I have always only used it for a head cold, at nighttime only and no more than three days. After recently having sinus surgery and being made to use two healthy squirts up each nostril, once every 10 minutes, for an entire hour prior to surgery, I may never, ever touch the stuff again. It burned like hell and I’m pretty sure some of the horrible congestion post-op was due to the deliberate overdose pre-surgery. I guess the doctor ordered it to reduce the amount of bleeding during surgery so she could see better during the surgery. They told me to use it post-op if there was too much fresh bleeding, but either the sponges caught it all or it wasn’t an issue. I’m pretty sure that I will never touch the stuff again. At the moment, just the very idea makes my nose burn.
I’m going to die its only been 8 hours with out afrin someone have any new ideas??? they gave me steroids not helping and neither is flonase . been addicted for 20 years
Can you tell me what worked I’m dying
I got off them using a Chinese herb that you can’t have in the US because of the FDA’s rules.
I would suggest trying pill-form antihistamines along with Omeprozol (unnoticed reflux often makes the stuffiness worse).
Another thing to do is move. It sometimes takes a few years for the local flora to catch up with you. In the meantime you can be off them and then never be tempted to use them again.
Afrin (xylometazoline / oxymetazoline) relieves congestion by reducing inflammation of the blood vessels. For a good 4 years I used this chemical at least once a day, sometimes several times. The rebound congestion is extremely severe - my nasal passage would be 100% blocked.
Gradually I weaned myself away from it - it’s nothing short of a miracle. Here’s some to-do:
- If diabetic, get it under excellent control
- Address systemic inflammation - you might want to try powerful antioxidant supplements such as alpha-lipoic acid, Omega-3, and Vitamin C.
- Meditation and spiritual discipline helped me tremendously. I am not joking!
In the meantime, get a prescription for a milder decongestant such as Fluticasone - it did not help much, but it’s better than nothing.
Finally, there are a wealth of suggestions from Hatha Yoga practices. Jala Neti directly addresses the problem through a regimen of physical cleaning. In general, Yoga says that such diseases have systemic causes, and offers a number of other asanas that more indirectly approach the problem.
Warning: Approach yogasanas carefully, with a trained instructor by your side. All the best!
I guess I was never addicted to it. I use it maybe twice a week. I used it quite often last winter but when summer came along I just didn’t need it.
Go get some pseudoephedrine. When it comes to swollen turbinates, there are really only two “big guns”: Afrin type nose sprays and pseudoephedrine.
Note that pseudoephedrine is a stimulant, so you may find it a bit harder to sleep at night.
ETA: In the US, it is usually sold along with other allergy meds and marked with a “D.” Zyrtec-D, Claritin-D. They are behind the counter at the pharmacy.
I started using Afrin over a year ago when I became congested all of a sudden. I used it everyday for a couple days. Then the next week I needed it again. After a few weeks I had to use it daily just to get any air into my nose. I finally realized after all this time that the Afrin has caused more severe congestion than I ever had before and I had to use two bottles a week for the past four months. Then I researched online and found out about saline rinses and sprays and weaning off Afrin. I have started the weaning method. It has been four days. I am using Flonase every 12 to 14 hours and saline sprays and rinses about every 6 hours. I limited myself to using the afrin every four hours. Today I am improving and went 6 hours without it. I hope to get my nose back to normal after a few weeks. I recommend to others with this physical dependence on afrin or other nasal sprays with oxymetazoline or pheylephrine, try to wean yourself off these horrible nasal sprays. Try the saline rinses. I find that I have to use quite a lot of it - a 3 ounce container lasted me these four days. Also get on a corticosteroid like Flonase if you can, to get you through the weaning period and off this stuff altogether. There are some natural sprays with capsaicin available on amazon.com. I am going to order one and try it. If you can get to a doctor, then do that. But if you are uninsured, try the natural products and weaning. Good luck everyone!
Although it IS available as part of an allergy combo, pseudo is equally available (behind the counter with ID required) as a solo drug. Either in 4-6 hour dose or 12 hour dose.
Do NOT get the OTC Sudafed PE. It does NOT work at the prescribed dosage.
Pseudoephedrine was also mentioned in post 30. Again, it worked in an hour to let me breathe, and I only needed two or three regularly scheduled doses before I could breathe free again.
I’m going with surgery for a deviated septum and turbinate reduction tomorrow. I’m hoping that the week of packing in my nose, along with the correction of the root cause will break me of the cycle.
In years past, come spring each year, I’ve alternated the use of phenylephrine and oxymetazoline (two different chemicals in the sprays, the first is the ‘short acting,’ the 2nd is the ‘long acting’ versions) to help break the cycle one nostril at a time.
This thread was started in 2007 and the last 3 or 4 posts were just made recently.
There have been 3 or 4 other threads about addiction to nasal sprays. Here is a link to one of them:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=711505&highlight=nasal+spray
Good luck to anyone trying to cope with this kind of addiction. I beat my addiction “cold turkey” in December 2013 and I’m happy to report that I have been free ever since.
It can be done! You may need medical treatment to do it. But, IMO, it’s worth doing whatever you need to beat it.
This kind of addiction is no joke. I thank G-d that I was able to beat it. Good luck to everyone who is trying to the same.
I had a bad Afrin habit during my early and mid-twenties, in the first half of the 1980s.
I think it was around 1986 that I finally decided to kick the habit. Started using a saline solution and weaned myself off the “hard stuff”. I think it was over after about ten days or so. Haven’t used Afrin since!
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