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Cayenne for Sinus Infection - The Spicy Solution

The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
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Cayenne
Posted by Francis (British Columbia) on 06/27/2016
 ★☆☆☆☆

This is one of the stupidest things I have fallen for. Snorting cayenne did nothing but make me sneeze and inflamed my sinuses to the point where I lost all sense of smell and taste. I've also tried apple cider vinegar, garlic, colloidal silver, none have worked to even relieve my sinuses. Keep cayenne where it belongs: in food.

Cayenne
Posted by Renee (Bergen Co., Nj) on 11/20/2013
 ★☆☆☆☆

Cayenne in a nasal rinse did not work well for me. Immediately after irrigating my sinuses with a small pinch of cayenne in the normal saline solution, my sinuses felt better and a lot of yellow mucus came out. But a little later I experienced rebound inflammation resulting from the irritation of the cayenne. I ended up staying up most of the night because every time I laid down and started falling asleep, I would wake up with a gasp for breath. It was scary. I had to force my breathing to get enough oxygen. Perhaps it was the irritation in my throat but I could not bear to breath through my mouth and seemed to experience the same gasping when I tried. Sitting straight up or standing helped me to breath better, but if I fell asleep and my head tilted in any direction, I would wake up with the gasp for air. Scary! ...I've had rebound inflammation from other sinus rinses here too: ACV, H2O2 come to mind. And I've used Sinus Buster many times, until I realized that it was causing rebound inflammation. But this was the worst case ever! I ended up eating and taking an Advil in the middle of the night trying to reduce the inflammation. It was better this morning, but because my sinuses were swollen shut all night, my sinus infection was even worse by today. Trying betadine & baby shampoo sinus rinse now. (so far, no rebound inflammation after one rinse)

Cayenne
Posted by Anti-cayenne (Omaha, Nebraska) on 04/16/2012
 ★☆☆☆☆

WARNING!

This is a ***WARNING*** about cayenne pepper snorting. I did this a handful of times to cure a cold and the last time I did so, I did it with particularly hot cayenne (according to the rating). There may be nothing more that I regret doing in my life. I really, really wish I'd never seen this website and gotten this idea into my head because after this time, my nose started running all the time. I thought I was just getting cold after cold, or that my hayfever was persisting into the winter months, but that didn't make any sense to me so I started eliminating foods to see if it was intolerance issues. Finally I found the most simplistic of elimination diets, one that got rid of practically every type of potential allergen including odd foods that contain salicylates, glutamates, histamine-containing foods, etc. It was an incredibly bland diet and I thought it was a good starting place to add foods back in and see what I react to.

Turns out I react to almost everything now, because cayenne contains lots of salicylates or phenols and these are substances in everything you eat to varying degrees. I find that I can now only eat things that are very low in salicylates and phenols - these are very, very bland foods. Otherwise, my nose runs, my eyes get puffy and red, I get this brain dead feeling, and basically can't function. Never used to be this way. I can't enjoy almost any of my favorite foods anymore, like spices, coffee, dairy, most fruits and vegetables, nuts, fermented foods like alcohol and vinegar, etc. Pretty much all plant foods are out if I want to be 100% well because I'm convinced the cayenne pepper activated something that made me sensitive to plant chemicals.

Anyway, this will sound dramatic but as someone who's found food to be a source of joy and creativity on various levels - nutritionally, gustatorily, socially, etc. - this has been the biggest blow to my wellbeing in many, many years. Sometimes I've found myself profoundly depressed about it, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't regret have done something so apparently dangerous. If anyone has an "earth cure" about how to get rid of "allergies to everything" caused by cayenne pepper, I'd be unbelievably happy. Sigh.

In short: please don't snort cayenne pepper, ever.

Cayenne
Posted by Liz (Fairfield, CT) on 03/02/2009
 ★☆☆☆☆

cayenne snorting....nah! Whew DOGGIES! I'm a tough 'ole broad, but this just kicked my ass! Damn, that HURT! It irritated my membranes and the back of my throat, causing uncontrollable coughing! Bad idea!

Cayenne
Posted by Megan (Cedar Falls, IA, USA) on 02/19/2009
 ★☆☆☆☆

I tried snorting cayenne pepper to relieve my sinus headache. I used roughly 1/32 of a teaspoon in my most obstructed nostril. Though my sinuses were cleared temporarily, the burning was hardly worth it. The left half of my face was inflamed, my eyes were running, and blowing my nose hurt like sin. I used my neti pot after, to try and quell the pain, with less than optimal results. Half an hour later, the burning has stopped and my congestion is back. Maybe I did something wrong, but I would not recommend this remedy.



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