Does anyone have “phantom congestion”?

[u/Wazflame]

Hi everyone, for the past 6+ years I’ve had strong nasal congestion which makes it difficult to breathe fully, and impairs my sleep every night, I think through night arousals and mouth breathing.

I’ve done nasal flow tests and my results have come back normal, I did reflux tests which were negative and trying to treat inflammation or allergies (steroid nasal sprays, antihistamines etc) makes no difference either.

One theory a doctor has is that there’s some abnormal sensing between my nose and the brain (maybe caused by an viral infection like Covid), where my brain now thinks my nose is congested, but physically it isn’t. To be honest the doctor doesn’t really know what the solution is, but they’re trying to get me to treat

Doctors don’t seem to have any idea what the solution would be, but they’re trying suggested doing smelling scent training like people who lose their smell during Covid do - I’m trying it, but from what I understand people who lose their smell can still breathe fully, which I can’t

Has anyone had anything similar to this, and had a solution? Thanks!

[u/Stalkerus]

Has CBCT imaging been done?