Montgomery News

There are actually a few explanations for people experiencing a worsening of sinus symptoms following the St. Patrick's Day holiday.

Acid reflux can result from the type of foods you might consume on St. Patrick's Day. A study published in 2021 in the medical journal BMC Pulmonary Medicine established a link between acid reflux problems and nasal or sinus issues.

Nasal symptoms caused by alcohol consumption have been connected with allergic rhinitis in research published in the medical journal Respiratory Medicine. So some green beer on St. Patrick's Day could conceivably lead to a higher chance of sinus issues in the days following the holiday.

Sinus problems experienced around the time of Saint Patrick's Day, which is celebrated on March 17, could also be normal seasonal allergies. Seasonal allergies traditionally grow more intense at the beginning of spring, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. 

Some allergies begin in February, while others may wait until March or April when the trees and flowers are in full bloom. Spring cleaning is also an activity that aggravates these symptoms around this time of year.

“You're doing your spring cleaning and you breathe in a bunch of dust," Dr. Manish Khanna of Capitol Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers told Montgomery News.  "This inflammatory process clogs those little, tiny openings, and when those openings are clogged, the mucus that the sinus lining is producing just hangs around in the nasal passages. That's a nice culture medium for bacteria to overgrow and lead to a sinus infection, which can also lead to really thick postnasal drip that patients feel and lead to a lot  of throat clearing. And they start to feel that mucus in the back of their throat, so that's a common symptom of patients who have  allergies."

If you're curious about your own allergy or sinus symptoms, please take this Sinus Self-Assessment Quiz provided by Capitol Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers.