Irish Daily Mail

My blocked nose is making me dog-tired

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AS anyone who’s had a heavy cold will know, nasal congestion can affect sleep — but unfortunat­ely for many people, including you, it becomes an enduring problem that can cause a great deal of distress.

In fact, nasal blockage and symptoms related to the nose and sinuses are among the most common reasons for patients to consult GPs.

There are a number of potential causes, and often they occur in combinatio­n. These include allergies, pregnancy and certain medication­s.

Structural abnormalit­ies such as a deviation of the nasal septum can also be to blame. A common problem linked to a deviated septum is hypertroph­y, where the wall of the nasal lining on the side opposite the deviated septum becomes thickened.

Normally the lining of the nose fluctuates in thickness depending on the quantity of blood flowing through it: at times the airway will be clear, while at other times it will be compromise­d, giving the sensation of a blockage. Many factors affect blood flow including allergies, posture, mood and warmth and humidity.

The steroid spray you’ve been prescribed can calm an irritated nasal lining, although it might take weeks or more to see the benefits.

If you’re still concerned about side-effects, one option is ‘pulsing’ the treatment — using it for a couple of months and then having a month off, for example. This may improve the air flow in your upper airway.. My husband was told that he was diabetic. He had one high blood sugar reading and his father was diabetic, but no medication was advised. He has yearly checks with our practice nurse and further blood tests in the past six months were within the acceptable range for blood sugar. He also has a yearly eye test for diabetic retinopath­y: these results have also all

THERE’S no doubt a family history is a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes — your risk is between five and ten times higher if you have a first-degree relative (parent, sister, brother, son or daughter) with diabetes.

But I agree, your husband’s situation is puzzling as the recent tests, including those for diabetic retinopath­y (where they check the retina at the back of the eye for damage related to diabetes) have been normal.

Even if the diagnosis was correct, his normal blood tests could mean the condition is in remission — we do not say ‘cured’, as it’s always still there in the background.

Recent studies on patients with type 2 have shown that a low-calorie diet can push diabetes into remission. The key is getting down to a healthy weight, with a body mass index (BMI) below 25.

However, the diabetes can still come back — for example, if thew eight goes back up, blood sugar levels will, once again, be above the normal thresholds.

In your husband’s case, I would suggest that a good strategy would be to go back to his GP or seek a referral to a specialist for a more sophistica­ted test (a glucose load test). If the results of this are normal, he is not diabetic and the notes could be amended to state that there was a previous diagnostic error.

The relevant informatio­n can be transferre­d via a broker to your travel insurance company.

 ??  ?? A childhood accident left me with a deviated septum, severely affecting my sleep throughout my life. Now in my 40s, I find myself tired and yawning in the day and dozing off early in the evening. A consultant gave me a steroid nasal spray called...
A childhood accident left me with a deviated septum, severely affecting my sleep throughout my life. Now in my 40s, I find myself tired and yawning in the day and dozing off early in the evening. A consultant gave me a steroid nasal spray called...
 ??  ?? come back unchanged. We’ve queried his ‘diabetic status’ as this label is having a detrimenta­l effect on the cost of our travel insurance. Every week Cork GP Dr Pixie McKenna answers your questions ASK THE DOCTOR
come back unchanged. We’ve queried his ‘diabetic status’ as this label is having a detrimenta­l effect on the cost of our travel insurance. Every week Cork GP Dr Pixie McKenna answers your questions ASK THE DOCTOR

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