Afrin No Drip decongests my nose great 12h. Will sinus surgery decongest permanently? - Sinus Problems Message Board

tobreathefree · 06-08-2009, 07:28 PM

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on these boards. Good to be here amongst 500k other people.

I'm 28, male, Caucasian, BMI 24.5, in good shape and generally good health. However, since I can remember, my nose gets congested completely at random, which makes breathing very annoying. Sometimes, days in a row, I wake up with one nostril completely blocked, and the other 50% blocked. Who knows if in my sleep they don't get both blocked? Perhaps this is what makes me very tired some days despite 7-8 hours of sleep?

Anyway, I wasn't able to find any obvious cause for this congestion. Nothing like pollen or dust, or anything that would reliably clog my nose. I don't have headaches almost at all, and don't get other ENT infections from the nose.

What helps very effectively to decongest my nose is Afrin No Drip. It keeps my nose free for 12 hours, and it feels great to be able to breathe easily; however, I can't use it for more than 3 days in a row.

Recently I did some research and found out about sinus surgery (as described at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/sinussurgery/htm/index.htm), but I'm not sure if it makes sense for my situation. If my sinuses had a physical malformation, Afrin wouldn't help, and the nose would be blocked all the time, right?

Anyway, if surgery would help, the day I have it would be one of the happiest in my life. So should I go for it or not? What do people think?

Thanks,
Dan

gcsjr · 06-09-2009, 04:28 AM

Quote:

If my sinuses had a physical malformation, Afrin wouldn't help, and the nose would be blocked all the time, right?

Afrin does provide some relief to people who have a physical malformation because it shrinks the tissues around the malformation making it easier for air to flow through the nasal passages.

Before you start thinking about surgery - which can be used to address a range of problems but also has risks and may not improve anything - you should see an Otolaryngologist (ENT Specialist) and explain your symptoms.

No doctor in his right mind would perform surgery without first performing an endoscopic exam and trying a course of medical treatment (anti-inflammatory nasal spray, sinus irrigation, antihistamines and decongestants).

Be sure to find an ENT who is experienced in treating congestion and sinus disease (some are more focused on performing rhinoplasties or treating ear problems), and consider seeing an allergist as well (I'm not sure why you say it's not pollen, it certainly sounds like allergies).

immortal1 · 07-29-2009, 07:21 AM

Iv'e had trouble breathing free for quite some time. Always stuffed up in the morning and taking some time after I was up and constantly spitting up mucus to be able to breathe free again. Then I went to an Iriodologist who looked into my eye and said that my body was polluted and to stop eating all dairy products like cheese which was hard to do since cheese comes on everything at most fast food resturants. I stopped eating cheese and milk and within one week I was able to sleep all night and get up in the morning breathing free and then after about two weeks went by and getting hungry I went into Mcdonalds, not thinking, I bought a big mac which of course had cheese on it, the next morning I couldn't breathe so I figured it was the cheese on the Mac and so I stopped eating things with cheese and can now breathe free again. Its hard to eliminate dairy from your diet but try it and see if it works for you, and Breathe Free.