Breathe easy

With changes in climate and increase in pollution, many people routinely suffer from the common cold. A blocked nose is the most common symptom. When you have a cold, many chemicals are released, which act on the tiny blood vessels in the lining of the nose. This causes the lining to swell and makes breathing difficult. If this happens during sleep, it is far more distressing. If neglected, a blocked nose leads to chronic ailments.

The nose filters the air we breathe. When the nose is blocked, it cannot filter the air efficiently leading to entry of germs and other foreign particles. This further aggravates the cold and leads to infections. Since the nose, ear, throat and sinuses are interconnected, an infection in the nose can travel to these areas.

The feeling of stuffiness in the nose, during a cold, makes breathing difficult, and also leads to headaches, body pain and watery eyes. This makes it very difficult to concentrate on work. Moreover the constant headache makes you irritable and frustrated. A blocked nose also affects sleep patterns. With loss of sleep, a feeling of lethargy creeps in and it becomes almost impossible to keep pace with the daily routine.

Treatment options

There are two ways to treat a blocked nose: Systemic and Topical therapy.

Systemic therapy involves treating a disease via the blood circulation. Most people use oral tablets to treat this condition. When you ingest a tablet, it is broken up and absorbed in the blood. The medicine reaches all parts of the body along with the diseased part and cures it. Obviously when you take a tablet to treat your blocked nose, it takes a while to reach the nose and cure it. Decongestant tablets may also have certain other side effects like drowsiness. This is not necessary as the medicine only needs to reach the nasal mucosa and sinuses.

A better option in such cases would be topical therapy. Topical therapy involves application of the drug directly to the diseased area; in this case, a nasal spray applied directly in the nose is a better and more effective option compared to decongestant tablets. A nasal spray provides instant relief since it does away with the time-consuming process of the stomach having to absorb the drug.

Also, unlike tablets, it is not absorbed and does not enter the blood circulation to cause unwanted side effects. The inherent advantage of nasal sprays is that they act locally ensuring better decongestion, fast relief and are easy to use.