--to intermittently get weird nasal/sinus things that cause me much pain and that various ENT's have been stumped by, as the cultures generally don't show anything out of the ordinary.

One ENT had the theory that my overactive immune system may be overreacting mucosally to small insults, and producing really thinck mucous that puts pressure on the sensitive membranes and results in pain, as thick secretions do not drain properly. Unlike other ENT's, he wanted me to flush sterile salt/baking soda solution up there several times a day, to dislodge all the stuff; he didn't believe this would change my flora much, just knock some of the thick stuff out. He also told me to keep well-hydrated. This was a different approach than in the past, when I had been prescribed nasal sparys with thinning/antibiotic meds by other ENT's.

I must admit I am of mixed feelings regarding the irrigation approach, not having the expertise here that I do in other areas. I can say the nose-drip-to-throat situation was so bad some years back that, mindful of the link between Epstein Barr-Virus and certain nasopharyngeal cancers, and EBV's link to certain types of acute neuropathies, I had myself titred up for the specific EBV antibody profile that is associated with that condition--fortunately it was negative.

I do wonder, though, given EBV's--and other human herpes viruses--tendencies to be immortalized in the nasopharyngeal area, how many of us with neuropathies also have chronic nose/sinus problems--my completely unscientific impression is that the coorelation, at least, is there fairly often. I know Wings has said that those of us who swallow a lot of mucous increase our chances of both misabsorbing nutrients and of getting nasties past the guarding cells of our intestinal tract, increasing the possibility of autoimmune molecular mimicry phenomena (and, of course, both can lead to neurological problems), but I don't know of much research that has addressed this possible connection.

In any case, hope you can all get some relief.