Years of Steroid Nasal Sprays
I cannot remember how many years I used a Beconase steroid nasal spray for – but it was a long long time. (Daily for many years.) It was a great help – until I’d used it so long that I ended up with a small hole in my nose, or ‘septal perforation’ to be more precise. I knew the risks, but you always hope it isn’t going to happen to you.
It was the whistling which gave it away. I’ve never been much of a whistler, but my nose developed ideas of its own.
My doctor advised me how to wean myself off the nasal spray, and over a few months I succeeded. But without the nasal spray the rhinitis increased making matters worse. In one of those ‘can’t live with it, can’t live without it’ situations, the ENT consultant decided on balance it would be best to put me back onto a nasal spray and moved me onto Flixonase.
Good News / Bad News
The good news is that has taken away some of the nasal inflammation. I now whistle less on a daily basis. However, the bad news is that I do risk making the hole worse over time.
The hole could be surgically repaired or a ‘button’ could be inserted, but in the age old ‘chicken and egg’ situation, my allergies make an operation higher risk and make some options less likely to be successful.
On balance we’ve decided I’m best to live with the whistle and monitor for any worsening.
On the bright side, I have my own built in early warning system. At the first contact with an allergen my nose starts to whistle alerting me to the risk quickly.
If only someone could develop a synthetic version of my nose that could test the world around me before I need to have any contact at all.
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