For herbal remedies, see an acupuncturist/herbalist. They can make sure which type you have, and help you get better.

Chinese herbal remedies are personalized, synergistic, balanced... best way to go in my opinion - much better than a number of single herbs from health food store.

Difficulty Reading Although not as likely in your case, since you used to do better with reading, many people learned to read wrong. They learned to visualize entire word as a picture (using wrong part of brain), instead of sounding it out (phonics - using correct part of brain). If you use visual part, it takes more mental effort, and makes you sleepy. So it is possible that as you age, or if you get worn out, using visual part of brain for reading would be more and more impossible.

If this is your problem, you may want to see a specialist, or look into various phonics products - they say you can re-learn reading even as an adult. But this isn't my area of expertise. It's just a supplemental idea for you to think about, and pursue with others.

*Source of Pattern Differentiation: The Treatment of Disease in Chinese Medicine, Vol 1 by Philippe Sionneau and Lu Gang.

Treat Causes and Symptoms To treat it well, you need not only a sinus draining formula like Cang Er Zi Tang (CEZT) as basis, but also herbs that address root and related patterns. Only taking CEZT would not fix cause of problem, so by itself it would be only a temporary fix. We would add all or parts of formulas like:

Liu Jun Zi Tang for Spleen deficient dampness Er Chen Tang for phlegm Long Dan Xie Gan Tang for Liver Gallbladder damp-heat Shu Kan Wan or Xiao Yao San for Liver qi stagnation. Huang Lian Wen Dan Tang for phlegm and Stomach heat

But you can't take them all! And, taking wrong ones could make you worse. So, get thee to an herbalist - that is, an acupuncturist who knows their herbs. We have an acupuncturist-finding resource which also has some tips for evaluating several acupuncturists before deciding which one to see.

For more on sinus problems, read these three articles: http://www.pulsemed.org/sinusitis.htm http://www.pulsemed.org/sinusphlegmetc2.htm http://www.pulsemed.org/jkcfs.htm

Hoarseness and Lung-system In Chinese medicine, we generally attribute hoarseness and loss of voice to dryness. The Lung-system, which includes throat, is said to "hate dryness." The Lung likes to be moist - so Lung yin is very important, and dryness is enemy.

In fact, autumn season (when this question was asked and article was written), is associated with both Lung and with dryness. So this would be time of year that most people would get hoarse.

There are good herbs for this- e.g. formula Ophiopogonis Plus (O+)from Far East Summit. But again, complexity of whole condition may make just one formula problematic - this one increase Lung yin, and if you also have sinus congestion, it might even worsen that. So, you'd need some combination like CEZT and O+.

A simple kitchen remedy for Lung dryness would be to drink some pear juice.

B