Plain Advice

How It All Began

I have been “addicted” to n ose spray on and off (mostly on) for the past 2 years or so. It all started when I was 8 months pregnant and I got a really bad cold. There was very little in the way of medications that I could safely take to treat my severe congestion. The things I tried like Sudafed didn’t work very well and kept me awake at night. I was so miserable.

One night during this illness, I went out to eat. My waitress was also pregnant, and she noticed how sick I was. She made a suggestion to me… nasal spray. Over the counter run of the mill nasal spray. She recommended the Wal-Mart brand. Said it worked like a miracle to clear congestion, and it was safe during pregnancy.

I called a friend who is a pharmacist to confirm that nasal spray truly is safe to use while pregnant, and he confirmed it was. We went to Wal-Mart on the way home and bought the stuff. I was staying with my parents at the time while my husband was out of town. They are witnesses that my first use of the spray was very awkward. I had a hard time figuring out how to get the medicine up into my nose without gagging it down my throat (UGH!). But I finally did figure it out. Oh, did I figure it out.

It really was a miracle. I never appreciated breathing through my nose so much. It was pure heaven. I slumbered all night and had a new hope for the next day with my miracle drug at my side.

The package warns (for good reason) that you should not use the spray for more than 3 days at a time. If you use it any longer you can develop “rebound congestion”. Your nose swells shut inside even when you are no longer sick, requiring you to continue using the spray just to breathe normally.

Well, I ignored the warning because my cold lasted for more than 3 days. They say the way you can get off the spray is to suffer through the rebound congestion…. for up to 2 weeks!… and then your nasal membranes will readjust and start working on their own again. Well, being 8/9 months pregnant, I had enough discomfort to deal with. So I didn’t quit. After my daughter was born, I did not choose to go through the withdrawal because I was so tired and adjusting to life with my new little baby.

Well, months passed, and a lot of money passed between myself and the drug stores. I no longer used just the Wal-Mart brand, but I used any kind of spray I could get my hands on. At times I felt like a nose spray junkie. I became obsessed with always having the stuff available. If I left the house for more than a couple hours, I panicked if I didn’t have it with me. Eventually, there were bottles in my purse, diaper bag, bathroom, car,office…. My husband was worried at the thought that I was addicted to anything. He wondered if it was making me high or something, because he just didn’t understand why I would be so obsessive about using a nose spray (by the way, no it does not make you “high”. It does not affect your brain, or any other part of your body. Just the nasal membranes).

I researched the nose spray addiction a little and found at that I was not alone. Apparently, there are many people out there depending on that small bottle to get them through each day and night. There are people who have been addicted for 30 years or more! Imagine that! Well, I didn’t want to be one of them.

The Final Straw

One particularly bad memory with this problem was my 6th wedding anniversary. Actually, the evening was wonderful and romantic. After going out to dinner, my husband and I sporadically decided to go to a hotel for the night (sans luggage of any kind). When we got there, I realized I didn’t have my nose spray! I left my husband in the room while I ran to the store to buy some. (He was fine with this, since there was a soccer game on he wanted to watch anyway Everything was fine until about 2pm. I woke up severely congested. I took my bottle of nose spray into the bathroom and turned on the vent, because I didn’t want to wake my husband with my awful nose snorting sounds. I swear it took about an hour of snorting the spray and blowing my nose before it finally cleared out. I remember thinking how ridiculous it was to be sitting in that hotel bathroom for an hour dealing with congestion while I should have been sleeping peacefully next to my husband. Every night required me to wake at least one time to use the spray. This was the night it just really hit home how inconvenient this problem had become.

The Solution

My mom told me she had heard of something that claimed could help rebound congestion, called Rhinostat. It’s a system she saw advertised that is supposed to help you wean yourself off of nasal spray, without having the extreme discomfort of going cold turkey. I decided to give it a try, especially when she ordered it for me!

Well, if I thought nasal spray was a wonderful thing in the beginning, Rhinostat was truly the miracle I needed to get off it. After about 7 days of using the system, which gradually dilutes the medication with saline solution, I was off the spray. I couldn’t believe how easy and painless the process was. The only thing required was that each morning I filled my sprayer with a slightly more diluted solution of the spray. Each time I felt congested, I used the spray as normal, and it worked.

It has been about 2 months since I have been off nasal spray. It is so wonderful to have that monkey off my back! I was cleaning out my desk a few days ago and found several bottles that were still full. Before I used the Rhinostat, I would have been desperate to find these bottles during a period of congestion. But this time, I threw them away with a smile, knowing that I no longer need that stuff.

So here is my advice to you: If you suffer from rebound congestion, try Rhinostat. You can visit their website to order your kit today. (By the way, I am not an affiliate for Rhinostat, and I am not being paid to write this article). It is well worth the $50 or so that it costs to be free from nasal spray addiction. And if you have not tried nasal spray, be careful if you decide to use it. It really does work to relieve congestion… but please, heed the warning label and don’t use it more than the recommended amount of time.

Rebound congestion is an inconvenient, embarassing, money eating, time consuming affliction. So do what you can to get over it and stay away from what causes it!

If you experience, or have experienced rebound congestion, please share your experience and what has or hasn’t worked for you in getting over this problem.

As always, thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you back soon…..

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2007 at 4:19 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.