Going Cold Turkey

No Loyal Readers - it's not what you think! I gave up the filthy cancer sticks years ago by going cold turkey and am now a rabid anti-smoker. No, this addiction has been far more insidious. I have been, for the past 20 odd years, addicted to nasal decongestant spray. Ever since a nasty sinus cauterisation back in high school I have had issues with my nose, and became heavily reliant upon nasal spray to keep the passages open, so to speak. At various times over the years I have stopped, but have always managed to fall back into the habit. Well, the past few months I have noticed that my habit has become increasingly pronounced. The 12-hour spray was only lasting about four hours, and I would feel panicky if I left the house and forgot to take my 'snort' with me. Did I mention that I cannot ABIDE having a blocked nose???? Anyway, the last couple of weeks I have been waking during the night to 'snort', and I woke up yesterday morning, snotty and congested, knowing that I had to stop. That's the thing about these sprays - once you use them for more than a few days, you get what is called 'rebound congestion' and basically you become dependent on the spray. So I did a bit of research on the Net and found out that my problem has a rather big name - rhinitis medicamentosa - and that there was a safe way to wean myself off the evil spray. I took my info, managed to get a doctors appointment at lunchtime (a miracle in itself) and snottily explained my situation to the doc. By this stage I hadn't had any 'snort' for 13 hours and was feeling incredibly crappy. He agreed with the research I had done and prescribed a cortisone based spray to reduce nasal inflammation during the 'cold turkey' phase. He did mention that the spray would take 24-48 hours to work, so I gritted my teeth and saw the day out. To cut a long and very snotty story short, it was a pretty crappy day. Thankfully the cortisone spray kicked in at about midnight and I managed to have a reasonable night's sleep (did I mention that I cannot ABIDE trying to sleep with a blocked nose???) and I am feeling quite chipper today. Nose is a little snuffly but nothing compared to what it was this time yesterday. Apparently it takes the nose about 5-7 days to recover from perpetual nasal decongestant abuse, so I have my other, non-habit forming spray to help me through this period. I am VERY proud of the fact that I didn't succumb to the temptations of the 'snort' yesterday 'cos boy did I consider it long and hard!! Anyway, here I am, almost 36 hours cold turkey and doing well. Let's hope I continue to do so - next job is to go and chuck out all the bottles of spray I have secreted around the house and in handbags, lest I am tempted again!!