British Snoring & Sleep Apnoea Association

For years I have been using Beconase (for Rhinitis) and a friend who was employed by a Chemical firm told me it might be good to give it a rest for a while because of "Rebound effect" Yesterday I made up a saline solution. 8 oz of Water (4/5 of a coffee mug) of boiled water mixed with half a teaspoon of table salt. The salt should not be iodised and the water ideally should be distilled. However I live in an area where the water is so soft, it's not true! Put the stuff into an empty nasal spray and did about twelve squirts each nostril and held head back, let the stuff run down my throat a bit then spit it out and blow my nose (Not a pretty description, but this is the real world!). I felt as if I could really breathe for a change.
Refrigerate the unused solution for up to five days, then make fresh. Not saying it will work for everyone but it was good for me. And cheap!!!!
All the best...Ken

http://www.ent-consult.com/salineadditives.html

Do note that table salt contains loads of stuff that shouldn't go into your body in the first place. It could irritate your sinuses as well.

Have a look here for natural solutions. Especially with chronic sinusitis there's much relieve to be had from nasal irrigation: http://www.justnaturalstuff.co.uk/sinus ... y-c-2.html

Thanks for pointing that out. The salt I actually used though, was additive free French Sea Salt from a health shop in Huddersfield, so I guess I will be o.k. but you did right to point it out, as my posting gives the impression that bog-standard supermarket salt will be alright whereas it probably wont be for some people! Cheers Ken

Ken
i have been diagnosed with apnoea and also like you have rhinitis if its the same condition my skin and body react against what it percieves to be threats. i had not considred the nose too could be a problem, mine seems always partially blocked. Is the apnoea made worse by the rhinitis ?? . By the way you can buy netti pots, these are part of Yoga, like a teapot you put in the solution and pore into one nostril and it comes out of the other.

Tony

I too have rhinitis, sometimes called Nasal Asthma. I've taken Beclometasone, and Mometasone (Nasonex).

The result from the Beclometasone has been a bleeding nose, inflamed nasal and sinus passages and a very groggy feeling in my head. I think it may have something to do with the steroid component of the Beclometasone spray. Within a couple of days of starting it, I have felt as though I was developing flu-like symptoms.

I returned to using the Beclometasone after 12 months, and the same sympoms recurred. So, too much of a coincidence not to discount the effects of it.

The Nasonex does not create the same problems.


I have to vacuum the pillows and bed regularly, to remove skin particles and dust mites (we all have thousands in our beds) which cause problems with my breathing. Any type of dust in the room aggravates the rhinitis.

We had to buy a Dyson to replace the Hoover. The Dyson is markedly better at removing dust.

My District Nurse recommended I take low fat greek yoghurt each morning to help fight infections. The yoghurt is an added source of 'good' bacteria for aiding your 'gut.' My dietician told me that supermarket flavoured yoghurts are a waste of money, because by the time you've taken them home from the shop they've lost the live yeast in transit. The Greek yoghurt retains the live yeast. HTH.

Hello Tony and John...Sorry about late reply to this, but was in Tunisia all last week and didn't see this till a couple of days ago.

Tony...yes I do think that my problem is largly a nose problem. I know that I used to struggle for breath in the Dentists chair, now I just pop my NOZOVENT (rubber chicken bone thingy) to keep my nostrils flared open and I feel a lot calmer, I think guys use them when they are playing rugby, or something similar.
Will look out for the Netti pots but am fairly happy using an old Nasobec spray, this is the stuff that must be a generic version of Beconase that the chemist gave me last time. I suspect that the chemical Benzalkonium Chloride which is a preservative might irritate the nasal passages, as it hints in the link given in the first entry of this thread.
I have added quarter of a teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda to my original saline mixture, as I read somewhere on the Internet, when searching Nasal Decongestants that it was good when you were particularly bunged up with "snot".Something to think about anyway. Cheers Ken

John....Thanks for your posting, I will have to start cleaning my bedroom a bit better as it is obviously an issue when you have nasal rhinitis. You mention in your thread "Be Patient" that you are a mouth breather. Prior to getting a Nozovent sent from this site, in Feb 2004, I think I only used to beathe through my mouth at night, and the roof of my mouth was really dry in the morning with about a teaspoon full of white gunk which I used to scrape off in the morning. (Sorry to be so graphic, but it is essential that we are absolutely candid on this site) Since using the nazal dilator (Nozovent) my snoring has gone down tremendously and I don't get a dry mouth and no more night-sweats which I used to suffer from, not absolutely sure whether they are connected or not!
Re Yoghurts, I love Rachels and Yeo Vale natural and flavoured yoghurts but don't believe the hype about low-fat stuff being good for you. In yoghurt they put starches and stuff in to replace the fat they take out.Give me the full fat version any time! I am convinced that it is starches and sugars that put the weight on, not the fat. We have been having "low fat" stuff thrown at us for years, and still obesity levels are rising. I have never done the Atkins diet, but I do believe that his theory is right! All the best John, Ken

Yes I agree. Also avoid any dairy products in the evening. Milk in tea etc. It causes a build up of mucous as a biproduct of the yeast-type effects. My sister has full asthma and was told this years ago. Also avoid bread in the evening as well, for the same reasons.

Your friend is mistaken. This isn't the case, it's the blood vessel constricting decongestants like Sinex and Otrivine that cause rebound when stopped after more than occasional use. Beconase works in an entirely different way and shouldn't cause problems unless you're sensitive to one of the ingredients[/quote]

Thanks for the info. I have a bottle and a half of the stuff, ready to go back on it, but will try a couple more weeks on the saline stuff, just for a holiday, see how I go on. It could be that I am sensitive to the benzalkonium (preservative) part of it, which the link in the first part of my posting warns about. Thanks again though, Cheers Ken

Ken, I forgot to mention that the important part of the low fat greek yoghurt is that it is a Greek method/formula. It is prepared in a slightly different way and the active/live culture is not lost between shop and home. It retains the good/live culture, which is what our guts benefit from. HTH.

Just want to say, still using the saline solution. Recently have experienced a sore bridge of the nose (the bit between the two nostrils?) and find that I have to rinse the bottom of the nose now with clean water, dab it dry and put on some after shave balm/ moisturiser on this bit!
John, when you say Greek Yoghurt, do you mean the original (Total?) stuff or Greek-style (made by anyone) stuff? I was really ill for a few days in Madrid, a couple of years back, and I think it was live yoghurt that eventually put a stop to my living in the bathroom! Cheers Ken.

Hello Ken. If you can find the Greek Yoghurt, all well and good. Failing that, I have to get the greek style from local supermarkets.
Since I started to have some each morning, as recommended by my district nurse, I have not had a sniffle, cold, flu, bad guts, at all. So for the past 2 years I've been bug-free.
My dietician also recommends drinking boiled water each morning. Add a few drops of pure lemon juice, (Jif is OK ) and the water and lemon clear out yer tubes.
I boil the water the night before and pour it into a mug. Adding the juice after I've warmed the water up in the microwave in the morning. Boiled water clears the kidneys and plumbing, but the lemon juice scourges any deposits that cling to the walls of your kidneys and internal plumbing. It takes a couple of weeks to notice the difference, and the flushing of the bits and pieces, does make an improvement to how I feel. Drink the water and juice before anything else goes into the stomach. Water goes straight through us and this treatment clears you out prior to having anything else.
After I've had the drink, I then have the Greek (style) yoghurt.
I've never been an exponoent of the 'alternative' methods, but these two tips seem to make a hell of a difference to me.
We are all chemical factories, and anything we put into our body systems, will have some effect. The trick is to find the good stuff to eat and drink.