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Stuffy nose woes

ms.codex — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:49:57 -0800

Hit me with your best stuffy-nose remedies. I have a bad cold. I'm past the sore-throat and fever stage and into the stuffy, runny nose and bad sinus pressure stage. Whenever I stay still for more than a few minutes (by, say, sitting and reading), or ESPECIALLY when I lie down, my nasal passages become so impassable that it's impossible to breathe without salivating uncomfortably. I couldn't sleep last night and I probably won't sleep tonight. What can I do, besides taking Sudafed every 4 hours? Any foods, supplements, temperature manipulations, other tricks?

stuffy ear is driving me bananas.

sucre — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:40:34 -0800

My left ear is stuffy almost every day. Allergies + Qtip use + Earplugs = ? YANAD, but you might be able to help. for a few years now, my left ear has been stuffy on and off. it is similar to the sensation of having water in your ear (without the actual water sensation, just the stuffiness). i have allergies (cats, dogs, possibly mold, dust) although i have never had allergy testing or allergy shots.

other details: the stuffiness seems more apparent in the summertime. i notice the stuffiness about 30-60 minutes after waking up, and is lasts for a stretch of the day and seems to disappear around the evening-time. i wear an earplug each night (just one, in the ear that doesn’t touch the pillow) and often switch the earplug back and forth when i switch sides while i sleep (i know, i should probably just use two earplugs). also, and this may be pretty important, i use qtips almost every day (once per day), similar to this person. i would characterize it as a qtip addition, (although i don’t hear my pulse like this person did). that said, i don’t think i have any wax build-up. i’ve tried wax-removing techniques (a storebought kit, including some oil and a squirty bulb) as well as warmed olive oil and hydrogen peroxide. i’ve taken a few different kinds of allergy pills, none of which helped. i’ve used a Neti Pot on and off, and have just recently started using it twice a day. i also have a lot of gunk in my throat, and am constantly clearing it and sometimes coughing. this may be related. i also have asthma, which i have under control (i use 100/50 Advair twice per day).

i visited the doctor about two years ago to discuss this problem, assuming it was allergy-related. she checked for wax, didn’t find any, and said that because the stuffiness was only in one ear, it couldn’t be allergies. so she gave me an antibiotic and let me go. i don’t remember this helping at all, and here i am years later with the same problem.

it's really annoying! and i know that i shouldn't be using qtips (maybe my first step will be to cut the qtip use). any suggestions, hive mind?

Bicycle == Decongestant ?

benign — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:12:25 -0800

Why does riding my bicycle clear my stuffy nose? I've had a cold for the past few days, and when I wake up at least one nostril is totally blocked, and no amount of blowing will unblock it. One side also remains blocked throughout the day, though sometimes the sides switch. However, after about two minutes of cycling (on my way to work, in the gross Beijing air, FWIW), both sides of my nose are unblocked. At this point, I can either breathe fine, or blow my nose (freeing prodigious amounts of gunk) and then breathe fine. I would really love to know why this happens, but can't think of any good reasons, and a cursory googling turns up nothing.

Why does my new home clog my nose?

lorrer — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:16:16 -0800

My new home makes my nose slightly stuffy all day, every day. Why could this be, and how can I fix it? I moved into a new apartment a few months ago.

The first few times I stayed there, my boyfriend and I noticed that our noses got stuffy by the time we woke up the next morning. At the time, we had recently painted the walls and refinished the floors, and we thought our symptoms would go away as the smell from the paint and floors faded. However, months later and now that I am sleeping at home every night, I find my nose is mildly stuffy all the time. My boyfriend stays on the weekends and I think he gets mild symptoms in the mornings, but he has always had a bit of a stuffy nose in the mornings so it is hard to say.

Here is the state of the apartment now: I have two HEPA air filters that run in the apartment all the time, and have since we moved in. There is some dust and I'm still unpacking, but I've never been allergic to dust or anything other than pet dander. We don't have pets. I also started a new job so I suppose it is possible that something in the air at work is doing this, but it seems more likely that my home is, because people at work seem just fine. There is a window right by the bed, and my boyfriend has suggested that maybe a draft is causing the stuffiness. However, it was warm out when we moved in and it seems like a draft would only get your nose stuffy if it was cold, if a draft would stuff up a nose at all.

1) What could still be causing this?
2) Ideas on how to fix it?

Thank you!

1 ear still stuffy after flight. Is this bad?

mrgreyisyelling — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 03:32:53 -0800

Tell-me-I'm-not-going-deaf-filter: I was flying home from Chicago one night ago, happily listening to the new Cornelius album - drifting off into the soft relief that benedryl supplies when you have been rocking a head cold for 2 days (sore throat, leaky nose, watery eyes, headache) - when suddenly I'm wide awake with a severe pain in both my ears from the plane starting its decent. And it lasts. I swallow and swallow, but I'm reeling in pain, saying terribly mean things to my very confused and sleepy girlfriend - and it doesn't stop until well after I'm off the plane. The pain at least. My left ear though is still stuffy ( I can hear things but its ~weird~), and though I've loaded up decongestants they don't seem to be helping.

1. I just need someone to tell me this isn't super-strange. That people who have the darned luck of being sick before flight have the darned luck of being stuffy in the ear for a day or two after, and that my ear drum is very likely not irrevocably damaged. Consider this an internet hug. I need this.

2. I had a pair of those in the ear headphones in - could that have multiplied my problems?

Subfilter: I have no insurance, SoL.

3. I will go to Dr. if it doesn't get better in a day or two (I really enjoyed that Cornelius album), but is there some sort of signs I should be aware of that this is more urgent and would require me to wake my girlfriend (again) to rush me to the emergency room because my future of stereophonic enjoyment may be on the line? Right now its no worse then a bad cold on one side of my head. A little achy on the inside.

4. and if I stick my finder in there, I can hear a little tone (only if I stick my finger in there) - which I know from one or two concerts isn't good, but it isn't bad.... right?

(I know none of you are doctors, but still I need your highly dubious internet opinion to sleep at night)

Stuffy Nose

deeman — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 19:56:34 -0800

Permanent stuffy nose? One day I got a stuffy nose, and almost a year later it hasn't gone away. What's wrong with me? One week during the winter I got sick and thought I got a sinus infection. I took nasal decongestants just so I could breathe all week. I haven't recovered in almost a year. My nose just hasn't been the same. I don't have a history of allergies and never needed any medication. It's usually at its worst in the morning and in the evening. What the heck is going on? I live in the Boston area. Is there a nose professional I can visit to take a look?

Homesickness at home.

tmcw — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 12:52:17 -0800

Nasal congestion on waking... A few possible causes, but a lot of them are ruled out. All right - here's the deal.

I've moved back home for a break from school, and in the past week, on almost every morning, as soon as I wake up - and a lot of times I'll wake up early (before 9 in college-speak), and I'll have a pretty congested nose. A few minutes after waking it gets a lot worse, and eventually I can't breathe out of my nose well enough to go back to sleep. Possible things that affect this... I have an ancient radiator in my room which I thought was drying out the air, but after turning it off and using a humidifier that still persists. There's a cat in the house, and I'm allergic to cats, but I don't have itchy eyes, so I don't know if it could be that (also, I've lived here before, with that cat, and the radiator)

Flu? Cold? Other stuff? I'm not sure what's going on, and thinking of having a doc appt, but any help beforehand would be cool (my doctor... is on his mark on some things, but I doubt the breadth of his knowledge)

Can I change the nasal sound of my voice?

ferociouskitty — Fri, 29 Oct 2004 15:53:26 -0800

My voice has a nasal sound to it - not high-pitched-nasal, more like it sounds like I have a perpetually stuffy nose. Anything I can work on to change that, or am I stuck?

Why does running up stairs clean my sinuses?

Scoo — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 20:35:33 -0800

When I have a stuffy nose from allergies or a cold, jogging up a flight of stairs momentarily reduces the swelling of the nasal passage. Ascending at a walk does not have this effect. Why? Is it the change in air pressure? The bounciness of my gait?