I am addicted to Oxymetazoline. Better known as Afrin nasal spray.
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| Evil. Evil. Evil. |
It's funny, I know. In fact, one of my favorite episodes of King of Queens is this one:
But it's a real problem. I can't even explain the panic when your nose starts to congest, and you can't breathe, and you can't find your Afrin. I have driven to the grocery store at midnight just to buy some, because I couldn't find my bottle. I buy multiple bottles; one for my house, one for my purse. I save Afrin bottles with only a few squirts left, to be used as back up/"just in case I lose my main bottle." It controls my life! I have to carry it on me, in case I get stuck somewhere and can't get home.
If I forget it, my day is shot. I stuff up, my voice changes due to the stuffiness, I can barely speak anyway, since I have to breathe through my mouth. Oh and not to mention, having to pay $3 every 2 weeks or so for a new bottle is ridiculous.
It can cause some scary health problems too. Loss of sense of taste and smell, nose bleeds, and in extreme situations, it eats away at your septum. Really, for an OTC nasal spray, this stuff is evil.
I've gotten off it before. Once. And another time I weaned down to just one squirt at night. The best way I've discovered to get off the stuff is to take a bottle of USELESS saline spray, dump 1/2-1/3 out, and then put 1/2-1/3 of Afrin in. Gradually you add less and less of the Afrin, until all that's left is the saline. It is hell on earth, and I don't know how some people do it cold turkey.
That's the plan. Starting tomorrow, the weaning begins!
2 comments:
Once you wean yourself off, use a neti pot daily to keep your sinuses clear, then you won't be tempted. Even maybe use it in coordination with your weaning process... it sounds gross but it works.
i have a neti pot, but it never seems to help me with anything.
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