Posts tagged nasal congestion

Nasal sprays are one of the options which people have for using sinus medications, although they certainly aren’t the only options. To deal with the symptoms of congestion and facial pressure or headaches, there are several things which can be done, including home remedies as well as prescription medications. In this article, some of the options for dealing with sinus problems will be described, with special emphasis on nasal sprays as one of the most common treatment options.

Possible Options for Sinus Treatment

Treatments for sinus problems fall into three general categories, those being home remedies and over-the-counter medications, daily prescription sinus medications, and medications for sinus infections. The first group of treatment options starts with drinking more water, which is something that every sinus sufferer can do right at home.

If you can drink between eight and 12 glasses of water every day, it will help to thin out the material which needs to drain, and will improve your sinus function. For people using antihistamines or nasal sprays, this can be especially important, because those treatments will have the effect of drying out your throat and your nose, making hydration more important.

A second over-the-counter option is to use sinus rinses, usually comprised of distilled water and salt, and which you can easily prepare yourself. These are available in all drugstores as sinus rinse kits, and all you have to do is follow the instructions on the label in order to prepare your sinus rinse. The instructions will generally call for you to prepare your sinus rinse over a sink two times a day, those being in the morning after you wake up, and at night before you go to bed.

One thing that’s important to remember about using sinus rinses, is that they have to be used before you use any kind of antihistamine spray or nasal steroid, because otherwise these would be washed away, and would lose their positive effects.

One last thing you can do in the way of over-the-counter treatment is to purchase from your drugstore an antihistamine, of which there are several very effective name brands on the market, including Zyrtec, Mucinex, and Claritin-D.

The next category of sinus treatments are daily prescription sinus medications. Among the nasal steroid sprays, some of the most effective are Flonase, Omnaris, Veramyst, and Nasonex. Your doctor might also prescribe an antihistamine nasal spray such as Patanase or Astepro to deal with your sinuses. Another prescription treatment would be a combination antihistamine spray and steroid, such as Singulair or Dymista.

The last grouping of sinus treatments are those which are intended to deal with sinus infections. These include antibiotics, oral steroids such as prednisone, brand-name medications such as Sudafed or Afrin, and sinus rinses.

The Difference Between Over-the-Counter Sprays and Prescription Nasal Sprays

Some nasal steroids are available both as over-the-counter medications and as prescribed medications from your doctor. These are recommended to be used only for conditions which tend to be chronic in nature, for instance seasonal rhinitis or chronic sinusitis.

These kinds of sprays can help remediate many of the symptoms associated with those two conditions, including the runny nose, the itchy nose, the persistent sneezing and the congestion which is frequently experienced by a sufferer. In addition to sinus infections, these nasal sprays can also handle seasonal allergies and the symptoms of a common cold, although it usually requires up to two weeks of daily use before the maximum benefits of these sprays are realized.

Some over-the-counter nasal sprays take affect much more quickly, but these are only intended to be taken on a short-term basis. Such decongestants will ease any discomfort, and effectively reduce swelling in the nasal passageways, but should not be used for any more than about three days consecutively.

The medication in these nasal sprays actually causes tiny blood vessels, situated in the mucous membranes, to temporarily constrict, and that causes a temporary shrinkage in the nasal lining. This will immediately result in much better breathing and a general feeling of relief for the sinus sufferer.

The downside of this is that after a few days, the medication will wear off and those same blood vessels will then become severely congested, and that will require the use of more nasal spray, and on a much more frequent basis.

Can Nasal Sprays Become Addictive?

Given the description above, wherein the continued use of nasal sprays may lead to more frequent usage just to maintain the same level of free breathing, it’s natural to wonder whether such nasal sprays can become addictive.

According to the formal definition of addiction, that condition only occurs when a person is “enslaved to a habit or practice, or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma”.

Since over-the-counter nasal sprays contain no habit-forming ingredients whatsoever, and they do not trigger any of the cravings which are associated with addiction, they are not considered to be addictive drugs.

That being said, it is at least possible to develop an increased tolerance to nasal sprays over time, which means the nasal membranes become less responsive to the treatment. When that happens, you may find yourself using the nasal spray more frequently, in order to experience relief from congestion. While this is not a dangerous condition medically, it will probably become at least inconvenient, and it will of course become more costly for the patient.