MUCUS DOES NOT NEED TO BE A PAIN IN THE“TUCHUS” by DJFMD PC
Are you “blowing” the opportunity to improve the health of your sinuses when you reach for a tissue and blow your nose? It is a bad, misguided habit traumatizing your sinuses and only offers temporary relief.
Most people with allergies and/or sinusitis are no stranger to tissues and carry them on their person. We tend to react by blowing our nose when our respiratory mucus does not flow nicely into the stomach/gut natural destination. Most patients have a reactive thought process and reflex that “stuck” nasal mucus is “bad” and needs outward removal by blowing one’s nose into a tissue or “hankey”. We think its gross stuff that should not be swallowed. However, I would like you to stop/reduce this habit and consider this proactive approach:
Mucus generation in several body systems acts as protective shield. Our gut and airways are constantly secreting mucus that is destined to flow into and through the gut. Airway mucus becomes a nuisance when it does not flow correctly because of several factors. The biggest factor is when inflammation such as allergies, poor air quality, or viral infections destroy the architecture of the underlying sinus membranes that interface with or “see” the outside world. Your sinuses need to generate mucus to coat these interfacing “walls” to protect from the “toxic” outside world. Nasal and sinus mucus are there to catch particles that can harm us and separate these harmful particles from the valuable, delicate human tissues that lie beneath. In fact, depending on your size, the sinuses usually generate 1-2 quarts of mucus daily. When mucus flows smoothly into the gut, we do not feel trouble or have mucus gathering excessively in the back of the throat known as postnasal drainage.
The cell wall linings just below our mucus layers have cilia or “hair-like” tentacles that rhythmically sweep and emulsify your mucus to trap particles and bring down to the acidic, hostile gut. If barrier integrity exists, the flow is smoother. If the barrier is “cracked”, your mucus cannot flow well. We then have the feeling that we need to blow it out or throat clear. Think about driving smoothly on a freshly paved road as opposed to our famous Tucson roads full of potholes and imperfections. It is a bumpy ride. Mucus flow is “bumpy” when the underlying surface is inflamed. This encourages more mucus secretion as an attempt to repair the cracks and fill in the “potholes.” Blowing your nose is a missed opportunity to improve the situation and does not create a smooth “silvered lining.”
As an analogy to a 2-story house, I think about my mouth as the downstairs and my nose/sinuses as the upstairs. We know how to take care of our mouth like brushing, flossing, rinsing a dry mouth, and generating saliva with physical stimuli like gum or lozenges. All these benefit our downstairs oral health. But when our upstairs sinuses misbehave or become dysfunctional sticky “Velcro” we just aggravate the situation by blowing our nose which traumatizes an already broken system. If you blow, you ruin your mucociliary flow!! It’s better to spray and make the mucus slip away into our guts. Just as “wetting your whistle” with a sip of water or so, improves comfort for your mouth and vocal cords, spraying your nose with high quality nasal saline (see med sheet for examples) helps your mucus flow in the correct direction. The trick is to spray your nose very frequently like 6-8 times a day as the arid climate of Arizona challenges our sinus mucus functionality. If your mouth is dry in the desert, your upstairs nasal cavity is dry and could use a nasal saline “drink”. When “boogers” tenaciously adhere in your nasal passages, try and push it back as opposed to expectorating. Contrary to what you may believe or were taught, it is ok to swallow thickened mucus. In fact, mucus has tons of potential probiotic germs that may benefit our immunity if swallowed as opposed to blowing in a tissue and throwing in a waste basket. I tend to place edible oil (coconut, olive, and/or several other products like organic lip balms or non-petroleum plant-based oil products that are safe to ingest) in my nares/nose every morning to augment the “fresh smooth pavement” and “seal the cracks.” I spray Xlear nasal saline throughout the day to help my muco-ciliary clearance continue to carry my mucus in the proper direction. If you “slick” up your sinus linings, allergens, particles, and virus may not “stick”. These habits create a non-stick Teflon-like barrier (A SILVER LINING) as opposed to a VELCRO catch all and sticky, glue-like lining. 05-2025