Anyone used Tea Tree Oil in a nasal rinse for chronic sinusitis?

@fdixon63 Bactroban is the brand name and Mupiroicin is the generic name. My surgery was a spinal fusion in my neck. I think it may be protocol for a lot of surgeries to prevent staph infections because it can live in your nose.

@janovr Good luck with your surgery.

Hello @jenniferhunter @ethanmcconkey @fdixon63 Thank you for the tag re: sinus issues. I culture m. Abscessus (fast grower), MRSA, and Acintobacter Baumanii in my sinuses regularly. My ENT, ID doctor & Pulmonologist at Stanford are all thrilled with how well I’m doing since beginning using the Navage Sinus rinse device. I add my Gentamicin antibiotic and Budesonide to it, as inhalants. (This spares my GI tract a little, since I don’t have to take them orally.) I was scheduled for a 3rd & final sinus surgery last January, and we were able to postpone that! God has been merciful to me so far, and I stand in humble gratitude. I hope this information will help others!

I'm not trying to be alarmist here, but I will say adamantly - DO NOT INHALE that which is not intended to be in your lungs, no matter who suggests it.
Please look at the current news reports of young people, presumably with (formerly) healthy lungs, who opted to put CBD oil or THC oil in e-cigs, and are now facing serious lung damage, which may be with them for life.
Things that are designed to be put on your skin, or into an aromatherapy vessel to disperse into the room air, have NOT been tested and shown to be safe to put into your body.
My sister chose, 20+ years ago, to ingest an oil that was untested for purity and safety at the recommendation of an "alternative medicine practitioner" who we later learned had no academic credentials. As a result, she suffered serious, irreversible damage to her liver, kidneys and pancreas, has many health and central nervous system problems, and is an invalid to this day. She and her husband live their retirement from health crisis to health crisis.

@sueinmn @fdixon63 Thank you for your post, but I am not suggesting that anyone inhale any oils or substances. I agree that vaping is a serious problem and it is not at all the same as what I mentioned. What I suggested is a drop of oregano oil in boiling water and that was on the Doctor Oz show in a segment about sinus infections and he said his family did this treatment themselves. This is like putting Vick's ointment in your vaporizer which has eucalyptus oil in it. The grease stays in the vaporizer and you can smell the scent. You inhale the steam which is water that helps thin mucous.

Boiling water will leave all it's impurities behind and water has a phase shift from a liquid to gas (steam) that occurs at 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Centigrade or Celcius. That is how they make distilled water. Common oils on the other hand have a much higher boiling point than water and will not undergo a phase shift to a gas at 212 degrees and will remain liquid oil. You can sniff oregano oil and smell it, and that is essentially what I suggested. You can do that with or without steam. We probably have all seen that oils remain in the pot when liquids are boiled. One consideration could be about allergies from inhalation of anything a person is allergic too.

I have no experience with any e cigarettes or vaping products, but I'm guessing they use high heat to vaporize whatever is in them, and they probably don't work by boiling water. We always have to consider safety of anything we do, and I am careful about what supplements I do take which are on the advice of my medical doctors, and purchased from companies that market these supplements to doctor's offices and pharmacies.

Here is a link that explains the boiling points of oils vs. water.

There is a huge difference between inhaling oregano vapors and using tea tree oil in a nasal wash.
Oregano is an edible substance, and the oil is also within reason - if you are not allergic to it or pregnant. Tea tree oil is poisonous if ingested. There is no indication that there is a difference in toxicity of tea tree oil between inhaling and swallowing. Using tea tree oil in a nasal rinse as the poster suggested could result in it being swallowed, and almost definitely would result in it being inhaled.
Absent scientific evidence of safety and efficacy, we need to be very cautious about appearing to endorse potentially dangerous practices. This is especially true when all of us already face the challenges of bronchiectasis, chronic infections, and challenging antibiotic and other medication regimens.

I use it straight. If I feel congested I will use for a couple of days till it clears up!

Hi everyone, You'll notice that I modified the title of this discussion to "Anyone used Tea Tree Oil in a nasal rinse for chronic sinusitis?" to be clear that the discussion is about treating chronic sinusitis while also dealing with MAC.

@fdixon63, I'm so glad you asked this question about treating chronic sinusitis. This article from Mayo Clinic states that tea tree oil should not be taken orally: https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-tea-tree-oil/art-20364246 Good that you checked with your ENT physician and have decided to stick to saline solutions for a nasal rinse. Some might argue that a nasal rinse is not the same as orally taking a substance, but like @sueinmn said, I would worry about mistakenly swallowing some or inhaling it. @sueinmn, upon reviewing the discussion, it is my opinion that @jenniferhunter was not advocating for the use of tea tree oil in a nasal rinse. You're both quite right that oregano is edible, whereas tea tree oil should not be ingested.

Similarly @bennb023, you might want to talk your doctor about nanosilver, also referred to as colloidal silver. Colloidal silver has come up several times in the MAC group. When it comes to supplements and complementary medicine, I always refer to NIH's National Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine to better understand the proven evidence. See this information:
– Colloidal Silver https://nccih.nih.gov/health/silver

There are no high quality studies on the health effects of taking colloidal silver, but there is good evidence of its dangers. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said that colloidal silver isn’t safe or effective for treating any disease or condition. According to Dr. Brent Bauer from Mayo Clinic says "Colloidal silver isn't considered safe or effective for any of the health claims manufacturers make. Silver has no known purpose in the body. Nor is it an essential mineral, as some sellers of silver products claim."
You can read more in this article:
– Colloidal silver: is it safe? https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/expert-answers/colloidal-silver/faq-20058061

As @sueinmn mentioned, having MAC means your lungs and immune system are compromised. You don't want to inhale anything that isn't recommended by a medical professional and support by scientific evidence.

@brigby such great news that you were able to avoid or postpone surgery. I appreciate your sharing your story.

@collcolleenyoung Thank you for your well-expressed response, and the citations to research-based opinions on safety and usefulness.
I understand the frustration of MAC and bronchiectasis, and the difficulty in treating it. It took over three years of illness before my bronchiectasis, MAC and pseudomonas were properly diagnosed, and treatment began. I have since learned this is a common occurrence. Now I am well into year two of treatment for MAC with no end in sight.
It is frustrating when traditional Western medicine doesn't have instant cures for us, and thus tempting to look elsewhere. However, anecdotal stories and endorsements by TV personalities (even MD's) are NOT evidence of safety or effectiveness. Before embarking on any new regimen of alternative or complementary treatment, assurance of safety is vital. And if you take any medications, or have underlying conditions, that which may be safe for your friend or neighbor may not be safe for you. Some things, like colloidal silver, can even render your medications ineffective.
If your physician doesn't want to listen to your questions and consider your ides, you may end up doing your own research on-line. If so, be sure to include ".gov" ".edu" and ".org" in your search to find vetted information. Wikipedia, product Web sites and similar sources are not what you want to rely on.
Remember that while it is frustrating to wait for answers, it takes time for researchers to gather information about safety and usefulness, vet it for accuracy, and analyze it. That's why there isn't immediate information about the latest treatments and "cures."

@sueinmn, @fdixon63 I agree with Sue on this. In my opinion, oil is sticky and may cause bacteria to stick to it and cause infection
It may be dangerous like vaping is due to having oils in it. People have been known to get serious sinus infections from rinsing with just boiled water! So you have to use caution about what you put in your sinuses. Remember, what is in the sinuses gets breathed into the lungs.