Sinusitis is the upper respiratory infection many people don't even know they have. Serrapeptase is exactly what many people need to get over sinusitis for good.

What Is Sinusitis?

Sinusitis refers to swelling and inflammation in the lining of the sinuses. The sinuses are air cavities in the cranial bones, especially the bones next to the nose. Sometimes the sinuses dry out and crack, forming places for irritants and allergens to lodge and cause inflammation. Sometimes the sinuses get infected with either bacteria (which cause sticky green and yellow mucus) or viruses (which cause runny clear mucus), or both. And because the opening of the sinuses is tiny, just a millimeter or two across, a little inflammation and swelling can cause a lot of pain for weeks or even months.

How can you recognize sinusitis? Here are some of the most common symptoms.

• Decreased sense of smell
• Difficulty breathing
• Difficulty breathing through the nose
• Headache
• Interrupted sleep
• Pain in the top teeth on one or both sides of the mouth
• Pain or pressure behind the eyes
• Pain or pressure in the cheeks
• Post-nasal drip, but with green or yellow phlegm
• Snoring
• Stuffy nose, but with green or yellow discharge
• Waking up with dry mouth, tongue, and lips due to breathing through the mouth at night

The only way to get over these symptoms is to stop the inflammation and swelling caused by allergies or infection so they can drain the mucus that is trapped inside them. Some medical treatments, however, have side effects that are nearly as bad as the disease itself.

The Problems with Conventional Treatments for Sinusitis

Nose sprays can be addictive. Nose sprays that contain steroids can actually lower your resistance to future infections while they help reduce swelling from the current infection.

Neti pots for nasal irrigation don't really clear out the sinuses themselves. The flow of water—which has to be sterile to prevent serious infections of its own—only loosens a plug of dry mucus at the opening of the sinus. And many of the prepared solutions for use in neti pots contain chemicals that can make inflammation inside the sinuses even worse.

A few of these ingredients include:

• Benzalkonium
• Benzyl alcohol (Phenylcarbinol)
• Dibasic sodium phosphate
• Disodium ETA
• Edetate disodium
• Iodine (not in a form or amount that prevents radiation exposure, but in a dosage that cause nasal inflammation)
• Potassium phosphate
• Providone
• Sodium silicoaluminate
• Thimerosal (which may be familiar to you as the additive to vaccines that some scientists claim causes autism)

If nose sprays don't work and nose washes don't work, what's left? You can always go to your doctor and get a prescription for an antibiotic, but killing bacteria won't get rid of the mucus that fills your sinuses. Serratiopeptidase will.

How Do Doctors Know Serratiopeptidase Plus Anti-Inflammatories Will Cure Sinusitis?

When medical researchers first studied serratiopeptidase as a treatment of sinusitis they used tiny doses, just 5 mg (500 serratiopeptidase units, or SU) for children under 12 and just 10 mg (1000 SU) for adults. They did not allow participants in the first study of the enzyme to use nose sprays, antihistamines, vaporizers, or neti pots, although they allowed them to take pain relievers and required them to take antibiotics.

Even with these tiny doses of serrapeptase, about a quarter of participants experienced complete relief from sinusitis in one week. Another half experienced “fair” sinusitis relief, meaning that mucus broke up but it was not all expelled by the end of one week. And these doses of serratiopeptidase didn't really work at all for the other quarter of participants in the trial.

Chances are you can get good results from serratiopeptidase for sinusitis. Most of the products on the market today in the USA and Canada offer 200 mg (20,000 SU) of active enzymes. That's 20 times what was used in the clinical trial. And no one is going to tell you that you cannot also use a vaporizer, a steam bath, a neti pot, or any other method to help you breathe in moisture and break up mucus so you can breathe better.

Serratiopeptidase primarily helps break up mucus. That is why you also need an anti-inflammatory to open up your sinuses and let the broken-up mucus drain. Exposing your sinuses to moisture helps the process of healing proceed even faster.

If you get “colds” and congestion all year round, chances are you have chronic sinusitis. Don't suffer needlessly. Serratiopeptidase and an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drug may be all you need to get it under control.

You can read more about sinusitis on the PubMed Health website.