Question: why does anyone want to use stimulant decongestants anyway, when corticosteroid nasal sprays (the -metazolines) are equally effective at treating a runny nose, and much more effective at unplugging a stuffy nose?
> but I don't understand why people just wouldn't use the nasal spray.
I heard it didn't work! But I haven't exactly gone looking for studies.
Also I know I'm doing it wrong. I read instructions somewhere that say if you spray it in your nose and it dribbles back out again, you didn't get it into your sinuses, where it needs to be. Every. Damn. Time.
I've bad hay fever, for which an allergist prescribed corticosteroid nasal spray. When I told him I didn't want to take it until allergy season because of dependence, he told me that's not a problem and the drug will work better if I take it ALL the time. He is the medical professional I guess but I still couldn't bring myself to take that advice.
They're not super effective. I wish they were. I literally live in a different part of the world from where I've been born because I suffer from hayfever for half of the year there.
Surprisingly for me, bee pollen has pretty much halted my (at times severe) hayfever. Initially I took 1 per few days and had an 'internal hayfever' type reaction then soon enough my nose and eyes stopped reacting.
The local pollen cures are bunkum, imo, just teaching your body to deal with pollen in general does the trick. A large dose off any pollen, as found in bee pollen, seems to work wonders when taken regularly in spring. Ymmv, but I've struggled for a long time until recently.
Sounds just like me. One thing at a time can be ok but combinations really triggers. Sneezing constantly for hours is not fun. Antihistamin helps a lot by removing the pollen side and then I can stand the bad air pollution from cars.
Friends washing their clothes in perfume however there is no cure for yet.
I previously had sinus infections all the time. I also took allergy pills every day. Now I don't.
I discovered 'sinus rinsing', you get a sinus rinse bottle (such as name brand NeilMed), a cup of distilled water, an appropriate amount of sea-salt, and microwave for x seconds (30-40).
This solves mold induced migraines, stuffy sinus from tree and grass allergy, and headaches from breathing pollution.
If you rolled around in grass and had itchy skin - you would shower and wash. Contrasted with breathing tree pollen all day - then taking a pharmaceutical anti-histamine.
Spoken like someone who has never had severe nasal congestion. A week or two of not being able to sleep, taste, or speak with your normal voice would change your view of the importance of good decongestants.
It is a yoga technique for cleansing the nasal passages with luke-warm mildly salted water (1/2 teaspoon salt to a 200 ml glass of water is what I use, stirred well). I have been doing it daily for some years, and I find it helps clear my nasal passages. I had first read about it, long ago, in a book by the Yoga Institute, Santa Cruz, Mumbai, and read (in that book, which seemed somewhat scientific and cited many studies for its various claims) that a study was done in UK where a group did it in winter, another control group did not, and the first group had much less or no colds that winter. Thousands of Indians and other have been doing it for years. But - that was just one example, there could be other studies - pro or con, of course. Caveat user.
You should consult your doctor before trying neti, in case you have any complications that may make it less than helpful.
Also, I've found that sometimes a little of the salt water can sometimes trickle out of my nose up to a couple of hours after doing jala neti. So watch out and keep your head a bit away from any device or PC for a while. Tilting the head along various axes helps drain out any remnant water, I've found.
I agree with the parent when it comes to things like the cold. I seriously don't understand people who take paracetamol and tons of other over the counter stuff for that. When it comes to allergies though (hay fever in my case) I can barely function without antihistamines (and with them I'm still a wreck). I haven't found any of the home remedies to be effective for it whereas in the case of the cold plenty of water and some lemon and ginger tea seems to improve things a bit. In fact I've noticed I feel better with that than over the counter stuff for the cold.
Interestingly, I went to an ENT recently with chronic sinus problems.
Me: "My nose has been clogged since the 90s, I'm on three different antihistamine prescriptions, do you think surgery might help me?"
ENT: "Surgery? I mean, it might help a little. Might make things worse. What I'd really recommend is figuring out what you're allergic to. Let me write you a referral to an allergist instead."
Me, confused: "Wait, I'm allergic to something?"
ENT, more confused: "You didn't realise? Did nobody tell you you've displaying obvious symptoms? Why did you think you were on the antihistamines?"
Me: "Uh...."
So yes. I'd certainly recommend checking allergies, but the good news is, some ENTs are sensible. (Then again, this was the NZ medical system, which probably matters...)
> Sometimes just breathing hard through my nose starts to make my ears pressurize and threaten to pop
I had something similar (ears permanently felt like they needed to be popped, for months). Was diagnosed with a deviated septum + allergic response causing my eustachian tubes to not regulate ear pressure properly. Flonase helped. But cluing in that it was partially due to an allergic response (deviated septum made my nasal passage narrow, allergies closed them all the way), I have found that Benadryl is extremely helpful with both nose breathing and preventing the issue with pressure in my ears. I only take it when I have difficultly nose breathing.
> I have air purifiers and humidifiers in every room (I'm in horribly dry CO) and I still just live life sniffling and with a dripping scratchy throat no matter what I do. I take antihistamines, NAC (n-acetyl-..... cystine?) helps a lot, mucinex/gauff.
I caught a cold seven years ago and there's been phlegm dripping into the back of my throat ever since.
Medical opinions have been pretty uniformly "sucks to be you, huh? Now go away".
> If a person can't breath through their nose, I suggest trying Afrin.
Be careful of the "rebound" effect with nasal sprays. Years ago I was "hooked" on Afrin. Not in a getting high sense but in the sense that I started to constantly need it in order to breath out of my nose, even after my cold went away. It was a terrible feeling and took weeks to wean off.
With a bad cold and miserable congestion, nasal spray like Afrin is like a miracle. I still use it in those instances but only for 2-3 days max and very sparingly.
If you really can't breath out of your nose well see a doctor.
how about to stop uncontrollable sneezing, blocked sinuses, itchy streaming eyes for half the year?
Not that I'm rushing out to buy me some worms - but don't trivialise hay fever. It's a bitch, too.
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