The best sleeping position for sinus drainage issues and other sinus problems is to sleep with your head propped up. Sleeping with your head propped up will help gravity naturally drain your sinuses and lower the likelihood of excessive blood flow that can create sinus congestion.
Sleeping on your back with your head elevated also helps if you have a sinus infection. While you'll need to visit a doctor to get treatment for an infection, sleeping with your head propped up can relieve some of the symptoms, including drainage.
Acupresssure Point LI4: Located on your hand between the thumb and index finger, this pressure point can help relieve sinus congestion. Acupresssure Point LI 20: Located at the base of your nose, this pressure point can help relieve sinus pressure.
Balloon sinuplasty allows the surgeon to dilate a blocked sinus, creating open space, which allows the sinus to drain normally. The surgeon uses a flexible endoscope with a light to guide the insertion of a thin wire. The wire is then moved through the nasal passages toward the opening of the blocked sinus.
Sinusitis (also called rhinosinusitis) starts when this drainage system becomes blocked, usually from swelling due to inflammation caused by infection or allergy. Soon, your head hurts, you feel facial pressure or pain, and thick mucus clogs your nose.
Sinus drainage is usually caused by a cold or an allergy. The sickness usually goes away within 10 days.
“Blowing your nose is useful, but if nothing is coming out, it generally means there's not a lot of mucus.” The three common culprits behind inflammation in your nose are infections, allergies, and nonallergic rhinitis, says Dr. Alexander.
Chronic sinusitis can be caused by an infection, growths in the sinuses (nasal polyps) or swelling of the lining of your sinuses. Signs and symptoms may include a blocked or stuffy (congested) nose that causes difficulty breathing through your nose, and pain and swelling around your eyes, cheeks, nose or forehead.
The frontal sinus has the most complex and variable drainage of any paranasal sinus.
To flush your nasal passages, you'll need an irrigation device and saline solution — which you can purchase as part of a kit or make at home. Once you have the supplies, plan to perform the rinse over a sink and take these steps, outlined by the National Institutes of Health: Fill the device with saline solution.
Who may need endoscopic sinus surgery? Endoscopic sinus surgery can help people who experience nasal congestion, pain, drainage, difficulty breathing, loss of sense of smell (anosmia) or other symptoms due to: Sinusitis (persistent or chronic sinus infections) Nasal polyps.
Signs and symptoms
Symptoms of sinusitis include: a green or yellow discharge from your nose. a blocked nose. pain and tenderness around your cheeks, eyes or forehead.
On the other hand, repeated and forceful nose-blowing can generate pressures that are high enough to force mucus into the sinuses, which could be a factor in chronic sinusitis. If you are going to blow your nose, stick to one nostril at a time and do it gently.
It's likely that one nostril will always feel more stuffed up than the other when you're sick. Still, after about 90 minutes to 4 hours, your nose switches sides. When that occurs, you'll probably feel some relief when the swelling in the one nostril goes down—but then the other side will start to feel clogged instead.
A deviated septum occurs when your nasal septum is significantly displaced to one side, making one nasal air passage smaller than the other. When a deviated septum is severe, it can block one side of the nose and reduce airflow, causing difficulty breathing.