While the results of studies vary, saline nasal sprays may give you nasal allergy relief.
Stress Relief Strategies to Ease Allergy Symptoms
If you suffer with allergy symptoms, you know all about the stress of having a chronic condition. Not only is it difficult to breathe with allergy symptoms, but poor sleep can lead to fatigue and problems concentrating. Allergy medicines can cause appetite changes, low energy, and even irritability. All you want is relief: from the stress, the symptoms, all of it.
How can natural remedies like nasal sprays help my allergies?
With allergies, there’s nasal obstruction and inflammation. When the normal clearance of mucus from the nasal passage toward the throat becomes obstructed, it leads to retention of mucus within the sinus cavities. Saline nasal sprays may help liquefy these secretions and decrease the risk of crusting in the sinus cavities, according to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology.
Some studies support the use of saline solution (salt water) to restore moisture to dry nasal passages and sinuses and to lessen the inflammation of mucous membranes. Findings show that if saline irrigation is used regularly, it can help to thin mucus, decrease postnasal drip, and cleanse your nasal passages of bacteria.
What type of saline nasal spray is a natural remedy for allergies?
You can purchase an over-the-counter saline solution or make one at home. Most over-the-counter saline nasal sprays are isotonic, which means the solution is the same saline concentration as in your body.
Hypertonic saline sprays have a higher concentration of salt than that of bodily tissue. Both types of saline sprays can help clear mucus, according to studies, which helps keep your sinuses healthy and infection-free.
Saline sprays also help keep the cilia in your nose healthy. Cilia are small hair-like structures in your nose that help humidify air to your lungs, trap bacteria to prevent them from entering the cells, and aid your sense of smell. By keeping cilia healthy, studies show that saline sprays may help treat rhinitis and sinusitis.
When should I use this natural remedy for allergy prevention?
Over-the-counter saline sprays and rinses can help remove pollen from the nasal lining if you’ve been exposed to pollen. People often use them at the end of the day. You can also use saline nasal sprays to add moisture if your nose feels dry from winter weather.
Also, before you use a nasal steroid spray to treat your allergies, doctors suggest you first use a saline nasal spray to cleanse the nose and rid it of thick mucus and debris. Thick mucus can keep the nasal steroid spray from coating the nasal mucosa, where it’s most effective.
How do I use this natural remedy for managing my allergies at home?
You can easily make a saline solution to wash your nose and sinuses at home. This natural remedy can be used with a bulb syringe, a Neti pot (a ceramic or plastic container that looks like a genie’s magic lamp), a plastic squirt bottle, or your cupped hands.
Steroid Nasal Sprays
Steroid nasal sprays are medicines that are commonly used to treat allergies of the nose, such as hay fever and persistent rhinitis (inflammation of the nose). Steroid sprays reduce inflammation in the nose, and usually work well. Some people only need to use them for a few months of the year (hay fever). Other people may need to use them long-term (persistent rhinitis). You can buy some steroid nasal sprays from your supermarket or local pharmacy - for example, beclometasone and fluticasone.
What are steroid nasal sprays?
A steroid nasal spray is commonly used to treat allergies of the nose, such as hay fever and persistent rhinitis (inflammation of the nose). Steroid sprays reduce inflammation in the nose, and usually work well. There are a number of different steroid nasal sprays - these include: beclometasone, budesonide, flunisolide, fluticasone, mometasone and triamcinolone. They come in different brands.
How to use a steroid nasal spray
Blow your nose and shake the bottle.
Tilt your head forward.
Hold the spray bottle upright.
Insert the tip of the spray bottle just inside one nostril. Close the other nostril with your other hand, and apply one or two sprays as prescribed.
Breathe in as you spray (but do not sniff hard as the spray then travels past the nose to the throat).
Do not angle the canister towards the middle or side of the nose, but straight up. With your head tilted forward, the spray should go to the back of your nose.
Repeat in the other nostril.
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How to Use Nose Drops
Persistent Rhinitis
Decongestants
What if my nose is very blocked or runny?
Sometimes a very blocked or runny nose will prevent the steroid spray from getting through to work. A decongestant nasal spray which you can buy at pharmacies may then be useful. A decongestant spray has an immediate effect to clear a blocked nose. You can then use the the steroid spray once the nose is clear.
(Note: decongestant sprays are not usually advised for more than a few days. If you use one for more than 5-7 days, a rebound, more severe congestion of the nose may develop. In contrast, steroid sprays work well to clear symptoms, and can be used for long periods.)
How long does it take for steroid nasal sprays to work?
It takes several days for a steroid spray to build up to its full effect. Therefore, you will not have an immediate relief of symptoms when you first start it. In some people it can take up to three weeks or longer to get the maximum benefit.
If you use the spray for hay fever, it is best to start using it at least a week before the hay fever season starts.
What is the usual length of treatment?
Some people only need a nasal spray for the hay fever season (a few months). However, if you have a persistent rhinitis, you may have to take treatment long-term to keep symptoms away. Long-term use of a steroid nasal spray is thought to be safe.
Once symptoms are gone, you are still likely to need to use a steroid nasal spray regularly, to keep symptoms away. Your doctor may advise that you reduce the dose to a lower maintenance dose once symptoms have gone. The aim is to find the lowest dose that controls symptoms.
An occasional forgotten dose should not be a problem, but symptoms usually return after a few days if you stop taking the spray.
What are the possible side-effects?
Steroid nasal sprays rarely cause side-effects. This is because they are applied directly to the nose and very little of this medicine is absorbed into the body. Therefore, they are much less likely to cause side-effects in other parts of the body. Occasionally, they cause dryness, crusting, and bleeding of the nose. If this occurs, stop it for a few days and then restart. There have been reports of nasal steroids possibly having an effect on behaviour. This is thought to be rare, but a few people have reported hyperactivity, problems sleeping, anxiety, depression, and aggression (in children).
For a full list of possible side-effects please read the leaflet that came with your medicine.
Can I buy steroid nasal sprays?
You can buy a number of steroid nasal sprays from the supermarket and your local pharmacy. These include beclometasone, fluticasone, and triamcinolone.
Who cannot use a steroid nasal spray?
Most people can use a steroid nasal spray, unless they have ever had an allergic reaction to this medicine. However you should talk to your doctor or pharmacist before using a steroid nasal spray if you:
Have recently had surgery on your nose, or recently suffered from a nasal infection.
Have pulmonary tuberculosis (TB).
Are pregnant, trying for a baby or breast-feeding.
You may still be able to have this medicine - your doctor will advise you.
How to use the Yellow Card Scheme
If you think you have had a side-effect to one of your medicines, you can report this on the Yellow Card Scheme. You can do this online at the following web address: www.mhra.gov.uk/yellowcard.
The Yellow Card Scheme is used to make pharmacists, doctors and nurses aware of any new side-effects that your medicines may have caused. If you wish to report a side-effect, you will need to provide basic information about:
The side-effect.
The name of the medicine which you think caused it.
Information about the person who had the side-effect.
Your contact details as the reporter of the side-effect.
Source: www.webmd.com, www.patient.co.uk
