Nose breathing difficulties

[x]

Just wanted to chronicle them here as the last couple days I've been congested to the point where I have no other alternative but to mouth breathe and it makes sleeping at night a huge pain in the ass. I think this has been happening all my life but I'm all the more aware of it now that I realize how harmful mouth breathing can be. Strangely, only the right nostril seems to be stuffed.

Anyone else have these issues frequently and did you discover a root cause? I don't know if it's allergies or what.

[Alue]

I have the same problem.  There can be a lot of different causes, deviated septum, allergies, rebound congestion (if you ever use nasall sprays), or other structural problems.  I haven't yet figured out my root causes, but I think an ENT would be the best to identify nose breathing problems.  Orthodontists seem to be mostly oblivious to breathing problems (at least the ones I have mentioned it to).  Thinking back I think my mouth breathing problems started after I had orthodontic work as a kid (extractions/head gear). 

[Tiny]

Just wanted to chronicle them here as the last couple days I've been congested to the point where I have no other alternative but to mouth breathe and it makes sleeping at night a huge pain in the ass. I think this has been happening all my life but I'm all the more aware of it now that I realize how harmful mouth breathing can be. Strangely, only the right nostril seems to be stuffed.

Anyone else have these issues frequently and did you discover a root cause? I don't know if it's allergies or what.

Uh yeah.  Got a consult for rhino and discovered I had a hella deviated septum.  I also have a really bad dust allergy as well as a bunch of other allergies but they are not so bad since I went on the paleo diet 3 years ago (before it was trendy lol!).

My dust allergy is still epic, though.  For that I use either an anti-histamine or anti-inflammatory steroid spray.  I don't need a prescription for either because here they hand out meds like candy (True story - a friend of mine was very sick, I called an ambulance, they gave her antibiotics.  After a week of illness hell she went back to the UK and it turned out she had MERS)

For non-allergy nasal congestion, well, OTRIVINE is a drug from the gods.  Shame it's addictive though


I have yet to have a cold since getting my septoplasty.  Before that, any hint of cold meant a totally blocked nose for a minimum of 4 days.  Misery

[overbiter]

I have this problem at night. Mainly it's my right nostril that gets blocked. I've been having treatment for sleep apnea and had a nasendoscopy a few months ago. After the procedure the surgeon told me that I had a problem at the back of my nose, as well as tongue swallowing. This makes sense to me, but all the ENT specialists I had seen before told me everything was fine. They looked up my nose and saw no problem, they just said that I was totally normal. If one of those guys ever tells you that you have no problems don't believe it till you've had it confirmed by a procedure.

[dantheman]

I'm the same way! I have breathed through my mouth throughout my life when sleeping because lying down puts me over the edge so to speak with nasal congestion. Now I do everything to clear my nose and feel claustrophobic when I can't get enough air in. I feel "off" mouth-breathing now. I don't even remember if I breathed through my nose or mouth mostly as a child... I never had trouble tasting or chewing with mouth closed so i'm assuming I was never an obligate daytime mouth-breather. Either way, I am convinced that the mouth-breathing I did do messed up my facial development.

The issue to clarify is whether its anatomical or non-anatomical (you need a nasal endoscopy for this to rule out polyps, septal deviations etc). If it's not strictly abnormal anatomy then one considers allergies vs. non-allergic variants. Trial of anti-histamines, nasal etc help many people and is usually the first step in treatment/diagnosis.

I actually resent my parents somewhat for not caring that I had nasal breathing troubles because I even brought it up to my dad before that I could not sleep with mouth closed and he just got angry with me.