Health issues behind a runny nose

Many people tend to carry handkerchiefs to ease discomfort caused by nasal discharges of unknown cause or due to irritation or exposure to allergens. People with minor flu-like symptoms such as mucous nasal discharge but without fever or headache or pain of any kind should always consult ear, nose and throat specialists to trace the cause of the problem. Chronic nasal discharges or sometimes a running nose is either due to congenital fungal infections or caused by colds. It differs from the inflammatory sinusitis process. Sinusitis is inflammation of the membrane lining in the nasal cavity or airway passages. This inflammatory process usually occurs in bones located at the facial part of the skull. There are usually four sinuses; frontal, maxillary, ethmoid, and sphenoid located on each side of your face. These sinuses are cavities inside the facial bones that surround your nose and are considered as major exit for the mucous discharges from the body. Each of these sinuses communicates or connects to the nasal cavity through small openings. The body uses these openings to eliminate unwanted materials and micro-organisms in form of mucous or body fluids. In case the immune system is healthy with no obstruction or limitations to the sinuses, then mucous, fluids, waste products, and micro-organisms should exit the body. Sinusitis can be caused by any factor that interferes with air flow into the sinuses or the drainage of mucous out of the sinuses. People who have serious sinusitis problem usually complain of headache, more especially localised on the facial part of the body, nasal stuffy sensation, discolored nasal discharges, cough and sometimes sore throat due to infection. Doctors consider this kind of sinus infection as acute and are usually treated with antibiotics, analgesics or low grade anti-inflammatory drugs. However, those who suffer from chronic forms of sinus illnesses may require long courses of antibiotics and may even require sinus drainage procedures as seen in individuals with prolonged episodes of nasal obstructions caused by increased mucous depositions or stagnation in the nasal cavity. Most of the benign forms of sinus complaints include colds, allergies, fungal infections and irritation. Irritants and allergies rarely produce mucous discharges but occur in more aggressive form than colds and fungal infections. The majority of individuals with no signs and symptoms of sinusitis but with longstanding mucous discharge usually carry fungal infections of congenital origin. There are other rare causes of nasal obstruction such as polyps or sometimes deviation of nasal septum seen in some few patients. Most of the nasal cavity obstructions are caused by nasal congestion. Nasal congestion occurs when blood vessels lined inside the nasal cavity membrane become swollen due to inflammation as seen in individuals with allergies. What doctors do is to provide medication that eradicate the allergy and also reverse the inflammatory process. People with fungal infections tend to have mucous discharges appear or worsen after consumption of drinks or foods with high sugar content. So if you provide a juicy tea or any other hot drink with sugar to someone, and observe a runny nose discomfort, it is better to tip them of possible history of fungal infection in the family. Regular exercise with proper hydration has been considered as one of the ways to overcome a runny nose. However, there is a theory that is still under scientific investigation that hot water or tea without sugar taken every after 30-45 minutes can help to some extent. Drinking hot tea hydrates you and this aids removal of mucus around the sinuses and cavity. Dr Joseph Kamugisha is a resident oncologist in Jerusalem, Israel