I'm addicted to decongestant nasal spray..?

Question: Sounds silly but feel like I can't live without it. I have bottles all over the house, panic if I find myself without it. Can't sleep longer than an hour or so before I wake up to take more. I'm a nose breather and tend to choke in my sleep rather than open my mouth to breathe. Have allergies now, presumably to the spray, sneeze lots. Been taking them for about 10 years, now it's worse than ever, using about every hour or less, everyday. The thought of 'cold turkey' makes me cold, I can't imagine how awful that would be, not being able to breathe through my nose and the stuffyness is unbearable. I need to get off this stuff and I've no idea where to start. GP's referring me to E,N&T unit but this is NHS, months before I even get on the waiting list? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Answers:
I had a friend in highschool who was addicted to it also, same as you she would wake every hour to use it and had one on her all the time. Try weaning yourself during the day to begin with. Nights are going to be harder. You cant quit cold turkey, It would be like holding your breath. Just remember it took 10 years to get where you are. It will take some time to get off of it, so take your time and only do what you can handle. But stay strong and dont give up.

Other Answers:
Any addiction is tough to break.thats why its called an addiction. My best advice is to slowly cut down on it. Set realistic weekly goals for yourself and DO NOT break your limit that you set. Example lets just say you use it 50 times a day.cut yourself down to 30 during the first week, 20 the next.etc..etc.until your off completely. That will keep your sinuses from going into withdrawels as well. Its gonna be rough for a while, but you've got to have the willpower to do it. An ENT will only tell you to get off the nose spray. So either way, you've gotta give the spray the boot. Good luck. For the first few nights, try taking a benadryl so that you can rest better.

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well theres a warning on the label saying why you should only do this so many hours.but youre not going to be able to just cut yourself off completely without having a panic attack.youre going to have to slowly ween yourself off of it.instead of waking up every hour to take it try setting your alarm to take it every 2 hours.the next week every 3.the next week every 4 hours and so on eventually youll find yourself not needing it.itll be hard at first and you might relapse into it but just start the process over again.think of it as trying to quit smoking.youve been doing it for 10 years falling off the horse a few times while trying wont kill you but try to stick to it have you tried ocean nasal spray? which is normal saline.
you may be allergic to the meds in the ones you are using. you can get this over the counter, ask your pharmacist, if you cant find it , get on the 'net and see if you can find it.
whatever, you DO need to get off of the other ones.

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