Re: Sinus Irrigations/ Surgeries

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/16/2004 8:49:03 AM Central Standard Time, jojay9@...

writes:

Also, how do the doctors determine if your child needs surgery on their

sinuses?

The first clue for us was you could see the polyps hanging out of her nose.

Deb A

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/16/2004 10:49:54 AM Eastern Standard Time,

gdattig5@... writes:

> The first clue for us was you could see the polyps hanging out of her nose.

>

> Deb A

>

US TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rosemary in NY with 3 children (13, 11 and 7)

with CF. I have a dog named TOBI and have

coined the phrase " BREATHE DAMMIT "

my new favorite quote is

Any idiot can face a crisis -

it's day to day living that wears you out.

Anton Chekhov

[Guest guest]

Hi-

Both our cf doctor and ent doctor recommended nasal irrigations

using a hypertonic saline solution (3T. kosher salt -it has no

preservatives, 1T. baking soda dissolved into a quart of sterile

water) We have used both empty 10 ml syringes that they gave us as

well as something called a neti pot that was recommended and we got

at a health food store.

My understanding is that the highly salty solution both flushes the

sinuses and pulls excess moisture out of the passageways, reducing

inflammation etc. I would definitely check with your cf doctor- it

has been quite helpful. My child (9) does it himself in the shower

and doesn't seem to mind at all. The Ocean drops or others like that

do often have preservatives and my understanding is that they burn

like hell!

Take care, Debi

[Guest guest]

You know pretty much that your child is having trouble.

Our son had so many ear infections when he was little and then one

year the ear infections slowed down. I thought we were past the

hump.The next year he seemed out of sorts and always had dark circles

under his eyes. He was checked out by an allergist and thought to

have allergies to cats. We got rid of the cats but when he started

school it seemed like he always had drainage from his nose (albeit

clear) and was stuffed up. X-rays showed his head was full. That

should ahve been the clue something was wrong to his pediatrician but

they just said sinus infection.

For the next two winters we were pretty much in and out of the

doctors office all winter. He'd get red sores under his nares because

of the constant clear drainage and he always and " snot tracks " on his

sleeves. Finally the pediatrician rerefered us to the allergy doctor.

He could not find anything wrong so the allergy doctor referred us to

an ENT. The ENT took one look at his sinuses and said his sinuses are

a mess and we went from there.

After two sugeries for nasal polyps I pushed to have CF testing done.

It was the CF doctor who recommended the nasal rinsing even before he

was diagnosed. The ENT said just to use the saline spray. The rinsing

if you can get your child to cooperate works far better than the

spray. Headaches, sore throat, upset stomach, cough, snoring and or

bad breath may all be symptoms of sinus infection. Contary to what

some of the pediatricians have said, rarely has my son run a

temperature with a sinus infection.

jan

> I am just curious how you all knew when to start irrigating

sinuses. Is it recommended for all CF patients? If it is, I have

never been told to do it. I wouldn't even know how to begin. Also,

how do the doctors determine if your child needs surgery on their

sinuses?

>

> Thanks for any info,

>

> Peggy mom of Jonah and 5yrs twins wcf

[Guest guest]

> Hi-

> Both our cf doctor and ent doctor recommended nasal irrigations

> using a hypertonic saline solution (3T. kosher salt -it has no

> preservatives, 1T. baking soda dissolved into a quart of sterile

> water)

I'll have to check my recipe. I don't think I use 3 tablespoons at

all, I think it is a teaspoon.Hmmm

jan

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/16/2004 11:08:35 AM Central Standard Time,

Najnest@... writes:

I'll have to check my recipe. I don't think I use 3 tablespoons at

all, I think it is a teaspoon.Hmmm

jan

YA THAT SOUNDS LIKE A LOT!! I AM SURE THAT WE ONLY USED A TEASPOON TOO. DEB A

[Guest guest]

Hi Peggy,

I am not sure if all cf patients are supposed to irrigate their sinuses. We were

told to do it with the waterpic and the special Grossan attachment, if you want

to see what this looks like you can do a search for Grossan sinus attachment or

something like that. I think I am spelling it right. But never would

tolerate it so we just went with the nasal saline spray and the Rhinocort. Your

child would need to see an ENT to determine if he needs surgery and if the cf

doctors aren't recommending it I wouldn't go unless I felt they were being

bothered or in pain. ENT's can tell if a person needs sinus surgery by taking a

CT scan and they can see if the sinuses are blocked up. If you look at a

person's CT scan and it is all white that's bad, air shows up as black and air

is good. that's basically it. Of course a trained doctor can tell more than

me, but I didn't see it as being too difficult. After they have had surgery it

is harder to tell, it is best to keep the same ENT (unless you hate them)

because they can tell what the sinuses looked like before and after.

I hope this helps.

love,

M

[Guest guest]

Jan-

You are 100% right! I'm so sorry to anyone that I misled- it IS 3

teaspoons of kosher salt and 1 teaspoon of arm and hammer baking soda

to one quart of sterile water. I am SSOOOOO SORRY! My brain is way

too full right now!!!!! Please accept my apologies!

Debi the Dingbat- boy I think I'm ready for the nuthouse!

> I'll have to check my recipe. I don't think I use 3 tablespoons at

> all, I think it is a teaspoon.Hmmm

>

> jan

[Guest guest]

Debi; one of us is a dingbat; I use 2-3 teaspoons--just thought I would

REALLY cheer you up!!!!

Re: Sinus Irrigations/ Surgeries

Jan-

You are 100% right! I'm so sorry to anyone that I misled- it IS 3

teaspoons of kosher salt and 1 teaspoon of arm and hammer baking soda

to one quart of sterile water. I am SSOOOOO SORRY! My brain is way

too full right now!!!!! Please accept my apologies!

Debi the Dingbat- boy I think I'm ready for the nuthouse!

> I'll have to check my recipe. I don't think I use 3 tablespoons at

> all, I think it is a teaspoon.Hmmm

>

> jan

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[Guest guest]

> Jan-

> You are 100% right!

Thank you Debi for writing back. I was goinmh crazy trying to find

my recipe from Dorkin to no avail!

My thoughts are with you and Chris!

jan