Fall is here – for many people that means dealing with a constant runny or stuffy nose. ADVENT Founder and President, Dr. Madan Kandula, went on The Morning Blend to share how you can find permanent relief from these seasonal annoyances.
Transcript:
[Molly] Welcome back to The Morning Blend. For many people fall means dealing with the constant runny or stuffy nose. And if you're suffering, you might be hesitant to seek help now during a pandemic. Dr. Madan Kandula understands. He is the founder and president of ADVENT. He has suggestions for permanent relief from these seasonal problems, hey doctor.
[Dr. Kandula] Hey, how are you doing?
[Molly] I'm doing good, thanks. And, you know, I mentioned fall and people experiencing this but honestly I think some people experience sinus issues with every seasonal change.
[Dr. Kandula] Yeah absolutely, I mean there are some folks who deal with this stuff year round and other folks, it can be seasonal where it's obvious. And then there's a whole other crew of people who actually deal with these issues. They don't even know that they have them. I think these masks that we are wearing now are kind of a prime example of really focusing on these areas. And so many people find them cumbersome. Some folks find it really, really hard to breathe through those areas. And so again, I think we've been seeing a lot of folks who didn't necessarily know that they had a problem until the masks were covering up their breathing triangles. And then people recognize, "Wow, that's not a fun way to go through life." And so again, the breathing triangle is the nose and the mouth. And so those are the areas that are covered up by masks. Those are the areas that we deal with as a practice.
[Molly] And I think it's interesting doctor, a lot of people say, "I'm healthy," and they're otherwise healthy. Maybe they exercise, they eat right, things like that, but yet they still have problems breathing through a mask.
[Dr. Kandula] Yeah, absolutely, I mean it could be a few different things. And again, I think if you don't have a mask on your face and you're just going about your life, you can kind of get by. If you put a mask on you're compromising yourself an extra level. And so, a lot of folks deal with issues where their anatomy is just not open enough. So there's the passageways, they're not an open enough. And then if your passageways aren't open to begin with and you put a mask on it's doubling up the problem. The other issue that some folks deal with is just lining that's irritated. And same thing, if your lining is irritated in your nose, so it could be allergies or other things like that, or just a runny nose, a mask is going to sort of make those issues much more obvious and much more annoying.
[Molly] Yeah, and I think that kind of helps us understand the root cause of some of these problems. A lot of people will visit their regular physician and they might get some sprays, they get pills. Will those things treat the types of problems that you just mentioned?
[Dr. Kandula] They're really just band-aids at the end of the day. I mean, again, if you've got a nose issue or a sinus issue it's either the anatomy is too tight or the linings irritated. Pills and sprays sometimes can help the lining. Most folks have both of those issues together and so you're really slapping a bandaid on an issue that you're not getting to the root cause of. So, really what we're about at ADVENT. is finding a solution for those issues. And the nice thing is we have solutions for many of these issues, we can do them in the office. So you don't have to go to the hospital or operating room. We can do them simply, safely in the office and provide actual relief, not a bandaid but getting to the root cause of things and getting somebody on with their life, I think, is our goal and getting them onto the life that they're supposed to have.
[Molly] It's shocking that some of these permanent solutions can be done in your office in less than a half an hour. I know you're excited about it because as a doctor the fact that you can do these in-office, they're less invasive, but also for patients and shortening the recovery time is incredible.
[Dr. Kandula] Yeah, it really is. I mean, we have tools at our disposal these days to provide solutions and we can do that in the office. A couple of the ones that I think are most prominent, balloon sinuplasty is one where we can literally open the sinuses noninvasively just by using a little balloon up through the nose. It's very, very easy, local anesthesia. That is something we can do in 15, 20 minutes and change somebody's life by doing that. That's a remarkable, really advanced that we're able to do. And so that's one example of when things are tight, we can get things more open and we can do that in a very simple and elegant manner. Another option that has been helping a lot of folks is something called nasal cryotherapy and that's a different procedure but it is also an office-based procedure. We're literally just using cold in the back part of the nose. There's sort of the thermostat of the nose, which either turns on the nose to be runny and stuffy or turns it down. And so when we freeze that area for 30 seconds, it provides really a reset to that area. And when that thermostat comes back on, it is back in order and not creating that annoying runny nose, itchy nose, stuffy, irritated nose. So sort of two different angles procedures that we can impact both the anatomy, which is balloon sinuplasty or post procedures, where we can impact the lining of the nose, which is Clarifix. So that's just a couple of examples. We've got dozens of options and it's really figuring out what's going on for somebody, and what are the options that might help them? Our approach is if we can find a solution we wanna deliver that. And if we can deliver that solution in the office that is the way we wanna do it. And so that's really struck a chord with so many folks. And that's a good thing.
[Molly] Really quick doctor, why is now in your opinion, a good time to schedule an appointment, evaluation and treatment?
[Dr. Kandula] Yeah, I mean, I guess on one hand life is short and there's always some excuse you can put in your way. Now is not the time for an excuse, it's time for a solution. The other part is all of our options are covered by healthcare insurance. I think a lot of folks don't necessarily know that. And so this time of year, many folks have deductibles that reset at the new year. And with all the sort of slings and arrows of life many folks have had issues that have happened earlier in the year and want to take advantage of the fact that maybe they've met their deductible. And this is the perfect time to do that. We still have time to get folks in and get these treatments done before the end of the year. But that time is sort of running away. I think the other part of that too for a lot of folks is as we hit Halloween, as we hit the end of the year, people start really kind of thinking about new year, new year's resolutions. Many of those things come back to health and there is nothing more important to your health than being able to breathe properly, it's fundamental. And so really now is the time to say, "I'm gonna do something about this." And really maybe do something at the end of this year that's gonna prepare you for the next year to come. So many reasons. Really no reason not to, I'd say at this point. So it's really so easy to do, regardless of this whole COVID situation
[Molly] Totally agree, resolve to breathe easier. Great to see you this morning doctor. Thank you so much for your time.
[Dr. Kandula] Thanks for having me.
[Molly] Absolutely, and there are five ADVENT locations in Wisconsin. To find the one closest to you or to schedule an appointment, it's easy. It takes less than a minute and ADVENT just released some new appointments for Morning Blend viewers, so you can be seen this week even. Email info@adventknows.com or visit this website. It's adventknows.com. You can also call 771-6780 to schedule the appointment.