I have been following your boards for about a year now, and want to first of all say thank you.
Now the problem...my husband. He has this odd sinus problem. His sinuses run backwards, causing him to gag, and sometimes throw up. This occurs: after he eats; if he goes outside in the cold; if he starts laughing. Now he is not one to really take care of himself which I know is the problem to start with. Any suggestions? Forget the skilled relaxation ect..he works up to 18 hours a day. He hates taking any meds...any alternatives or suggestions?
Follow Ups:
Re: Sinus Problems
Posted by Walt Stoll on November 25, 1998 at 09:42:47:
In Reply to: Sinus Problems posted by Tammy on November 22, 1998 at 19:30:12:
Dear Tammy,
This is one of the responses that were eaten by the gremlins on the 23rd. SO, here goes again!
Firtst of all, I am comstantly amazed at the truism that the very thing anyone needs to do the most, to resolve any chronic condition, is the last thing they will be willing to do.
There is only one thing that will resolve this problem for your husband and that is the regular practice of skilled relaxation at least twice a day for 20 minutes--and THAT will take 6-12 months.
The only short term thing that will work even now is heavy tranquilization. Within a year, this will no longer work. THEN, he will have the same problem he has now, be another year older AND be addicted to tranquilizers. In the meantime, the doses needed to give him relief will be sufficient that YOU will have to drive him to work & back since it will not be safe for him to drive under the influence.
The longer this goes until he is willing to do what is necessary, the fewer options he will have.
Every person on the planet makes at least 1 1/2 quarts of fluid in the respiratory tract every 24 hours---this is why we all swallow every few minutes. We are drinking that stuff.
Your husband is only noticing it more because of the bracing of his pharyngeal muscles and the TMJ (also due to long term bracing) that blocks the venous return (via the pterygpoid plexus) and thus increases the fluid produced by the of the sinuses.
There is no such thing as the sinuses "draining backward". Any doc that said such a ridiculous thing carefully looked around, before saying it, to be sure no one heard him/her say that because it is so silly.
This situation reminds me of the saying from an old philosopher: "If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten".
Perhaps your husband just hasn't suffered enough. The stuff he is experiencing now is a VERY GENTLE message from his bodymind that something has to change. If he does not hear this message, his bodymind will just have to shout louder (give him something much more serious to deal with) until he listens.
In the meantime, you might at least gain some understanding so that you can speak intelligently to him when he starts beginning to be ready to learn something new. Read the most recent edition of Dr Pelletier's classic "Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer". It was written about your husband.
Let us know what happens. I would be happy to help whenever he has suffered enough. In the meantime, I would bet my rerpurtation that an unconscious contributing cause to his present symptoms is that there is something in his life "that he just can't swallow". Think of that one for a while.
Walt