rebound congestion

has anyone suffered from this before? what did you find helped ease the incredible discomfort, how long did it last for?

Yes! Last time I had a cold. This time I didn't use the nasal spray at all, I was too scared. I just had to suffer through a couple of days without it and eventually it got better.
I tried Fess Nasal spray but it just felt like I was blocking things up more. Nothing worked for me :( I hope it goes away soon!

thanks sara! where you completely blocked????? so am i looking at 2-3 days? less? , more?

Yup! And this is why I no longer use nasal sprays. I found it developed after using one for about 5 days (all ok at that point), but then my GP suggested I switch to another and I used that for about another 5 days... and even though I changed, it was just too long.

In the end, I basically weaned off the nasal spray very slowly - I'd give things a small squirt when it was just getting too much, and just made sure I'd go longer and longer in between sprays, and I was fine eventually.

However, I did find that after that, I developed rebound congestion quicker and quicker each time I had to use a nasal spray, so I just don't bother now and stick with fess.

I suspect the cold turkey approach would be better (what I did on the other times), then it only lasted for a day or two, but that first time, I think it went for about a week.

I hope it clears quickly - it's just the worst feeling!

BW

just waiting on a call back from my GP about how to manage it :(

thanks BG,

Yeah, it was completely blocked up. I think after the first day and night I could sort of breathe a little sometimes during the day. By the 3rd night I think I could manage to breathe a bit through one nostril at night, lol. It's the worst thing! I think actually the night before I decided to go cold turkey I couldn't handle it and had one spray up one nostril so I could breathe a bit.