Dangers of abusing decongestant nasal spray

The Spanish Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery (SEORL-CCC) has warned that prolonged use without medical supervision of nasal sprays decongestants, common during the winter and spring months to relieve nasal congestion, can cause the opposite effect and make symptoms chronic.

These types of drugs reduce the blood supply to the nasal mucosa, which produces quick relief from nasal obstruction. However, continued use beyond the recommended five or seven days may cause rhinitisa disease that generates a rebound effect and increases nasal congestion, as well as tolerance to the drug, requiring a higher dose to achieve relief.

Specialists have asserted that these phenomena lead to progressive worsening and addiction to the medication. Furthermore, they have pointed out that abusive use also increases the risk of adverse effectssuch as tachycardia, elevated blood pressure and direct damage to nasal tissues due to lack of blood supply, including septal perforations, which are very rare when the product is used properly.

As detailed, nasal congestion does not always respond to the same cause, but can be due to allergic rhinitis, sinusitis, turbinate hypertrophy or nasal septal deviationamong others. In these cases, they have pointed out that the indiscriminate use of decongestants is not only ineffective in the medium term, but can delay the correct diagnosis and the start of specific treatment, adding a disease such as rhinitis medicament, which is sometimes difficult to treat.

“Sustained nasal congestion should not be normalized. When a patient needs a spray continuously to breathe, it is very likely that there is an underlying cause that must be evaluated,” emphasized the president of the SEORL-CCC, Serafin Sanchez.

In this way, experts have called for the development of education to the population about the responsible use of nasal vasoconstrictor sprays and the need to see a specialist when nasal obstruction persists or recurs frequently.

At this point, they have highlighted the role of otorhinolaryngologistswhich allow us to identify the origin of the problem and prescribe appropriate management, which includes preventive measures, changes in habits, medical treatments or, in some cases, a surgical approach. Thus, they have insisted that early diagnosis helps to improve the clinical course and avoid both the chronification of nasal pathologies and the unnecessary use of treatments that can be harmful in the long term.