Don’t Forget Herbal Tinctures for Your Sinus Problems

Sinusitis herbal remedies are so numerous that if one or more don’t help you another one will.

All of These Herbs Have Been Used to Treat and Prevent Sinusitis:

• Purple Coneflower (Echinacea)
• Ephedra
• Goldenseal
• Oregon grape
• Horseradish (if you’ve ever eaten horseradish, you know that fire that opens up the sinuses)
• Poke root
• Yarrow
• Garlic
• Wild indigo
• Elder flowers

One doctor skilled in herbal therapy recommends mixing one part each of tinctures of eyebright, goldenseal, yarrow, horseradish and ephedra. Every two hours put thirty drops under your tongue. Then decrease the dose frequency to four times per day until the symptoms subside.

If the inflamed sinuses become infected take this mixture of sinusitis herbal remedies:

Two parts of purple cone flower
Two parts of wild indigo
One part of poke root

Take thirty drops every hour until the infection improves, then decrease to four times daily.

Wow with all those herbs something ought to be helping by now. But if your sinusitis persists you may want to add stinging nettles, elder flowers, goldenrod as a tincture and eyebright compound.

Perhaps you’re not familiar with tinctures. Tinctures are more powerful and last longer than just using the dried herb itself. They are prepared by placing cut or powdered loose herbs into a glass jar. Then pour 80 to 100 proof Vodka or rum over the herbs until they are covered. Now add one or two more inches of alcohol to the jar. Seal the jar tightly and put it into a paper bag or dark place. Shake the jar every day. Complete the processing of the tincture at the end of this 2 weeks of extracting the herb into the liquid.

Some herbalists recommend mixing the tincture ingredients at the new moon and letting them sit the 2 weeks until the full moon for the best natural drawing power.

Use cheese cloth to strain the alcohol-herbal mixture into a different glass jar. Put the tincture in a dark glass bottle with a dropper for the lid. Be sure to screw lid on very snugly.

Be sure to label your bottles.

Substitute water, vinegar or glycerin for the alcohol if you are sensitive to alcohol. If alcohol is not a problem for you, then use rum to make your tinctures because it masks the bitterness of the herbs.

You can also use herbs in your solutions for nasal lavage. Add one teaspoon of powdered goldenseal to 1 cup of warm water and stir well. Use this solution to wash your nostrils with a Neti pot or waterpic.

Or maybe you would rather inhale steam than do the nasal lavage. Add small amounts of aromatic herbs like mint or eucalyptus to the boiling water to increase the effectiveness of the steam in your sinusitis herbal remedies.

Be very cautious. Don’t burn yourself. Drape a towel over your head as you bend over the steaming water. To move the herbal remedy as far as possible into your lungs, take a very deep breath.

You can also apply a hot compress over your sinuses for three minutes followed by a cold compress for thirty seconds. Repeat the alternating hot and cold compresses for at least 3 times, ending with the cold compress.

Now your have a great arsenal of herbs to add to your sinusitis herbal remedies.

The Author:

Dr. Bessie Jo Tillman, MD