My story starts when I was a child, at a very young age of approximately 10 years old. I used to get colds quite often with a running nose, which was not a problem, and was ignored or a general medication for it was taken. But as time progressed, the symptom of a running nose became more noticeable and a bit problematic, and by the age of about 15 .I started taking stronger medication like Actifed and Incidal to stop the sneezing and running nose. By this time I started getting headaches, as the medication used to dry up the sputum and caused the sinuses to block, which resulted in pressure building inside, which caused the headaches.
By the time I was 18, I had resorted to many different kinds of allopathic medication, as the sputum was now coming out as hard brownish discharge at times, and I became very sensitive to the environmental changes, such as at the slightest presence of house dust, or humidity in the air, or change of temperature, I would start to sneeze uncontrollably, for a long period and then end up with severe migraine headaches, weak from sneezing and unable to do anything but sleep. No medication available in a third world country could help me by this time, and there used to be an itching sensation inside the frontal lobe of my head. The sputum discharge used to be watery, but at times when clearing the nose, hard yellowish or brownish pieces use to be found in the tissue.
The symptoms continued to get worse from that time on, and I used different combinations of drugs to try to control the illness, as it caused a lot of discomfort to me. But sometimes when the weather was fair, my sinusitis would not bother me for about two to three months, and then I get it back with a very heavy attack. During these attacks, my nose used to get blocked up and I end up sneezing and trying to sleep, but sometimes, due to the sleeping posture, or other reason, when I sucked the back of my throat, leading up to my nose, two hardened brown cylindrical deposits of sputum, each the size of three quarter of a cigarette, and one and a half times its thickness, used to dislodge from inside, and get sucked into my mouth. When this happens, my headache used to disappear in two to three minutes, but a heavy discharge used to continue.
By the age of twenty one, I was desperate to find relief for my illness, and I went for aryuvedic medication. I took a course of medication, which included boiled concoctions from herbal plants roots, bark, leaves etc, and herbal oil made with indigenous plants, to be applied on the head, and had to follow a strict vegetarian diet, able to bathe the head on given days and times. After a three month period, I did have some relief from my symptoms, but after a time of about six months, it all started coming back again.
I continued to live with the problem, taking different types of medicines that would give relief for a while, and then my body would get immune to it, and I would have to change the medicine for another, again for a short period of time. I kept on looking for doctors, and changing medication for another fifteen years, trying to find a cure or relief, within which time I underwent a course of homeopathy medication, which was given to me in powder form in very minute quantities. Again, I found relief for a short time but the symptoms came back again, and were getting worse.
By this time, even my saliva was getting to be sticky like gum, and my nose blocks would not allow me to breathe properly. When I was asleep, I could feel the watery sputum draining into the back of my throat all the time, and continue to be swallowed as I slept. Most of the time now, I had only one nostril open at a time and could breathe only with one nostril, and I had no sense of smell, and couldn’t smell even what I was eating. I could decide from which nostril I wanted to breathe by turning my head to one side, the upper side nostril would open after about a minute. I could feel a big lump sliding down to the lower side inside my sinuses to open the upper nostril. I could hardly taste food, the sense of smell and taste fluctuated in intensity from time to time. My sleep was broken, because of the nose being blocked, and I would wake up from deep sleep even though I would be very tired. So I resorted to using nose drops like Aftrin before going to bed, but after about three to four hours the effect of Aftrin would wear off and I would be awakened trying to breathe. I had to keep a soft T-shirt next to me every time I went to sleep, as I had to clear my nose a lot every time I woke up. At the end of my sleep, the T-shirt was soaked like it had been held under a tap.
I used a combination of drugs to keep the symptoms from appearing when I was at work, and Aftrin to keep my nose from closing up. But the effect of the drugs used to wear off, and I start to sneeze and have a runny nose. I did notice on many occasions that if I was busy and concentrating on something important, all symptoms disappeared and I would be normal during that short time only. By now I had been working in the Middle East, for a few years, and was desperately looking for doctors from other nations who would be able to do anything for me or medication that could give me any kind of relief. I was now using nose sprays called Octrivin and Flixonase, and drugs like Clarinaise, Prednisolone and Xyxal, or a combination, with increasing dosages to try to overcome this problem, as it was getting embarrassing when in the company of friends or colleagues. For many years it was very difficult for me to socialize as I was always snorting and sneezing at any given time without any warning.
At the age of forty one I was introduced to an ENT specialist, Dr. Fahim Tadros, at the Sharjah Al Zahra hospital, who is a reputed Rhinologist. I underwent CAT scans, to determine the condition of my sinuses, and was operated on by invasive surgery called Endoscopy procedure. The operation lasted three hours, and had a recuperation time of about four days. The operation was successful, and I had to visit the doctor a few times after, to clear the sinuses completely, and check for infection. During these visits to hospital, the doctor would use an endoscope to see the insides of my sinuses, to check for infections, and would spray liquid antibiotics if he found any infections. This procedure cleared my infection, and gave me a great sense of relief, as my condition came back to normal. My sense of taste and smell came back to me in a couple of days, and I felt so well, and happy to be able to taste and smell the food I ate. No sneezing and heaviness in the head, or headaches. This would last me about two and a half years, till I would suddenly start to feel uncomfortable again, and start to clear my nose. Then, I would find patches of dark yellow gummy sputum in the tissue again. After which all the symptoms would return in a very short period of time. I would go back to the nose drops and the drugs to stop the secretion and the discomfort, for which the medicine would react for a while, but then again I had to change it and increase the dosage to get a reaction. My saliva would turn sticky again and due to the constant accumulation of sputum in the back of my throat, phlegm started to build up in my lungs and chest.
So, again at the age of forty four, I underwent the same surgery by the same doctor, to find relief for my very uncomfortable and embarrassing condition. But, it was all back, in the same time frame as in the previous time, giving only temporary relief. This time the situation was a little more serious than the first time. So my drug intake was more frequent and the dosage higher. The humidity and the dust, or any catalyst could easily offset the situation, even though I was under medication. I would require two T-shirts in a day to rid myself of the nasal discharge. My breathing was more difficult, and my heavy chest would sound like an asthmatic with an attack. I couldn’t laugh, as I would start to cough, and spit out phlegm. When I exhale, I could feel my chest vibrating. You didn’t need a stethoscope to listen for congestion, I could hear it with my bare ears. I was considering another operation in the near future as my condition was getting very bad, and I was aware it was going to affect my general health seriously. At that moment in time, I was desperate and was ready to do or try anything to find relief.
It was by chance, that my wife heard of a Chinese acupuncture clinic, with Chinese doctors, who treated various illnesses, and wanted me to inquire if anything could be done. So, I visited the clinic on the way to work one day. I was met by Dr. Zheng Nan, who conducted a physical on me. After listening to my medical condition, she assured me that she would be able to help me. But, at the time, I was not convinced at all that anyone could help me. I had nothing to lose. No one could help me. So I agreed to start therapy, although I did not know what acupuncture was, nor was I convinced at all that it could do anything for me. I had to go to her continuously for one week at least, and after which the frequency of therapy would gradually reduce, till I was better.
I came the first day, 14th of July 2007, and the doctor made me lie on a bed and stuck needles in my face, arms, legs, and head, covered me with a towel, and left me for one hour. Then she removed all of them, and turned me over, and vacuumed my back with little plastic cups, and left me again for another ten minutes. She came back and removed the cups and said that my body was very toxic, and then rubbed a cup on the side of my spinal cord, which hurt a lot. I left.
The second day, I came back, though I was still not convinced that poking needles in me could do anything for an extremely chronic case like me, where operations and drugs could not have done anything. So, the doctor went through the same procedure as the first day. On my way back home, I had not used any Octrivin, but the right side of my nose was a little clear, and my breathing was easier. I could blow my nose, and the sputum was more watery and came out easier to leave the nostril open. I still used a lot of tissue, and a t-shirt to clean my nose. Dr. Nan had instructed me to stop the medication I was taking. After I found that my nose was a little clearer I stopped taking the medication, but carried the nose spray and medication with me. (I never had to use any of it again).
After the third day, I was feeling better. My head was feeling lighter and the left nostril was now opening slightly. I could get a slight smell of the food I was eating, only at times. My food tasted better, and I was having a better sense of well being. The glue like sputum was now looser, and I could clear my nose easier. But the secretion was still heavy and gummy, and I still needed a t-shirt for a day. The sneezing was subsiding slowly, and the itching sensation in my upper pallet and forehead when I had a bout of sneezing, was also gone!
By the end of the first week I couldn’t believe it! I was feeling much better, and both my nostrils were quite open, though the left side was still heavy, and the sputum still sticky on that side. My saliva was getting back to normal, but my chest was still very much the same. Rome was not built in a day.
After the first week, together with the needles, a heat lamp was positioned over my face. This made a big difference to the rate of cure I was experiencing from the week before. The frequency of visitation was three times a week and the progress made by each session was very noticeable. The right nostril was now slowly drying up, and the left side was having a watery discharge. My saliva was back to normal and the infected chest was slowly clearing up, but was still quite heavy. My sneezing was now very occasional, and hardly noticeable. My sense of smell was almost completely normal. So was my taste. I could go out in the summer humidity at 75%, and not start to sneeze. Dust had hardly an effect on me by the end of the second week. But occasionally there was a heavy discharge from the nose, sometimes watery and sometimes gummy, and sneezing at times.
During the third week, the treatment continued the same, with the acupuncture, heat lamp and the vacuum cup therapy at the same frequency of visitation. And each visit induced a better reaction from me. During this time, when the doctor applied cup therapy, it did not hurt as much and she said that my toxin level was much better. Though I still used a t-shirt to clean the secretion during the day and night, it would not be soaked. I could do with a box of tissue. Both my nostrils were clear at the end of the third week, and my chest was healing as well. At least now I could laugh, although I still sounded like an asthmatic, I didn’t end up coughing and spitting. My sense of smell was better than a normal person, and my taste was extremely good. I felt invigorated and had more energy in me than I had had for many years. I could do many things without thinking of sneezing and ending up with a headache. I could socialize without being embarrassed by having to snort into a tissue every two minutes.
The fourth week was the same. Every visit I found an improvement, but the rate of improvement decreased as the symptoms were much lesser. I am almost back to normal health, and my appetite got better and because of it I am gaining weight. My breathing is normal with no obstruction, but occasionally I still sneeze and have a watery discharge. My chest is still giving a little rasping sound when exhaling forcefully. It is not noticeable at other times. In general, it is a miracle cure for me, though not completely cured still, as I have to be treated further, I thank God for directing me Dr. Nan.
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