How does the nasal cycle work? How does chronic nasal spray use just make things worse?
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Specifically talking about sprays containing oxymetazoline and phenylephrine, these two drugs are known to cause rebound congestion after stopping prolonged use so your congestion does actually get worse than it would have been without use. The mechanism of the rebound congestion are currently unknown with a few theories some may use to explain.
One of the theories is because the drugs are vasoconstrictive (they cause blood vessels to constrict) the can lead to ischemia (lack of blood) to the area, when blood flow returns it can cause edema (leaking of fluid outside of blood vessels).
Another theory is that of tachyphylaxis which is the down regulation of receptors in the body to certain medications when repeatedly exposed to that medication.
Source: Am pharmacist for some reason I vividly remember my classes pertaining to this specific problem.
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