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Pregnancy rhinitis

Does anyone here have nasal congestion especially during sleep? I'm currently at my second trimester week 16. The nasal congestion started about 5 days ago and I visited a GP 2 days ago. Was prescribed nasal decongestion (oxymetazolin) for 5 days which works well but I realised the congestion has worsen after the effect of the medicine has worn off. The nasal congestion have been causing me sleep disruption (I wake up because I can't breath) resulting in daytime lethargy. I use a humidifier at night because I read online that it helps, but so far it didn't. I am also scared to use the decongestion even though it helps because the GP is not gynae trained and when I googled the decongestion that was prescribed, most articles says there's insufficient studies in pregnancy. Anyone else out there facing the same issue? I'm quite desperate now with 5 days of sleep disruption. Should I just continue the decongestion? #1stimemom #advicepls #pleasehelp Update: i stopped using the nasal decongestion and tolerated breathing with my mouth for a few days. Subsequently got better. Still using nasonex as clearance is given by my obstetrician 👍

Celine Low

Excited to become a mum

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If your congestion started lately, it is good to look around for sources of the allergy. Rhinitis can arise from some things around you, and dust is one such example. For starters, you can look around your sleeping area for possible allergens which you know you’re allergic to. If it is dust, take a look at your fan if you’re using a fan when you sleep to see if it’s dusty, as well as areas around your room which can trap dust. Also, try not to point the fan at yourself when you sleep, as it can worsen the rhinitis if the allergic reaction was indeed due to dust. The action of pointing the fan at yourself does cool you more, but the flip side of it is that more dust gets blown at you, which ends up breathed in when you sleep, and that in turn would cause the rhinitis. Hope this helps.

Anonymous

To add on to your question on oxymetazolin, by far it’s not really advised to use it for long term as it’s not well studied for use in pregnancy, like what you mentioned. If you want to explore lasting relief for rhinitis, you could look into the use of saline nasal cleansers to see if it helps. Just blow it into your nose and clean your nose thereafter with tap water daily. It’s natural so there’s no risk to the baby. The only thing you’ll probably experience is a salty taste and short stinging sensation if it goes too deep into your nasal canal, but it’s harmless as it’s simply table salt in purified water. If it still does not help, you can consider using a corticosteroid based nasal spray, like mometasone furoate or fluticasone propionate for example. There are such sprays on the market that’s safe for use in pregnancy, and you can ask your gynaecologist for future advice on managing the rhinitis.

I have the same problem as u. Started 15 week currently 21 week. Gynae did prescribe medication for me but it didn’t work well. So I took a lot of vitamin C from fruit & veg. Currently I have less congestion at night.

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