Nasal Chronic Congestion, Turbinite Reduction or just a normal Nasal Cycle?

Ears, nose and throat
1

Hi, I'am suffering from a long term alternating one-sided nasal congestion. I just didn't know if its just a what they called "Nasal Cycle" or a chronic congestion or turbinite reduction from what I've researched. So this is my situation: Every other time my one-sided nasal congestion will alternate to the other side and the other side will be blocked. And the congestion has also something to do in the way how I sleep or I mean which side a sleep. If i sleep sideway the nostril lying are blocked, onthe other hand if I sleep on my other side then the nostril lying same goes and the other side will be open.

My question, is this normal? I've red that some cases are chronic and could cause a brain damage. I'm so worried because it's annoying me for months. Hoping for a response, this is will be a great help for me since ENT is a specialist it would cost too much for me since I don't have enough resources. Thank in you in advance.

2

OMG! I got exactly like u. When I sleep on the side the lower gets blocked. 

So my story is a bit more lengthy than yours. 

For me the problem started after we moved to a hot humid tropical climate. After a few yrs I got worse and worse nasal congestion, at the end both sides got fully blocked. 24/7. ENT done a turbinectomy, but didn't help.

He gave me nasal sprays, didn't help. I tried immunotherapy, some drops under the tongue, didn't help.

ENT told me I was allergic to dust mites and the tropical climate wasn't ideal for my allergy, which was only partially true. It is true that I got dust mites allergies, but the real culprit, was just the humidity and probably the dust from the sugar cane fields. Took me 2 yrs to figure this out. I noticed when I left for a few weeks, went overseas, I got better.

So decided to move to a drier climate and my sinus problems improved heaps. However I still have that one side congestion at night, went to see an ENT about it, and he said it is just  the way my nose is and surgery would be risky and might not help one bit. For me that one side congestion is ok, I'm ok to breath through only one nostril. During the day no problem at all.

Sometimes on bad rainy days I still get congestion, but never as bad as up there where we used to live, and once in a while using decongestants wouldn't hurt.

So my advice, if your ENT suggest turbinectomy think 2x before going under the knife. I didn;t have complications, but the surgery is not without risks. and for me it didn't help.

I don't know if you tired nasal rinse, saline sprays, there is no harm and who know, might be a bit of help.

Dust is a killer for allergy sufferers, so make sure you have no dusty carpets and stuff like that. When I vacuum I always wear a mask,

Anyway a CT scan would be a good idea, maybe you have deviated septum and an allergy test. It's skin prick test, and they will test the most common allergens. 

After you have those tests, you might be able to find what's causing that congestion for you. They might always be able to, but without doing those first, you'll never know.

You can use saline rinse or spray meantime, wouldn't hurt.

3

just a correction, I meant they might not always be able to find out the cause of the congestion, and ENT might suggest surgery. Just be careful. Get 2nd / 3rd opinion.

4

Thank you very much for your response! And sorry for late reply. So how did you finally solve your congestion? Did you just let it? or what? I can actually breath with one nostril but there are such a time where it bothers me. Did the doctor tell if it's just normal? how can distinguish it from a normal nasal cycle to a chronic congestion?

P.S. I really don't want to go under that surgery. It's costly and would not give a guarantee. Hope you can help me. Thanks. 

5

Yes, that's exactly what ENT (the last one I've seen) told me, that it's the physiology of my nose! And he also said that surgery would do very little or even could make it worse.

Compared to how I suffered up in the hot tropical humid climate, I'm grateful that I have only that one side congestion at night. Sometimes when the weather gets really humid I get some congestion during the day too, and if it really bothers me I use a decongestant drop.- fortunately needing it very rarely . too much use can cause rebound effect!!!!

Not sure what you have tried so far, but what you could start with is using a nasal saline rinse.It doesn't cost a lot at all, and won't make it worse.

The congestion at night is simply due to gravity, When you sleep on the side all the blood flows to the lower side, so the blood vessels get thicker. If you get a higher it could actually solve the problem. 

You could also go for the antihistamine over the counter sprays, or the costeroid sprays such as rhinocort, nasones. Keep in mind they not really good either for the long term, but if it help you, u might want to consider it.

Other than that, I really don't know. It's really an annoying thing, and very frustrating that DRs aren't able to fix a simple congestion!

 

6

Juan,

thought i I provide a perspective from someone who has had surgery. My nose was utterly clogged up some 3mths ago and despite rounds of antibiotics, antihistamine, sprays, nothing helped. Eventually I had my turbinates reduced using radio frequency and my right maxillary sinus cleaned up as it was badly infected. 

Now 7 weeks post surgery, I can breathe much better. But when I lie down in bed, I have exactly what you have. When I lie down on that one side, the nose that side clogs up. And throughout the day, each nostril alternates to swell. It really is a combination of the natural cycle as well as still swollen nasal passage for me after surgery. My ENT is not too worried about this but I am waiting to see if this phenomenon will ease out in a few weeks' time. 

What i I notice is that if I take an antihistamine like Zyrtec, it helps reduce the swelling from allergy and I notice the cycle less throughout the day. 

Hope this helps give you a perspective from post surgery.