Skip to main content

My Sinus Infection has Lost its Bite

A wooden stake won't kill a vampire. Flamethrower, would kill a vampire. Or we can lose our head. I mean, literally. Other than that we heal. -Mick St. John from the TV show Moonlight

How would you feel if an illness that had previously left you cold, tired and slogging through the day for months, could suddenly be 95% beaten in 17 days? Like you'd gained superpowers?

I came down with a sinus infection August 16, and aside from a little coughing, I'm well again. Let me tell you about other sinus infections I've had. I spent a week in the hospital with one when I was nine. I spent a whole summer dragging myself around classes and work in a thick sweater in my early 20s in a nasty bout with staphylococcus aureus. Another sinus infection struck again in 2001, a few years after the septoplasty surgery I had was supposed to have prevented them.

What's different about this one? Vampire Mick St. John (see quote above) told a blind friend from his past that he'd stayed well through diet (he skipped the part about being a vampire). I credit the same thing for my good health and ability to heal: no wheat, low-carb, and vitamin and mineral supplements. Gluten-free grainy goodies are an occasional indulgence; my diet is mostly meat, eggs, and fibrous vegetables, a little cream, cheese and sour cream, and a little chocolate. (I leave dietary blood as the exclusive property of vampires and the Masai.) Wheat in particular gives me nasal congestion--the thick, sticky kind that won't move. With this sinus infection, I was coughing but not congested: the mucus was running, not sitting around making a bog for bacteria to thrive. With no congestion, I was rarely in pain; I took only two doses of aspirin. I also took a five-day course of azithromycin (an antibiotic), Umcka Cold Care, and black elderberry syrup, which helped my throat.

Again and again on my low-carb, high-fat, high nutrient diet, I've healed: GERD gone, allergies alleviated, a cold gone in three days, a neck injury that righted itself, and shoulder pain shrugged off. Most of these things had persisted for years pre-diet change. A good diet may not make you live forever, but it may help you heal like a vampire.
Labels:

Comments

johann said…
Me, i wasn't able to cure my sinus infection through nasal steroids, too bad i have to undergo surgery. It was a week long unbearable pain. Now, i am fine but still have maintain my nasal irrigator time
September 15, 2011
Lori Miller said…
Hi Johann--this is the first I've been able to respond to your comment. Be careful of those corticosteroids--they increase your risk of diabetes.
September 16, 2011
johann said…
Really? thank you so much for that. I was never informed.
September 20, 2011
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dana Carpender's Podcast; Dr. Davis on YouTube; Labor Day Sales

Dana Carpender, who's written several recipe books and other works on low-carb, has a podcast and is still writing articles at carbsmart.com. She's a terrific writer and amateur researcher (otherwise known as reading , as Jimmy Dore jokes ). I use her book 500 Low-Carb Recipes all the time and I'm looking forward to hearing more from her. I've embedded her podcast on my blog (click on the three lines at the top right if you don't see it, or go to Spotify or other podcast source if you're getting this by email). Carbsmart.com doesn't seem to have a blog feed, so if you want to see the latest posts there, you can sign up for notifications at their site. Dr. Davis has been putting a lot more videos on YouTube, so I've added his channel to the lineup. Click on the three lines on my blog if you don't see it, or go to his channel here .  * * * * * Primal Kitchen is having a Labor Day sale-- 20% off everything. They sell high quality collagen powder, con...
1 comment
Read more

Lousy Mood? It Could be the Food

Here's a funny AMV(1) on what it's like to be depressed, apathetic and overly sensitive. Note: explicit (but funny) lyrics in the video. Hearing this song brought a startling realization: I used to be emo, but with normal clothes. Sulking, sobbing and writing poetry were my hobbies. When I was a kid, my mother said that she wouldn't know what to do to punish me if I had done something wrong. And yet things got worse. Over a two-week period in 1996, my best friend moved away, I lost my job and broke up with my boyfriend. I lost my appetite and lived on a daily bagel, cream cheese and a Coke for the next few months. I had tried counseling, and didn't find it helpful; in fact, I found reviving painful memories was pointless. Not thinking about them, on the other hand, worked wonders. Later on, so did studying philosophy and learning to think through emotions instead of just riding through them. But what's blown away all the techniques is diet. Since I s...
6 comments
Read more

Carrageenan: A Sickening Thickener. Is it a Migraine Menace?

Let me tell you about my ride in an ambulance last night. I woke up at six o'clock from a nap with a mild headache. I ate dinner and took my vitamins, along with a couple of extra magnesium pills. Since magnesium helps my TMJ flare-ups, I thought it might help my headache. Then I went to see my mother. A few hours later, I had a severe headache, sinus pain and nausea. During a brief respite from the pain, I left for home, but less than a mile later, I got out of my car and threw up. A cop, Officer Fisher, pulled up behind me and asked if I was okay. He believed me when he said I hadn't been drinking, but he said I seemed lethargic and he wanted the paramedics to see me. (Later he mentioned that a man he'd recently stopped was having a stroke.) Thinking I had a migraine headache, the paramedics wanted to take me to the hospital. But since I knew that doctors don't know what causes migraine headaches, and I didn't know what effect their medicine would have on m...
15 comments
Read more