The appearance of rhinorrhea and nasal congestion indicates inflammation of the nasopharyngeal mucosa. The reason for this may be the usual hypothermia or an infectious disease. To quickly get rid of the unpleasant symptoms of a cold, it is necessary to carry out complex treatment. Warming procedures are an effective way to cure rhinitis, but only if the rules of the procedure are followed. In this article, we will talk about whether you can warm your nose with a cold.
If a person has a weakened immune system, a runny nose can last for 10 days or more. To speed up recovery, it is recommended to use medicines and carry out medical procedures. Let us dwell on warming procedures in more detail, in particular, warming up the nose.
What is the use of warming up?
With the appearance of nasal congestion, a person loses the ability to distinguish smells, taste, nasal breathing becomes difficult, and nasal discharge is also disturbed. The mechanism of development of rhinitis is due to irritation of the mucous membrane, the appearance of edema and hypersecretion.
The maximum effectiveness of the procedure is noted with the catarrhal form of rhinitis.
Warming up the nose is recommended for rhinorrhea caused by hypothermia, or when a cold is of viral origin. Inhalation of cold air or general freezing reduces the protection of the nasopharyngeal mucosa. As a result, opportunistic microorganisms are activated, which leads to the appearance of inflammation.
Warming up the nose with a runny nose:
- expands local blood vessels, which improves the delivery of immune components;
- improves metabolic processes;
- inhibits the reproduction of microbes;
- reduces tissue swelling;
- accelerates regenerative processes;
- reduces the severity of itching and the frequency of sneezing;
- restores nasal breathing.
Contraindications to the procedure
To get rid of rhinitis, you need to strictly follow the recommendations for the warming procedure. You should not warm up your nose when:
- purulent type of rhinitis, when bacteria are the cause of the disease;
- purulent sinusitis;
- adenoiditis, when inflammation is localized in the hypertrophied tonsil;
- sore throat.
In addition, the warming effect is contraindicated in hyperthermia. During the procedure, in the presence of contraindications, it is possible to increase the inflammatory process, swelling, purulent discharge and aggravation of fever. In this case, the risk of complications (abscess, purulent otitis media) increases.
Warming up the nasal zone is not effective for allergic, atrophic or vasomotor rhinitis.
Hardware warming up
The warming effect can be achieved with the help of physiotherapy procedures. For the procedure, you can use a "blue lamp" or otherwise - Minin's reflector. The thermal effect is provided by infrared radiation.
The reflector consists of a shade for focusing the light and a blue glass lamp. Due to the blue tint of the lamp, when the bridge of the nose warms up, we do not feel a blinding effect on the eyes.
How to properly warm your nose? There are several rules that allow you to maximize the effect of the procedure and avoid complications of the disease:
- the lamp should be positioned at an angle of 60 degrees to the person;
- the distance between the lamp and the skin should not be less than 20 cm and not more than half a meter. Depending on the thermal sensations, you can independently adjust the distance by moving the lamp back;
- during the procedure, you must cover your eyes with a bandage. If you have lenses, you need to remove them;
- warming up the nasal cavities should not be more than three times a day;
- the duration of the procedure for an adult is about half an hour. If treatment is planned for a child, the duration of rewarming should not exceed 10 minutes.
How to warm a child's nose? Often, the problem of carrying out the procedure for children is their lack of perseverance. Children are constantly spinning, they do not sit in one place, which is why the effect of warming up is insufficient. In this regard, it is recommended to carry out the procedure when the child is asleep. To assess the strength of the heat, it is enough to put your hand on the baby's skin.
The action of the blue lamp is to activate microcirculation and increase local immunity. Among the contraindications to the use of the Minin reflector, it is worth highlighting:
- hyperthermia;
- period of exacerbation of chronic diseases, including infectious origin;
- oncopathology;
- skin diseases, as well as a violation of the integrity of the skin;
- severe diabetes, cardiovascular disease.
Other heating methods
How to warm up your nose with salt? The simplest heating method is to use food or sea salt. To carry out the procedure, you must:
- heat up salt with a volume of 100 g in a frying pan or in an enamel container;
- pour salt into a cloth bag or handkerchief, which should be tied with a cord or thread;
- apply "heat" to the bridge of the nose or nasal wings. If there is a burning sensation due to the high temperature of the salt, it is required to wrap the bag with an additional layer of tissue;
- keep "warm" for about a quarter of an hour.
Instead of salt, you can use buckwheat. Here are a few more remedies for warming procedures:
- boiled potatoes or an egg should be wrapped with a handkerchief and applied to the skin of the paranasal area for 15 minutes;
- warming up with propolis. To prepare the "medicine" it is necessary to mix grated propolis with melted honey 1: 1 and form a cake;
- rye cakes. It is enough to mix equal volume of rye flour with melted honey, after which the mixture must be heated in a water bath. From the resulting hot mass, a cake should be formed and applied to the area of the maxillary sinuses;
- the warming effect can be obtained from a mixture of radish juice and vegetable oil. To do this, you need to clean, grind the radish with a grater, heat the oil in a water bath and mix the ingredients. The bandage is moistened in the mixture and applied to the bridge of the nose and the area of the paranasal sinuses. To enhance the effect, you can cover the gauze with polyethylene, cotton wool or a warm cloth.
The procedure is best performed before bedtime, supplementing the treatment with general warming (foot baths with mustard, warm shower). Warming up the nose is useful even to prevent a cold, for example, after hypothermia or contact with a sick person. So warm your nose to your health!
