The persistent congestion, facial pain, and pressure of chronic sinusitis can leave a person longing for life’s simple necessity of an uninterrupted breath. Sinusitis often leads to headaches, fatigue, mood disturbances, and disrupted sleep due to frequent awakenings.
A young lady who had been suffering from these symptoms for 11 years approached Ananda recently for a lasting solution. Nasal surgery, prolonged use of antidepressants, and medication for digestive problems were no longer offering solutions for her
Pitta-Kapha personality type. Her turbulent personal life led to traumatic stress episodes, exacerbating bloating, flatulence, nasal blockages and interrupted sleep with vivid dreams.
Her month-long stay at Ananda was a life-changing experience.
The Wellness Journey
The guest’s faith in Ayurveda and commitment to the process helped the physicians to create a detailed treatment plan for a complex web of health conditions presenting themselves as chronic sinusitis.
The client’s constant complaints of flatulence and bloating weren’t an alarming revelation for the physicians, because Ayurveda recognises an improper digestion or mand agni as the root cause of sinusitis. Therefore, raising the digestive fire to optimal levels was recognised as the first step to her recovery.
If the body fails to experience a desired state of rest through feelings and thoughts, it also fails to digest and excrete waste. The state naturally results in an overload of toxins purposelessly held back into the circulatory paths. Resonating with this explanation, the guest agreed on all suggestions for inducing deep states of rest from the start of her wellness programme. She was further informed, on how the incomplete evacuation of toxins were contributing to phlegm, and disturbing her kapha dosha, consequently obstructing the flow of vata that governs all movement. This vicious cycle ended with a further reduction of her metabolic fire. The experience of sinusitis was a collective manifestation of imbalanced doshas, with the metabolic fire’s inability to digest food being the root cause of her symptoms.
Advised to follow a deep cellular detox the physicians selected a plan to rebuild the metabolic fire across all body systems. Through the first phase of treatments, stimulating scrubs like udwarthana and choornaswedna accompanied snehpana, the process of drinking medicated ghee to loosen old toxins from the deepest layers of body tissues. To induce sleep and reduce mental strain to support healing, pacifying therapies like abhyanga and kashayadhara were prescribed with an aim to stabilise the nervous system.
Once the body reflected readiness to flush the loosened toxins, repeated detox therapies for the nasal cavities (nasyam), eyes (tarpana), and abdominal cavity and digestion (kunjal kriya – emesis, virechana - purgations and vastis - enemas) were administered. To help the mind through this second phase, emotional therapy, one-on-one guided meditations, and treatments to relax the neck (greeva vasti) and back (prishta vamsa) stepped in to support. The process of purging the toxins lasted for ten days, which was followed by the last phase of resurrecting the metabolic fire in the body and mind through nutrition, daily routine and counselling.
The End Result
The client started to express feelings of relief from frequent headaches and nasal discharge. Extremely pleased at her growing response to food without fearing unpleasant aftereffects of bloating and indigestion, her frequency of sinusitis attacks decreased significantly, allowing a better chance to enjoy everyday life. Post the expelling of toxins, the physicians started her on a dinacharya (daily routine) to maintain the restored vigor. Gandusha or oil pulling, herbal nasal drops, a calming yoga routine and aqua fitness started to build back her lost immunity.
Grounding therapies like aroma cocoon, narangakizhi, shirodhara and mukhlepa, continued to deepen her night sleep. Frequent acupuncture and physiotherapy sessions, combined with supervised nutrition and Rasayana (herbal tonics), helped boost the guest’s confidence, motivating her to take control of her life. The physicians, therapists and healers admired the guest’s determination and unwavering faith through the detoxification phase, which set the stage for a well-deserved transformation celebrated during the last few days of her month-long stay.