please help me out?

Question

Hi,
Few Months ago, maybe 4-5 ,I became sick during the summer
season and because I have pollen allergy my nose became really staffy
and I couldn't breathe properly. So I went to a pharmacy and got
OTRIVIN (Xylometazoline Hydrochloride).
It helped a lot and I had no problems. I was taking it for three
days.
But after 3 days left I had to take it again to clear my nose.
I thought that this was still because of the pollen allergy and I
thought that once the season is gone I'll be ok and I will get rid of
Otrivin.
Two months left and I there was no one single day I wasn't taking it.
Now, believe or not it's 4-5 Months I am taking it every day.
I can't get off of it.
I tried many times, but if I do not take it at least once a day, I get
nose completely block to the point that I can't breathe by it even if
I take all my effort. Than if I wont take it, it gives me headaches, and nasul congestion. Pls help me out.....

Answer 1

You are getting rebound congestion. You will need to start tapering the dose and get a saline nose spray.
Rebound congestion occurs when you take nasal decongestants too much and improperly. This drug should not be used for more than 3 days.
You need to go to a doctor or pharmacist on how to deal with this.
You want to get a prescription for a nasal corticosteroid like nasonex.

Answer 2

Dang!!! That sounds almost exactly like the problem I had when I was taking Allegra (and claritin later!). I took the chance, stopped taking Allegra and had withdrawal symptoms for a week! After that though, I was better than before. What you can do that is non-mediciney (and you sound desparate enough like I was to try it) is use a neti pot. It rinses out your sinuses so you don't have the allergan in the nose anymore! It works instantly I've found, and once I took allegra, tylenol severe allergy and even benedryl, and they didn't work, but the neti pot helped instantly!

The neti pot is a little pot that you fill with warm saline water (1/2 tsp salt to 1 cup of water about) and pour through your nose to clean out the pollen. It looks disgusting, but it works so well, I rarely take allergy medicine. I just take 4-6 hour tylenol severe allergy if I have to. The neti pot will also keep your nose clearer, and works even with a cold! Sometimes you have to sit there awhile for the water to go through, but look up neti pot on the internet, and you'll get a lot of info. I found mine at the natural foods store. I put a link below for the npr story about neti pots. Good luck and if you can get off that drug, you'll stop having as many problems... It's just going to be a little rough for a week or so.