One thing that cured my daily sinus

Yes, I know how the title sounds. But I swear this is not one of those bogus-sounding “5 odd foods that kill belly fat” ads ok!

The reason why I’m sharing this is because lately, I’ve encountered many people who are plagued by sinusitis (or sinus, as we commonly call it). They reminded me of my younger self, and how I suffered for many, many years.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had sinus. On a good day, I use up just a pack of tissue. On a bad day, close to a full box. The 200-sheets-in-a-box kind. I kid you not.

I blow my nose so much the skin around my nose would tear and peel from the abrasion. Every time that happens, I feel like I’m rubbing saw paper on my face.

When I go for exams, I would arm myself with tissue packets and a plastic bag to serve as my makeshift dustbin. The worst thing that can happen to me in an exam (apart from forgetting the answer to a question I know I KNOW), is having a drippy nose and fingers scraping plastic in the tissue pack!  D:

What do I do when I face the nightmare of running out of tissue?
You don’t want to know. Really.

I was once told by Carys (although i bet she will go “Huh, really? I said that?” Lol), “I will remember you as the girl who always had a tissue to her face.” I only wonder how many other people remember that of me :O

I tried nasal sprays, seeing an ENT specialist, took Zyrtec (Cetirizine), cleaned out my room of dust regularly, used a air purifier, but the effects, if any, were always temporary and my sinus persistently returned.

Sometimes I just stuffed a piece of tissue and left it there for it to automatically absorb the mucus. Damn gross right. Like some ah peh at the coffee shop. Heck, maybe they are more classy than that.

I was just so exhausted, so drained, so defeated. My head constantly hurt and I felt like crap. I wished I could just chop off my nose so I can be finally free of the torture. Even recalling it now to write down the experience is so depressing. I wonder how I survived then.

Is this what some of you are going through right now?

I have always been a little resentful that it is hereditary (although it’s not la). My mom and my grandma also suffer from sinus problems, but my dad doesn’t, so I was thinking why I so bloody suay to have gotten the sinus genes. (again, no such thing as sinus genes, but I was young then)

Amazingly enough, my mom’s sinus problems gradually stopped. She told me I should do what she’s doing and take this thing called “buffered vitamin C”. She was super insistent and say “TAKE. GOOD FOR YOU.”

But I was mega skeptical to say the least. I suffer for so many years, now you’re telling me a simple, common thing like vitamin C can save me?! Throw in some buffered word to make it sound more advanced and expect me to believe it? YEAH RIGHT.

I dismissed her sinus cure as an age thing. Maybe when I hit some her age, my sinus problems will magically disappear like hers did too.

I also don’t know what I had to lose from eating it la. And I wasn’t a paranoid kid, thinking my mom is trying to poison me or something.

Now that I think about it, it’s probably because I didn’t believe it worked, and didn’t want to raise my hopes in what I believed would never work.

Fast forward many years of suffering later, I slowly grew more health-conscious and started exploring supplements. I started taking it and was very diligent about it.

To my utter surprise, I noticed that the occurrence of my sinus is not as severe, and gradually grew less frequent. Eventually stopping completely.

Yes, I’ve been sinus-free for many years now! And not because I hit that pre-determined age. I’m not that old.

What is this magical supplement, you ask?

The answer is…

“And wtf is that? How am I supposed to know what that is?!” you ask again (unless you’re a chem major, i suppose.)

It’s…

Ascorbic acid. Also known as VITAMIN C.

YES. THE SAME THING MY MOM WAS TRYING TO GET ME TO EAT ALL THESE YEARS. Until she gave up because her daughter is so bloody stubborn.

:A All those years I suffered! If only I listened!!!

That’s why whenever I hear of/meet anyone that has sinus problems, I get hyped up and launch into the story of how vitamin C saved me, and ask them (more like shoved the advice in their face sometimes lol) to take it too.

But I think I am overly enthusiastic about it sometimes, and they are a bit scared/surprised/wary. They sometimes have this guarded look, as if they are expecting me to whip out MLM vitamin C bottles from behind my back and start selling to them  T_T

I feel so wronged and frustrated sometimes! Haha. I am like that because I so badly want to convince them it works, and that they shouldn’t be skeptical like I used to be and suffer longer.

I wonder how many of them actually went on to do what I suggested, or it they simply dismissed me as some vitamin C nutjob. Now I know how my mom felt. This must be karma.

The most important thing about taking vitamin C is DEDICATION. Remembering to take it every day takes a bit of getting used to, but consistency is critical, especially at the beginning.

Even if you don’t have sinus problems, vitamin C is one thing I wholeheartedly recommend to everyone. There are just so many benefits. To list a few:

• Strengthen immune system
• Good for skin!
• Antioxidant!
• Protect against heart diseases
• Contributes to eye health

Since starting my vitamin C regime, I rarely ever fall sick. The last time I caught a cold was in 2011, if I didn’t remember wrongly. That was because work then was in a super shitty stressful phase and no amount of vitamin C could have sidestepped that.

Right now, sinus prevention is not my main driving force to take vitamin C. The 2nd and 3rd points are. Haha. If I can only take one supplement, vitamin C is the one. No doubt about it.

HOW MUCH TO TAKE

I started off with 1,000mg daily at first, and worked down to the current 500mg. Nowadays, even if I skip a few days, I’m still perfectly fine. My immune system is much stronger than it was years ago.

WHAT TO TAKE

You have a choice of pills, effervescent tablets (Redoxon), chewables. Or you can attempt to get it naturally from your diet, but it’s very challenging unless you’re very dedicated.

I go for pills, with timed release (released vitamin C is portions throughout the day). Pop and go. Easy peasy. For those with more sensitive stomachs, you can opt for the “buffered” version. (yes, I know what buffered means now)

WHEN TO TAKE

After food

WHERE TO BUY

Pharmacies, drugstores and even some supermarkets sell it.

No excuse! Start saving your nose, and in turn, your life today! Even if you don’t have sinus problems, do it for your body anyway. It will thank you in time to come.