Using these medications could be doing you more harm than good, he said.
An NHS doctor has urged certain people to avoid using nasal sprays. According to the expert, doing so could result in some “horrible” symptoms. For many people, nasal decongestants can be a much-needed source of relief. The medications temporarily relieve a blocked or stuffy nose by reducing swelling and congestion in the nasal passages.
They are often used to help treat illnesses such as colds and flu, as well as hay fever. However, a healthcare professional advised that they are not suitable for everyone.
Doctor Suraj Kukadia, who is also known as Dr Sooj, explained that you should avoid these decongestants if you are suffering from a sore throat, sinus infection or sinusitis. Speaking on social media platform TikTok, he explained: “If you have a sore throat or a sinus infection or sinusitis, please do not use nasal decongestants.”
He added: “They work because they help to constrict some of the blood vessels, and therefore it reduces the amount that your nose is running. It can help to treat those symptoms for a couple of days and they do help for a couple of days.”
He also warned against using them for more than three days at a time. He continued: “But the problem is that people would use them for more than that, people use them for more than two or three days. And when that happens you then get really nasty rebound symptoms and a condition called rhinitis medicamentosa.”
Rhinitis medicamentosa can be “horrible”, he said. “You do not want that, because once you’ve come off the medication, it then gives you these horrible rebound symptoms and you feel that you need to go back on it,” Dr Sooj continued.
“And then you keep using it and the longer you use it, the worse, the rebound symptoms are going to be and then it’s a nightmare to stop using them to come off them. So please don’t do that.”
Experts at the Cleveland Clinic advise that rhinitis medicamentosa can affect “anyone” who uses nasal decongestant sprays, drops or gels. “It usually affects people who use these sprays for seven to 10 days or longer,” they said.
The main symptom of rhinitis medicamentosa is nasal congestion. You may experience:
- Itchy nasal passages.
- Runny nose.
- Sneezing.
- Blocked nose.
They added: “Most types of rhinitis cause other symptoms that affect your eyes, ears or throat. However, rhinitis medicamentosa only affects your nasal passages.”
If you are experiencing symptoms of sinusitis, Dr Sooj instead encouraged people to speak to their GP. This kind of illness may require antibiotics.
He said: “If you’ve had sinusitis symptoms for more than a couple of weeks, then go to your doctor. There are things that we can do.
“We can sometimes, we might recommend things like nasal steroids, but they take a little while to kick in. Sometimes you might just need to wait out the infection and on the odd occasion, we might prescribe antibiotics. If you have any concerns, please go and see a healthcare professional.”