Ever since having wisdom teeth Boise extraction in a private hospital in Australia (use this page to find the hospital near you), I have my body has been addicted to Drixine or more specifically its active component called oxymetazoline. But the good news this is history thanks to the American health care. Here’s how to beat this nasty legal drug which is putting many with nasal breathing difficulty through hell. There is hope! read on.

What is Oxymetazoline? – get to know the devil

Oxymetazoline, or Drixine/Afrin as it is known to consumers as a rapid nasal decongestant. The marketing sells it to you as a “rapid 12 hour relief from nasal congestion due to colds, hay fever and flu for the whole family.”. Oxymetazoline is the active ingredient in Drixine/Afrin which does all the damage. It is also present in Vicks Sinex, Afrin (USA), Sudafed etc..

Let’s compare the marketing to reality

Marketing	The truth
Starts acting in a few minutes	True. It’s frightening at 1st to feel a drug acting so quickly opening up your nasal canal.
Reduces swelling in nasal passages	True. By “shrinking” the blood vessels & turbinates in your nose. You actually feel them shrinking and occasional pop and nose bleed.
Controls excessive flow or build up of nasal secretions	Nasal secretions are good since they clean out the nose from all the mess you breath in. Now your nasal canal is going to be dry and open to intrusions.
Acts fast for up to 12 hours	At first yes this is true but it quickly escalates into max of 2 hours.
Treatment should not exceed 3 days	Should say more than 1 day. After the 2nd day you need to use this to breathe normally. This is where 3 days escapes into a weeks, months and then years.

The dangers

Once you have used Oxymetazoline for a few days you cannot stop it without going through pain. Your nose by then has gotten used to being fed this drug and if you stop your nasal passage will expand so much that you wont be able to breathe through your nose or sleep and will feel like your nose has swelled up. Worst is, after weeks of use your nasal passage gets damaged so much that you start loosing your sense of smell. Lack of smell will change your life around especially taste – watch out!

What are your options?

• Go cold turkey for at least a week of torture not being able to breathe and hope your nasal passage “rebounces back”,
• Stop using Oxymetazoline in one nasal passage and survive on the other and gradually ween off the 2nd one or (if neither options worked)
• Radio frequency.

The cure – Radio frequency

The turbinates are shelves on the side of the nose. The main ones are the middle and the inferior. They normally enlarge and shrink. They especially enlarge with a cold or infection because blood is coming to the area to fight infection. They enlarge with allergy, and become pale and swollen.

What do Turbinates do?

The turbinates serve a major function. They warm inhaled air before it enters the lungs. They are covered by millions of cilia which defend the body against contaigons and irritants in the inhaled air. They provide an environment for the good white blood cells, and a bacteria-fighting enzyme called lysozyme, to gather and fight infection. They act as a baffle to better direct the flow of air.

No matter how much your turbinates seem to cause you trouble, you don’t want to just remove them. If you did, you would have dryness, crusting and sensations of burning pain. Doctors have therefore come up with various ways to reduce the blockage of your nasal passages without removing your turbinates and their cilia.

The procedure – Radio frequency

The physician uses a radio frequency current to coagulate the material under the mucosa. This therapy is precisely directed, and does not damage nearby tissue as do other methods which generate heat. . It seems to be the best approach. It is an office procedure taking around 30 minutes and is somewhat painless.

Where to get this done?

I had my done at the ENT (ear, nose & throat) center in Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) in Palo Alto, California USA. I never heard of this until my allergy specialist (also at PAMF) advised me of this quick win procedure with the amazing ENT specialist Dr. Arman Abdalkhani.

Back in Australia I traveled from specialist to specialist spending a large amount of money trying to get myself off Drixine. Xrays, meds that made me sick and failed cold turkey attempts yielded no results until I arrived in America. This whole procedure was covered by my private health care.

So, now I can breathe again 24×7. I sleep better, feel better and my sense of smell is coming back… slowly but it’s getting better. The world feels fresh to me to be able to walk past flowers and able to smell them. You really get a sense of appreciation only once you lost something and then gain it back. I’m back baby!

Drixine/Afrin (and their Oxymetazoline variants) should be banned! Full stop.

If you know anyone out there who is going through nasal issues direct them to this blog post and save their life!

Ernest