“Why all of a sudden did I begin to sneeze when we were visiting your relatives? Now I got all this drainage going through the back of my throat. What’s going on?.” Similar questions to these are asked every day by countless thousands who suffer from environmental allergies, but don’t realize it. These type of allergies irritate the nasal membranes and sinuses.’ The clear or light yellow mucus being produced–which is part of the body’s mechanism to wash away the irritating elements–travel to the back of the throat and ends its journey in the stomach. There the stomach acids and juices destroy whatever harmful bacteria and germs are present in the mucus, whether it be green or yellow mucus. Although all this would make sense the fact is that no one likes to deal with the tickling and other discomforts PND–post nasal drip or drainage–produces.
I used to be very allergic to the dander of household pets–especially cats’ and dogs.’ Yet many people do not seem to get the connection between their environment and drainage. Often the reaction is: “I’m catching a cold,” or “I think I got a virus,” etc., The awareness of the environment as the proximate cause of drainage can be very useful. Thus here are some questions one can ask herself or himself, which can help identify the environmental culprit, if indeed an environmental element is the cause of the PND–this article deals exclusively with allergy reaction from common sources in the environment other than from the vegetable kingdom:
If you are suffering from a sinus drainage problem right now that came up rather suddenly ask yourself:
- Where was I within the last 24 hours before the problem started? Was this a place I had not been before?
- If I was in a house or other enclosed structure: Were there present household pets, especially with long hair? Was I close to it? Did I begin to sneeze, nose began to run, eyes began to itch when I got close to it?
- When you or someone else in your household vacuum the house: Do you notice any of the above symptoms, or get PND shortly afterward?
- If you were traveling: Was there a significant amount of smog in the area you were visiting?
- Was I exposed, for an extended period, to cleaning or some other type of strong chemicals or dust, or animals hair within the last 24 hours?
- Could there be an item in the work place: chemicals, special dust, indoor plant, etc., that is contributing to the problem?
- Is the discharge yellow mucus?
- Was there sinus pressure before the drainage started?
Depending on how you would answer those questions and using your own common sense you can figure out to what extent, if any, some of those things may affect you. If you have a suspicion that you may be allergic to some of those things you can go back and try to re-expose yourself to them and see if you get the suspected reaction a second even a third time.
We must remember that some nutrition authorities have seen the potential some foods have to be the cause of sinus drainage and other problems. Unfortunately the medical profession, governmental health agencies, and food evaluation governmental entities have been somewhat reluctant to address this. Lack of sufficient research is often cited as the reason for them not to make categoric statements. Yet some with insights into nutritional matters would not hesitate to state that foods do matter, especially if you have sinus problems. I know this to be true from my own experience when I had, for many years, sinus problems and from the experience of others as well.