What You Need to Know about Nasal Polyps

Have you been experiencing trouble breathing through your nose? Losing your sense of smell and taste? Perhaps painful sinus headaches that affect life, making daily activities difficult? These could be the signs of nasal polyps. Many patients begin to notice this issue after developing symptoms that won’t go away after a lengthy period of time.

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What Are Polyps?

Nasal polyps are grape-like growths that occurs in the nasal and sinus cavities. They begin to block the airways in the nostrils and can even begin to spread. Most people don’t notice that there is anything wrong until an obvious sign occurs, such as a persistent sinus headache or a rise in the number of times they get sick or develop an infection. The polyps grow gradually over time, which means that many patients don’t notice that they have a problem because the body has adjusted with the growth. Patients who have their polyps treated often note a major positive impact on their nasal breathing as well as other nose and sinus related symptoms.

How Are Polyps Diagnosed?

Patients with stuffy nose, diminished sense of smell and taste, postnasal drainage, etc may at some point make their way to an ear, nose and throat physician. Further evaluation will often involve a nasal endoscopy in which the doctor uses a small lighted rod to view back into the nasal passages. It is on careful examination, often with endoscopy, that patients are sometimes found to have nasal polyps. Further studies, such as CT scans, may be performed to help determine the extent of the polyps and the sinus blockage.

How Can Polyps be Treated?

Some polyps respond well to medications and others do not. There is an increasingly wide range of prescription nasal sprays and oral medications that can slow down the growth of polyps and, in some cases, shrink them. On occasion, it may be recommended that polyps be surgically removed so that the topical medications can work more effectively to keep them from coming back. Fortunately, surgery for polyps has changed a lot during the past few years, and is now usually an outpatient, minimally-invasive procedure without packing, bruising, or splints, and only minimal discomfort while the healing process occurs.  Small stents are now available that can be implanted during surgery and give off anti-inflammatory medication for several weeks.

In any case, polyps should always be evaluated by an ear, nose, and throat physician. Some polyps – particularly those that occur on one side only – need careful evaluation to ensure that there is not a more serious condition present.

To get help with nasal polyps, contact of Dr. Samuel S. Becker, a sinus specialist located in Pennsylvania. He is also a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a board-certified specialist in otolaryngology. For more information about him, visit his website at www.beckerent.com.

Smooth Fitness 5.65 Treadmill update and folding feature demo #SmoothBlogger

Hi guys! It has been almost a month since we have had our fabulous Smooth Fitness 5.65 treadmill and we have been enjoying the many great benefits from it.  It just so happens that my husband is currently taking a health and wellness college class, so he has been able to offer tips to help maximize our workouts. One thing we did was buy a digital scale. Our eyes got rather big when we saw the numbers that came up. My husband has set a goal of losing roughly 40 pounds. He ideally needs to be under 200 pounds. So far he has cut out most of the sugar in his diet and has started eating very small meals throughout the day. After the first 2 weeks, he is down 6 pounds. I am so proud of how well he is doing and even when tempting foods are around, he either says no or he takes just one bite.

The treadmill itself is one fine piece of equipment. We have it set up downstairs near the girls' bedrooms and unless they walk out of their room, they don't hear if anyone is using it. That was a concern since my husband tends to do his workout early in the morning when everyone is still in bed. It runs very quietly and we love that we can hook up our music device or tablet to the MP3 jack so we can listen to music or watch videos. The girls have been incorporating a 2 mile run 3 times a week since they are so consumed with school-related things. I know that it will come in very handy when Briahnna starts back volleyball conditioning. I am sure she will make much better time on her laps.

I wanted to show you this quick video below that demonstrates how easy it is to fold the treadmill in the event we wanted to move it or store it. Quite honestly, I don't think we will ever need to store it, but we have thought about relocating it in the future. Check it out:

Note: It is not necessary to hold the bottom of the treadmill as it comes down, but I still do because I get scared it might slam down too hard. It doesn't do it but I am just the typical cautious mom. In the next couple weeks I will demonstrate the features located on the dashboard so you can get a better idea of how it works and how user-friendly it is.

Stay connected with Smooth Fitness on the web, Facebook and Twitter.

I am participating in a campaign as a Smooth Fitness Ambassador and will be reviewing a treadmill from Smooth Fitness in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts/opinions expressed are always my own.

See how Smooth Fitness is saving my family money! #SmoothBlogger

My family is on a very strict budget. If we don't have the extra cash for things, we just don't buy them. We have been members at our local health club for a few years on were on a special that was offered for a limited time. Of course, that limited time ended and the new price would have skyrocketed to $90 a month! With super high gas and food prices, we need an extra $90 each month. Also, with the kids' and husband's busy schedules, the gym membership was not being used like it should. We were throwing our money away because nobody had the time to go. 

Our Smooth Fitness treadmill came in right on time! We received it last week and  we were all eager to test it out.  My first impression when I saw it being hauled in by the delivery guys was, "WOW!" It was a lot bigger than what I was expecting.

My husband and I have been looking at treadmills for a while and most of what we have seen in the local stores were on the cheap side. They looked like even I could break it because of how lightweight they were. Our Smooth 5.65 Treadmill looks and feels like what you would see in a gym. We love that it can handle up to 300 pounds. It was important for us to have a high-quality machine since there will be 4 of us using it on a daily basis. Each family member has their own set of goals they want to achieve. Right now we are all in the process of starting off slowly to get our bodies conditioned for the goals we have planned for ourselves.

I love the very simple, user-friendly display. My husband experimented with one of the pre-programmed routines on the treadmill and he had to surrender after 15 minutes! He realized he needs to work up to that stage. His biggest goal is both weight loss and cardio strengthening. I plan to purchase a new bathroom scale so we can track his weight each week. Having this treadmill in our home is going to help him so much since work, college classes, being a dad and a husband often gets in the way of getting proper exercise. I want to see my husband around for a very long time! I will say this, so far one of the great side-effects of working out for my husband has been better sleep. He struggles with falling asleep at night and after only 3 days, he has been crashing hard! Of course we all know that the sleep is so important to be able to function properly each day.

Please come back in a couple weeks when I discuss through video, more about how the Smooth Fitness treadmill works. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to leave a comment or shoot me an email.

Stay connected with Smooth fitness on the web, Facebook and Twitter.

I am participating in a campaign as a Smooth Fitness Ambassador and will be reviewing a treadmill from Smooth Fitness in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts/opinions expressed are always my own.