Sinus and wet hair or cold weather.

[Despo]

Thank you for your earlier answer to my question. I've been doing some experiments and I have found a couple of curious things.

1. When I take a shower and wet my hair, my sinus seems to drain really bad. This I believe is the source of my bad breath.

2. The same happens when I am out in the cold. When I dress warm, the drainage and the bad breath are better by atleast by 60% - 70%.



So, my question is,

1. Is there any relation between wetting my hair and my sinus running and bad breath?

2. How is the cold weather affecting my sinus and how is dressing up warmly helping?



Thanks for your help.

[National Jewish]

You may be experiencing something called vasomotor rhinitis.  When you increase the blood flow in the nose, there is increased "leakage" from the blood vessels and thus the runny nose.  An atropine nasal spray (an anticholinergic) sometimes works for this. The most common time for this problem to occur is during thyroid problems and hormonal changes in life: puberty, pregnancy, and pre-menopause.  Anything that changes the hormone level can aggravate your symptoms.  Almost anything that causes an increased blood flow can also make your symptoms worse.  This would include: exercise; heat and cold changes; spicy foods; and emotions, especially stress.  The warm steam from the shower is probably causing your sinuses to drain, not the actual wetting of your hair.  The cold air is likely doing the same.  Avoiding the exposures and situations that create a change in blood flow will help.  Use of drying medicines, such as an anticholinergic or antihistamines, will also help.  Bad breath is common with nasal congestion and sinus infections. It can also be caused by other sources of infection such as strep throat.  If you haven’t already done so, you may wish to consult an ENT or allergist for evaluation of these chronic and annoying symptoms.

[Despo]

Another thing... I have been diagnoized with Eczema... It really flares up during the winter... I don't know if this is anyway connected to the sinus problem..