I had the same horrible experience as VOW back in the 80s, with an over-the-counter product. For the past few years, though, prescription nasal steroids have solved the nighttime clogging problem with no ill afteraffects.
Fact check: OP from 05-31-2007 02:10 AM.
Our rating: True.
I’m impressed! A properly self-predicted, albeit accidental, zombie!
-D/a
Consider trying a neti pot. Nasal irrigation - Wikipedia There are threads about them here … somewhere …
i KNOW the answer. It’s not anything uncommon. It’s unhumid air. That’s why it’s worse in the summer (not as much moisture). Or when a fan is on, which makes it cooler and more active. The membranes in your nostril get dry, so mucous comes to moisturize it, simple as that! Get a humidifier in your room. It pumps humid air into the room. My cousin has severe nose issues and uses one and it works great for him. My nose gets plugged every night too, mostly because I sleep with a fan on. It’s just really annoying/frustrating/uncomfortable. But it’s not unhealthy! Try sleeping on your stomach with your chin over the pillow so gravity pulls the mucous down and out of your nose. Have tissues ready and blow it out! That’s what works for me 
hope this helped!!
One side gets clogged up with snot. :rolleyes:
(emphasis mine)
Well, all that’s gonna do, is cause an extremely snotty pillow! :eek:
I’ve found that nasal irrigation using a netipot type device during the summer months tends to thin out mucus and reduce sinus clogging while sleeping.
Here the one I use. Works great!
Not sure what i have got, but definately been waking up with a blocked nose (usually one nostril in particular) & subsequent dry mouth and/or sneezing … will will often drag out into the day, this has been happening before the change in season so i don’t think it’s pollen related, eased a little after a super-hoovered but still there - could be mold caused maybe. I did a change of season basic March detox, whereby i stayed off alchol & tea for 2 days then continued to do this & slowly drank the following: 100ml of freshley squeezed lemon juice - which is about 3 lemons - into 150ml of room temperature water with a bit of fresh ginger & a very small garlic clove whizzed up in it, first thing on waking, followed by a 15min gap & a peppermint tea before having my breakfast - did this for 5 days … on the 4th day my symptoms had vanished - breathing was easy through both nostrils (also on this day i’d spent most of the day out in the sun in the country, so that may be a variable involved, but that isn’t totally unusual for me). It’s been about 2 weeks since symptoms ‘vanished’, had a bit of sneezing here & there, a bit of a blocked nose now & again but they are so much better - i can always breathe through my nose without needing to open my mouth (something we really don’t appreciate until we find we can’t do that!), not been waking up with a dry mouth & don’t feel like i’ve always got a cold. So impressed with the lemon concoction, i’ve continued to squeeze half a lemon into some room temperature water and drink first thing every morning, from things i’ve read since lemons are suppose to be good for respiratory system & they have an ‘alkalising’ effect on the body reducing general inflamation. I’ve also read some stuff about Vitamin D3 being good for people who have autio-immune problems (which i also have), sinus infections (& much more) … so maybe the day in the sun helped too! Just wanted to share this as didn’t come across the lemons or D3 when i was googling: ‘wake up with blocked nose’, ‘wake up sneezing’, ‘one nostril always blocked’… hope it helps.
double zombie or no
turbinates can be unequal. the narrower one can swell shut before the other as mentioned above.
Me, too. Every night. Back and forth between the left and right side while sleeping.
I had the same problem when i smoked; after i stopped smoking, the problem disappeared. Now that i have begun smoking cigars, the problem has reappeared. When I tell this to doctors, most of them look wise and say, “Interesting.”
Nasal hemorrhoids?
I was allergy tested (negative) and then had turnbanate reduction surgery (which was the worst 5 days of my life afterwards having that crap packed up my nose…for someone who has anxiety about not being able to breathe, this was akin to waterboarding for me) But now, I still have half a nose shutdown each night. Need to find a new ENT I guess, but very frustrated for sure.
This is why I love this website. 
Is this really something so bothersome that you need to start using medical solutions? I mean, it happens to me sometimes, but it’s just a minor annoyance. It’s not even enough to make it hard to go back to sleep if I wake up during the night, as I can just roll over and it will clear up, and the other nostril doesn’t have time to feel clogged before I get back to sleep. And, in the morning, it lasts maybe to the time it takes me to get to the toilet. By the time I could squirt something up my nose, it’s gone.
This strike me as odd (although far be it from me to disparage Darwin). What other paired organs are perfused alternately?
I didn’t know mucous cells (is this a correct way to say it?) had cilia. If they had a race with sperm, who would win?
I have the same issue… If I lay on my left, the left side is clogged. If I lay on my right, the right side clogs. If its really bad, then BOTH nostrils are blocked and I can hardly breathe. I doze off and wake up with horrible dry mouth and it feels like everything around my nose and eyes are swollen. Apparently I also snore when its like this… It could be allergies, but this also happens YEAR round and not just in the summer. Oh, and if I get up to blow my nose, nothing happens. There’s nothing to blow out. :mad:
So I did go see an ENT. What a joke that was! He told me that EVERYONE has this problem EVERY night, and basically told me I was wasting his time. :dubious: Sheesh! This is the same guy who put a scope up my nose to look at my sinuses and said they looked inflamed and then said they were fine… :smack: Really? Inflamed is “fine”?!?
I know this is an old thread already, but its been of some solace to know that I’m not the only one who sees this constant battle as an annoying problem! I’ve heard some horror stories about Turbinate Reduction Surgery, I have no idea if I have a deviated septum (as I stormed out of the ENT’s office), but I NEED some relief.
Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.
Canucksgirl, my post earlier in the thread is a good one for you. The reason it swaps nostrils is because of the blood swelling your turbinates on the lowest side. There is nothing to blow out because snot has nothing to so with it. If you have a substantially deviated septum, one side will always be more clogged than the other.
It sounds like you need a new ENT. That is all I can say about that.
I’ve had this problem for as long as I can remember, keeps me awake for nights at a time too 
I have found that cool air helps to relieve it, and holding an ice pack to the afflicted side, but after a while it just comes back again…