Take Your Vitamins

I got sick this week and it seems to be going around. For whatever reason I seem to always catch a cold in the fall when the weather goes from sunny to rainy. Such is life! I got to catch up on some sleep and learn more about the sinus cavities in my head.

""The frontal sinuses sit above the eyes, behind the forehead. The maxillary sinuses are behind the cheekbones, the ethmoid sinus is a small area within the ethmoid bone between the eyes, and the sphenoid sinus is in the sphenoid bone under the pituitary gland. The sinuses are linked, and are lined by mucous-producing goblet cells. Mucous, although considered "gross," is quite important in maintaining a clean and infection-free sinus. Air comes into the sinus passages through connecting passage-ways, and if any of these passages become blocked or narrowed, infection of the inner spaces can occur since the mucous inside can't drain out. For example, allergies can cause inflammation which would lead to narrowing of passages.

The lining of the sinuses are covered in cilia, small hair-like protrusions into the air- and mucous-filled space and serve to move mucous (and the pollutants/debris/etc they catch out of the air). These cilia can be damaged by all sorts of things, from air pollution to cigarette smoke to a lack of humidity. Damaged cilia means stagnant mucous, and thats not a pleasant or healthy thing (easy infection target.)

A counter-intuitive piece of info is that a sinus infection (sinusitis) can be a follow-up to a viral infection. The virally-damaged tissue becomes vulnerable to bacterial infection (Haemophilus influenzae, Strepococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis, Staphylococcus aureus are most common). Other causes can be a fungal invasion, which are most often seen in immuno-compromised patients and can be quite serious if left unchecked."" (http://scienceblogs.com/retrospectacle/2007/03/aaaachoooo_anatomy_of_a_sinus.php) 2007