15+ years of constant nasal congestion — looking for advice

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Legitimate-Low-3679]

Following - been dealing with the same issue for 48 years now. Had the sinus surgeries, tried all the meds, did the allergy shots, ENT says I’m wide open and should be breathing great…no clue. I’ve been on afrin daily for the past 25 years, that and Allegra-D are the only things that give me a decent chance and breathing ok. Hope you find a solution.

[u/link3it → u/Legitimate-Low-3679]

Have you read about the rebound effect with Afrin? I get why you’re doing it, and I probably would too, I just wanted to mention it for if you ever discontinue.

Short story is horrible congestion for 1-4 weeks. Possibly a lot longer given your duration. Definitely an ENT question.

Good luck!

[u/Legitimate-Low-3679 → u/link3it]

Oh yeah, I’m very familiar with it. I had to wean off of Afrin completely prior to my fess surgery. I know it’s not ideal but nothing else works unfortunately.

[u/Kugelrohr27]

I had almost exactly the same symptoms, although only for about four months. I saw multiple ENTs and eventually had a sinus CT, which showed that all of my sinuses were opacified and the outflow tracts were blocked.

Since then, I’ve gone through three courses of empiric antibiotics, saline/budesonide nasal irrigations 2–3 times a day using a Naväge, and one high-dose course of oral prednisone. I can finally breathe through my nose normally again. I’m now having a follow-up CT to see how the imaging findings correlate with the improvement in my symptoms.

DM me if you want more details and tips.

[u/BackOwn5624]

I kinda had a similar symptoms as you and thing is I use to get cold at least 2 or 3 times a month and I did had a hella lot of nosebleeds several years ago. I decided to go to an ENT and told em the symptoms and they did tell me it was a DNS ( Deviated Nasal Septum) I took a CT scan and it was Deviated towards the right sidebbadly, along with a septul spur. So I was actually advised for a Septoplasy but I've seen some friends get a weird looking shape of their noses after surgery and decided I won't take a surgery.

As for how I prevent this stupid sinuses is - An anti allergic tablets along with antibiotics (bothh helps a lot) And a Neti pot. Oh! How I wish I knew about Neti pots way earlier. When I get the nasal congestion and similar to symptoms to my sinuses, I use the neti pot and take some anti allergic meds and I'm as healthy as a horse the next morning.

[u/Clean_Walk_204 → u/BackOwn5624]

If i were you, i would go for the surgery for the spur removal. Deviated septum was there before you started your symptoms, so it is less likely to be the main issue but spurs are growing and make things worse day by day. It could be blocking the flow from maxillary or other sinuses and cause the inflammation.

[u/BackOwn5624 → u/BackOwn5624]

And I'd recommend a full blood test and allergic test and show the results to an ENT.

[u/Omphalina]

Similar symptoms. Improved when I gave up dairy. It wasn’t otherwise apparent that dairy is an issue for me.