I’m addicted to Afrin Nasal Spray

^^ same story almost identically... GO TO THE DOCTOR

I too have been addicted to afrin probably for the last couple months I tried going cold turkey just for some reason I couldn't make it past 3 days no matter how hard I tried so what I did was got some prednisone and honestly it dosent really help me breathe too much better but if you get the rebound congestion like I do when you don't use it what the prednisone does do the for me is it relieves all the pain from the ear popping that you get and I haven't been getting like anxiety attacks from not using it my suggestion is either go to the doctor or find something that works for you I'm on day three right now I know I'm gonna make it this time.

I KNOW you can do it! I was addicted for three years and recently went cold turkey. I'm now at week four and am totally free of the awful stuff. I'm here to tell you that your commitment to this will be well rewarded with breathing freedom!

I disagree on not telling your physician about your possible addiction to the medication in Afrin. The physician is there to help you, but they cannot if you keep stuff like that in the shadows. It's not bad to talk with him/her about it.



-FMorales, CMA

Knock on wood,..I think I'm off!  I started taking an old prescription I had here of Flonase (steroid allergy nose spray), 2 sprays, twice a day.   First day or two I was a little stuffy,..but Im on day 4 without afrin and doing a million times better!

I suffer from panic attacks and anxiety,..so going cold turkey and suffering and suffocating would have not worked for me.

I was addicted to afrin from aug 2012 until april 2013.  the whole time I was on it I had never ending cold and congestion.  miserable, expensive and just tiring from having to use it every few hours.

it is such a relief to be off of it.

What can me the boost to even try is that I am having surgery in 2 weeks and all I could do was worry how I would wake up totally swollen shut in my nose from surgery and not be able to breath and not have access to my afrin. eh 

So that is my story of what worked.  I had very little suffering..  a lot less then I was used to while ON it I can say that much.

I have been addicted to Afrin for about a year. When I read this forum I was very freaked out and worried that I would never be fixed. I have very bad allergies and was trying to self medicate with Afrin nose spray and Zyrtec D. I finally decided to make a doctors apt with an allergy specialist. I told him the truth about Afrin and he didn't even seem surprised and didn't judge me at all! I think this is a very common problem that doctors see all the time. Anyway he did allergy testing and diagnosed me with several allergies. He prescribed a couple of things for my allergies and a steroid called prednisone for the afrin addiction. Now believe me I heard horror stories about this med and tried to quit cold turkey but it was miserable!!! Don't listen to people on here that say you're a wimp because you can't quit on your own....EVERYONE is different! I have had no side effects of this drug so far and am on day three. I can totally breathe and have only used a little afrin this morning. My guess is that by tomorrow I won't have to use any! My allergy mess have already started kicking in! Please know that there is help out there! I hope you all can do it! I am already so much happier and have more money in my pocket from not wasting 20-30 dollars a week on Afrin!

I too was addicted to Afrin for 7 years. I used a whole bottle a day everyday. I could not breathe without it. I could not sleep or eat. Horrible. I went to the ENT and he said there was a simple solution. He gave me these steroids shots in my nose into my sinuses. It hurt like c**p. He told me not to use the Afrin anymore and I should be able to breathe within a few hours. The first few hours I could not breathe thru my nose at all. Every hour got better and better. I would say probably within 6 or 7 hours I could breathe completely. I didnt know why i didnt go to the ENT seven years earlier. I didnt have insurance either when I went and it only cost about $200. cheaper than buying Afrin everyday. 

Day 2 of going cold turkey.  I used for over two years, anywhere from 4 to 10 times a day.  Cold turkey was the way to go.  Completely miserable for the first 24 hours.  Then, one nostril magically openend up.  The other has not yet, but the fact that I don't feel pressure on either side of my nose and my left side is completely open is making for a great second day so far.  To all suffering from the addiction - you can quit!  I know the thought of being without the little white bottle is scary, but just get to it .  Just focus on the fact that a week of your life may be miserable, but think about everyday being miserable.  While you can "breathe" because of the spray, you know that you are blowing your nose all day, when finally getting a clear inhale through your nose, you cherish it because you know that in a few minutes your passages will fill with snot, or the sinuses are going to harden.  End it all.  Take the few days and just deal with it head on.  You will feel like the cuffs have come off your wrists....

I have used afrin for 55 years. The membrains in my nose swell shut mainly on the left side.The Dr. use to pack cotton in it for 30 min. and it would last about 30 min.then stop up again.I spray mostly at night so I can sleep and then breath through my mouth the rest of the day.I now also use nose strips to hold nose open but in time nose swell in side and makes it hard to breath.They say it is hard on the heart and I have had 9 heart attacks but cant breath without afrin and I have tried all the rest. Thats my story.

I am doing something simular of what you're suggesting in your post. I'm at 50/50 but have run in to problems. It seems that i need it more often and I'm waking up after 4 hours of sleep all stuffed up and hard to get unclogged. Before I went to the 50/50 I'd need a squirt before bed time and I'd stay clear until morning. I use a cpap machine to sleep so there is no sleep unless my nose is clear. I also us the long lasting nasal spray which I hear is worse than the regular. Day time I seem to have an easier time with only 1 to 2 spray all day. Night is the problem and I'm not sure why it is different.

Would you suggest to stay at the 50/50 longer or back track to 55/45 45 being saline? I've been doing this 6 weeks now and seen progress until I hit the 50/50 mark. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I've been on OTC nasal spray for over 20 years. I'm in Canada and it's called Dristan (Afrin) here.

I know all too well how you feel! I've been addicted to oxymetazolone (Afrin) for 26 years! Yes, TWENTY SIX YEARS! I cannot breath without it, especially at night. I cannot stand breathing through my mouth. If I run out I start feeling anxious and become VERY aggitated. Has anyone else felt this way?

I just went to the doctor yesterday for a physical and expressed my need to get off the Afrin as well.  Back in high school I would use it for 3 days in a row (as it suggests on the bottle not to go more than that) during the 3 worst days of the cold (my grandma says all colds are 9 days long, 3 days comin', 3 days stayin', 3 days goin' so I'd use it for the middle 3 days) and I never had an issue with it.  But like another poster said congestion was unbearable during pregnancy!  I have allergic rhinitis as well (allergies that only affect the nose) so they were just exacerbated by pregnancy (you have 40% more blood volume in your body when pregnant to grow the baby, including int he blood vessels in your nose) so I was miserable.  It was then I became addicted.  My son was born 3/20/11 and I'm still using Afrin daily.  I get woken up several times in the middle of the night due to a stuffed up nose.  My son is now 2, I should be sleeping through the night like he is now!  So I asked the doctor and he was very sympathetic since HE himself went through the same addiction when he was a teen.  It's more common than you think.  He prescribed me the Prednisone steriod treatment as well.  It's a 12 day treatment and like a previous poster mentioned you take 4 for 3 days, then 3, then 2 then 1 or something like that (I have to go pick it up at the pharmacy still) and it should work.  My ONLY worry is my mom and brother both had cancer and were on Prednisone for a while and they blew up like balloons.  Their whole faces swelled and looked distorted.  Those of you that have done the short treatment for Afrin addiction, PLEASE tell me the course is short enough to NOT experience those awful side effects!!!!!  :-(

First off this so called addiction is in your head. You can't be addicted to nasal spray. Your nasal passages become dependant on nasal spray afterextended use thats it. Yes mentally you can become "addicted" but physically only dependant.i asked a Dr about this when i was using nasal spray for a while because i paint cars and my nasal passages become clogged and irritated and she explained it perfectly. Do you spend your whole pay check on afrin? Do you lie and steal to get it, do you start vomiting and sweating when you don't have it? No!!! I really hope none of you ever get put on opiates or opiods in your life because then youwill know what a real addiction is. I'm sorry but the person who said they became a junkie while using nasal spray is ridiculous, get a grip. Stop using the sh*t and use a sinus rinse or neti pot. I've used nasal spray for years and there is no such thing as being addicted to it contrary to what cnn and you say

I've been using Afrin (and other brand-less forms of oxymetazoline hcl) for about 20 years. Apparently, I had had a deviated septum since childhood but it wasn't severe enough to be addressed by the doctors in the Soviet Union. After arriving to the States in 1992, I developed a cold, which always exacerbates my nasal issue. I found Afrin, which took care of the cold symptoms like nothing I had ever experience before. I continued to use Afrin to treat my deviated septum. That relationship has lasted about 20 years. About 6 years ago, I was able to reduce the individual dosage from 3 to 1 pump. My daily usage has remained the same (approximately 6 times) but the overall consumption has decreased. Over the years, I've noticed the 3-day use warnings on the bottles, learned about the possible side effects, but the immediate gratification provided by Afrin was incomparable. I finally told my doctor the truth. Interestingly, my deviated septum itself is not as big of an issue, but the addiction to Afrin has made it difficult to determine the extent of the "natural" problem.

Another habit that I had developed was the anticipatory spraying at times when my nose would be only slightly stuffed, before the beginning of a movie, and, as a rule, at bedtime. 

The cold turkey method did not work for me. Once my nose would shut off, my ears would begin to clog every time I swallowed, etc. It was awful and would not end. I tried flonase, it didn't work one bit for me. 

The titrating advice is along the lines of what HAS worked for me. I bought a fresh bottle of Afrin, a bottle of saline nasal spray, and mixed a 75% Afrin solution. The rule was to spray when the nose was almost completely stuffed - no more anticipatory sprays. This added some physical discomfort and anxiety but helped compensate for the temporary increase in the daily frequency of administration. This increase lasted one day. I kept the dosage constant, as with undiluted Afrin, at 1 pump per nostril.

On the 3rd day, I was able to further dilute the Afrin solution to 60%. Perhaps, I moved to quickly, because this step took a little longer. However, because I was using the spray as a rescue pump, it helped whenever I experienced progressively worsening stuffing and fully prevented complete blockage.

One week after being on the 60% solution, I mixed it down to 50% - this is where I am today. I am going to continue to eliminate Afrin from my system and, once it's gone, try to determine the actual issue and treat it properly. 

I hope my experience helps others. 

I will never take prednisone ever again unless I am literally dieing. I took it as a taper down doseage for poison sumac and while it worked for that I had tons of side effects. My head killed me every day, I felt as though I was loosing my mind. It killed my stomach especially when I had to take the 4 pills at once for the first two days. My allergist suggested I take it and I put to kibosh on that real quick!