It can also cause permanently enlarged turbinates with chronic use.
Look, there are always extreme cases. Just look up how many people need a liver transplant or even die each year from misusing paracetamol. So should we make it a prescription drug? Maybe, I don't know, it's always a trade-off.
I've never taken any opiod, but two weeks of being unable to breathe properly or sleep sounds as hellish as my idea of quitting heroin.
I mean, I quit smoking, hardest thing I've ever done, and the physical withdrawal effects were insignificant compared to that.
It's funny; looking back, I quit smoking exactly BECAUSE I was suffering from crazy congestion, and after a week of Afrin and poor sleep I thought quitting smoking altogether would help me regain my sanity.
Let me assure you that there's (yet?) no Xylometazoline epidemic ravaging though Europe, with tens of thousands of people dying each year, destroying families and communities, in effect causing endless grief for people and huge profits for pharma companies. There's also no black market for Xylometazoline, with people overdosing because there's nasal spray on the street that is contaminated with a much more potent derivative than can kill pretty much instantly. I've also never heard of babies born with congested noses that spend their first weeks of life going through a Xylometazoline withdrawal.
So to summarize, I think my initial statement that a physical dependence on Xylometazoline is less harmful than a dependence on opioids is probably correct.
The strategy I’ve heard is purchasing a normal bottle, and refilling it with boiled cool water when it’s ½ empty. Then refilling it again when it’s ¾ empty.
Xylometazoline is an absolute godsend, and has even more efficacy in a dual-action spray with saline water.
It feels nothing short of magical to do one spray per nostril, and be completely uncontested in less than 10 minutes.