Nasal spray is a great way to open up your nose when you have a cold. Why aren’t there other medicine that suppresses symptoms just as efficiently?

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Just thought about this. I have a cold now and the nasal spray opens up my clogged nose in less than a minute. However, taking stuff for runny nose, sneezing, and heavy mucus doesn’t ever really work. Feels like a scam sometimes to be honest considering all we’re ever told is that cold medicine “suppresses” the symptoms not cures it.

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6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Nasal sprays do work great, **but be very, very careful.**

If you use them too often, you will experience “rebound”. Kind of like developing a tolerance.

This happened to me.

Every time I’d use a nasal spray, the effect would last less long. One spray would last me five hours. The second spray would last me four hours. The third spray would last me three hours.

Eventually you’re spraying every 15 minutes just to keep your nasal passage open.

And then what do you do? It’s very scary, when you realize that you’re now “hooked” on it.

I went to the doctor, they put me on steroids for a week, and warned me in very strong language NEVER to use them for more than a few times, and then stop for a few days.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Nasal sprays do work great, **but be very, very careful.**

If you use them too often, you will experience “rebound”. Kind of like developing a tolerance.

This happened to me.

Every time I’d use a nasal spray, the effect would last less long. One spray would last me five hours. The second spray would last me four hours. The third spray would last me three hours.

Eventually you’re spraying every 15 minutes just to keep your nasal passage open.

And then what do you do? It’s very scary, when you realize that you’re now “hooked” on it.

I went to the doctor, they put me on steroids for a week, and warned me in very strong language NEVER to use them for more than a few times, and then stop for a few days.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Depends on what nasal spray you are talking about. Decongestant nasal sparks works but then so would a tablet though less targeted. Decongestants are not good for you if used too frequently though. There is evidence that other types of nasal ( flu guard type) sprays may help reduce cold *duration* by ‘reducing’ the viral load in your nostrils if taken early. As you say other medicines tend to reduce symptoms because they don’t actually attack the virus itself. Out of all the ‘miracle’ cures , I think the evidence is that zinc if taken *in the right way* so that some of it ends up your nose ! can also reduce cold duration. But since colds are such a range of viruses and change quickly we don’t have vaccines and I even if new anti-virals might work they are probably not worth taking for a cold then we are pretty much reduced to keeping healthy so our immune system is working well.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Depends on what nasal spray you are talking about. Decongestant nasal sparks works but then so would a tablet though less targeted. Decongestants are not good for you if used too frequently though. There is evidence that other types of nasal ( flu guard type) sprays may help reduce cold *duration* by ‘reducing’ the viral load in your nostrils if taken early. As you say other medicines tend to reduce symptoms because they don’t actually attack the virus itself. Out of all the ‘miracle’ cures , I think the evidence is that zinc if taken *in the right way* so that some of it ends up your nose ! can also reduce cold duration. But since colds are such a range of viruses and change quickly we don’t have vaccines and I even if new anti-virals might work they are probably not worth taking for a cold then we are pretty much reduced to keeping healthy so our immune system is working well.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Nasal sprays wash out your nose, but they don’t “fix” what caused it to get messed up in the first place like medicine does for your nose. It’s like volunteering to clean out somebody’s house that’s a wreck, but you don’t fix the underlying cause of what led to it getting messy in the first place. You could clean the house, make it nice, but then in a week or a month, it’ll be a wreck again. Fixing the root cause will lead to a longer-term resolution, but it’ll take longer to see the effects.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Nasal sprays wash out your nose, but they don’t “fix” what caused it to get messed up in the first place like medicine does for your nose. It’s like volunteering to clean out somebody’s house that’s a wreck, but you don’t fix the underlying cause of what led to it getting messy in the first place. You could clean the house, make it nice, but then in a week or a month, it’ll be a wreck again. Fixing the root cause will lead to a longer-term resolution, but it’ll take longer to see the effects.