Acupuncture for Sinusitis

How Chinese medicine understands sinusitis

In Chinese medicine, the nose is the opening of the Lung, and the Lung is the first line of defence against the outside. When a cold or other outside influence gets in and is not cleared, or when the body keeps producing phlegm, it collects in the sinuses. What the mucus looks like, where the pressure sits, and how long it has gone on show which pattern is at work.

The common patterns are:

• Wind-heat. The sudden kind, often after a cold. Thick yellow mucus, a sore throat, a feeling of heat, and a headache across the forehead.
• Lung heat. Congestion that lingers after the cold has gone, with thick yellow mucus, cough and thirst.
• Gallbladder heat. Thick, yellow-green, sometimes foul-smelling mucus, pain at the temples or forehead, a bitter taste, and irritability. It is often worse with stress, alcohol and rich food.
• Spleen and Stomach damp-heat. A heavy, foggy head, thick sticky mucus that keeps coming, poor appetite, and symptoms that flare after greasy food, sugar, dairy or alcohol.
• Lung and Spleen Qi deficiency. The long-term kind. The nose is blocked on and off, the mucus is white or pale, you catch colds easily, and you feel tired. This is the pattern behind sinus trouble that keeps coming back.

The first patterns are about clearing heat and phlegm. The last is about building up the body so it stops producing them. Doing only one when you need the other rarely holds.

What treatment involves

Your first visit covers how the sinus trouble started, what the mucus is like, where you feel pressure, how often it flares, and what you have already tried. We also talk about allergies, digestion and energy. I check your tongue and pulse, and the diagnosis is based on the pattern all of this shows.

Acupuncture for sinusitis typically uses points around the nose and face, along with points on the hands and legs chosen for the pattern. During a flare, the aim is to open the nose and ease pressure. Between flares, the aim is to work on the pattern that keeps bringing it back.

Chinese herbal medicine can be part of sinus care: a formula written for your pattern, typically one that clears heat and phlegm during a flare, and one that builds you up once it settles.

Plan on 5–10 treatments to judge progress. The clinic is in Keswick, and treatment can run alongside the care you get from your family doctor or specialist.

Between visits

• Rinse with saline once or twice a day using a squeeze bottle or neti pot. Use distilled or boiled and cooled water, never straight from the tap.
• Breathe steam from a bowl of hot water or a shower for a few minutes.
• Drink plenty of fluids to keep mucus thin.
• Avoid smoke, and keep the air in your home from getting too dry in winter.
• Sleep with your head a little raised during a flare.

When to see your doctor first

Most sinusitis settles on its own, but some needs medical care. See your doctor if:

• Symptoms last more than 10 days, or get better and then suddenly get worse.
• You have a high fever or severe pain in your face or teeth.
• Your nose is blocked on one side only, or you have bloody discharge from one side.
• Sinusitis keeps coming back, or has lasted more than 12 weeks.

Go to emergency for swelling or redness around the eye, double vision or changes in your sight, a severe headache, a stiff neck, or confusion.