I Can't Breathe Through My Nose!!

I have a history of asthma and allergies and have always had a runny, stuffy nose, as long as I can remember.  I had a hysterectomy five  years ago, and it seems like a few months after the hysterectomy I started to have worse nasal congestion.  I'm currently on q-var 80 for asthma, singulair, zyrtec, patanase, afrin, and a compounded decadron nasal spray, that I wind up gaining weight from, but when my congestion gets bad,  it's the only way I can breathe.  I had two turbinate reduction procedures done about a  year and a half ago, and they didn't seem to help me much.   I'm also doing nasal rinses with the neil med nasal rinse system and adding pulmicort respules to the rinses as well.  I just really want to be able to breathe through my nose!

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

It is evident from your history that you could most probably be suffering from allergic rhinitis and asthma. Both these diseases are usually triggered by an allergen. These allergens, when exposed to initiate immune mediated reactions which will result in the symptoms you experience. The allergic history usually runs in families.

So, the problem can be tackled at three levels.
At the allergen level, where you can consult an allergy specialist, who after doing some skin tests, will be able to specify some allergens. You can either avoid exposure to these allergens or desensitize yourself.

The second level is prevention of the attacks. For this, there are steroidal sprays for allergic rhinitis and steroidal inhalers for asthma. The steroid content is very minimal in both, sprays and inhalers and long-term use will prevent attacks.

When you have an attack, you can use an antihistamine (like Cetzine) for allergic rhinitis. Cetzine is not a steroid and all antihistamines will have some sedatory effects. For wheezing, during the attacks, you can use Asthalin.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.