Can a week of Nasarel use bring down immune system enough to make me sick?

[lliill g]

Seems everytime I use Nasarel I end up getting a cold/flu (no fever).

I know Nasarel is a steroid and lowers your immune system.

I usually only use my Nasarel when I'm at my wits end with my PND / daily excessive clear mucus production / coughing coughing coughing / vomiting the clear mucus up to get relief, etc.

What happens is I usually end up feeling tight in the chest and around my back as well as very sore/tight shoulder pain, and my energy drops to zero just like having the flu does to a person. My daily clear phlegm thickens and eventually I end up with yellow phlegm which means I have a cold/flu.


It's sad because the Nasarel and a Sudafed together give me such relief that it reminds me what feeling normal should be like. But a few days into it, it always backlashes like this.

Any ideas if the Nasarel steroid is to blame?

[lliill g]

Forgot to add the very raw, sore throat that comes with it.

[abetac]

Hi. I'm not a doctor but thought I'd respond anyway.  Nasal steroids have the following side effects listed for them:
Bad smell; blindness; bloody mucus or unexplained nosebleeds; blurred or gradual loss of vision; burning or stinging after use of spray or irritation inside nose (continuing); crusting, white patches, or sores inside nose; discharge or redness in eye, eyelid, or inner lining of the eyelid; eye pain; headache; hives; light-headedness or dizziness; loss of sense of taste or smell; muscle pain; nausea or vomiting; ringing in the ears; shortness of breath; skin rash; sore throat, cough, or hoarseness; stomach pains; stuffy, dry, or runny nose or watery eyes (continuing); swelling of eyelids, face, or lips; tightness in chest; troubled breathing; unusual tiredness or weakness; wheezing; white patches in throat

Since steroids, in general, can suppress the immune system (which I am not sure happens quite so easily with intranasal symptoms), it may be that you are more susceptible to colds and that's why you are getting cold like symptoms.  


I wonder, and you should talk to your dr about this, if it would be more useful to use the nasal steroid regularly instead of when PND flares up.  It's harder to stop nasal problems than it is to prevent them from happening in the first place.  If you took the nasal steroid daily you may be less inclined to need the sudafed and feel the relief you get when you are using it.  Another option might be to do a sinus wash or a saline nasal spray to help stop nasal symptoms because they can help wash out some of the allergens causing the problems.

Have you also done allergy testing? This might help you figure out how to avoid allergens that you are allergic to.  

[llilll g]

I'm starting to think it might have something to do with:

a) bringing my chronic stuffed sinusitis down to my chest/slight bronchitis  (because all of a sudden my nose is clearer than it's been in years)

or

b) something to do with candida because Nasarel can create bacteria/fungus/candida so it might exacerbate a current condition? I'm thinking that's what happened since I suspect candida to begin with.

Any thoughts?