Nasal Congestion: What helps, especially at night?

Is your pillow raised? It Has to be to help with gerd.
Follow up with the ENT. Follow up with an allergist maybe also. Sorry I cannot give you better answers.

I also have severe nasal congestion and tried the various pills and sprays which didn’t help much. The only thing that helped was rinsing the nasal passages with a warm salt/baking soda solution (Neil-Med Sinus Rinse Kit, sold everywhere) 2 to 3times a day. It’s amazing the crud that comes out.

@tc7231
I echo your comments.

No one mentioned to me before I started doing the nasal saline rinses with doing them with warm water. I first started off with regular room temperature purified water. For some reason I heated up the water one day in microwave and it seemed to relax and open my nasal passages better.

I did check with my ENT and said nothing wrong with doing that. I take an inhaler each day called XHANCE and another one as needed. What ENT told me the nasal rinses were excellent just don't do the nasal rinses after using any nasal inhaler as will remove it.

I do the nasal rinse in streaks, honestly, @jc76 and @tc7231. I'll get really into it for a while, then kind of phase out. But I honestly think I'd feel better with my allergies every day if I did it regularly.

It makes sense to use any nasal spray/inhaler after the rinse to start with a clean slate and not lose it, jc76.

Someone told me they just used tap water in their bathroom for their nasal rinses, as it's too much hassle to go across the house to boil some water. I thought that was a good idea for me when I started up nasal rinsing again recently. However, I read about some potentially infectious organisms you can be exposed to if the water is unboiled and cooled, or distilled. Here's an example of the kind of information I read from the FDA:

- Is Rinsing Your Sinuses With Neti Pots Safe? https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/rinsing-your-sinuses-neti-pots-safe

The thought of in-taking infectious organisms "scared me straight." I've used my husband's CPAP distilled water lately, however, which is room temperature. But it sounds like you suggest warm water for the best effect. Any other "must-do's" for the best outcome with nasal rinses?

I don't often jump in here, but WOW I had a stuffy nose big time this morning - in the dentist's chair; every time he laid the chair back, it was like my nasal passages slammed shut and I could only breathe through my mouth. It brought back memories of childhood, where I breathed fine all day, and got completely stuffed up when I laid down. Needless to say, he was not happy with a mouth-breathing patient while he was drilling.

Step one - my Dad found the first culprit - my beloved, squishy down pillow. (He couldn't use them either, or even have feathers or down in the bedroom.) That helped, but I still got stuffed up about halfway through the night.

One night I realized that whenever I woke up I had turned from sleeping on my side to my back. If I turned on my side, gradually the upper nasal passage would clear enough to breathe. I did that for at least 30 years, suffering chronic sinus & ear infections along the way. As an adult, I finally saw the same ENT who was treating my kids, he found very narrow passageways, eustachian tube dysfunction (he assumed these were narrow too) and a deviated septum as well as crud and scar tissue in my sinuses. He cleaned it all out, reset my nose, and my breathing has been more or less normal for a number of years.

Now, my ancient airways are haunting me again - closing up at crazy times, and I have sleep apnea. I'm working with the ENT on a solution.

Azalastine spray at bedtime has helped, and during allergy season I use it mid-morning as well.

I hope you can find a solution - air hunger in the middle of the night is not conducive to sound sleep!

do allergy. shots. help

I personally have not tried them - maybe someone here can share their experiences.