September 11, 2024 • 20 mins
The podcast "Wellness Connection MD" focuses on providing evidence-based, commercial-free wellness information. It aims to empower listeners with practical solutions for optimizing health. On today's show we proudly announce Dr. McMinn's new book, "McMinn Sinusitis Microbiome Protocol," which offers a natural approach to helping patients with chronic sinusitis and rhinitis by focusing on reestablishing a healthy sinus microbiome. Unfortunately, the traditional treatments for sinusitis, which include antibiotics and surgery often fail. This leaves millions of unfortunate patients with no hope as they continue to suffer with the misery of chronic sinusitis, often for many years. Dr. McMinn offers a tested, safe, and natural alternative therapy based on cutting-edge science, and on a functional and integrative approach. The heart of the protocol involves five steps: some basic principles of nutrition and lifestyle to improve sinus health, and overall health, weeding out bad bacteria, preparing the sinuses by breaking down biofilms and reducing inflammation, seeding the sinus cavities with beneficial bacteria, and then feeding these good bacteria with the specific prebiotic nutrients that they need to thrive and to become the dominant organisms in the sinus cavities. "McMinn Sinusitis Microbiome Protocol" is available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback. Hopefully, this will be helpful to you or someone that you care about.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Wellness Connection MB podcast.
We're grateful to have you withus today.
In our episode today I'mexcited to present to you my new
book called McMinn SinusitisMicrobiome Protocol.
Imagine if you could get relieffrom chronic sinusitis with no
antibiotics or surgery.
The key to such success lies inyour sinus microbiome.
Over the years I saw manypatients in my practice who had
(00:24):
chronic sinusitis which wasresistant to standard medical
therapy with antibiotics andsurgery.
These unfortunate patientsseemed to be at a dead end and
they felt miserable and they hadno hope.
They challenged me to come upwith a functional medicine
protocol for treating thissinusitis.
So I married cutting-edgemainstream research with some
tried-and-true functionalmedicine principles to produce
(00:46):
an all-natural McMahon sinusitismicrobiome protocol.
I have used this on my patientsover the years and I found that
almost everybody got betterwith no known untoward side
effects.
So I introduced thisone-of-a-kind protocol to you
via my new book, which isappropriately entitled McMahon
Sinusitis Microbiome Protocol.
You can find the book on Amazon, both as an e-book and as a
(01:08):
paperback.
The e-book runs $4.99, and thepaperback runs $9.99.
It is my sincere hope that theprotocol helps you or someone
you care about, and I hope youenjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Welcome to the Wellness Connection MD Podcast
with Dr McMinn and Coach Lindsay, where we bring you the latest
up-to-date, evidence-basedinformation on a wide variety of
health and wellness topics,along with practical take-home
solutions.
Dr McMinn is an integrated andfunctional MD and Lindsay
Matthews is a registered nurseand IIN-certified health coach.
(01:43):
Together, our goal is to helpyou optimize your health and
wellness in mind, body andspirit.
To see a list of all of ourpodcasts, visit nickminndcom and
to stay up to date on thelatest topics, be sure to
subscribe to our podcast on yourfavorite podcast player so that
you'll be notified when futureepisodes come out.
The discussions contained inthese podcast are for
(02:05):
educational purposes only andare not intended to diagnose or
treat any disease.
Please do not apply any of thisinformation without approval
from your personal doctor.
And now on to the show with DrMcMinn and Coach Lindsay.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Hello and welcome to Wellness Connection MD, the
evidence-based podcast on allthings wellness.
We thank you so much forjoining us today.
As always, we come to you tobring you honest,
commercial-free, unbiased,up-to-date, evidence-based,
outcomes-oriented information,along with practical solutions
to empower you to overcome yourhealthcare challenges and to
optimize your wellness in mind,body and spirit, and to become a
(02:40):
great captain of your ship whenit comes to your health and
your wellness.
Before we get going, let mejust remind you that our podcast
remains commercial free so thatwe can stay completely unbiased
.
However, it does cost us moneyto produce these podcasts and we
put many hours of work intoeach episode.
So think of us like publicradio and consider making a
contribution to help us keepthis valuable information coming
(03:00):
to you.
There are a couple of ways youcan contribute to the show.
First, if you buy nutritionalsupplements, then consider
purchasing physician-gradesupplements from our Fullscript
dispensary at a 10% discount.
You can see the link toFullscript below in the show
notes, or go to mcmindmdcom andthe link will also be there at
the bottom of the homepage underhelpful links.
(03:21):
It's quite simple Just click onthe link and they'll guide you
through the process.
It's a classic win-win you gethigh quality supplements at a
discount and we get your supportfor the show, for which we are
very grateful.
If you have any trouble withthis, then just reach out to me
at drmcminn at yahoocom, andI'll do my best to guide you
through the process.
You can also safely make acontribution to the show
(03:41):
directly via credit card or byPayPal at the Support the Show
link, which is also in the shownotes.
And finally, please don'tforget to subscribe to the show
and tell your friends and familyabout us, so that we can bring
this valuable information toeven more listeners.
Thank you so much, and now onto the show.
On today's podcast, I'm excitedto introduce to you a new book
(04:01):
that I have just published onAmazon, both as an e-book and as
a paperback, called MacMinnSinusitis Microbiome Protocol.
In the book, I describe arevolutionary natural approach
to helping folks with chronicsinusitis rhinitis, and that
includes mild cases as well ashard-to-treat cases which have
failed other therapies.
Since Wellness Connection MD isthe evidence-based podcast, I'm
(04:25):
going to discuss with you someof the latest science pertaining
to sinus health and also sharewith you the basic principles of
my sinusitis microbiomeprotocol.
But let me start by telling youwhy I went down this path to
start with.
Over the years in my functionalintegrative medical practice I
saw many patients who presentedto me with sinusitis.
Sometimes a problem had beengoing on for years and these
(04:46):
patients were miserable.
Most of them had been onmultiple rounds of powerful
antibiotics, and some of themeven had surgery, and they just
could not seem to get well.
Their symptoms included thingslike congestion, runny nose,
post-nasal drip, facial pain andpressure, headache, reduced
sense of smell and troublebreathing through the nose.
Some of them also had thingslike sore throat, cough and bad
(05:08):
breath.
The accepted first-linestandard medical therapy for
these folks was to treat themwith powerful antibiotics.
Often, when they took theseantibiotics, they sometimes felt
better for a while, only to seethe symptoms return with a
vengeance, usually after acouple weeks of stopping the
antibiotics.
Also, it's worth noting thatthere are many potential adverse
side effects from theantibiotics.
(05:28):
Most of the antibiotics that weuse on sinusitis are powerful
broad-spectrum antibiotics,which means that they are like
indiscriminate killing machines.
They don't just go after thebad bugs, they go after all bugs
, and they don't just go to yoursinuses, they go all over your
body.
As such, they can seriouslyalter the gut microbiome and if
(05:49):
you listen to some of ourprevious podcasts then you know
how important the gut microbiomeis to overall health.
Some experts suggest that thegut microbiome can never fully
recover from a round of Cipro,which is a commonly used
antibiotic for sinusitis and, bythe way, cipro, or its cousin
Levaquin, can also cause a meancase of tendoninitis After
failing a few rounds ofantibiotics.
Then doctors usually resort tosinus surgery.
Just like every other surgery,there are always risks involved
(06:10):
in sinus surgery and withgeneral anesthesia Also, my
patients have reported to methat the aftermath of sinus
surgery was very painful.
But worst of all, after goingthrough all of this, even after
surgery, the persistentinfection sometimes came roaring
back.
Through all of this, even aftersurgery, the persistent
infections sometimes cameroaring back.
Now this is not a trivial issue.
(06:31):
Let's look at the numbers.
The incidence of chronicsinusitis has been estimated to
be about 23% of the generalpopulation.
So for America alone we haveabout 330 million residents.
So therefore 23% of that comesto about 80 million folks who
suffer from chronic sinusitis.
Studies show that the failurerate with antibiotics from
chronic sinusitis is anywherefrom 3% to 30%.
So let's take in the middle ofthe range and say about 15%,
(06:51):
that comes still to 12 millionmiserable Americans who suffer
with sinusitis which isresistant to antibiotics.
Now let's say that these folksgo on to have surgery.
There's a wide range ofestimates for a failure rate of
surgery to treat sinusitis, from5% to 50%.
So let's take a conservativenumber such as 20%, and that
leaves about 2.5 millionAmericans who continue to suffer
(07:13):
with their sinusitis after bothantibiotics and surgery.
If you extrapolate that to thewhole world, then we're dealing
with a whole bunch of folks.
It's worth noting that theMcMinn Protocol may help with
these difficult to treat folks,and if somebody uses my protocol
then they may not have to useantibiotics or surgery at all.
So my patients who suffered withchronic sinusitis challenged me
(07:34):
to think outside the box.
They just weren't getting thehelp they needed elsewhere, and
I'm not saying this to bash anyof the other doctors.
They were excellent doctors andfollowing standard protocols.
But my patients asked me to seeif an integrative and
functional approach might bringsome relief to these miseries.
So I accepted the challenge andas I began to do my research, I
ran across Dr Andrew Goldberg,md, director of Rhinology and
(07:57):
Sinus Surgery at UCSF, that's,the University of California,
san Francisco, one of the topmedical research institutions in
America.
He once said that, and I quote,the premise for our
understanding of chronicsinusitis and therapeutic
treatment appears to be wrongand a different therapeutic
strategy seems appropriate.
End quote.
After seeing many of theseunfortunate and miserable
(08:19):
patients, I agree with DrGoldberg and I feel that it's
time to think different, as theold Apple computer commercial
used to say, and to offer a newapproach to treat these stubborn
infections.
That's why I developed theMcMahon Sinusitis Microbiome
Protocol.
To be clear, the standardmedical approach continues to be
the antibiotic surgery protocoland my protocol would have to
be considered experimental.
(08:40):
Therefore, before using theMcMahon Sinusitis Protocol, you
should check with, and getapproval from, your personal
doctor.
However, it is accurate to saythat, even though the McMinn
protocol is not the standardtreatment regimen for sinusitis,
it has worked for my patientswho got no relief from the
antibiotic surgery approach and,to my knowledge, my protocol
has produced no significantuntoward side effects.
(09:02):
As I continued to researchsinusitis, I decided to look at
it from the perspective of thesinus microbiome and
inflammation, since these arethe two main defining underlying
problems that contribute tosinusitis.
For many years, I've beeninterested in the science of the
human microbiome.
That includes the microbiome ofthe oral cavity, the skin, the
genitourinary area andespecially the gut microbiome.
(09:24):
I theorized that some of theprotocols that I used to improve
the microbiome of these otherareas might also help people
with dysbiosis in the sinusesand, by the way, dysbiosis is
just another word for an alteredmicrobiome.
My interest in the sinusmicrobiome then led me to some
interesting studies by Dr SusanLynch LYNCH, a PhD Associate
(09:45):
Professor of Medicine, also atUCSF.
She found that the sinuses area host to a diverse microbiome
that includes good, healthy,protective bacteria, which I
will call good bugs, along withsome pathogenic or
disease-causing bacteria alsoknown as bad bugs.
The good bugs and the bad bugsare constantly competing with
each other.
Ideally, the good bugs will winthis competition and they will
(10:08):
remain the dominant bug in thesinuses, keeping the bad bugs in
check.
But an unhealthy ratio of thegood bugs and bad bugs, with the
bad bugs more dominant, is acausative factor for the
development of sinusitis.
Dr Lynch's studies demonstratedthat sinus mucosal health is
highly dependent on thecomposition of the bacteria that
inhabit the sinus cavities.
(10:28):
She found that people withsinusitis, as compared to
healthy people without sinusitishad a particular pattern of
sinus microbiome dysfunction.
They tended to have too many ofa particular bad bug called
Cornibacterium tuberculostericumin their sinuses and they had a
noticeable lack of a good bugcalled Lactobacillus saecii,
(10:48):
also known as L-saecii.
Similar studies by ProfessorSarah Labier, l-a-b-e-e-r, phd,
found that Lactobacilli bacterialike L-saecii were up to 10
times more prevalent in nasalpassages of healthy volunteers
than in those suffering withchronic sinusitis.
So the lactobacilli seemed tobe the key.
In fact, dr Lynch concludedthat L saecii is the keystone
(11:11):
bacteria in the sinuses.
The word keystone is importantin this context.
Keystone is most oftenassociated with the structural
arch, where it is defined as thecentral stone at the top of the
arch, locking the whole thingtogether.
Without this keystone, the archwill fall.
Likewise, the alzachii bacteriamay be thought of as the
essential keystone good cop bugthat maintains the microbial
(11:33):
health of the sinuses by keepingthe bad bugs in check.
Without the proper amount ofalzachii, the bad bugs tend to
proliferate and may become thedominant bug, causing
inflammation and then franksinusitis.
So it's like when the policeforce is on strike and then the
crooks and the looters will comeout of the woodwork and the
crime rate goes up.
When we don't have enoughL-sachii, the bad bugs
(11:55):
proliferate, gain control andeventually this contributes to
clinical disease, and eventuallythis contributes to clinical
disease.
Furthermore, dr Lynch's worksuggested that if the underlying
cause of sinusitis is due toalterations in the sinus
microbiome, then restoring thenaturally occurring healthy,
beneficial good cop keystonebacteria to the sinuses may be
an effective way to treatsinusitis.
(12:17):
One of my fundamental tenets inthe functional medicine space is
to be open-minded, but alwaysto be evidence-based and
outcomes-oriented and to firstdo no harm.
At the time I became familiarwith Dr Lynch's work.
It was still in the academicstudy phase.
However, dr Lynch and herresearch seemed to be top-notch
and her studies had beenpublished in excellent
peer-reviewed medical journals.
Therefore, I began to connectthe dots and to wonder if her
(12:40):
approach might help mylong-suffering patients.
The next challenge for me was tofigure out a way to transform
the information from Dr Lynch'sbench science into an actionable
clinical sinusitis protocol.
I also needed to make sure toapproach this in a manner which
had significant potential forclinical benefit and which
represented a very low risk forany untoward side effects.
(13:00):
I decided to combine theinformation from Dr Lynch's work
with a natural approach to themicrobiome which I learned from
the classic teachings offunctional medicine, and it goes
like this weed, seed and feed.
I learned this in the contextof the gut microbiome and I've
had quite a bit of success usingthis approach to treat
gut-related health issues withno significant untoward side
(13:20):
effects.
Therefore, I thought that theweed seeded-feed approach might
also work for sinus microbiomedysfunction.
Let me break this down for youin simple terms.
Weed means to weed out the badbugs.
Seed means to reintroduce thegood bugs, like planting seeds
in a garden.
Feed means to supply the goodbugs with the nutrients they
need to survive and thrive andonce again to become the
(13:42):
predominant organism.
This is like adding fertilizerto the soil.
However, I have added a twistto this classic approach.
Between the weed and seed, I'veadded another step, which I
call prepare the soil.
This step has to do withsetting the stage for a healthy
microbiome to survive and thrive.
I'll explain this in furtherdetail in just a bit.
Let's use an analogy toillustrate.
(14:03):
Imagine if you had a beautifulflower garden.
However, you had to go away fora few years and when you came
back home, you had only a fewscraggly flowers left and your
beloved garden had beenovertaken by a bunch of ugly
weeds.
In order to restore your gardento its previous beautiful state
, you must first get rid of theweeds, then you need to prepare
the soil, plant new seeds andfinally apply some fertilizer.
(14:24):
With some effort and patience,your beloved flower garden will
once again be restored to itsoriginal beauty.
However, in this case, insteadof a garden of flowers, we're
trying to restore a healthygarden of bacteria to the
sinuses.
The McMinn Sinus MicrobiomeProtocol accomplishes this with
natural, over-the-countertherapies as follows One, we
(14:44):
weed by getting rid of the badbugs with an all-natural topical
spray.
Two, we prepare the sinuses bybreaking down biofilms and
reducing inflammation andswelling, again with natural,
over-the-counter products.
Three, we seed byre-establishing the good
keystone bacteria, which is theL-Seq Eii.
Again, this is like plantingseeds to grow more beautiful
flowers in your garden.
We do this with a pure,over-the-counter, topical
(15:08):
L-sachii product.
And finally, four, we feed bysupplying the good bugs with the
specific nutrients orprebiotics that they need in
order to grow and thrive and tobecome the predominant organism.
Again, this is like thefertilizer in your garden that
helps the flowers to grow.
Again, we accomplish this witha natural, topical,
over-the-counter product.
(15:28):
Now here's the great news.
We applied this protocol tosome of our chronic sinusitis
sufferers who had failedstandard treatment both
antibiotics and surgery and Iwas thrilled when these folks
came back feeling much better.
To my knowledge, none of thesepatients had suffered any
reported downside effects to theprotocol.
They were happy, and so was I,of the protocol.
(15:53):
Before the patient starts theprotocol, it may be helpful to
first address some generalprinciples regarding your living
environment and to improve guthealth and overall health before
starting the program.
Addressing these issues mayincrease the likelihood of
success with the protocol.
In the book I give a detaileddescription of how to do this.
Also in the book I have a moredetailed discussion of the
microbiome and I delve into thefascinating topics of quorum
sensing and biofilms.
Just briefly here.
(16:14):
Quorum sensing is thesophisticated communication
system that bacterialcommunities use to coordinate
their activities and to respondto challenging environments,
both in terms of dealing withthreats and by taking advantage
of opportunities to thrive, andbiofilms are a complex resistant
layer of bacteria that forms on, adheres to and coats the
lining of the mucous membranesof the sinuses.
(16:35):
You can think of it as like aslime which acts like a glue to
hold the pathogenic bacteriacolony.
Together, it also forms ashield to protect these
pathogens from antibiotics andfrom attacks from the good bugs
and from the immune system.
Biofilms also stimulateinflammation and obstruct sinus
drainage.
Studies have shown that biofilmsare a significant problem when
it comes to attempts toeradicate bacterial infections
(16:57):
in the sinuses.
Unfortunately, the presence ofbiofilms is hardly ever taken
into consideration by mainstreammedicine in standard treatment
protocols for sinus infections.
That may be a significantreason why these treatments
often fail.
However, in the McMinn SinusMicrobiome Protocol we have a
plan for this.
Even though this book is mainlyabout the sinus microbiome, I
also discuss the gut microbiomejust a bit in the book.
(17:19):
This is because the twomicrobiomes are connected.
For instance, a study from MayoClinic published in the Mayo
Clinic Proceedings and inScience Daily found that over
90% of chronic sinusitis caseswere caused by gastrointestinal
inflammation, particularlyrelated to dysbiosis in the gut.
Furthermore, the Mayo Clinicresearchers found that yeast
(17:39):
overgrowth in the gut can formbiofilms in the sinuses, making
sinusitis much more difficult totreat.
The issue of yeast is neveraddressed with standard
therapies, whereas it isaddressed in the McMahon
Protocol.
In the book, I give you detailedinstructions as to how you can
weed, prepare the sinuses, feedand seed.
I also give you a shopping listof products and tell you where
(18:00):
you can get each of them.
These instructions are verydetailed and would really not be
appropriate for a podcast.
However, everything is laid outstep-by-step in the book.
As I developed this program,tweaking it over a period of
several years, I erred on theside of being very thorough in
order to maximize the odds ofproducing a successful outcome.
I covered all of the bases andI feel that doing the entire
protocol yields the greatestopportunity for improvement.
(18:21):
However, I also have come torealize that the program may
seem too complicated and orcostly for some patients.
Therefore, in the book, I alsoadd some comments as to how you
can attempt to simplify theprotocol or just to do the bits
and pieces of the protocol whichare more likely to produce the
highest yield.
In summary, sinusitis affectsmany millions of people around
the world, sometimes causingsevere and prolonged pain and
(18:43):
suffering.
The McMinn Sinus MicrobiomeProtocol was devised based on a
combination of cutting-edgescience and fundamental
functional medicine principlesto provide a natural alternative
to standard therapy.
The protocol has helped mypatients and I share the
protocol with you edge scienceand fundamental functional
medicine principles to provide anatural alternative to standard
therapy.
The protocol has helped mypatients and I share the
protocol with you in thispodcast and in the book in hopes
that it might also help others.
You can get the completeprotocol in the book McMinn's
(19:04):
Sinusitis Microbiome Protocol onAmazon as an e-book or as a
paperback.
I sincerely hope that this ishelpful for you.
Well, that will about do it forthis episode of the Wellness
Connection MD podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
We hope that we were able toshare something with you that
was helpful to you or somebodythat you care about.
Don't forget to check us out atmcmindmdcom, where you can find
(19:26):
lots of great resources and theMcMind MD blog Also.
Please help the podcast grow bytelling your friends and family
about us.
Please do take a moment to rateus on iTunes.
These reviews really do help usout.
We've had some feedback fromsome folks that it can really be
difficult to actually do thesereviews, so we have a dedicated
page on the website to explainexactly how to do this step by
(19:46):
step.
On your iPhone, you can findthis at McMinnMDcom slash
reviews.
If you want to reach out to meby email, you can do so at
drmcminn at yahoocom.
Also, you can find me at thefacebookcom, slash mcminnmd or
instagramcom, slash mcminnmd.
I'll have all of our links atthe bottom of page one on the
homepage at mcminnmdcom.
(20:07):
Well, thanks again.
So much for listening.
We really do appreciate it.
This is Dr McMinn signing out.
Take care and be well.
Welcome to the Wellness Connection MB podcast.
We're grateful to have you withus today.
In our episode today I'mexcited to present to you my new
book called McMinn SinusitisMicrobiome Protocol.
Imagine if you could get relieffrom chronic sinusitis with no
antibiotics or surgery.
The key to such success lies inyour sinus microbiome.
Over the years I saw manypatients in my practice who had
(00:24):
chronic sinusitis which wasresistant to standard medical
therapy with antibiotics andsurgery.
These unfortunate patientsseemed to be at a dead end and
they felt miserable and they hadno hope.
They challenged me to come upwith a functional medicine
protocol for treating thissinusitis.
So I married cutting-edgemainstream research with some
tried-and-true functionalmedicine principles to produce
(00:46):
an all-natural McMahon sinusitismicrobiome protocol.
I have used this on my patientsover the years and I found that
almost everybody got betterwith no known untoward side
effects.
So I introduced thisone-of-a-kind protocol to you
via my new book, which isappropriately entitled McMahon
Sinusitis Microbiome Protocol.
You can find the book on Amazon, both as an e-book and as a
(01:08):
paperback.
The e-book runs $4.99, and thepaperback runs $9.99.
It is my sincere hope that theprotocol helps you or someone
you care about, and I hope youenjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Welcome to the Wellness Connection MD Podcast
with Dr McMinn and Coach Lindsay, where we bring you the latest
up-to-date, evidence-basedinformation on a wide variety of
health and wellness topics,along with practical take-home
solutions.
Dr McMinn is an integrated andfunctional MD and Lindsay
Matthews is a registered nurseand IIN-certified health coach.
(01:43):
Together, our goal is to helpyou optimize your health and
wellness in mind, body andspirit.
To see a list of all of ourpodcasts, visit nickminndcom and
to stay up to date on thelatest topics, be sure to
subscribe to our podcast on yourfavorite podcast player so that
you'll be notified when futureepisodes come out.
The discussions contained inthese podcast are for
(02:05):
educational purposes only andare not intended to diagnose or
treat any disease.
Please do not apply any of thisinformation without approval
from your personal doctor.
And now on to the show with DrMcMinn and Coach Lindsay.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Hello and welcome to Wellness Connection MD, the
evidence-based podcast on allthings wellness.
We thank you so much forjoining us today.
As always, we come to you tobring you honest,
commercial-free, unbiased,up-to-date, evidence-based,
outcomes-oriented information,along with practical solutions
to empower you to overcome yourhealthcare challenges and to
optimize your wellness in mind,body and spirit, and to become a
(02:40):
great captain of your ship whenit comes to your health and
your wellness.
Before we get going, let mejust remind you that our podcast
remains commercial free so thatwe can stay completely unbiased
.
However, it does cost us moneyto produce these podcasts and we
put many hours of work intoeach episode.
So think of us like publicradio and consider making a
contribution to help us keepthis valuable information coming
(03:00):
to you.
There are a couple of ways youcan contribute to the show.
First, if you buy nutritionalsupplements, then consider
purchasing physician-gradesupplements from our Fullscript
dispensary at a 10% discount.
You can see the link toFullscript below in the show
notes, or go to mcmindmdcom andthe link will also be there at
the bottom of the homepage underhelpful links.
(03:21):
It's quite simple Just click onthe link and they'll guide you
through the process.
It's a classic win-win you gethigh quality supplements at a
discount and we get your supportfor the show, for which we are
very grateful.
If you have any trouble withthis, then just reach out to me
at drmcminn at yahoocom, andI'll do my best to guide you
through the process.
You can also safely make acontribution to the show
(03:41):
directly via credit card or byPayPal at the Support the Show
link, which is also in the shownotes.
And finally, please don'tforget to subscribe to the show
and tell your friends and familyabout us, so that we can bring
this valuable information toeven more listeners.
Thank you so much, and now onto the show.
On today's podcast, I'm excitedto introduce to you a new book
(04:01):
that I have just published onAmazon, both as an e-book and as
a paperback, called MacMinnSinusitis Microbiome Protocol.
In the book, I describe arevolutionary natural approach
to helping folks with chronicsinusitis rhinitis, and that
includes mild cases as well ashard-to-treat cases which have
failed other therapies.
Since Wellness Connection MD isthe evidence-based podcast, I'm
(04:25):
going to discuss with you someof the latest science pertaining
to sinus health and also sharewith you the basic principles of
my sinusitis microbiomeprotocol.
But let me start by telling youwhy I went down this path to
start with.
Over the years in my functionalintegrative medical practice I
saw many patients who presentedto me with sinusitis.
Sometimes a problem had beengoing on for years and these
(04:46):
patients were miserable.
Most of them had been onmultiple rounds of powerful
antibiotics, and some of themeven had surgery, and they just
could not seem to get well.
Their symptoms included thingslike congestion, runny nose,
post-nasal drip, facial pain andpressure, headache, reduced
sense of smell and troublebreathing through the nose.
Some of them also had thingslike sore throat, cough and bad
(05:08):
breath.
The accepted first-linestandard medical therapy for
these folks was to treat themwith powerful antibiotics.
Often, when they took theseantibiotics, they sometimes felt
better for a while, only to seethe symptoms return with a
vengeance, usually after acouple weeks of stopping the
antibiotics.
Also, it's worth noting thatthere are many potential adverse
side effects from theantibiotics.
(05:28):
Most of the antibiotics that weuse on sinusitis are powerful
broad-spectrum antibiotics,which means that they are like
indiscriminate killing machines.
They don't just go after thebad bugs, they go after all bugs
, and they don't just go to yoursinuses, they go all over your
body.
As such, they can seriouslyalter the gut microbiome and if
(05:49):
you listen to some of ourprevious podcasts then you know
how important the gut microbiomeis to overall health.
Some experts suggest that thegut microbiome can never fully
recover from a round of Cipro,which is a commonly used
antibiotic for sinusitis and, bythe way, cipro, or its cousin
Levaquin, can also cause a meancase of tendoninitis After
failing a few rounds ofantibiotics.
Then doctors usually resort tosinus surgery.
Just like every other surgery,there are always risks involved
(06:10):
in sinus surgery and withgeneral anesthesia Also, my
patients have reported to methat the aftermath of sinus
surgery was very painful.
But worst of all, after goingthrough all of this, even after
surgery, the persistentinfection sometimes came roaring
back.
Through all of this, even aftersurgery, the persistent
infections sometimes cameroaring back.
Now this is not a trivial issue.
(06:31):
Let's look at the numbers.
The incidence of chronicsinusitis has been estimated to
be about 23% of the generalpopulation.
So for America alone we haveabout 330 million residents.
So therefore 23% of that comesto about 80 million folks who
suffer from chronic sinusitis.
Studies show that the failurerate with antibiotics from
chronic sinusitis is anywherefrom 3% to 30%.
So let's take in the middle ofthe range and say about 15%,
(06:51):
that comes still to 12 millionmiserable Americans who suffer
with sinusitis which isresistant to antibiotics.
Now let's say that these folksgo on to have surgery.
There's a wide range ofestimates for a failure rate of
surgery to treat sinusitis, from5% to 50%.
So let's take a conservativenumber such as 20%, and that
leaves about 2.5 millionAmericans who continue to suffer
(07:13):
with their sinusitis after bothantibiotics and surgery.
If you extrapolate that to thewhole world, then we're dealing
with a whole bunch of folks.
It's worth noting that theMcMinn Protocol may help with
these difficult to treat folks,and if somebody uses my protocol
then they may not have to useantibiotics or surgery at all.
So my patients who suffered withchronic sinusitis challenged me
(07:34):
to think outside the box.
They just weren't getting thehelp they needed elsewhere, and
I'm not saying this to bash anyof the other doctors.
They were excellent doctors andfollowing standard protocols.
But my patients asked me to seeif an integrative and
functional approach might bringsome relief to these miseries.
So I accepted the challenge andas I began to do my research, I
ran across Dr Andrew Goldberg,md, director of Rhinology and
(07:57):
Sinus Surgery at UCSF, that's,the University of California,
san Francisco, one of the topmedical research institutions in
America.
He once said that, and I quote,the premise for our
understanding of chronicsinusitis and therapeutic
treatment appears to be wrongand a different therapeutic
strategy seems appropriate.
End quote.
After seeing many of theseunfortunate and miserable
(08:19):
patients, I agree with DrGoldberg and I feel that it's
time to think different, as theold Apple computer commercial
used to say, and to offer a newapproach to treat these stubborn
infections.
That's why I developed theMcMahon Sinusitis Microbiome
Protocol.
To be clear, the standardmedical approach continues to be
the antibiotic surgery protocoland my protocol would have to
be considered experimental.
(08:40):
Therefore, before using theMcMahon Sinusitis Protocol, you
should check with, and getapproval from, your personal
doctor.
However, it is accurate to saythat, even though the McMinn
protocol is not the standardtreatment regimen for sinusitis,
it has worked for my patientswho got no relief from the
antibiotic surgery approach and,to my knowledge, my protocol
has produced no significantuntoward side effects.
(09:02):
As I continued to researchsinusitis, I decided to look at
it from the perspective of thesinus microbiome and
inflammation, since these arethe two main defining underlying
problems that contribute tosinusitis.
For many years, I've beeninterested in the science of the
human microbiome.
That includes the microbiome ofthe oral cavity, the skin, the
genitourinary area andespecially the gut microbiome.
(09:24):
I theorized that some of theprotocols that I used to improve
the microbiome of these otherareas might also help people
with dysbiosis in the sinusesand, by the way, dysbiosis is
just another word for an alteredmicrobiome.
My interest in the sinusmicrobiome then led me to some
interesting studies by Dr SusanLynch LYNCH, a PhD Associate
(09:45):
Professor of Medicine, also atUCSF.
She found that the sinuses area host to a diverse microbiome
that includes good, healthy,protective bacteria, which I
will call good bugs, along withsome pathogenic or
disease-causing bacteria alsoknown as bad bugs.
The good bugs and the bad bugsare constantly competing with
each other.
Ideally, the good bugs will winthis competition and they will
(10:08):
remain the dominant bug in thesinuses, keeping the bad bugs in
check.
But an unhealthy ratio of thegood bugs and bad bugs, with the
bad bugs more dominant, is acausative factor for the
development of sinusitis.
Dr Lynch's studies demonstratedthat sinus mucosal health is
highly dependent on thecomposition of the bacteria that
inhabit the sinus cavities.
(10:28):
She found that people withsinusitis, as compared to
healthy people without sinusitishad a particular pattern of
sinus microbiome dysfunction.
They tended to have too many ofa particular bad bug called
Cornibacterium tuberculostericumin their sinuses and they had a
noticeable lack of a good bugcalled Lactobacillus saecii,
(10:48):
also known as L-saecii.
Similar studies by ProfessorSarah Labier, l-a-b-e-e-r, phd,
found that Lactobacilli bacterialike L-saecii were up to 10
times more prevalent in nasalpassages of healthy volunteers
than in those suffering withchronic sinusitis.
So the lactobacilli seemed tobe the key.
In fact, dr Lynch concludedthat L saecii is the keystone
(11:11):
bacteria in the sinuses.
The word keystone is importantin this context.
Keystone is most oftenassociated with the structural
arch, where it is defined as thecentral stone at the top of the
arch, locking the whole thingtogether.
Without this keystone, the archwill fall.
Likewise, the alzachii bacteriamay be thought of as the
essential keystone good cop bugthat maintains the microbial
(11:33):
health of the sinuses by keepingthe bad bugs in check.
Without the proper amount ofalzachii, the bad bugs tend to
proliferate and may become thedominant bug, causing
inflammation and then franksinusitis.
So it's like when the policeforce is on strike and then the
crooks and the looters will comeout of the woodwork and the
crime rate goes up.
When we don't have enoughL-sachii, the bad bugs
(11:55):
proliferate, gain control andeventually this contributes to
clinical disease, and eventuallythis contributes to clinical
disease.
Furthermore, dr Lynch's worksuggested that if the underlying
cause of sinusitis is due toalterations in the sinus
microbiome, then restoring thenaturally occurring healthy,
beneficial good cop keystonebacteria to the sinuses may be
an effective way to treatsinusitis.
(12:17):
One of my fundamental tenets inthe functional medicine space is
to be open-minded, but alwaysto be evidence-based and
outcomes-oriented and to firstdo no harm.
At the time I became familiarwith Dr Lynch's work.
It was still in the academicstudy phase.
However, dr Lynch and herresearch seemed to be top-notch
and her studies had beenpublished in excellent
peer-reviewed medical journals.
Therefore, I began to connectthe dots and to wonder if her
(12:40):
approach might help mylong-suffering patients.
The next challenge for me was tofigure out a way to transform
the information from Dr Lynch'sbench science into an actionable
clinical sinusitis protocol.
I also needed to make sure toapproach this in a manner which
had significant potential forclinical benefit and which
represented a very low risk forany untoward side effects.
(13:00):
I decided to combine theinformation from Dr Lynch's work
with a natural approach to themicrobiome which I learned from
the classic teachings offunctional medicine, and it goes
like this weed, seed and feed.
I learned this in the contextof the gut microbiome and I've
had quite a bit of success usingthis approach to treat
gut-related health issues withno significant untoward side
(13:20):
effects.
Therefore, I thought that theweed seeded-feed approach might
also work for sinus microbiomedysfunction.
Let me break this down for youin simple terms.
Weed means to weed out the badbugs.
Seed means to reintroduce thegood bugs, like planting seeds
in a garden.
Feed means to supply the goodbugs with the nutrients they
need to survive and thrive andonce again to become the
(13:42):
predominant organism.
This is like adding fertilizerto the soil.
However, I have added a twistto this classic approach.
Between the weed and seed, I'veadded another step, which I
call prepare the soil.
This step has to do withsetting the stage for a healthy
microbiome to survive and thrive.
I'll explain this in furtherdetail in just a bit.
Let's use an analogy toillustrate.
(14:03):
Imagine if you had a beautifulflower garden.
However, you had to go away fora few years and when you came
back home, you had only a fewscraggly flowers left and your
beloved garden had beenovertaken by a bunch of ugly
weeds.
In order to restore your gardento its previous beautiful state
, you must first get rid of theweeds, then you need to prepare
the soil, plant new seeds andfinally apply some fertilizer.
(14:24):
With some effort and patience,your beloved flower garden will
once again be restored to itsoriginal beauty.
However, in this case, insteadof a garden of flowers, we're
trying to restore a healthygarden of bacteria to the
sinuses.
The McMinn Sinus MicrobiomeProtocol accomplishes this with
natural, over-the-countertherapies as follows One, we
(14:44):
weed by getting rid of the badbugs with an all-natural topical
spray.
Two, we prepare the sinuses bybreaking down biofilms and
reducing inflammation andswelling, again with natural,
over-the-counter products.
Three, we seed byre-establishing the good
keystone bacteria, which is theL-Seq Eii.
Again, this is like plantingseeds to grow more beautiful
flowers in your garden.
We do this with a pure,over-the-counter, topical
(15:08):
L-sachii product.
And finally, four, we feed bysupplying the good bugs with the
specific nutrients orprebiotics that they need in
order to grow and thrive and tobecome the predominant organism.
Again, this is like thefertilizer in your garden that
helps the flowers to grow.
Again, we accomplish this witha natural, topical,
over-the-counter product.
(15:28):
Now here's the great news.
We applied this protocol tosome of our chronic sinusitis
sufferers who had failedstandard treatment both
antibiotics and surgery and Iwas thrilled when these folks
came back feeling much better.
To my knowledge, none of thesepatients had suffered any
reported downside effects to theprotocol.
They were happy, and so was I,of the protocol.
(15:53):
Before the patient starts theprotocol, it may be helpful to
first address some generalprinciples regarding your living
environment and to improve guthealth and overall health before
starting the program.
Addressing these issues mayincrease the likelihood of
success with the protocol.
In the book I give a detaileddescription of how to do this.
Also in the book I have a moredetailed discussion of the
microbiome and I delve into thefascinating topics of quorum
sensing and biofilms.
Just briefly here.
(16:14):
Quorum sensing is thesophisticated communication
system that bacterialcommunities use to coordinate
their activities and to respondto challenging environments,
both in terms of dealing withthreats and by taking advantage
of opportunities to thrive, andbiofilms are a complex resistant
layer of bacteria that forms on, adheres to and coats the
lining of the mucous membranesof the sinuses.
(16:35):
You can think of it as like aslime which acts like a glue to
hold the pathogenic bacteriacolony.
Together, it also forms ashield to protect these
pathogens from antibiotics andfrom attacks from the good bugs
and from the immune system.
Biofilms also stimulateinflammation and obstruct sinus
drainage.
Studies have shown that biofilmsare a significant problem when
it comes to attempts toeradicate bacterial infections
(16:57):
in the sinuses.
Unfortunately, the presence ofbiofilms is hardly ever taken
into consideration by mainstreammedicine in standard treatment
protocols for sinus infections.
That may be a significantreason why these treatments
often fail.
However, in the McMinn SinusMicrobiome Protocol we have a
plan for this.
Even though this book is mainlyabout the sinus microbiome, I
also discuss the gut microbiomejust a bit in the book.
(17:19):
This is because the twomicrobiomes are connected.
For instance, a study from MayoClinic published in the Mayo
Clinic Proceedings and inScience Daily found that over
90% of chronic sinusitis caseswere caused by gastrointestinal
inflammation, particularlyrelated to dysbiosis in the gut.
Furthermore, the Mayo Clinicresearchers found that yeast
(17:39):
overgrowth in the gut can formbiofilms in the sinuses, making
sinusitis much more difficult totreat.
The issue of yeast is neveraddressed with standard
therapies, whereas it isaddressed in the McMahon
Protocol.
In the book, I give you detailedinstructions as to how you can
weed, prepare the sinuses, feedand seed.
I also give you a shopping listof products and tell you where
(18:00):
you can get each of them.
These instructions are verydetailed and would really not be
appropriate for a podcast.
However, everything is laid outstep-by-step in the book.
As I developed this program,tweaking it over a period of
several years, I erred on theside of being very thorough in
order to maximize the odds ofproducing a successful outcome.
I covered all of the bases andI feel that doing the entire
protocol yields the greatestopportunity for improvement.
(18:21):
However, I also have come torealize that the program may
seem too complicated and orcostly for some patients.
Therefore, in the book, I alsoadd some comments as to how you
can attempt to simplify theprotocol or just to do the bits
and pieces of the protocol whichare more likely to produce the
highest yield.
In summary, sinusitis affectsmany millions of people around
the world, sometimes causingsevere and prolonged pain and
(18:43):
suffering.
The McMinn Sinus MicrobiomeProtocol was devised based on a
combination of cutting-edgescience and fundamental
functional medicine principlesto provide a natural alternative
to standard therapy.
The protocol has helped mypatients and I share the
protocol with you edge scienceand fundamental functional
medicine principles to provide anatural alternative to standard
therapy.
The protocol has helped mypatients and I share the
protocol with you in thispodcast and in the book in hopes
that it might also help others.
You can get the completeprotocol in the book McMinn's
(19:04):
Sinusitis Microbiome Protocol onAmazon as an e-book or as a
paperback.
I sincerely hope that this ishelpful for you.
Well, that will about do it forthis episode of the Wellness
Connection MD podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
We hope that we were able toshare something with you that
was helpful to you or somebodythat you care about.
Don't forget to check us out atmcmindmdcom, where you can find
(19:26):
lots of great resources and theMcMind MD blog Also.
Please help the podcast grow bytelling your friends and family
about us.
Please do take a moment to rateus on iTunes.
These reviews really do help usout.
We've had some feedback fromsome folks that it can really be
difficult to actually do thesereviews, so we have a dedicated
page on the website to explainexactly how to do this step by
(19:46):
step.
On your iPhone, you can findthis at McMinnMDcom slash
reviews.
If you want to reach out to meby email, you can do so at
drmcminn at yahoocom.
Also, you can find me at thefacebookcom, slash mcminnmd or
instagramcom, slash mcminnmd.
I'll have all of our links atthe bottom of page one on the
homepage at mcminnmdcom.
(20:07):
Well, thanks again.
So much for listening.
We really do appreciate it.
This is Dr McMinn signing out.
Take care and be well.
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