Suggest Treatment For Dry And Stuffy Nose

Posted on Fri, 24 Oct 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 24 Oct 2014 Answered on

Mon, 17 Nov 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I had a cold about a month ago. After 3-4 days the cold symptoms and runny nose stopped.........and completely dried up! I've been told "dry stuffy nose" is caused by swollen membranes, not congestion - (I've also used steroid spray which makes dryness worse). I used saline aswell (which dries up almost immediately after) to remove what appears to be a thickish clear mucus tinged with white that is sometimes sticky. There's no running from my nose ever, no moisture in there no matter how much water I drink. Now my eyes are starting to dry and my mouth (and vaginal area) aswell. Could lack of thyroid do this or menopause? I feel like my body is attacking itself. I've asked my doctor for referral to ENT specialist (I can't approach any specialist directly here in Canada without a referral).

Answered by Dr. Dr. Muhammad Sareer Khalil (6 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Explained

Detailed Answer:
Hello and Welcome

I appreciate your concern.

I have read your history carefully. The symptoms of dryness and stuffiness warrant an ENT consult to rule out and workup for Atrophic rhinitis and test for any loss of smell.

Empirically the antibiotics coverage would have been better off with Amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid. The fluticasone should be in combination with xylometazoline.
Anti histamines like desloratidine or levocetirizine should also be taken for a week.

I would also advise you to get the annual flu vaccine done for yourself.

If symptoms of headache accompany your doctor may advise a CT scan to better visualize the sinuses.

Lack of thyroid or menopause do not have causative relation with such symptoms.

Get TFTs ( thyroid function tests ) done if you are worried about your thyroid. If the TSH is in normal range then its not a thyroid problem.

Menopause usually doesn't affect the body via a rhinitis , diagnosis of menopause is via looking for serial elevations of gonadotropins.

Let me know if you have any query

wishing you best of health

Thanks

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar