Nasal spray addiction (blocked nose).. nasal surgery?

[Gysa]

I too have been addicted to nasal spray. For me it's Afrin and i've been using it for longer than 10 years a few times a day. But i recently started to get off of it because for one im tired of being dependent on it and second it seemed my left nostril built a tolerance to the Afrin meaning even when i sprayed it didnt help much and i was getting extra mucus ( lots of nose blowing). So i've been weening off this stuff one nostril at a time and so far today i am 9 days without Afrin in my left nostril. I decided to start with the problem side first. My first 4 days were nothing but hell on earth. Severe pressure and congestion and so much mucus coming out of that side of my nose. i was constantly in the bathroom. As the next days followed ( day 5 until now) the mucus became less and less and i was having many moments of being able to breath out of that side. By day 6 or 7 i was able to breath pretty freely all day long. But at night i was still a little stuffy, not real bad. Today on day 9 i feel great and feel like tonight will be able to breath about 90% normal on that side. There was a time i felt hopeless and thought i would never recover from this because i have been on it for so long but im so happy i started this miserable process to get off this junk. I feel like when im ready ( as soon as i can breath 100% out of my left nostril ) which will be in the next few days i will stop the Afrin on the right side. I also don't think the rebound congestion and all it's other symptoms will be as bad as the left. im about 85% sure of that. Also I started using flonase on the left side for the first 5 days of weening off. It helped some but im not using the flonase as of today. I only use a saline spray in that side just to clean out my sinus from all the years of using the bad stuff. Anyways i wanted to post my story for others to give you hope because i know what a nightmare this crap is and how hopeless you can feel about getting off of it. If someone like me who has been using it for longer than 10 years and recover then anyone can.

I’m going through the same thing
I’m 4 days without it and it is like hell
I can’t sleep well
How are you doing?
Are you better?

 

[Sselin1]

I’m going through the same thing
I’m 4 days without it and it is like hell
I can’t sleep well
How are you doing?
Are you better?

I've been using Afrin for 8 years now and I'm hopeless about whether I need a surgery to get rid of my dependence or can I just stop using it immediately and that would be the solution. I came across to your post and I'm curious if stopping taking the medicine really worked out for you in the long run. How are you doing now

 

[Sselin1]

I've been using Afrin for 8 years now and I'm hopeless about whether I need a surgery to get rid of my dependence or can I just stop using it immediately and that would be the solution. I came across to your post and I'm curious if stopping taking the medicine really worked out for you in the long run. How are you doing now?

 

[pcgeek11]

I've been using Afrin for 8 years now and I'm hopeless about whether I need a surgery to get rid of my dependence or can I just stop using it immediately and that would be the solution. I came across to your post and I'm curious if stopping taking the medicine really worked out for you in the long run. How are you doing now

Like any addiction / dependance it sucks at first but in time you will get over it. If you require medical intervention (deviated Septum for example) you will need to get it fixed also.

 

[Lexi0420]

Hi, I've been using Afrin every day at least every hour for a year and a half now and just recently went to an ENT to get help. He prescribed me prednisone. I can't remember the dosage but I would start off taking 3 twice a day for 3 days, 2 twice a day for 3 days and then 1once a day for 3 days. He also recommended I use Flonase and Sudafed. The first day was the worst but I stuck through it and only used it once before I went to bed. My congestion slowly got better and I didnt have the rebound congestion as much but I was still unfortunately using Afrin before bedtime so I could sleep. (There is no way I could sleep with my nose feeling clogged). Anyways, I thought I was doing a lot better sincr I could go throught the day without needing the Afrin until around 5 pm but when I went in for my follow up I told my ENT I still had not stopped uing the afrin once before bed so he put me on another round of Prednisone for 6 days. I noticed this time that the Prednisone was not working as well as the first round so I have been taking sudafed every single day which is also starting to lose its effectiveness. He recommended I get surgery to have my turbinates trimmed down and my deviated septum corrected. I am also being sent out for a CT scan to make sure I have no sinus related issues. I wanted to know if anyone on here has had shortness of breath since taking Afrin. I've noticed this problem and have had an EKG die and CT scan of my chest which came back normal and my psychologist is telling me it is anxiety. But I have noticed since I've been needing to to the afrin more often that my heart has been pounding and I can't get a deep breath. Have you guys had this problem as well? I hope you can beat this problem. Good luck!