Talk to me about cutting out dairy for sinusitis.

[Laalaland]

I've had recurrent sinusitis for at least 2 years. A couple of people have mentioned cutting out dairy. At this point I'm willing to try anything as I am so sick of the constant stuffy headaches which make me exhausted. I've been referred to ENT but not ideal how long that will take.

So if you've successfully cut out dairy and it's helped your sinuses...how long did it take after you cut it out to notice a difference? Have you cut out literally all dairy or just milk?

Thank you

I cut most dairy out of my diet some years ago when I suffered from persistent heartburn for nearly a year. I think it was partly due to IBS and stress as well but at the time a friend was going through hell with a newborn who had silent reflux that got attributed to a milk allergy. So I figured I'd try eliminating it and it has made a huge difference to my digestive issues, sinuses and eczema. I'm not really strict about it (I'm not willing to completely give up pizza and chocolate!) but I don't use dairy milk or yogurts, avoid butter and restrict cheese. I can definitely tell when I've had more than normal!

My husband had terrible sinusitis for 20 years and was taking daily prescribed medication for that period of time. He stopped eating wheat 5 years ago and the sinusitis disappeared relatively quickly.

He originally cut out dairy as well as wheat but found reintroducing dairy didn’t trigger any symptoms. It was definitely the wheat!

I get bad post nasal drip when I have dairy, mainly caused by milk. I find eating yoghurt or cheese etc does not cause it as much. Swapping milk for oat milk stopped mine within a couple days. Sometimes I give in and have a bowl of cereal with normal milk (as I don't like oat milk in cereal) and within a few hours the post nasal drip is back.

@NotFastButFurious yeah I plan to cut out milk and see how I get on. I don't want much cheese at the moment because I'm trying to loose a few pounds. I don't use butter. I do eat eggs a lot though....maybe I'll consider that after a week or so of giving up milk. I do wonder if it's the lactose rather than dairy though.

@BadgerFace oh I haven't heard about the link between sinuses and wheat. I'm glad to hear he's found something that works. I'm not sure if I eat anything with wheat in. I'll have to look into it some more.

@sweetpea567 thankfully I like oat milk with my cereal and porridge in the morning. It's milk in my brews thats the big sacrifice! I hate oat milk with tea and coffee but like I said I'm willing to try anything now! I've had a few days of no milk but this morning when I was out I got a tea with milk and my sinuses are sooooo bad, but could just be coincidence. I will try to be strict with it from now on though.

Yeah I had bad histamine intolerance but eventually wondered if it had been kicked off by an underlying dairy issue (I used to itch terribly as a teenager too). Cutting out dairy }now I have accepted it and actually stick to it) has completely solved my lifelong uriticaria, snottiness, post nasal drip, dandruff, blocked ears, headaches, and my other allergy reactions to high histamine foods (hives etc) have gradually stopped. I had a little Stilton last week and my ears have been a nightmare this week (think it just hypes up all my sebaceous fluids and everything gets blocked). I swear it runs in my family but none of the other 4 affected people can bear to give up dairy. I've totally got used to it.
I'm fine with eggs (used to react to them cooked certain ways, but that was the histamine thing). Give it a few weeks strictly then test it out with a significant amount on various occasions. It's a process, getting used to it. I hope you get some answers, whatever the issue is.

Have you tried doing sinus rinses, they are a bit unpleasant but with a neti pot and boiled water and the salt sachets they are really helpful.

Contrary to general belief, dairy is not mucus-forming.

@AyeupDuck yes I use a neti pot once or twice a day. I find it very soothing. GP has also prescribed me dymista which I use daily for the last 3 months. He's also prescribed me two different types on antihistamine which I used daily for a month each at some point in the last 2 years, I can't say I noticed a difference with them.

I've also been on antibiotics when it's an obvious infection which has been about every 4 months for the last 2 years.

@Geebray I don't have much mucus really. All my sinuses feel inflamed and hurt. I also get allergy type symptoms like itchy ears and eyes.

OK so I've had a few days of clear sinuses which has been so amazing!!! I've put this down to cutting out milk but literally just milk, as I still had cheese and a bit of chocolate but I was away. I came back yesterday had some waster egg chocolate and my sinuses are awful again!! But I'm at home where my cat is...so I'm going to cut out chocolate aswell as milk and hope that it's that and not my cat. 😨😨😨