How to treat chronic rhinitis?

  Chronic rhinitis recurring, resulting in nasal congestion, runny nose, seriously affecting people’s quality of life, patients often in order to demand a cure for the approach of indiscriminate medical treatment, the result is often the worse the treatment, wasted a lot of time and money. A few days ago, Yan Yongyi, one of the top rhinologists in China, told us that the more common standardized systematic drug treatment for chronic rhinitis internationally is the dual-channel method of Western medicine: nasal hormones + macrolides – long-term use.  But this treatment, whether for rhinitis, sinusitis, or rhinosinusitis, is actually only applicable to the improvement phase of chronic inflammation, the extension phase, or the less severe phase of inflammation, that is, when the patient has no obvious symptoms. In other words, when the patient feels that the symptoms are not severe enough to be tolerated, it is still not possible to stop the treatment. Moreover, in many cases, relying solely on this Western dual-channel therapy is still insufficient for patients with prolonged inflammation. Although there is no evidence-based medical evidence to fully prove the effectiveness of TCM treatment, limited clinical observations still suggest that adding oral TCM and herbal lotions to saline rinses on top of dual-channel therapy can still help improve the efficacy of dual-channel therapy. For the sake of expression, we can also call this treatment: dual-channel treatment with Chinese medicine.  Of course, what is unfortunate and indisputable is that many so-called proprietary Chinese medicines have actually added some western medicine ingredients, and their specific ingredients and contents are either not disclosed to the public or are not known to the medical practitioner. For example, the rhinitis, its each tablet contains 1mg of paracetamol. It is rumored to contain some weak acid, and so on.  Note: It is impossible for European and American scholars to provide the so-called evidence-based medical evidence for Chinese medicine treatment. Moreover, from the perspective of East-West interests, trade protection, cultural differences, etc., not to mention the lack of evidence-based medical evidence promoted by European and American scholars, it is difficult to obtain the approval of European and American scholars when the Chinese really have evidence of evidence-based medicine. What is even sadder is that Western medical scholars from China, who have now become the mainstream of Chinese academia, the returnees or the quasi-returnees who have studied abroad for a short period of time, seem to be more eager to cite European and American literature and more willing to believe in evidence-based medicine from the Western world. Because, in many cases, people need SCI, a marker of their level of learning, and recognition from the international community, the lack of attention, investment, and in-depth research on TCM treatment has become the general trend.  In the process of herbal treatment, it should be noted that the doses of existing proprietary Chinese medicines are slightly inadequate, and it is best to use two proprietary Chinese medicines with similar efficacy at the same time. Until more clinical evidence is available, a half-monthly course of intermittent and alternating use is recommended. In addition, there is a linear relationship between the dosage and duration of nasal saline rinses, to some extent, and their efficacy. In other words, more rinses and longer duration of use, without violating therapeutic principles, will result in better efficacy. However, when the inflammation is significantly aggravated, or when it is in the acute phase of chronic inflammation, there is no doubt that the strength of the above dual-channel treatment will certainly be more difficult to meet the needs of the disease, but should be referred to the treatment plan of acute rhinitis, sinusitis, rhinosinusitis, a full amount, full course, effective, combined with a greater short-term shock treatment. Thus, this acute onset of inflammation can be rapidly controlled, so that it is in the improvement period or relocation period of chronic inflammation, and then, it can be transferred to the previous dual-channel treatment of Western medicine and Chinese medicine.  If all goes well with the elimination of chronic inflammation, the available literature still suggests that this elimination process is also a protracted one. However, if the elimination of chronic inflammation does not go smoothly, and if there are frequent acute attacks on top of the chronic inflammation, the elimination process will be even more difficult. Of course, the frequent occurrence of acute episodes of chronic inflammation suggests the need for long-term effective control of such chronic inflammation, on the one hand, and on the other hand, does not exclude the need for further surgical intervention in such chronic inflammation.  The current surgical interventions are: plasma ablation of the inferior turbinate, external displacement of the inferior turbinate fracture, submucosal resection of the inferior turbinate, correction of the nasal septum and several others.