Re: Shove this chili up your nose: Alternative Medicine for Nasal Polyps???

[Guest guest]



Karl

This is very interesting! I may even have to give it a try;-)

Rob

Shove this chili up your nose: Alternative Medicine for Nasal Polyps???

Please excuse this cross-posting, but I thought that some of you here wouldfind interesting this posting from the anosmia group.Judgement Day for nasal polyps.This is quite a long post. But I think reading it could be of value foranyone who suffers from anosmia caused by inflammation in the upper nasalcavity and who suffers from recurrent nasal polyps.It is about a startling and very encouraging event that has happened to merecently in the search for an effective treatment.I won't dwell too much on history, because mine is very similar to manypeople who have this problem: I am currently 47. When I was in my late 30's,I started to have ongoing problems with taste and smell. I went to arenowned allergy specialist here in Sydney, Australia, and kept thingsreasonably under control for several years.In late 2002, I underwent surgery for nasal polyps and a deviated septum.The surgeon did an excellent job and I thought I was 'cured'. My elationdidn't last long. During 2003 my taste and smell continued to deteriorate.Polyps would pop up and I would need to have them removed in the doctor'ssurgery. Sprays such as Nasonex and Beconase have been of very limited use, even whengreatly exceeding the recommended dose. The only thing that has ever worked reliably has been Prednisone(Prednisolone). But due to its potential side-effects, I have tried tominimise my use of it. Despite my knowing Prednisone's risks, I have frequently got fed up andjust used it for a few days anyway. It is true however, that medicalopinions have varied on this: my GP has said it is reasonably safe, while mysurgeon said I should avoid it all costs.Because Prednisone has been such a 'magic' drug, I have been searching for anatural alternative. I tried various 'natural anti-inflammatories' such asextract of green-lipped mussels, etc, but found them to be an expensivewaste of time.In late 2003, Googling around the internet, I stumbled across medicalresearch into capsaicin, the active ingredient in chilli peppers, especiallyfor relief of arthritis. Since it seemed to be an anti-inflammatory, I thought it had potential.Willing to try anything, I started experimenting with dabbing small amountsinside my nostrils.This initially, burned almost unbearably. Strangely though, after a fewdays, I found that I could rub more and more inside my nostrils until,eventually, I could do it quite casually and comfortably with virtually noburning at all.Unfortunately, doing this had no effect on my taste and smell at all,although I got the impression that it did make the inside of my nose lesssensitive to airborne allergens. I then started to wonder what would happen if I added a tiny bit of chillito my saline nasal spray. Worth a try I thought. So I rubbed a hot chiliinto a small bowl, mixed it with saline, held my breath, and gave it a shot.Well, at this point I thought I'd made a very serious mistake. My heartalmost stopped. It was as if someone had plunged a red hot dagger deep upinside my nose into my brain! That was it. I decided the approach was a dead end and I was never going totry that again. I suppose it's fair to say my natural cowardice overcame meat this point.My taste and smell got progressively worse though, until by June 2004 it hadvirtually disappeared altogether. I went to see my ENT surgeon, who lookedup inside with a fibre optic scope and gave me the bad news.There were clusters of polyps that meant another trip to the hospital forday surgery.The thought of doing this in the full knowledge that the polyps would justcome back again afterwards I found very depressing. In fact the shock ofthis news caused me to pass out for a few seconds in his surgery!This surgeon, who is very good, prescribed Prednisone, and told me to comeback in 6 weeks. I started on the Prednisone, and my smell returned 100% asI knew it would.However, I now had something that I didn't have before: extreme motivation.I began to do more Googling into capsaicin, and stumbled across variousreferences to capsaicin and nasal polyps -- including the following gem fromChina:Effect of intranasal treatment with capsaicin on the recurrence of polypsafter polypectomy and ethmoidectomy.Zheng C, Wang Z, Lacroix JS.Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Eyes, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital,Shanghai Medical University, People's Republic of China.The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of five intranasalapplications of capsaicin, performed after endoscopic polypectomy associatedwith partial middle turbinectomy and anterior ethmoidectomy, on therecurrence of nasal polyps and the intensity of nasal obstruction andrhinorrhea. Fifty-one patients (19 females, 32 males, mean age 43 years)suffering from nasal polyposis for more than 1 year were included in thisdouble blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. During post-surgicalcontrols, local anaesthesia and vasoconstriction of the middle meatus areawere performed in all patients with a cotton pellet soaked with lidocain andadrenaline. In 29 patients, the same type of cotton pellet soaked withcapsaicin (3 x 10(-6) mol. dissolved in 70% ethanol) was left into themiddle meatus of both nostrils for 20 min. As a control group, 22 patients,matched for age and sex, were treated with the capsaicin vehicle alone (70%ethanol). All patients studied received the intranasal treatment once a weekfor 5 weeks. Subjective evaluations of nasal airway resistance (NAR) andrhinorrhea were recorded by means of a visual analogue scale. Clinicalstaging of the nasal polyposis (graded from stage 0 = absence of polyp tostage 3 = polyps occupying the entire nasal cavity) was evaluated by thesame ENT specialist (ZW) using a 0 degrees endoscope. All parameters wererecorded for each patient 1 week before surgery, then once a month for 9months. Patients treated by endoscopic surgery followed by intranasalcapsaicin application, reported a marked reduction in their NAR comparedwith the pretreatment evaluation (p<0.001). In contrast, patients treatedwith the vehicle alone did not have any significant improvement of theirsubjective NAR. Subjective rhinorrhea was not modified by either treatment.Patients treated with capsaicin showed a significant smaller staging oftheir nasal polyposis compared with the control group (p<0.001). Theseobservations suggest that endoscopic surgery followed by intranasalcapsaicin application reduces polyps and nasal obstruction recurrence andcould be an alternative treatment to expensive corticosteroids in developingcountries.Reading between the lines, this all indicated to me that it's reasonablysafe to stick a bit of chilli up your nose, and here were some surgeons eventrying it out on a few perhaps unsuspecting patients! My resolve became hardened, and my fear of surgery was now greater than thefear of the pain of squirting hot chilli juice up my nose.I strongly believe that for anyone who has come to a dead end, the followingcould be a major breakthrough:I will do the best I can to accurately describe the measures that I took, sothat you can replicate them as closely as possible if you choose to givethis a try. (I am not suggesting you have to do exactly what I have done. Infact I might suggest you try the following exercise using mild forms ofchilli first.)My ENT surgeon had prescribed me a course of 10mg of Prednisone twice a dayfor three days, then decending to 5mg three times a day, then 5mg twice aday etc, as is the common practice.Determined to squash those polyps, and to send the little bastards a messagethat I was on the warpath, about halfway through the course of Prednisone,for good measure, I started my Pulmocort Turbuhaler (powdered budesonide)twice in the morning -- exhaling through the nose -- and taking two spraysof Rhinocort Aqua up each nostril in the evening.Then, right at the end of the Prednisone course, on 5mg a day, I decided itwas time to do the chilli experiment that I had had lurking in the back ofmy mind for some time.In the late evening, I went out into the back garden where we have a chillibush growing and plucked a chilli. Sydney is having an unusually mildwinter, and the bush has plenty of fruit on it. (I doubt that there is anything special about these particular chillis andany hot chilli from the greengrocer should do the trick -- pesticides couldbe a concern though, so perhaps organic might be a preference.)Note though, that the ones I have been using are very hot. I have had somereally evil chillis in my time and if those were a '10', the ones on thisbush are at least a '7' or an '8'. I washed the chilli just in case the cats had sprayed it or somethingunsavoury like that. I then went into the bedroom and sat down on the bedwith the chilli, some Cotton Buds (in the USA called Q-tips or Swisspers, Ithink -- anyway, a tiny white stick with a blob of cotton on each end),tissues, a glass of water and a can of Physiomer Gentle Jet. The Gentle Jet is an amazingly good saline spray from France, that isbasically boiled seawater in a pressure pack. The good thing about it isthat it is not a wide spray; it is more like a squirt from a low pressurewater pistol. If you hold your finger on the button a long thin jet comesout. So if you put it up your nose it goes gently right up into the uppernasal cavity.To get started, I blew my nose and did a light flush with the Physiomer justto get used to it. I ripped the stalk off the chilli and poked a cleanCotton Bud inside the top of the fruit. The tip of the Cotton Bud was nowpinkish red with chilli extract. At this point as I have mentioned, my resolve was firm: I knew this wasn'tgoing to be a pleasant experience but I had nothing to lose. I poked the tipof the loaded Cotton Bud inside my left nostril and left it there. I couldfeel the burning of the chilli, though it wasn't unbearable. Then, tilting my head back slightly and breathing through my mouth, I heldthe nozzle of the Physiomer spray can up to my nostril and pushed thebutton. I kept my finger on the button until the entire nasal cavity wasflooded.Nothing could prepare me for the sensation of this. It was as if a river ofmolten lava was coursing up into my my skull. It was as if someone had putelectrodes up my nose and hit my with a few thousand volts. My upper teethfelt like they were going to pop out of their sockets! Coughing andspluttering, threw my head back onto the pillow and allowed the water to sitthere for a few seconds, (so that it was in contact with the roof of thecavity where the polyps tend to form).Then I allowed all the chilli water to go down my throat. I sat there gasping.Although this sounds all very dramatic, I felt that it was doing somethingpositive, and I did the same thing again, this time in the right handnostril. (It all sounds a bit scary. But the point I would like to make is that thisfeels like you are doing serious damage to yourself, but in fact thesesensations last a second or two at most, and no permanent damage seems tooccur -- quite the opposite in fact. Although with hindsight, I wouldsuggest doing this exercise a few times with a mild chilli or at least atiny amount first.)For a few minutes afterwards, I felt the burning in the back of my throatand in my mouth. I'd injected so much up my nose that my mouth filled upwith chilli water too.But I decided enough for one night. For good measure, to finish off, Iswallowed the rest of the chilli whole, flushing it down with some water. (Ifigured this would put a bit of extra active ingredient into mybloodstream.)Despite the dramas, I felt very encouraged: it seemed to have a shrinkingeffect on everything up there inside the nasal cavity. I decided that Iwould do this for five nights in a row. The next night I repeated the whole performance: this time doing it twice upeach nostril.I did it again on the third night, but I was feeling so encouraged by theresults that I decided that three nights in a row was enough. I left it fora few days and since then have decided to follow up by doing it nightly, butwith a much milder dose. My observation is that even mild doses have apositive effect.Whatever happened, it worked. All my symptoms have disappeared. I havestopped all sprays and medications. My sense of taste and smell is 100%. This all took place over a week ago. I don't know whether the results arepermanent. I have had some slight irritation in the upper nasal cavity whichin the past I have associated with polyp activity, but the mild chilli flushthat I have started using in the evening seems to solve it.So. I would be interested to hear from anyone who gives this a try, andwhatever results you obtain.As far as I'm concerned, it's the most encouraging thing that's happened tomy sense of taste and smell for years.Matt Stone

[Guest guest]

Hi Matt,

I am having such a horrible sinus day. Then I come upon your email. I was cracking up. Forgot about my headache while reading this. If you are not a writer, you should be. I'm still laughing. Okay, on the serious side. Do you think it needs to be up your nose or could ingesting these peppers possibly do the same thing? I've been drinking home-made bloody mary mix (without the vodka, although some days I should probably include it) and we put peppers into the mix. We use jalapeno and regular black pepper. For the most part over the last three years I've been doing pretty well. I usually drink a gallon a week. My sense of smell isn't always good but it is never completely gone. Maybe the mix and celebrex are a good combination for me. Just curious.

Tami in Wisconsin

Strawberry season is over. I wish you could have all been here because the berries were so big and sweet this year.

Shove this chili up your nose: Alternative Medicine for Nasal Polyps???

Please excuse this cross-posting, but I thought that some of you here wouldfind interesting this posting from the anosmia group.Judgement Day for nasal polyps.This is quite a long post. But I think reading it could be of value foranyone who suffers from anosmia caused by inflammation in the upper nasalcavity and who suffers from recurrent nasal polyps.It is about a startling and very encouraging event that has happened to merecently in the search for an effective treatment.I won't dwell too much on history, because mine is very similar to manypeople who have this problem: I am currently 47. When I was in my late 30's,I started to have ongoing problems with taste and smell. I went to arenowned allergy specialist here in Sydney, Australia, and kept thingsreasonably under control for several years.In late 2002, I underwent surgery for nasal polyps and a deviated septum.The surgeon did an excellent job and I thought I was 'cured'. My elationdidn't last long. During 2003 my taste and smell continued to deteriorate.Polyps would pop up and I would need to have them removed in the doctor'ssurgery. Sprays such as Nasonex and Beconase have been of very limited use, even whengreatly exceeding the recommended dose. The only thing that has ever worked reliably has been Prednisone(Prednisolone). But due to its potential side-effects, I have tried tominimise my use of it. Despite my knowing Prednisone's risks, I have frequently got fed up andjust used it for a few days anyway. It is true however, that medicalopinions have varied on this: my GP has said it is reasonably safe, while mysurgeon said I should avoid it all costs.Because Prednisone has been such a 'magic' drug, I have been searching for anatural alternative. I tried various 'natural anti-inflammatories' such asextract of green-lipped mussels, etc, but found them to be an expensivewaste of time.In late 2003, Googling around the internet, I stumbled across medicalresearch into capsaicin, the active ingredient in chilli peppers, especiallyfor relief of arthritis. Since it seemed to be an anti-inflammatory, I thought it had potential.Willing to try anything, I started experimenting with dabbing small amountsinside my nostrils.This initially, burned almost unbearably. Strangely though, after a fewdays, I found that I could rub more and more inside my nostrils until,eventually, I could do it quite casually and comfortably with virtually noburning at all.Unfortunately, doing this had no effect on my taste and smell at all,although I got the impression that it did make the inside of my nose lesssensitive to airborne allergens. I then started to wonder what would happen if I added a tiny bit of chillito my saline nasal spray. Worth a try I thought. So I rubbed a hot chiliinto a small bowl, mixed it with saline, held my breath, and gave it a shot.Well, at this point I thought I'd made a very serious mistake. My heartalmost stopped. It was as if someone had plunged a red hot dagger deep upinside my nose into my brain! That was it. I decided the approach was a dead end and I was never going totry that again. I suppose it's fair to say my natural cowardice overcame meat this point.My taste and smell got progressively worse though, until by June 2004 it hadvirtually disappeared altogether. I went to see my ENT surgeon, who lookedup inside with a fibre optic scope and gave me the bad news.There were clusters of polyps that meant another trip to the hospital forday surgery.The thought of doing this in the full knowledge that the polyps would justcome back again afterwards I found very depressing. In fact the shock ofthis news caused me to pass out for a few seconds in his surgery!This surgeon, who is very good, prescribed Prednisone, and told me to comeback in 6 weeks. I started on the Prednisone, and my smell returned 100% asI knew it would.However, I now had something that I didn't have before: extreme motivation.I began to do more Googling into capsaicin, and stumbled across variousreferences to capsaicin and nasal polyps -- including the following gem fromChina:Effect of intranasal treatment with capsaicin on the recurrence of polypsafter polypectomy and ethmoidectomy.Zheng C, Wang Z, Lacroix JS.Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Eyes, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital,Shanghai Medical University, People's Republic of China.The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of five intranasalapplications of capsaicin, performed after endoscopic polypectomy associatedwith partial middle turbinectomy and anterior ethmoidectomy, on therecurrence of nasal polyps and the intensity of nasal obstruction andrhinorrhea. Fifty-one patients (19 females, 32 males, mean age 43 years)suffering from nasal polyposis for more than 1 year were included in thisdouble blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. During post-surgicalcontrols, local anaesthesia and vasoconstriction of the middle meatus areawere performed in all patients with a cotton pellet soaked with lidocain andadrenaline. In 29 patients, the same type of cotton pellet soaked withcapsaicin (3 x 10(-6) mol. dissolved in 70% ethanol) was left into themiddle meatus of both nostrils for 20 min. As a control group, 22 patients,matched for age and sex, were treated with the capsaicin vehicle alone (70%ethanol). All patients studied received the intranasal treatment once a weekfor 5 weeks. Subjective evaluations of nasal airway resistance (NAR) andrhinorrhea were recorded by means of a visual analogue scale. Clinicalstaging of the nasal polyposis (graded from stage 0 = absence of polyp tostage 3 = polyps occupying the entire nasal cavity) was evaluated by thesame ENT specialist (ZW) using a 0 degrees endoscope. All parameters wererecorded for each patient 1 week before surgery, then once a month for 9months. Patients treated by endoscopic surgery followed by intranasalcapsaicin application, reported a marked reduction in their NAR comparedwith the pretreatment evaluation (p<0.001). In contrast, patients treatedwith the vehicle alone did not have any significant improvement of theirsubjective NAR. Subjective rhinorrhea was not modified by either treatment.Patients treated with capsaicin showed a significant smaller staging oftheir nasal polyposis compared with the control group (p<0.001). Theseobservations suggest that endoscopic surgery followed by intranasalcapsaicin application reduces polyps and nasal obstruction recurrence andcould be an alternative treatment to expensive corticosteroids in developingcountries.Reading between the lines, this all indicated to me that it's reasonablysafe to stick a bit of chilli up your nose, and here were some surgeons eventrying it out on a few perhaps unsuspecting patients! My resolve became hardened, and my fear of surgery was now greater than thefear of the pain of squirting hot chilli juice up my nose.I strongly believe that for anyone who has come to a dead end, the followingcould be a major breakthrough:I will do the best I can to accurately describe the measures that I took, sothat you can replicate them as closely as possible if you choose to givethis a try. (I am not suggesting you have to do exactly what I have done. Infact I might suggest you try the following exercise using mild forms ofchilli first.)My ENT surgeon had prescribed me a course of 10mg of Prednisone twice a dayfor three days, then decending to 5mg three times a day, then 5mg twice aday etc, as is the common practice.Determined to squash those polyps, and to send the little bastards a messagethat I was on the warpath, about halfway through the course of Prednisone,for good measure, I started my Pulmocort Turbuhaler (powdered budesonide)twice in the morning -- exhaling through the nose -- and taking two spraysof Rhinocort Aqua up each nostril in the evening.Then, right at the end of the Prednisone course, on 5mg a day, I decided itwas time to do the chilli experiment that I had had lurking in the back ofmy mind for some time.In the late evening, I went out into the back garden where we have a chillibush growing and plucked a chilli. Sydney is having an unusually mildwinter, and the bush has plenty of fruit on it. (I doubt that there is anything special about these particular chillis andany hot chilli from the greengrocer should do the trick -- pesticides couldbe a concern though, so perhaps organic might be a preference.)Note though, that the ones I have been using are very hot. I have had somereally evil chillis in my time and if those were a '10', the ones on thisbush are at least a '7' or an '8'. I washed the chilli just in case the cats had sprayed it or somethingunsavoury like that. I then went into the bedroom and sat down on the bedwith the chilli, some Cotton Buds (in the USA called Q-tips or Swisspers, Ithink -- anyway, a tiny white stick with a blob of cotton on each end),tissues, a glass of water and a can of Physiomer Gentle Jet. The Gentle Jet is an amazingly good saline spray from France, that isbasically boiled seawater in a pressure pack. The good thing about it isthat it is not a wide spray; it is more like a squirt from a low pressurewater pistol. If you hold your finger on the button a long thin jet comesout. So if you put it up your nose it goes gently right up into the uppernasal cavity.To get started, I blew my nose and did a light flush with the Physiomer justto get used to it. I ripped the stalk off the chilli and poked a cleanCotton Bud inside the top of the fruit. The tip of the Cotton Bud was nowpinkish red with chilli extract. At this point as I have mentioned, my resolve was firm: I knew this wasn'tgoing to be a pleasant experience but I had nothing to lose. I poked the tipof the loaded Cotton Bud inside my left nostril and left it there. I couldfeel the burning of the chilli, though it wasn't unbearable. Then, tilting my head back slightly and breathing through my mouth, I heldthe nozzle of the Physiomer spray can up to my nostril and pushed thebutton. I kept my finger on the button until the entire nasal cavity wasflooded.Nothing could prepare me for the sensation of this. It was as if a river ofmolten lava was coursing up into my my skull. It was as if someone had putelectrodes up my nose and hit my with a few thousand volts. My upper teethfelt like they were going to pop out of their sockets! Coughing andspluttering, threw my head back onto the pillow and allowed the water to sitthere for a few seconds, (so that it was in contact with the roof of thecavity where the polyps tend to form).Then I allowed all the chilli water to go down my throat. I sat there gasping.Although this sounds all very dramatic, I felt that it was doing somethingpositive, and I did the same thing again, this time in the right handnostril. (It all sounds a bit scary. But the point I would like to make is that thisfeels like you are doing serious damage to yourself, but in fact thesesensations last a second or two at most, and no permanent damage seems tooccur -- quite the opposite in fact. Although with hindsight, I wouldsuggest doing this exercise a few times with a mild chilli or at least atiny amount first.)For a few minutes afterwards, I felt the burning in the back of my throatand in my mouth. I'd injected so much up my nose that my mouth filled upwith chilli water too.But I decided enough for one night. For good measure, to finish off, Iswallowed the rest of the chilli whole, flushing it down with some water. (Ifigured this would put a bit of extra active ingredient into mybloodstream.)Despite the dramas, I felt very encouraged: it seemed to have a shrinkingeffect on everything up there inside the nasal cavity. I decided that Iwould do this for five nights in a row. The next night I repeated the whole performance: this time doing it twice upeach nostril.I did it again on the third night, but I was feeling so encouraged by theresults that I decided that three nights in a row was enough. I left it fora few days and since then have decided to follow up by doing it nightly, butwith a much milder dose. My observation is that even mild doses have apositive effect.Whatever happened, it worked. All my symptoms have disappeared. I havestopped all sprays and medications. My sense of taste and smell is 100%. This all took place over a week ago. I don't know whether the results arepermanent. I have had some slight irritation in the upper nasal cavity whichin the past I have associated with polyp activity, but the mild chilli flushthat I have started using in the evening seems to solve it.So. I would be interested to hear from anyone who gives this a try, andwhatever results you obtain.As far as I'm concerned, it's the most encouraging thing that's happened tomy sense of taste and smell for years.Matt Stone

[Guest guest]

-I found this intriguing, too. Found a commercial variety. Take a look.

http://www.sinusbuster.com/use.html

PS. I'm getting desenitized tomarrow by an alergist. He does it all the time.

He dilutes the aspirin with gin. I'll give a report after we're done. It's

suppose

to take only 6 hours.

Pam

>

> Shove this chili up your nose: Alternative Medicine for

Nasal Polyps???

>

>

> Please excuse this cross-posting, but I thought that some of you here

would

> find interesting this posting from the anosmia group.

>

>

> Judgement Day for nasal polyps.

>

>

>

> This is quite a long post. But I think reading it could be of value for

> anyone who suffers from anosmia caused by inflammation in the upper

nasal

> cavity and who suffers from recurrent nasal polyps.

>

>

>

> It is about a startling and very encouraging event that has happened to me

> recently in the search for an effective treatment.

>

>

>

> I won't dwell too much on history, because mine is very similar to many

> people who have this problem: I am currently 47. When I was in my late

30's,

> I started to have ongoing problems with taste and smell. I went to a

> renowned allergy specialist here in Sydney, Australia, and kept things

> reasonably under control for several years.

>

>

>

> In late 2002, I underwent surgery for nasal polyps and a deviated septum.

> The surgeon did an excellent job and I thought I was 'cured'. My elation

> didn't last long. During 2003 my taste and smell continued to deteriorate.

> Polyps would pop up and I would need to have them removed in the

doctor's

> surgery.

>

>

>

> Sprays such as Nasonex and Beconase have been of very limited use,

even when

> greatly exceeding the recommended dose.

>

>

>

> The only thing that has ever worked reliably has been Prednisone

> (Prednisolone). But due to its potential side-effects, I have tried to

> minimise my use of it.

>

>

>

> Despite my knowing Prednisone's risks, I have frequently got fed up and

> just used it for a few days anyway. It is true however, that medical

> opinions have varied on this: my GP has said it is reasonably safe, while

my

> surgeon said I should avoid it all costs.

>

>

>

> Because Prednisone has been such a 'magic' drug, I have been searching

for a

> natural alternative. I tried various 'natural anti-inflammatories' such as

> extract of green-lipped mussels, etc, but found them to be an expensive

> waste of time.

>

>

>

> In late 2003, Googling around the internet, I stumbled across medical

> research into capsaicin, the active ingredient in chilli peppers, especially

> for relief of arthritis.

>

> Since it seemed to be an anti-inflammatory, I thought it had potential.

> Willing to try anything, I started experimenting with dabbing small amounts

> inside my nostrils.

>

>

>

> This initially, burned almost unbearably. Strangely though, after a few

> days, I found that I could rub more and more inside my nostrils until,

> eventually, I could do it quite casually and comfortably with virtually no

> burning at all.

>

>

>

> Unfortunately, doing this had no effect on my taste and smell at all,

> although I got the impression that it did make the inside of my nose less

> sensitive to airborne allergens.

>

>

>

> I then started to wonder what would happen if I added a tiny bit of chilli

> to my saline nasal spray. Worth a try I thought. So I rubbed a hot chili

> into a small bowl, mixed it with saline, held my breath, and gave it a shot.

> Well, at this point I thought I'd made a very serious mistake. My heart

> almost stopped. It was as if someone had plunged a red hot dagger deep

up

> inside my nose into my brain!

>

>

>

> That was it. I decided the approach was a dead end and I was never going

to

> try that again. I suppose it's fair to say my natural cowardice overcame me

> at this point.

>

>

>

> My taste and smell got progressively worse though, until by June 2004 it

had

> virtually disappeared altogether. I went to see my ENT surgeon, who

looked

> up inside with a fibre optic scope and gave me the bad news.

>

>

>

> There were clusters of polyps that meant another trip to the hospital for

> day surgery.

>

> The thought of doing this in the full knowledge that the polyps would just

> come back again afterwards I found very depressing. In fact the shock of

> this news caused me to pass out for a few seconds in his surgery!

>

>

>

> This surgeon, who is very good, prescribed Prednisone, and told me to

come

> back in 6 weeks. I started on the Prednisone, and my smell returned 100%

as

> I knew it would.

>

>

>

> However, I now had something that I didn't have before: extreme

motivation.

> I began to do more Googling into capsaicin, and stumbled across various

> references to capsaicin and nasal polyps -- including the following gem

from

> China:

>

>

>

> Effect of intranasal treatment with capsaicin on the recurrence of polyps

> after polypectomy and ethmoidectomy.

>

>

>

> Zheng C, Wang Z, Lacroix JS.

>

>

>

> Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Eyes, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital,

> Shanghai Medical University, People's Republic of China.

>

>

>

> The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of five intranasal

> applications of capsaicin, performed after endoscopic polypectomy

associated

> with partial middle turbinectomy and anterior ethmoidectomy, on the

> recurrence of nasal polyps and the intensity of nasal obstruction and

> rhinorrhea. Fifty-one patients (19 females, 32 males, mean age 43 years)

> suffering from nasal polyposis for more than 1 year were included in this

> double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. During post-surgical

> controls, local anaesthesia and vasoconstriction of the middle meatus area

> were performed in all patients with a cotton pellet soaked with lidocain and

> adrenaline. In 29 patients, the same type of cotton pellet soaked with

> capsaicin (3 x 10(-6) mol. dissolved in 70% ethanol) was left into the

> middle meatus of both nostrils for 20 min. As a control group, 22 patients,

> matched for age and sex, were treated with the capsaicin vehicle alone

(70%

> ethanol). All patients studied received the intranasal treatment once a

week

> for 5 weeks. Subjective evaluations of nasal airway resistance (NAR) and

> rhinorrhea were recorded by means of a visual analogue scale. Clinical

> staging of the nasal polyposis (graded from stage 0 = absence of polyp to

> stage 3 = polyps occupying the entire nasal cavity) was evaluated by the

> same ENT specialist (ZW) using a 0 degrees endoscope. All parameters

were

> recorded for each patient 1 week before surgery, then once a month for 9

> months. Patients treated by endoscopic surgery followed by intranasal

> capsaicin application, reported a marked reduction in their NAR compared

> with the pretreatment evaluation (p<0.001). In contrast, patients treated

> with the vehicle alone did not have any significant improvement of their

> subjective NAR. Subjective rhinorrhea was not modified by either

treatment.

> Patients treated with capsaicin showed a significant smaller staging of

> their nasal polyposis compared with the control group (p<0.001). These

> observations suggest that endoscopic surgery followed by intranasal

> capsaicin application reduces polyps and nasal obstruction recurrence

and

> could be an alternative treatment to expensive corticosteroids in

developing

> countries.

>

>

>

> Reading between the lines, this all indicated to me that it's reasonably

> safe to stick a bit of chilli up your nose, and here were some surgeons

even

> trying it out on a few perhaps unsuspecting patients!

>

>

>

> My resolve became hardened, and my fear of surgery was now greater

than the

> fear of the pain of squirting hot chilli juice up my nose.

>

>

>

> I strongly believe that for anyone who has come to a dead end, the

following

> could be a major breakthrough:

>

>

>

> I will do the best I can to accurately describe the measures that I took, so

> that you can replicate them as closely as possible if you choose to give

> this a try. (I am not suggesting you have to do exactly what I have done. In

> fact I might suggest you try the following exercise using mild forms of

> chilli first.)

>

>

>

> My ENT surgeon had prescribed me a course of 10mg of Prednisone twice

a day

> for three days, then decending to 5mg three times a day, then 5mg twice a

> day etc, as is the common practice.

>

>

>

> Determined to squash those polyps, and to send the little bastards a

message

> that I was on the warpath, about halfway through the course of Prednisone,

> for good measure, I started my Pulmocort Turbuhaler (powdered

budesonide)

> twice in the morning -- exhaling through the nose -- and taking two sprays

> of Rhinocort Aqua up each nostril in the evening.

>

>

>

> Then, right at the end of the Prednisone course, on 5mg a day, I decided it

> was time to do the chilli experiment that I had had lurking in the back of

> my mind for some time.

>

>

>

> In the late evening, I went out into the back garden where we have a chilli

> bush growing and plucked a chilli. Sydney is having an unusually mild

> winter, and the bush has plenty of fruit on it.

>

>

>

> (I doubt that there is anything special about these particular chillis and

> any hot chilli from the greengrocer should do the trick -- pesticides could

> be a concern though, so perhaps organic might be a preference.)

>

>

>

> Note though, that the ones I have been using are very hot. I have had

some

> really evil chillis in my time and if those were a '10', the ones on this

> bush are at least a '7' or an '8'.

>

>

>

> I washed the chilli just in case the cats had sprayed it or something

> unsavoury like that. I then went into the bedroom and sat down on the bed

> with the chilli, some Cotton Buds (in the USA called Q-tips or Swisspers, I

> think -- anyway, a tiny white stick with a blob of cotton on each end),

> tissues, a glass of water and a can of Physiomer Gentle Jet.

>

>

>

> The Gentle Jet is an amazingly good saline spray from France, that is

> basically boiled seawater in a pressure pack. The good thing about it is

> that it is not a wide spray; it is more like a squirt from a low pressure

> water pistol. If you hold your finger on the button a long thin jet comes

> out. So if you put it up your nose it goes gently right up into the upper

> nasal cavity.

>

>

>

> To get started, I blew my nose and did a light flush with the Physiomer just

> to get used to it. I ripped the stalk off the chilli and poked a clean

> Cotton Bud inside the top of the fruit. The tip of the Cotton Bud was now

> pinkish red with chilli extract.

>

>

>

> At this point as I have mentioned, my resolve was firm: I knew this wasn't

> going to be a pleasant experience but I had nothing to lose. I poked the tip

> of the loaded Cotton Bud inside my left nostril and left it there. I could

> feel the burning of the chilli, though it wasn't unbearable.

>

>

>

> Then, tilting my head back slightly and breathing through my mouth, I held

> the nozzle of the Physiomer spray can up to my nostril and pushed the

> button. I kept my finger on the button until the entire nasal cavity was

> flooded.

>

>

>

> Nothing could prepare me for the sensation of this. It was as if a river of

> molten lava was coursing up into my my skull. It was as if someone had put

> electrodes up my nose and hit my with a few thousand volts. My upper

teeth

> felt like they were going to pop out of their sockets! Coughing and

> spluttering, threw my head back onto the pillow and allowed the water to sit

> there for a few seconds, (so that it was in contact with the roof of the

> cavity where the polyps tend to form).

>

>

>

> Then I allowed all the chilli water to go down my throat.

>

>

>

> I sat there gasping.

>

>

>

> Although this sounds all very dramatic, I felt that it was doing something

> positive, and I did the same thing again, this time in the right hand

> nostril.

>

>

>

> (It all sounds a bit scary. But the point I would like to make is that this

> feels like you are doing serious damage to yourself, but in fact these

> sensations last a second or two at most, and no permanent damage seems

to

> occur -- quite the opposite in fact. Although with hindsight, I would

> suggest doing this exercise a few times with a mild chilli or at least a

> tiny amount first.)

>

>

>

> For a few minutes afterwards, I felt the burning in the back of my throat

> and in my mouth. I'd injected so much up my nose that my mouth filled up

> with chilli water too.

>

> But I decided enough for one night. For good measure, to finish off, I

> swallowed the rest of the chilli whole, flushing it down with some water. (I

> figured this would put a bit of extra active ingredient into my

> bloodstream.)

>

>

>

> Despite the dramas, I felt very encouraged: it seemed to have a shrinking

> effect on everything up there inside the nasal cavity. I decided that I

> would do this for five nights in a row.

>

>

>

> The next night I repeated the whole performance: this time doing it twice up

> each nostril.

>

>

>

> I did it again on the third night, but I was feeling so encouraged by the

> results that I decided that three nights in a row was enough. I left it for

> a few days and since then have decided to follow up by doing it nightly, but

> with a much milder dose. My observation is that even mild doses have a

> positive effect.

>

>

>

> Whatever happened, it worked. All my symptoms have disappeared. I have

> stopped all sprays and medications. My sense of taste and smell is 100%.

>

>

>

> This all took place over a week ago. I don't know whether the results are

> permanent. I have had some slight irritation in the upper nasal cavity which

> in the past I have associated with polyp activity, but the mild chilli flush

> that I have started using in the evening seems to solve it.

>

>

>

> So. I would be interested to hear from anyone who gives this a try, and

> whatever results you obtain.

>

>

>

> As far as I'm concerned, it's the most encouraging thing that's happened to

> my sense of taste and smell for years.

>

>

>

> Matt Stone

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>