Skip to main content

SWAMP: Treating Sinus Infections without Antibiotics

Note: I've made some edits regarding the safety of taking vitamin D. Please read this post for further details on taking a large dose of vitamin D.

SWAMP (sinuses with a mucus problem) is my hypothesis of treating sinus infections and other upper respiratory infections without antibiotics: to get rid of the bug infestation, you need to drain the swamp and activate some natural predators. You also need to restore the habitat's salinity.

Who this is for:
  • People with no access to medical care
  • People who prefer over-the-counter medicines
  • People who can't tolerate antibiotics, steroids and other medications
  • Eccentrics who like to self-experiment
If you have a serious respiratory illness, you can still do this, but please see a doctor as well--the sooner, the better.  My next door neighbor died of the flu; people die every day of pneumonia. If you need to save money, keep in mind that a serious case of pneumonia can put you in the hospital for several days. A sinus infection put me in the hospital for a week when I was a child.

SWAMP involves taking a large dose of vitamin D. According to what I've read in various books and medical journals, most people can safely take a one-time (say, three to four times per year) 100,000 IU dose of vitamin D. But there are some people who shouldn't do this; read this post for further details. See a doctor if you have any concerns about taking such a high dose.

While there is clinical and observational evidence to support vitamin D helping respiratory illnesses, this is just a hypothesis, and I'm not a medical professional. I'm just a regular gal who has done a lot of reading and had a lot of sinus problems. At this writing, I'm 99% better from a cold/sinus infection that has lasted over a month and didn't go away after a course of antibiotics. I've been doing the SWAMP protocol, more or less, since Sunday (four days ago). Without further adieu, here's the protocol.

What to take:
  • 50,000 IU of vitamin D3 for two days
  • Mucinex or other mucus thinner of your choice, as needed to keep your sinuses clear
  • A few teaspoons of salt
  • Extra fluids as needed
Vitamin D is a natural anti-inflammatory that should help open your sinus passages. It's also an immune cell activator that helps you fight viruses and microbes. It's the part that unblocks the swamp and activates the natural predators. According to what I've read, most Americans and Europeans are deficient in vitamin D. Although I had a normal level according to a test, I still ended up ill. I've been taking 20,000 to 50,000 IU for the past four days without any symptoms of toxicity. (Vitamin D toxicity symptoms include constipation, decreased appetite, dehydration, fatigue, muscle weakness and vomiting.) 50,000 IU of vitamin D is considered a high dose, so use some discretion and pay attention to how you feel. (Of course, it's possible to reach a toxic level with any substance.) Read the page linked to above.

A mucus thinner will help clear your sinuses of thick, sticky mucus. With most of the mucus gone, your sinuses shouldn't be able to support a big colony of bacteria (so the SWAMP hypothesis goes). It will also help relieve pressure that can cause headaches, toothaches, and facial pain. Don't wait until your sinus pain becomes intolerable--get the extra mucus cleared out.

With the mucus flowing, your body is using more fluids and more salt. Your nasal mucus is full of salt: I've made thousands of batches of saline solution to irrigate my nose. You need to replenish not only the fluids, but the salt, too. "Salt deprivation leads to lightheadedness, fatigue, headache, and malaise," say Jeff Volek and Stephen Phinney in The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living. This is probably why broth is such a popular cold treatment: it's full of salt.

For further reading:
"Sinus Infections: The Swamp Hypothesis" by Lori Miller. Pain, Pain, Go Away! blog. February 22, 2012. http://relievemypain.blogspot.com/2012/02/sinus-infections-swamp-hypothesis.html
"Vitamin D for a Respiratory Infection" by Lori Miller. Pain, Pain Go Away! blog. February 19, 2012.
http://relievemypain.blogspot.com/2012/02/vitamin-d-for-respiratory-infection.html
"Vitamin D and Influenza" by Michael Eades MD. Protein Power blog, May 16, 2009. http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/important-information/vitamin-d-and-influenza/
"Avoiding the Swine Flu" by Michael Eades MD. Protein Power blog, May 4, 2009. http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/media-bunkum/avoiding-the-swine-flu/
The Vitamin D Solution by Michael F. Holick, PhD, MD. Penguin Group, 2010.
The Vitamin D Revolution by Soram Khalsa, MD. Hay House, 2009.
VitaminDCouncil.org




Labels:

Comments

FredT said…
I have been taking 3000 to 5000 iu /day for the last 4-5 years, without more than a few days of wet nose. However pills dump out in that range each day. Low carb may also help, as mucus is glucose rich. I suffer from dry throat.
February 24, 2012
Lori Miller said…
I don't think nasal mucus is supposed to contain glucose. According to one site, "Studies have shown that glucose can be detected in airways secretions from people with diabetes mellitus, stress hyperglycaemia and people with nasal epithelial inflammation due to viral colds." http://www.drpaulose.com/general/csf-leak-from-the-nose-how-to-treat

Eliminating wheat has all but eliminated my nasal congestion, but low-carb in general hasn't helped my sinus infection.
February 24, 2012
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Objective Book about Other Childhood Vaccines

Today's decision by the CDC to add COVID shots to the schedule of childhood vaccines has some people concerned about the rest of the vaccines on the schedule. Contrary to fact-checker claims, adding COVID shots to the schedule means children will be required in about a dozen states to get a COVID shot to attend public school. Indiana isn't one of them--our childhood vaccination law doesn't mention the CDC and such a requirement could run afoul of our ban on COVID vaccine passports. But even freewheeling Indiana has some vaccine requirements and this kerfuffle has people wondering how safe those vaccines are.  There's a book called Vaccines: Truth, Lies and Controversy  by Peter C. Gotzsche, DrMedSci and co-founder of the Cochrane Collaboration, about the safety and efficacy of all those vaccines, including COVID and others. Cochrane was founded to "to organise medical research findings to facilitate evidence-based choices about health interventions involving healt
Post a Comment
Read more

Diabetes Down, COVID Curiosities, New Glasses after Accident

Diabetes Down Despite Dietitians' Directions Last Sunday when I wrote about the grifters over at EatThis.com, which calls itself "Eat This, Not That," I was worked up enough to tweet to their medical expert board members if they stood by the site's article flogging sugary drinks and fast food for St. Patrick's Day. The site has over 1,300 articles, mostly puff pieces, on McDonald's and a news feed full of "the most important breaking news" on Doritos, burger joints and Chips Ahoy! I asked a dietitian who responded to me what exactly the "not that" part was in "Eat This, Not That." Important news about what you should eat! I was worked up until I remembered the saying, "You can't cheat an honest man." Meaning that this con, like a lot of others, requires some dishonesty on the part of the mark. Every Joe Six-Pack knows that cookies, chips and coffee-flavored milkshakes from Starbucks aren't health food. It takes s
1 comment
Read more

Battered Cod and my Eclipse Pictures of my Colander

If you miss battered cod on a low-carb, grain-free diet, here's a recipe that'll satisfy your craving. It's based on a Dr. Davis recipe. Battered cod and cole slaw Ingredients 1 pound cod fillets 2 eggs 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1/2 cup ground golden flaxseeds 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon garlic powder Instructions Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the cod into 1-1/2 to 2 inch pieces. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and butter. Beat continuously--don't let the butter cook the eggs. In a shallow bowl, combine the flaxseeds, cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Coat each piece of cod in the egg mixture and then roll in the in the flaxseed mixture. Place on the baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes, turning once. Eclipse Crescent Shadows Today was the total solar eclipse, and my house was in the "path of totality."
1 comment
Read more

Eclipse Glasses, Probiotics for Heart, Muscle Recovery

Are your eclipse glasses fake? The total solar eclipse over North America is almost here, and Indianapolis is in the "path of totality," meaning the moon will completely block the sun here. A lot of people have gotten special glasses to safely look at the eclipse. But the American Astronomical Society says , "counterfeit and fake eclipse glasses are polluting the marketplace." Some of the counterfeit glasses appear to be safe, the society says, but others are fakes that are no more effective than sunglasses. One of the counterfeits they describe matches the glasses someone gave me. I don't know where she got them, and she's not someone I'd trust to perform adequate due diligence. I just got over an eye injury and I don't need another one--I'll try the pinhole method instead to see crescents during the eclipse if it's not too cloudy. Picture from  Pexels .  Heart Centered Probiotic I started getting scary heart palpitations several years ago
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog Lineup Change

Bye-bye, Fathead. I've enjoyed the blog, but can't endorse the high-fat, high-carb Perfect Health Diet that somehow makes so much sense to some otherwise bright people. An astrophysicist makes some rookie mistakes on a LC diet, misdiagnoses them, makes up "glucose deficiency," and creates a diet that's been shown in intervention studies to increase small LDL, which can lead to heart disease. A computer programmer believes in the diet and doesn't seem eager to refute it because, perhaps, scientists are freakin' liars and while he's good at spotting logical inconsistencies, lacks some intermediate knowledge of human biology. To Tom's credit, he says it's not the right diet for everyone, but given the truckload of food that has to be prepared and eaten, impracticality of following it while traveling (or even not traveling), and unsuitability for FODMAPs sufferers, diabetics and anyone prone to heart disease (i.e., much of the population), I'm
24 comments
Read more