Sinusitis that causes insomnia is a common problem in sinus sufferers. Because many cases of patients have frequent insomnia, difficulty sleeping, but do not know whether this is due to the influence of sinusitis or any other disease. For better understanding, the article will answer questions for readers about this issue.
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Does sinusitis cause insomnia?
Sinusitis is an inflammation of the sinus system that causes swelling, clogging the sinus openings, preventing water and mucus from the cavity of the sinuses.
The amount of mucus accumulates and gradually fills the sinuses so that the patient cannot breathe, leading to insomnia. This blockage also causes headaches, increased pressure on the forehead, cheeks, teeth, jaw, swelling of the eyelids and tissues around the eyes, and stuffy nose. Severe infections, the disease can cause ear pain, neck pain and deep pain at the top of the head.
Sinusitis not only directly affects the quality of life during the day, but at night, the blockage of mucus and the pain of sinusitis also makes the patient sleepless and difficult to sleep. More serious is having a breathing disorder that leads to sleep apnea.
Therefore, it can be said that sinusitis is a disease capable of causing insomnia and affected by the following 4 reasons:
- Sinusitis is a buildup of mucus and pus in the sinus cavities causing a stuffy nose, runny nose, sore nose, headache, and difficulty breathing. Shortness of breath occurs when the person is lying down. Therefore, people with sinusitis are very prone to insomnia.
- At night is the time when nasal and sinus secretions are more often released and will tend to flow behind the throat, causing irritation of the throat, stimulating coughing a lot. In a few cases, the patient is at risk of pharyngitis due to infection from sinus mucus.
- Nasal congestion causes sinusitis to breathe through the mouth, especially when sleeping. If this condition lasts for a long time, it will narrow the airways while sleeping and lead to snoring, in the long run it will cause apnea when sleeping.
- Sinus fluid blockage is one of the main causes of headaches, especially with frontal sinus infections . Pain often intensifies when the person bends his head forward or lies on his back. This condition can appear at any time, including midnight, making it difficult for the sick person to sleep.
It can be seen that sinusitis causes insomnia is one of the typical symptoms that many patients suffer. Therefore, the patient should not be subjective in the examination and treatment, because the disease can lead to dangerous complications such as acute – chronic pharyngitis, laryngoma, meningitis, nerve abscess. eye.
Therefore, patients need to really pay attention to the symptoms and complications of the disease to be able to find the right treatment to protect their health.
What to do with sinusitis causing insomnia?
Although sinusitis is not so dangerous, it is very easy to return symptoms. Therefore, patients should conduct radical treatment at medical facilities. Besides, the natural solutions below will also help patients improve sinusitis that causes insomnia.
1. Adjust posture, support high pillows while sleeping
For people with sinusitis, sleeping with a low pillow will make the stuffy nose worse and sleep more difficult.
At this time, to improve sleep status, patients should adjust their posture and support high pillows while sleeping. The high pillows help increase the ability of mucus flows in the nasal cavity and sinus cavities to open the airways. Patients can prepare a soft pillow, about 10cm high, to support shoulder to head height, making you more comfortable sleeping.
Keeping a pillow high while sleeping will make it easier for the sick person to breathe. At the same time, ensuring the oxygen supply to the brain and the body is to function normally. From there, it reduces disruptions to sleep.
In addition, you also need to adjust your standard position when you sleep using a bed designed to raise the head in many levels. When using this type of bed, you can raise the head of the bed about 15 – 20 degrees above the floor, making it easier for you to sleep and not affecting your spine.
2. Massage your face before going to bed
Facial massage before bed not only relaxes, sedates, but also reduces soreness, enhances blood circulation and dissolves mucus in the sinus area. This also contributes significantly to improving insomnia caused by sinusitis.
How to massage to reduce sinus inflammation is very simple:
- Step 1: Clean and dry your hands, press your palms together and then proceed to hot massage your hands for 1 minute. Before hot hand rub, you can also place a few drops of tea tree oil or peppermint oil between your palms.
- Step 2: Place the fingertips on both sides of the nasal wave, the concave close to the eye sockets and below the eyebrow line. Use gentle force just enough to massage at 3 points in a clockwise circle for about 2-3 minutes.
- Step 3: Gently move your finger to the outside of the nose and cheeks and massage for about 2-3 minutes.
- Step 4: Place 2 index fingers at the tip of the eyebrow, the remaining fingers go along the nose downward near the mouth and do about 10 times.
- Step 5: Massage in this way continuously 2 times a day or massage when symptoms appear painful, stuffy nose to improve the condition.
3. Aromatherapy
Putting essential oils in the room will help bring comfort, sedation and support effective sinusitis treatment. So, if you have sinusitis that causes insomnia, you can inhale essential oils or use an essential oil diffuser in the bedroom.
Here are some essential oils that are suitable for people with sinusitis:
- Peppermint essential oil: This essential oil has anti-inflammatory effects, helps clean the air and stimulates the body to produce antihistamines to fight allergies.
- Tea tree oil: When you put tea tree oil in the bedroom, it will help the sleeping space to be well ventilated, eliminate factors that cause irritation to the sinus system. Meanwhile, patients will feel the spirit relax, reduce stress to bring better sleep and deeper sleep.
- Eucalyptus essential oil: This essential oil contains a large amount of cineole oxide, which has anti-inflammatory and antiseptic effects. It also helps to improve symptoms of stuffy nose, runny nose and the patient feels sleep better.
- Lavender essential oil: Thanks to its strong antiseptic ability, lavender essential oil helps prevent cold and flu viruses. It also reduces the secretion of mucus in the sinuses and improves sinusitis causing insomnia.
4. Drink herbal tea
People with sinusitis cause insomnia can drink herbal tea to better support sleep such as:
- Chamomile Tea: Drink about 2-3 cups of chamomile tea per day to help support deep sleep. Because chamomile tea has calming, sedative, bacteria-killing and anti-inflammatory effects.
- Ginger Tea: In Oriental medicine, ginger has warm properties that can improve congestion in the nasal cavity, help reduce sinus inflammation and give patients better sleep.
- Licorice Tea: When sinusitis causes insomnia, patients should not ignore this herbal tea, because it has the effect of curing insomnia and helping to calm.
5. Wash your nose every day
Regularly washing the nose with normal saline is also one of the solutions to help improve sinusitis causing insomnia recommended by specialists. This solution will help reduce swelling, secretions, thinning and quickly removing mucus.
Each day, performing 2 washing of the nose will help the nose to be well ventilated, air circulation and breathing activities are normal. Since then, it can limit insomnia, help patients maintain stable sleep.
The patient can perform the following nasal wash:
- Step 1: Prepare a normal saline solution, a cylinder and a dedicated wash bottle purchased at pharmacies.
- Step 2: Tilt the head about 45 degrees and bring the tip of the spray bottle toward the upper nostril.
- Step 3: Open your mouth and press the spray hose about 2-3 times.
- Step 4: Day lightly on the wings, let stand for 1-2 minutes, then blow your nose gently to remove the remaining mucus.
- Step 5: Tilt the head and do the same with the other nostril.
6. Run your nose before going to bed
Nasal irrigation is an activity that helps to increase the moisture of the sinus mucosa, thin mucus and reduce irritation that causes nasal congestion. In addition, this solution also helps dilate blood vessels to improve swelling in the sinus lining and reduce headache symptoms caused by sinusitis.
So, the regular steam every day before bed will help improve sleep and support effective sinusitis treatment. Here are some herbs that you can use for daily steaming:
6.1. Sauna with chemical five colors / pig shit flower
The five-color flower contains some ingredients that have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects, helping to reduce the mucosal edema and sinus fluid stagnation. Daily saunas with five colors flowers will help patients improve sleep.
Implementation Guide:
- Take about 50g of five color plants including stems, leaves and flowers, wash and boil with 500ml of clean water for about 10 minutes.
- When the water boils, turn off the heat and pour the water into a small pot. Use a head covering to perform a steam bath.
- Applying this solution every night before going to bed will significantly improve the quality of sleep.
6.2. Sauna by tree delivery
This plant is also highly effective in supporting the treatment of sinusitis. However, you need to be careful when using this, because if the latex of the tree falls into the eye, it can lead to blindness.
Implementation Guide:
- Cut about 20 segments of the delivered tree into short pieces and bring to a boil with about 1 liter of water for 5-10 minutes.
- In the meantime, take a piece of paper rolled into a long tube with a large end that fits your mouth and warm, and a small end that fits your nose.
- After boiling, turn off the heat and then snap the tip of the large paper tube to the kettle, the small end is close to your nose to easily inhale the steam coming from the kettle.
- Do a steam bath 2 times a day in the morning and at bedtime for about 10 minutes to get the effect.
Note: During the inhalation process, patients need to avoid splashing latex in the eyes by adjusting the height of the paper tube when inhaling to avoid burns. Absolutely do not use a kettle that has been boiled to cook drinking water because it can cause latex poisoning.
6.3. Sauna with bodhi
In the result, there are many active substances saponin, which have the effect of sputum elimination, reduce inflammation and astringent the sinus mucosa. Daily steam bath will help patients reduce congestion, itchy nose, runny nose, heal damage inside the sinus lining and improve insomnia caused by sinusitis.
Implementation Guide:
- Rinse around 2 – 5 of the linden fruit and halve to boil with 1 liter of water.
- Wait until the water turns dark brown, then turn off the heat.
- Then proceed to the steam using a headscarf cover, breathing deeply slowly to let the heat escape from the sorbent water.
- Doing once a day before bed will help relieve congestion, headaches and help patients have a good night’s sleep.
7. Use of drugs
To end sinusitis causing insomnia, the patient should early visit to be treated with special medicines. At that time, your doctor will prescribe you a few medications to help improve your symptoms, such as:
- Decongestants: Contains Oxymetazoline, Phenylephrine and Sudafed Actifed
- Antibiotics: Contains Amoxicillin and doxycycline
- Anti-inflammatory drugs: Contains corticosteroids and antibiotics
- Antiseptic: Argyrol
For long-term chronic sinus infections, your doctor may consider adding some mild sedative drugs to the patient to avoid severe insomnia.
However, the use of sedatives to treat insomnia sinusitis carries the risk of dangerous side effects, especially memory impairment, confusion, and drug dependence. Therefore, patients should use drugs according to the instructions of the doctor.
Sinusitis that causes insomnia is a common condition in most patients. The disease not only affects health but also affects quality of life. Therefore, besides the examination, the patient can also combine with the above natural solutions to help improve insomnia caused by sinusitis.
