The Definition of Sinusitis
What exactly is sinusitis. Is it a headache? Is it a bad cold? Is it feeling dizzy? Is it having a sore throat? Is it all those things? Is it having a cold that won’t go away? What is the definition of sinusitis?
Generic viagra Canada pharmacy
Sinusitis by strict definition is an infection in one or more of your sinus cavities. That would be the specific terminology of the description. But what does that really mean?
Let’ start with an explanation of what your sinuses are and go from there. Your sinuses are air spaces in your head. Yes, that’s right, just air spaces. Those air spaces play a very important role in protecting your respiratory system. They are actually your body’s first line of defense in keeping foreign particles and bacteria from getting into your lungs.
Those air spaces, your sinuses, are lined with mucus. It sounds like a bad thing but it is really a very good thing. Mucus is a good thing as long as your system is working normally. The mucus traps foreign particles like dust and pollen and even bacteria. It is like fly paper. Those undesirable materials get trapped in the mucus.
Once trapped, those contaminants can’t get into your lungs. Now your body sweeps the mucus out of the sinuses with microscopic filaments called cilia that move back and forth. The back and forth motion pushes or sweeps the mucus out of the sinuses and into the nose where it further drains into your stomach where it is destroyed by your stomach fluids.
New fresh mucus replaces that which was swept away and the whole cycle starts over again. This whole cycle happens while you hardly if ever notice anything happening. In this normal course of events, believe it or not, your body usually produces about a pint of mucus a day.
Again, you usually don’t notice this at all, until something goes wrong. It does not take much to make something go wrong. All it takes is a small blockage. Anything that irritates your nose or sinuses can cause a blockage. The most common cause is a cold, but any irritant can cause swelling and blockages in the area.
If a blockage develops, the contaminated mucus cannot drain. It has nowhere to go. It starts to build up in the air space. That’s why you start to feel like your head is full. That’s why you feel pressure in the area.
In the blocked sinus there is bacteria trapped. Since it cannot be swept away it starts to build up. The closed off sinus is a perfect incubator for breeding bacteria and the bacteria begins to multiply. In a very short time the bacteria count can go from just hundreds up to hundreds of thousands. Now you have a sinus infection. In other words you now have a case of sinusitis.
That is a very simple explanation of a sinus infection. By definition that is sinusitis.
