Hi,

For years now.. atleast 5, I have had this problem where in the summer my nose would be stuffy and runny but in the winter I didn't have any of these problems but some seasons I would only have one nasal passage open per day.. as in my nose chose which one to use each day, I had no control over it.

Today I am sick and tired of it. Right now I am sitting here my nose stuff up, now when I say stuffed up I mean the state when the tissue in my nasal passages swells up and I cannot breath through my nose and when I force air through the passages (either direction) a lould noise results.

Ontop of this my nose is runny, what makes it so bad is that since it's a pain to blow my nose (since the tissue is swelled and hard to blow air though) I can't just simply keep blowing my nose, I have to do a combination of heavy exhausting blowing and wiping and having to use quite a bit of tissue to get a considerable amount of mucus removed.

This season I started taking Claritin-D, it helped me out considerably, so to save money I switched the the generic CVS brand of Claritin-D called Lorata-Dine D 24Hr Pills... They worked just as well as the national brand.. I kept taking them but I believe the effect started slacking off and everyonce in a while (like today for example) even though I've taken the pill I am still in extremem discomfort from my nose.

In the past I've tried Rhinocort, Flonase, Afrin Extra Stenth Nasal Spray (burned my nose!), and Tylenol Sinus. Afrin worked the first few times then quit and burned everytime, the Tylenol worked last year but after a few uses this year it doesn't do the trick all the time anymore.

I want totally releave, no stuffnose at all anymore!

I am not sure if it is allergies like pollen or dust because I can change enviroments and the stuffyness remains, but sometimes If I am lucky doing a bit of exercise or moving around opens my nasal passages up. This is one key thing about my problem that I think distinguishes it from common stuff, exercise or considerable movement opens up my nasal passages, sometimes totally - sometimes not very much at all, and sometimes something inbetween. Breathing through my mouth is becoming a big problem as my mouth gets dried out at night and I already have thrush from my advair, I don't need a dry mouth too.

Any reccomendations?

What exactly is this called when the nasal passages swell up in this manner?
Would any nasal decongestiant work or do I need something else?
What should I tell my doctor, if anything, about this so he can help me?

Thank you for your assistance, replies are appreciated!

Everyone's clueless eh?

I'm still looking for answers!

sounds like seasonal allergic rhinitis to me.

i have year around allergic rhinitis.

the only thing that helps me is Flonase. it takes awhile to kick in but when it does it is 'sweet relief'. my life is miserable without it.

tell your Dr. just what you've posted here. he/she should be able to give you something.

sapphira

Hi there, since you said that your problem occurs during the summer but not in the winter... it would most likely be seasonal allergic rhinitis. Seasonal allergic rhinitis means that the person is allergic to the pollens of some kind of plants. It can be determine which kind you are allergic to by doing a skin p-r-i-c-k test. The blocking of the nasal passages is because your turbinates swell up, thus the blockage. Nasal steroid sprays should be able to help with the swellings and it is said that nasal steroid sprays are often the best way to treat this kind of symptoms. However, I'm one of those that do not get effective results from it.

Nasal decongestant would help open up the nasal passage way by constricting the blood vessels in the turbinates so it would become smaller. It's effective but it can't be used too often as there're rebound effects. The nasal decongestant can come in a nasal spray or drop form. There's also an oral kind of decongestant but the nasal kind works better. You said you took Claritin D and that has a decongestant and a anti-histamine in it. The anti-histamine is to help with the mucus production so that you won't have runny nose.

Have you seen any specialist yet? What I think you need is a skin p-r-i-c-k test to determine if you are allergic to any allergens like dustmites, pollen, animals, feathers and stuffs like that. If you are not allergic to anything, you are probably having vasomotor rhinitis. Your doctor might order some extra tests like Ige, ELISA, etc if he think it's appropriate. You might opt for it if you want.

I can understand with the dry mouth. Since your nasal passages are blocked, you will tend to breathe thru your mouth to compensate the lack of air... If your problem is during the whole day, then you might want to drink plenty of water daily. If you get dry mouth when you wake up, going to the bathroom to rinse your mouth should help the dryness.

Before I end, don't try to force air into your already blocked nasal passages as you might do damage. Breathe thru your mouth instead. Drink plenty of water too and sucking on a candy might help (dryness) too. Good luck and let me know how ya been doing... :angel:
Hope all this helps... :cool: