All Posts

Cold or Sinus Infection? How to Tell the Difference

Our best friend, the tissues! Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor. This article is based on my personal experience living with recurring sinus problems and information from reputable medical sources. Always seek medical advice if you're concerned about your symptoms. As a veteran sinus sufferer, I like to think that I have this question down but sometimes I do find myself questioning my symptoms and given how many things can influence sinuses and how similar symptoms for different t

Kate Sloan

Aug 272 min read

How Hormones Can Affect Your Sinuses.

The hormonal shifts in a woman's life are not discussed enough. My initial symptoms started at aged 21 with headaches, pressure and dizziness

Kate Sloan

Aug 123 min read

Are Doctors Too Quick to Blame Allergies?

One of the reasons I started this blog is the frustration of lack of investigatory work from GPs in the UK. I can only write from my own experience,

Kate Sloan

Aug 103 min read

Why Do Heatwaves Make Your Sinuses Worse?

It's been hot. Maybe too hot here in the UK and it's doing a number on my sinuses, and I can imagine other sufferers are noticing the same increase in congestion, pressure and other symptoms. Unfortunately for us and planet Earth heatwaves are set to become a regular feature of UK Summers, this got me wondering whether there was any actual evidence linking hot weather and sinus problems and it turns out that there is. A 2023 study found that exposure to extreme heat (defined

Kate Sloan

Aug 103 min read

About Me

Hi, I'm glad you're here. I've been dealing with sinus problems since I was 21 — that's almost two decades of congestion, pressure, pain, and everything in between. Somewhere along the way, "just a sinus thing" turned into a permanent fixture of my life.

Like a lot of people with chronic sinus issues, I've spent more hours than I can count in GP waiting rooms, only to walk out with the same advice on repeat: try a nasal spray, wait it out, come back if it doesn't improve. It rarely did. Over the years I got used to figuring things out largely on my own — reading studies, testing remedies, trying every over-the-counter and prescription option going, and slowly piecing together what actually helps and what's just noise.

Now, at 40, I've decided to put all of that experience somewhere useful. This blog is part personal record, part research project. I want to dig into the science of sinus issues — anatomy, triggers, treatments, what's backed by evidence and what isn't — and combine it with what I've actually lived through. My hope is that if you're dealing with something similar, you'll find real, practical information here, along with the reassurance that you're not imagining it and you're not alone.

I'm not a doctor, and nothing here is medical advice — just one person's honest attempt to make sense of a frustrating, under-discussed health issue, in the hope it helps someone else too.