Right nostril blocked

Ears, nose and throat
1

Hi guys,

I'm 21 and am struggling to breath out of my right nostril. Only happens at night and mostly when laying down. I've done absolutely everything I can think of to fix it but it doesn't work. It's driving me crazy as I'm lucky to get 4 hours sleep a night for over a year.

I saw a Dr about it and she reckoned I have dust mite allergy. Blood came back negative but she was still sure it was that.

I ended up buying an asthma council approved air purifier, allergy bedding, washing hot once a week, cleaning fan regularly, and vacuuming carpet with a HEPA filter vaccume cleaner weekly. Didn't help. Vicks and all didn't help. I tried nasel sprays for months as well and antihistamines. Nothing worked.

I went back and saw another Dr recently. He put me on predoslione got a week. This didn't help either. He said because that didn't work it's very unlikely to be an allergy.

I'm now waiting to see a private ENT but can't get in until the middle of January. So until then I'm not sure what to do. The only thing that does work is a nasel decongestant but can't use them for more than a few days.

Has anyone got any ideas what else may help? January is a fair wait and this little sleep is difficult.

2

welcome to the club. I have the very same problem as you do

My nose gets congested when I'm lying down and turn to the side. The lower side always gets congested no matter what.

I have seen several ENTs, the last one just last week. He said that the cause of the consetion is the phisiplogy of my nose, (meaning that's how it is I suppose) and the gravity and something I might breath in. He said that surgery for shrinking the turbinates might have very little improvement if any at all. Surgery has a risk as well, so if it's not dramatic, better to avoid surgery.

I had a CT which showed that everything was normal, no deviated septum, no enlarged turbinates (as other ENTs suggested), no polyps.

I am ok breathing through one side only, the problem starts when both sides gets stuffed up. I also have less sleep, but I can still manage to get about 8-9 hrs sleep, except those bad days / nights, It happens  on average once every 3-4 weeks, and when I get so badly congested I use the decongestant, drops, not spray and use just 1 single drop. 

If you overuse it it can really stuff up your nose, from rebound effect.

The cause as this ENT said, besides the physiology and the gravity, the congestion might be from the temperature and humidity changes.

But if you only experience congestion when you lie down, that's just the gravity and the blood flowing from one side to the other.

Have you tired sleeping on your back with high pillows?

DO NOT USE DECONGESTANTS!

Have you tried pseudoeffedrine? It's not good either in the long run, and it might keep you awake. There is also a mild version of it, you can buy it in tea form (not everywhere though)

If it's allergy, - I don't think so from what you have been descripbing, - you could test it by going away for a while to a different climate, area and see if it changes anything

For me it did, I used to live in a hot trpoical climate, my nose was fully 100% congested! Even had surgery but didn;t help.

Finally I moved at got better: at least during the day I'm ok most of the time.

How were you diagnosed? camera up your nose? CT?

it would be a good idea to get a CT if you haven't had any yet.

 

3

I too have had the same experience / diagnosis as Care4health. I would be inerested if anyone else has experienced a change in this condition after removing Gluten / lactose from their diet. I have had several nights when I have have had clear nights and at the moment I am trying to avoid gluten and lactose, I have just researched on the web and maybe it's not a coincidence after all!

4

I do not want to play down what you fell but I think you given a temporal answer. Do not lay down, why you do not look for a way to sleep like in a hospital. This is because you have tried almost everything I know, however sterimar is a gentle nasal cleaner that you may try for temporal relief. About the problem, very important did you get a ct Scan? You say you have used a public healthcare provider. Which? The NHS? I do not understand which test they used. The typical test on the NHS is a prick test. Was it a igE test?

5

Yeah same problem here. When bending or laying down, post nasal drip 'like you have to swallow every 5mins', 'bad, strange smells randomly', breathing through mouth, snoring, waking up after 4hours, try to catch another 4hours. Probably nasal polyps but why surgery if the odds are 40% that they come back. I just hope it is a good polyp and not a cancerous one...  seems also to block the eustachius tube (to ear) so I no longer dare to take airplanes (pressure pain ear). Sh*t happens, probably will have it for the rest of my life. But seems like a lot of people have them so, have to live with it I'm afraid... success anyway/

6

Have you seen an ENT? CT? If it's a polyop, it could be fixed. Because lots of people have sinus problems doesn't mean that everybody has the same cause, and that it can't be fixed.

I would definately get a CT, no need to suffer unnecessarily.

7

This happens to me when I have a bottle of beer I've heard that beer can make your nose stuffy are you drinking before you go to bed?

8

Did you ever get t

9

This figured out? My right one is plugged alot also. Have you tried a steam vaporizer? Essential oils?

10

i have the same problem. it occoured tonight but its my left nostril. was wondering if id still survive if i went to sleep? tryed out the night time suggestion for 2 hours now but it dont help

11

plus my nostril that i cant breath out of (left one) is only letting out about 5% of air whilst my other one aint blocked. niether is my left. im 19