My name is Sam and I'm a nasal spray-aholic

Since we've been back in Washington my nose has been plugged up. It's gotten worse recently and poor Brent was so tired of hearing me sniff and snort and blow my nose that he was begging me to go to the doctor. I hate going to the doctor so I only go when something is REALLY bad. But yesterday I woke up and it took me at least 10 minutes to get my nose to where I could breathe through it. So I decided that it was probably time to go to the doc.

I got to the doctor and they asked me what was wrong. I told them that I believe I have allergies and it started when I moved back to Washington. The doctor asked me what I have been doing for the problem and I pulled out my trusty Vicks Sinex relief medicine. I've been using this stuff for several months and it clears my nose up like a charm.

Well, it turns out that you aren't supposed to use this stuff more than a couple days or else your body can get addicted and depend on it (whoops!). So the reason that I couldn't breathe through my nose and I felt all stuffed up wasn't because I'm allergic to anything, it was because I've been snorting this stuff for probably 100+ days longer than I should have been. So he ended up diagnosing me with rhinitis medicamentosa. He told me that people get this when they have been using nasal sprays for too long or if they are using cocaine. He looked at me when he said that and lucky for me I brought my Sinex with me and showed him that it was definitely the nasal spray. So he gave me a prescription for Flonase to help with the swelling and some Sudafed. I had also slipped down our stairs earlier in the day and bruised my tailbone and so he gave me a prescription for Tramadol, which is a nice pain reliever (I was actually pretty shocked that I could say something hurt and he just wrote me a prescription for it, but I'm not complaining because it sure helps!).

Anyway I went to Target to pick up my prescriptions and by the time I got home I was jonesing for a fix of my Sinex. I took the Flonase/Sudafed/Tramadol combo and when it didn't clear it up right away like my Sinex did, I got soooo mad. I seriously felt like such an addict!! Poor Brent had to listen to me complain for an hour until he left to go play basketball.

Anyway today has been better. My nose is still a little stuffy (what do you expect from months of overusing something, I guess...) but at least I can breathe through it on my own again. And the tramadol is pretty much awesome. The only side effect I have is that it makes me super chatty so if anyone needs someone to talk to, give me a call!