trained sinus specialists and excellent drugs. Therefore, it is time to get down to fixing this problem. Fortunately, the doctors at Univ of Pennsylvania have come up with a solution. It's Baby Shampoo.
Infant Allergies
This is the one that advertises "No Tears." These doctors were looking for a way to dislodge biofilm from the sinuses. They looked at baby shampoo. First, they figured if it was safe for the eyes, it was bound to be safe for the nose. Then they tested the shampoo with saline and found that at a certain concentration it didn't bother the normal movement of nasal cilia. Then they found that a one percent solution was safe for the nose and its cilia.
Infant Allergies
Baby shampoo is a type of "detergent" that disrupts the walls that bacteria erect called biofilm. In biofilm, certain bacteria get together and erect enclosures around themselves. Think of this as a cellophane cover. With biofilm, the bacteria are protected from the defender white cells of your body. This wall also defends the bacteria from antibiotics. The shell is sticky which makes it difficult to remove. Just as the baby shampoo lifts sticky stuff from the scalp, it does this for biofilm in the nose.
Infant Allergies
In the nose, you have a system whereby millions of tiny hairs called nasal cilia move a blanket of mucus out of the nose. Normally inhaled dust particles and bacteria are trapped in this blanket so they can't get to the lungs. Once they are trapped, the movement of the cilia acts like oars and moves the mucus out of the nose down the throat to the stomach where the stomach acid disposes of these invaders. Persons who have chronic sinus disease fail to have cilia moving rapidly enough to move the blanket. Instead of pulsing at the normal 14 pulses per second, they move too slowly. In such instances the bacteria remain in place and multiply and then you end with a sinus infection.
To properly move bacteria out of the nose and sinuses you need:
a. normal moving nasal cilia
b. mucus that is liquid enough to flow
c. a clear passageway for the mucus to travel to the throat.
Cilia can move too slowly for many reasons. Smog and diesel fumes slow cilia. Solvents and certain industrial fumes slow cilia. Certain bacteria are experts at producing toxins that knock out cilia action. Some patients have a condition called Empty Nose Syndrome. Here, too much nasal tissue called turbinates has been removed so that the number of cilia are too small to move mucus out of the nose. Laser can damage cilia too.
Some patients have PONSIS - postoperative nasal/sinus infection syndrome. After nasal/sinus surgery the nasal cilia are stunned and don't resume normal cilia movement for a while. During the time that the cilia don't move well, an infection can take place. A common cause of poor cilia function is reinfection of the nose and sinuses by irrigating with contaminated pots and bottles. Because these devices have backflow, contamination can be a cause of reinfection.
The sooner cilia return to normal speed the better. Cilia movement is best improved with pulsatile nasal saline irrigation. Here, a nasal tip attached to the pulsating source, is placed in one nostril and as the pulsating saline stream flows along the nose, the cilia are moved back and forth, like wave action, and then they fall into rhythm with that action. The idea is to use the correct rate of speed, in "harmony" to the cilia. It is like when soldiers march in step over a wooden bridge. At a certain rate of marching the bridge will vibrate and shake.
Mucus can thicken, and when thick, that liquid is too heavy to be moved by the cilia even with a normal rate of pulsation. In the condition, Cystic Fibrosis, the mucus gets to be too thick and therefore there are frequent infections
If you have had a nasal injury, you may have an anatomical blockage to mucus flow. For example, a deviated septum may block good drainage.
By adding baby shampoo to a saline solution, and using pulsatile irrigation, we get these advantages.
a. The "detergent" action lifts up and gets rid of biofilm.
b. The "detergent" action clears away thick mucus to allow the cilia to move the mucus blanket.
c. At the correct rate of pulsation this pulse action "harmonizes" the cilia to return the cilia to normal speed.
d. In many cases of chronic sinus disease, the normal sinus opening may be blocked due to accumulation of thick mucus. Actually, once the sinus is unblocked, that allows infected material to flow out of the sinus cavity and clean air to get in. The combination of shampoo and pulsation is best here for clearing the sinus blockage.
e. You do want the saline solution to fill the sinus cavity in order to displace the infected contents. The combination of regular flow, detergent action, and pulsation action acts to fill sinus cavities and displace infected contents.
A significant factor for healing is the actual removal of bacteria, lowering the the bacterial count whether in biofilm or other form. Once the number of bacteria is reduced, you have a best chance of the natural healing elements of the body to get rid of the bacteria that may be left behind. This avoids the use of excessive antibiotics that may cause a stomach upset. When a person heals naturally, his/her body is better prepared for other infections.
The exact concentration of baby shampoo must be strictly adhered to. The pulsatile irrigator provides a special 500 ml basin that is plainly marked. Simply add one teaspoon of salt or enhanced salt and fill the basin to the 500 ml mark. Now add one teaspoon of baby shampoo. That makes a 1% solution. This is the concentration that has been tested and found that it works for biofilm and doesn't harm the nasal cilia. I have my patients irrigate the full 500 ml. You simply insert the nasal adapter attached to the pulsatile irrigator device in the right nostril, lean into the sink so you see the drain. Turn on the device. The solution enters right nasal chamber, bathes the right side, then exits out the left nostril into the sink. Change sides about every 30 seconds. Insert the nasal tip into the left nostril, lean well into the sink, and the solution will exit the right nostril.
Pulsatile irrigation with shampoo is continued daily, usually twice a day, until symptoms clear indicating that the cilia are functioning again. There is no advantage to continuing to irrigate then; once the cilia are normal they can defend the body without outside help.
Adding baby shampoo is fine for getting rid of a sinus infection. For other uses of pulsatile irrigation, adding the baby shampoo is not advantageous. For example in allergy, pulsatile irrigation is used to avoid medications. The irrigation removes the pollen that causes the allergy and the IgE from the nose that reacts to the pollen to cause the symptoms. If you are using this irrigation for allergy, you don't need the shampoo. Similarly, if you are using pulsatile irrigation to prevent the common cold by removing the ICAM-1 that the cold virus enters the body through, there is no advantage to using the shampoo.
If you are using pulsatile irrigation to restore sense of smell, adding the shampoo is best because that will aid the cilia being able to pulse the smell particles to the smell organs of the nose. Pulsatile irrigation is also used in Orthopedics to cleanse wounds, because it is 100x more effective than simple wash for biofilm removal. Now that so many bacteria have developed antibiotic resistance, this method of sinus treatment is a welcome method that anyone can use.
Caution: If you are using your pulsatile irrigator to deliver medication such as antibiotics directly to the sinuses -Gentamyicn, Amphotericin B, Cipro, or other-- do not add baby shampoo as it may affected the antibiotic potency.
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