Thursday 22 May 2008

i think i hav a rhinitis :(

Well as the title says, i think i have rhinitis. i haven't been able to see my GP yet but i kind of strongly think i have rhinitis..bad bad bad!! i never had any upper respiratory prob in msia, in fact i hardly get a flu! but dont know y all of a sudden i can get this over here!

Rhinitis is present if sneezing attack, nasal discharge or blockage occur for more than an hour on most days..but i dont know if my case is the seasonal rhinitis or perennial rhinitis coz i got this here in UK..im not sure since when but quite some time ago..i believe it is triggered by the cold weather perhaps?But pretty sure it is a perennial rhinitis coz pollen season starts in april but ive got this since before april if im not mistaken..yeap so it's a perennial rhinitis!could be perennial allergic (due to moulds, domestic pet, pollen grain or house-dust mite) or vasomotor rhinitis (triggered by cold air, smoke, perfumes becoz of an imbalance of ANS)..im not so sure between the two. It's a self-diagnosis though, need to confirm it with my GP later..kang tetibe memandai je..haha

The thing is, im kind of in a trouble. I took this decongestants medication to relief the congestion of course. I wasn't aware of it's side effects before but now i surely do! it's a drug with sympathomimetic activity (selective alpha-adrenagic agents..local vasoconstrictor basically) containing active ingredient oxymetazoline. Some say this active ingredient does not cause tachyphylaxis..but some say it does and i think it really does. Prolonged vasoconstriciton using the nasal decongestants has made the mucosa in my nose to become less responsive to the drug hence a reversal vasodilatation occurs. So there'll be a rebound effect and if i continue taking increasing quatities of the local drug( which i probably did, sometime..not anymore..), rhinitis medicamentosa can be developed. It's basically a condition of rebound nasal congestion brought on by overuse of intranasal vasoconstrictive medication.

Luckily no mortality reported on this kind of condition..phewhh!Im not sure if i've developed a nasal polyps..people with polyps rarely sneezing since the mucosa of the polyp is largely denervated but i often sneezing..the allergen receptor in my nose is just soo sensitive these days!The only way to remove polyp is by surgery..Semoga dijauhkan...aminn

The only way to recover is by withdrawing from the decongestant drug..yes!But the obstruction is soo bothersome!!Ive tried the weaning type of withdrawal but it doesn't work coz as i said, can't stand with not breathing through the nares! Gosh, i really need to see the GP to get advice on this but too lazy to make an appointment especially in this exam period..

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