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Comment by whazor | Hacker News Reader

Semi off topic: I used to think that I have a chronic cold. But apparently I was getting sick from my dust mite allergy. An anti inflammatory drug really did wonders for me.

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Is it same as every morning waking up with mucus in the throat? Kinda thick/hard - sometimes it flings out when I cough it out. Doctors have me had samples tested but there was no infection. So they just write 10 days Allegra (and a month saline water spray 3-4 times a day) and that's it. But it keeps happening. Been happening since last 2 years.

And then almost nothing the whole day except this feeling remains that something's there in the throat but rarely anything comes out - sometimes some semi-mucus (?) (or just spit - white but slightly thicker than spit - comes out)

Same thing. I'd be curious to share notes on lifestyle especially what you eat/drink.

Please do.

Not even regular coffee/tea other than occasional green/oolong/chamomile. Liquor even more in frequent. Normal rice/wheat based food with veggies and lentils on a regular basis. Occasional dairy and meat products. Yes, I do have eggs almost everyday (since almost as long I can remember).

It's a more recent (~1.5 years) phenomenon and I am in early 30s. Before this it just didn't happen at all and suddenly it became a daily thing.

There is a condition called “perennial rhinitis”, which is basically caused by house dust mite allergy, and can cause many of these symptoms. Many people who have that benefit from using inhaled corticosteroids, like fluticasone 50mcg per puff, which are available without prescription in the United States. The starting dose is usually 2 puffs each nostril once daily, and people who find it helps usually find it takes at least one or two weeks of regular use before their symptoms improve or resolve, and if they stop taking it, their symptoms return in a few weeks. So it’s a treatment, not a cure! If it’s not available over the counter wherever you live, maybe discuss it with your doctor?

> "fluticasone"

It's a treatment, unless you're one of the people it causes frequent nosebleeds in. Ugh.

Or depression and anxiety, oddly enough

I have that, and there are some places I just cannot stay at. So when I know I'm going to be staying at a place where I get severe allergic reaction, I get some corticosteroid nasal spray, but the ones that are powerful.

A friend of mine has severe allergies to many different airborne materials, to the point where he was having to get shots every few weeks to control them. What finally allowed him to get control over the allergies and not have to get shots anymore was one of these nasal sprays.

I have crazy bad dust mite allergy. Had it tested and my skin prick had a reaction going all the way up my arm.

I woke up every morning feeling terrible. Since then I made the following changes that have completely changed everything.

1) Got a robot Vacuum with hepa filter that cleans under the bed

2) Got dust mite covers for my pillow etc

3) Got a Hepa filter that runs constantly for both my furnace and my room

4) Installed a dehumidifier that lowers the humidity in the entire house. Dust mites loooove humidity above 50 percent.

Now I wake up feeling pretty decent everyday

Hey can you please share some actual product links of these products so that I can see their availability in my country.

Thank you. I will definitely talk to my doctor. Thing is they are so overloaded that any attempt to get an appointment have been politely discouraged as it's not a serious condition (and as far as I can see it is not really; not yet at least).

Also, since it's steroids (speaking as a layman) is it not like something that has lots of side effects? So a daily usage over prolonged periods of time may be undesirable?

The last doctor had also found out (after a CT scan) DNS and when he tried to inset a tiny camera up my nostrils he was not able to do so in one of them (that's when he suggested CT scan).

And my nose rarely runs. I mean it does little bit maybe couple of times a month when I catch common cold but on the daily basis it just doesn't. Also, what kind of specialist should I be approaching? The last doctor I saw was in Otorhinolaryngology. But that was more than a year ago - since then there's been nothing done related to it.

Do you run an hepa air filter in your room? Might be worth trying.

Oh god I have the same thing. It's been bothering me for so long and doctors can't fix it. Sore throat every morning, for 10 years now.

These days I find if it's not something antibiotics or steroids can fix you just get deposited on a conveyor belt of specialists that recommend you to the next specialist.

Is your bedroom carpeted? If so would it be feasible to refloor and do a deep cleaning at the same time as you move everything out?

Not carpeted. But I can definitely increase the dust removal as of now I do it twice or once a week.

I used to have this, but when I finally realized that I couldn’t run anymore due to knees I switched to outdoor biking and this problem got under control using mini doses of Zyrtec (I used to take daily fill doses). Not sure why it got better with the cycling.

I also have HEPA filter on the house HVAC.

So this phenomenon is recent. ~1.5 years. Coincidentally. Till 3 years ago I used to be a long distance runner (and daily 6-10km on an average) and used to trek and swim regularly. That gradually stopped to a halt. But then I had added daily sports to my routine.

I will try HEPA filter in my bedroom (can't do it for the entire house - it's quite big, open, and a shared apartment and not designed in that way really)

In addition to the other allergies people mentioned; I'll add mold / black mold.

Adding a HEPA air filter to your bedroom might help.

Washing all your bedding in hot water with allergy safe detergent; mattress protector; deep clean carpets; and always showering before bed would reduce pollen / mite activity.

A few over-the-counter supplements you might try:

* Mucinex D - an expectorant; common name 'guaifenesin'.

* NAC 'N-acetyl cysteine' - an amino acid - loosens mucus, among other benefits.

* Hot saline sinus rinses (ex Neilmed bottle)

Here's an explanation that has nothing to do with allergies. It might be cerebrospinal fluid leaking through your nose.

People can live like that forever without any issues. Linked to increased intracranial pressure, empty or partial sella, headaches that improve when laying down.

I had that, had trouble breathing every night, thought it was allergies, rinsed my nose but still every morning woke up with mucus in nose and throat. Metallic taste in mouth.

Only when I started powerlifting and got the headaches, doctors did an MRI, found empty sella, protrusions of brain tissue in sinuses and a quick procedure relieved me of my yearlong miseries that accompany the clogging.

I wake up feeling as fresh as when I was 10 years old.

Rinsing my nasal passage daily with a salt water rinse has done wonders for my allergies. I use a little bottle and saline solution called Nasopure.

Which one do you use? Because I've been fighting dry, clogged sinuses for five years now.

Try diaphragm breathing[0]. It worked wonders for me.. ignore all the woo, though.

0. https://chopra.com/articles/how-and-why-to-perform-bhastrika...

What one do you take? I currently take allergy tablets every day and would love something to just help it

Fluticasone changed my life, didn’t need allergy tablets, as it attacked the source.

Any generic brand works, just realize it takes like 10 days to start working, so be patient. Use as little as possible, so I recommend starting with 1 spray a day.

Which symptoms did you have and what is the underlying cause?

I have a slight chronic sinusitis and I am currently trying a corticosteroid spray too.

Studies seem to say it works against chronic sinusitus. I am not sure how though.

Anecdotes from my personal peanut gallery: Presumably after undergoing several adversarial attempts at amateur facial reconstruction in my earlier years, I've since endured persistent sinusoidal mysery, most notably an unreasonable susceptibility to colds. I tried many rational things which failed. However, it has been a (probably) irrational concoction that I've settled on, for 5 years now. A squeeze bottle of inert saline solution is thusly squozen and drip-fed a clean, high quality Lugol's solution (liquid iodine). At times, an essential oil is added too, eg peppermint, but rarely. At the risk of excessive iodine intake, my sinuses are now tolerable. Having doubts about this plebeian prescription, I encountered in my cursory research a patent by a prominent pharmaceutical company which consisted of the same recipe, but specifically for the "decolonization" of MRSA from the nasal passages. Considering that many folks now sport MRSA in their nasal passages, perhaps there's something to it. I've yet to settle on a suitable biofilm disruptor, but manuka honey is on my list.

If anyone is reckless enough to do the same, please thoroughly research the dangers of excessive iodine first. It is easy to err.

Attempts at facial reconstruction? What does this mean?

Semi involuntary pugilism.

Why not say boxing or "fight" ?

There is a certain quality to making the world more poetic. I like it.

Username checks out! :)

Aka punched in the face.

I had a persistent mrsa infection. Manuka honey worked better than prescription topicals. There are studies about the use of it for mrsa.

I never tried it deep in the nose though, only lower nostril. So it could still be higher up. But it hasn’t colonized the lower areas for years. Had it for 5+ years before realizing what it was.

Did you find that a UMF or MGO rating was important and if so, what was it? A lot of the manuka honey I see is quite low, and the few with higher ratings certainly reflect it in the pricing.

To be honest I’m not sure. I bought this medical grade manuka honey. That seems to be a thing, and it is sterilized for wound use.

Mind you I have no way of knowing if this is actual medical grade stuff that use in hospitals. But it seemed to work. On multiple mrsa outbreaks too: I had a few instances where it got outside the nose and this got rid of them.

What exactly are you doing with it? I wasn’t quite clear on how you’re going to get it deeper into the nose. I had had the mrsa in the lower nostril so I just used a q tip, but I didn’t get it into the nasal passages. (Nor do I know if it’s meant for such use). I also have congestion at night so I;m interested.

I will say that a jar like this lasts for many uses. If you’re eating honey it’s a small amount, but you don’t need much for topical use.

https://www.amazon.ca/Manukaguard-Medical-Grade-Manuka-Honey...

"What exactly are you doing with it?"

I would be irrigating the sinuses with it, diluted in warm (distilled!) saline water. I've done this with regular raw honey and haven't been too tempted since.

Edit: I found the following ad via your own link https://www.amazon.ca/MANUKAGUARD-Nasal-Spray-Medical-Grade/...

Manuka nasal spray...

Wow that’s quite a negative review haha. But also some positives from the foreign reviews.

Well....I guess it’s probably not actively destructive then, I guess the sinuses can deal with it. I’m going to look into this, thanks!

So in your case I guess you’re just diluting the honey in water to a certain degree. But the raw honey was uncomfortable as the reviews suggest.

If you’d like to talk more about mrsa/nasal stuff btw, my email is in my profile.

I am so trying that. I have to blow my nose quite often everyday and my nasal passages get frequently blocked especially when lying down trying to sleep. Fortunately, mucinex can fix that allowing me to sleep but fixing the source sounds better.

Try rinsing daily with a Nasopure. Has worked wonders on my allergies and keeps my nasal passages clear 100% of the time.

I mean the allergy tablets are attacking the source which is the allergic reaction just not very effectively. Fluticasone is very effectively and directly treating the symptom which is inflamed tissue in the nasal passage.

I also seem to have allergies but they only get out of hand when I eat a lot of sugar.

Which drug did you use? I get the exact same thing but I take standard loretadine tablets like once a week and they don't seem to make a difference.

You might also need a decongestant. You can take them separately over the counter or combined with a prescription for something like Claritin-D.

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