Feedback on Sinus Cures

Image Gallery A demonstration of the boiling eucalyptus sinus cure. ILLUSTRATION: CRAIG SPONSELLER

In a previous issue, Carolyn Prentiss offered Ralph Orsi a home remedy for sinus trouble. Her advice—to throw a handful of eucalyptus leaves into a pot of boiling water and then to make a tent with a large towel to cover your head and the pot—can't be scoffed at.

The May 1972 issue of SOVIET LIFE indicates that the Russian scientists are getting into eucalyptus as medicine: "A new medicinal preparation, chlorophyllyptus, has been derived from eucalyptus leaves at the Ilya Mechnikov Microbiology, Vaccines, and Serums Research Institute in Kharkov. The drug is effective against staphylococcus germs, which are resistant to antibiotics. It is prescribed for blood infections, inflammation of the lungs, various complications due to staphylococcus infections, and some other diseases."

Rohn Engh
Star Prairie, Wis.

The following sinus cure works great for me: Roll up a large towel, hold it by the ends, and dunk the middle into a big pan of boiling water. Wring it out hard and place it on your forehead for as long as you can stand it. Raise it, then put it back again until it begins to cool. Repeat the whole procedure two or three more times. Five minutes or so of this clears my sinuses, especially if I lie down and rest or sleep immediately after the treatment.

But prevention is better than cure. Try wearing a cap or hat whenever you're outside on a cold and/or damp day. If this works as well for you as it does for me, you won't feel your sinuses again until you forget the head protection.

Walter F. Faustman, Jr.
Wallingford, Conn.

In answer to C. Prentiss, who asked for a real sinus cure: There's none that I know of, only methods that give temporary relief. But there is prevention, in such a simple and logical form that people disdain it: the modern version of the old-fashioned nightcap!