In January 2019 I came down with a cold. However, after the cold ended, the nasal congestion didn’t. I continued to be chronically congested for over 5 years before I did anything about it. I guess I’m one of those people.
After a series of unfortunate events (which included trying antibiotics and then serrapeptase for the issue), I ended up in the office of a local ENT (Ear Nose Throat doctor) in July 2024. She looked up my nose and said, “You have nasal polyps.” She then told me to use Flonase (a steroid nasal spray) and Astepro (an antihistamine nasal spray) twice a day.
That was it!
Despite my ever-present hesitation towards doing anything slightly medical, I was desperate, so I did. And it totally helped.
But the problem was it dried up my sinuses and gave me bloody noses. And the second I would stop using them, my extreme congestion would come back worse than ever. I wanted an actual treatment, not a bandaid.
I sought out the help of a functional medicine doctor who gave me ideas for how to actually address the issue and I’ve learned a lot!
I now present to you: Everything I wish I had known about nasal polyps 5 years ago.
What are nasal polyps?
Nasal polyps are benign growths along your nasal passages (a.k.a. sinuses). They can be tiny and not cause any symptoms. They can be huge or there can be many of them, and they can cause all sorts of symptoms.
The symptoms I had were:
- Excess mucus
- Runny and stuffy nose
- Loss of taste and smell
Other possible symptoms include:
- Headaches
- Snoring
- Sinus pressure
I would blow my nose and get a ton of stuff out, but still be completely congested like I had never even gotten a tissue. It was constant all day everyday and would keep me awake at night as well.
What causes nasal polyps?
I don’t know what causes nasal polyps, and google hasn’t been much help. That was one of the problems I ran into once I knew I had nasal polyps. The internet told me they don’t know what causes them, anyone can get them, and the way to get rid of them is medication or surgery (although they may grow back after surgery). No thank you!
What I realized it comes down to is inflammation. Nasal polyps are basically inflamed nasal passages, which is why steroid sprays help, and since allergies contribute to all the mucus and boogers, the antihistamine was helpful.
But like I said, I wanted real help.
Holistic methods for treating nasal polyps
Here’s what I’ve been doing to find actual relief from this crazy congestion:
Nasal Rinse
I’m late to the game on nasal rinses. I’m sure you’ve all done this a dozen times by now. However, I didn’t learn what a nasal rinse was until well into adulthood. The first time I tired one (a few years into this chronic congestion), it made my symptoms way worse. I had been breathing pretty okay, but as soon as I did the nasal rinse, my sinuses were completely blocked for hours. I decided I’d never do that again.
But then my doctor suggested I do them twice a day and just push through the initial discomfort. I was a little terrified, but I did try again.
The first try went exactly like the time before and I was miserable. However, the very next time, it wasn’t nearly as bad! And by the third time, I felt like it was actually helpful. Amazing.
Here’s my nasal rinse protocol (to be completed 1-2 times per day):
- Netti pot full of distilled water
- Two saline packets (I originally started with one, but wasn’t getting enough relief so my doctor suggested I double the salt)
- 1 drop tea tree oil
- 1 drop lemon oil
Mix that all together and then pour half of it in one nostril and half in the other. Despite all the salt and the oils, it doesn’t burn. It feels great.
What’s crazy is I almost immediately began to regain my sense of smell and taste after beginning this rinse routine. After smelling nothing for months, this brought me back to life and I was so excited.
Silver Nasal Spray
I should probably write a whole blog post about silver. It’s amazing stuff.
Did you know there are nasal sprays that really only have silver and water in them? Silver is “anti-everything” as my doctor put it – antiviral, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergy. It goes after all the bad stuff, but without the harmful effects of the medications that try to do the same thing.
Unfortunately, I did the same thing with this spray as I did with the nasal rinses. I tried it once or twice, and when it made my symptoms worse, I vowed never again.
Let this be a lesson for all of us: Sometimes it gets a little worse before it gets better. Just keep going.
At my doctor’s insistence, I tried again with the silver nasal spray and persevered with hope through the initial symptoms. I was supposed to spray several times in each nostril every hour or two, which felt impossible, if only due to my forgetfulness. I decided to set a timer on my phone and it went off every hour. I sprayed the silver into each nostril and set the timer again. After doing this for a few days, I was finally able to stop the steroid and antihistamine sprays without all my symptoms immediately returning!
I still have congestion, so I’m not quite in the clear yet. But now it’s not ruining my every waking moment and keeping me up every night. And now I’m not using medications to manage it.
I first used the Sovereign Silver spray that’s 10 ppm. You can get it from health food stores and it works great. They also have a “prescription” strength one that’s 23 ppm that my doctor gave me access to, so that’s the one I use more now.
That’s it! Doing those two simple things has made all the difference for me and I’m now seeing hope for a brighter (and more delightful smelling) future.
I’m sure there are other ways to address this issue holistically, but this has been my experience. I’m now sharing with you so you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars for a doctor to tell you to try this. Good luck! You got this.
