Is it possible to smoke cigarettes if you have sinusitis?

The essence of the disease

Anatomically, it is arranged in such a way that in the human bone skull there are paranasal sinuses of the nasal cavity. They are also covered with a mucous lining, where bacteria can colonize, causing pus formation. They also provide other signs of the inflammatory process: severe pain, itching, general intoxication.

The nosological unit sinusitis as a diagnosis is made with established inflammation of the paranasal sinuses. The following may play a key role in the etiology of the disease:

1. Frequent colds of a viral nature that have not received full therapeutic antiviral and immunostimulating compensation.
2. Penetration of a bacterial infection from the nasal cavity into the sinuses.
3. Allergic rhinitis with dissemination of the inflammatory process.
4. Damage to the upper molars by caries or other pathological process.

All these factors can contribute to the development of sinusitis with a characteristic clinical picture: difficulties with nasal breathing, headache, chills and other symptoms of general intoxication. Inflammation of the sinuses can occur hidden, but complications develop much more seriously.

Sinusitis and bad habits

Sinusitis is an inflammation of the paranasal sinuses, which is accompanied by an accumulation of mucus or pus. If treatment is not started in time, a simple runny nose can quickly turn into sinusitis. A person may not know that he already has such a disease. You can notice sinusitis by several symptoms:

• Expanding headache, worse when bending over;
• Heat;
• Weakness;
• Fast fatiguability;
• Constant nasal congestion;
• Nasal discharge may have a yellowish-green tint.

All this develops due to inflammation of the mucous membrane, which is accompanied by swelling. Swelling can make the accumulated secretions difficult to clear, making it difficult to breathe normally. If you add additional irritation of the mucous membrane from tobacco smoke to this condition, the situation can worsen in a matter of days. Smoking during sinusitis is considered an active irritant, so the inflammatory process can begin to actively spread through tissues and blood vessels.

Alcohol for sinusitis is sometimes considered in folk medicine to be a faithful “helper” with bacteria, but this is far from the case. Alcoholic drinks, and especially smoking, do not increase the body’s protective functions, but they dilate blood vessels. This property of alcohol in case of sinusitis, on the contrary, contributes to even greater swelling of the mucous membrane. It will be even more difficult to remove pus or mucus from your sinuses after drinking alcohol. Deciding whether it is possible to drink alcohol and smoke with sinusitis is everyone’s business, but it is worth knowing about their irreparable harm to the body.

Bad habit

Promoting a healthy lifestyle is currently the most common type of prevention of all known diseases and disorders. Quitting alcohol and smoking are the main conditions for treatment with certain drugs, since addictions reduce almost all therapeutic effects to zero.

Sinusitis and smoking are also incompatible concepts . This fact has been confirmed by numerous scientific studies, the possible results of which were expected. Tobacco smoke, with its harmful effects, not only aggravates inflammation, but can also cause it on its own. Migrating through the nasopharynx and respiratory tract, it contaminates the mucous membrane, making its secretions thick and viscous. This hinders natural clearance in the nasal passages and associated sinuses.

It is smoking that sometimes contributes to the transition of a protracted runny nose to sinusitis. In addition, nicotine and tobacco tar play a key role in the development of cancer in the sinuses. Even passive smoking has a detrimental effect on the human respiratory system, causing persistent disruption of the mucociliary barrier.

Doctors' advice

Treatment of patients who smoke with sinusitis is based on taking antibiotics, anti-inflammatory and mucolytic agents. Vasoconstrictor drops are also used to reduce swelling, but often such therapy simply does not give the expected result. Adverse habits such as drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes slow down the healing process.

When this treatment does not help, doctors have to resort to surgical measures - puncture the nasal sinus. This procedure is performed under local anesthesia, so it is better to avoid drinking alcohol first.

Doctors' advice for people with addictions who have sinusitis is as follows:

1. Avoid alcohol and cigarettes at least for the period of treatment;
2. Do not smoke after recovery for at least 2 weeks;
3. After a sinus piercing, smoking is prohibited for 2 weeks;
4. During the period of taking antibiotics, alcoholic beverages are prohibited;
5. After recovery, undergo preventive examinations with doctors;
6. Add vitamin complexes to the diet;
7. Increase consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits;
8. At the first symptoms, consult a doctor immediately:
9. Do not overcool;
10. Do not self-medicate.

Such simple rules will not only quickly cure existing sinusitis, but will also help prevent its occurrence. You should not ignore the advice of doctors, even if a person is an absolute adherent of traditional medicine.

Smoking and alcohol will never benefit the body, so it is advisable to give up such bad habits before they play a cruel joke. Sinusitis is a complex inflammation that cannot always be cured with nasal drops or sprays.

Surely everyone is familiar with this situation when the nose suddenly becomes stuffy, mucous discharge appears, and the ability to distinguish odors disappears. All this may indicate that you are beginning to develop sinusitis. The person himself can contribute to the further manifestation of the disease if he smokes with sinusitis and neglects the doctor’s recommendations.

This pathology quickly becomes chronic if left unattended. Inflammation of the maxillary sinuses, like any similar pathology, always disrupts a person’s usual way of life. If the patient has bad habits, for example, smoking, then the course of the disease will be even more difficult.

Complications of sinusitis

Inflammatory lesions of the sinuses are not a harmless pathological process. Smoking cigarettes significantly increases the severity of this harmful process and leads to its complications . Not a single doctor will say that you can smoke with sinusitis, knowing about the likely consequences. If many patients think that this disease does not need treatment and control, very soon they may encounter the following manifestations:

1. Transition of inflammation from the mucous membrane to the bone base, spreading to the upper jaw and beyond. Bone pain is considered one of the most painful and difficult to relieve.
2. In close proximity to the nasal sinuses there is an equally important organ - the visual analyzer. The inflammatory process can spread to it with the development of edema of the periorbital tissue, blocking of the optic nerve and veins by thrombotic plaques.
3. The brain can also be involved in the infectious process, which is most dangerous for the entire body. Meningitis and its varieties sometimes cause irreversible changes in personality and other cognitive functions.
4. A chronic focus of infection can spread very distantly: to the liver, kidneys, organs of the respiratory and endocrine systems. The development of systemic inflammation with transition to sepsis and skeptical states is also likely.

Each person decides for himself whether to engage in harmful habits given an initially poor level of health. Many patients begin to value physiological well-being only when it is irretrievably lost and irreplaceable. Quitting smoking is strongly recommended if you have sinusitis, because in many ways it is a matter of your own willpower. In exchange for constant financial expenses on cigarettes, you can get no problems with breathing and the state of the respiratory system as a whole, regain your sense of smell and excellent health, necessary for a full life, work and creativity.

How does smoking affect sinusitis?

When a person is sick with sinusitis, he has to give up many habits, and we are not just talking about bad habits. Is it possible to wash with sinusitis in the pool? This is often the question asked by people who regularly visit water pools. If you look at this situation purely from a hygienic point of view, then swimming is not advisable, since there is a high probability of discharge of secretions from the nasal sinuses. For a person with sinusitis, you should not expose your body to hypothermia again. People who have weak immunity, in addition to the existing disease, can catch another infection.

Danger of allergic complications

Almost everyone knows that modern cigarettes and other tobacco products contain a very large number of foreign particles that are not tobacco derivatives. Their complete combustion is impossible due to their imperfect chemical structure, so they settle in the respiratory system.

Every foreign body is a foreign antigen for the human body, which the latter is trying to cope with. In this regard, the number of antibodies increases. Due to the non-standard structure of the antigen, antibodies cannot cope with the antigenic load and are produced in large quantities, which leads to a constant increase in titer. After just a few weeks, which happens especially often with chronic sinusitis, the number of antibodies becomes so high that it promotes an increased release of humoral and cellular mediators of allergic reactions.

Cellular mediators (initiators or otherwise known as catalysts) affect secretory epithelial cells and smooth myocytes of the vascular wall. In this regard, hypersecretion of mucus begins in the upper respiratory tract, which causes a strong cough reflex that cannot be stopped. With the uncontrolled development of this condition, the patient’s general allergic status increases, which increases the risk of developing allergic reactions and attacks.

Smoking is the key to a “vicious circle”!

Social advertisements repeatedly mention that smoking poses a serious threat to lung tissue, since inhaled smoke has a tropism for its cells. In addition, it significantly impairs the process of tissue respiration and oxygen conduction, which becomes the cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic bronchitis.

During sinusitis, the situation takes an even more dangerous turn. The problem is that the body's overall resistance deteriorates, as the immune system depletes its resources to fight sinusitis. For this reason, lung tissue cells lose their ability to self-cleanse, which leads to inflammatory complications.

Moreover, the ciliated epithelium, which is located in the large-caliber bronchi, plays an important role in the process of self-cleaning of the respiratory system. Its main role is to perform synchronous pushing movements to remove foreign microscopic particles. As they become active, small particles are expelled from the body through coughing movements.

With sinusitis, this process is somewhat difficult due to intoxication and significant swelling of the mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract. In this regard, polluting particles can enter the maxillary sinuses. Within a few hours, the swelling may intensify, as the pathological focus has become “contaminated” with an even larger number of foreign particles. As a result, there is an almost complete cessation of nasal breathing, so it is much better for the body not to smoke if you have sinusitis.

How to get rid of sinusitis forever: treatment methods

In no case should you ignore such a problem, because this way you doom yourself to a longer and more exhausting struggle with the disease. Let's look at the main methods of treating sinusitis, which are the most effective.

Drug treatment of sinusitis

Unfortunately, it is currently impossible to get rid of sinusitis without using drug treatment. To eliminate pathogens from the sinuses and relieve swelling in them, a complex of drugs with different effects is used.

It is possible to get rid of pain from sinusitis, provided that treatment is started in a timely manner, within 3-5 days after the onset of the disease. At the same time, it is possible to cure chronic sinusitis only after several months of persistent struggle with the disease, which involves both drug therapy and several surgical operations.

Antibacterial treatment of sinusitis

Antibacterial therapy is the most important component of treatment. The selection of antibiotics is carried out taking into account the sensitivity of pathogenic bacteria to them, as well as the severity of sinusitis.

1. Empirical treatment regimen

Before the results of laboratory tests on the sensitivity of microorganisms to antibiotics are obtained, an antibacterial drug is prescribed, which is aimed at eliminating the most common bacteria.

2. Laboratory research

It is precisely such studies that can provide the most accurate data about the pathogen that provoked the development of sinusitis, making it possible to select the most suitable drug. If the medicine is chosen correctly, the symptoms of sinusitis are significantly reduced within a few days.

In addition to the antibacterial treatment of sinusitis, a certain number of concomitant medications are used to both enhance the effect of the antibiotic and improve the natural protective functions of the body.