Yucky question

Why when I wake up in the morning, do I often find my nose blocked with red snuffles. Its as if I've had a thick nose bleed in the night but - judging by the amount when I blow my nose (sorry, folks)- its all got clogged somewhere further up inside. No marks on pillow or anything.

Found Singulair helped a bit but gives me nightmares when I sleep and cramp in lower leg when I stretch. I've stopped singulair for the last four nights to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Any ideas or suggestions gratefully received.

GM (snuffle, choke).

PS Recent allergy test only found one problem - grass pollen. No moulds or anything else.

PPS All electric house. No central heating. No fireplace either.

[Hidden]

Strange but I get a similar thing most mornings. I know it feels yucky to talk about it but when i blow my nose a lot of the time its a strange rusty colour?

I get this a lot aswell but I've never really thought about it being anything to worry/bother myself about as I dont feel blocked up during the day

[Hidden]

No, I never thought it was anything to bother about either. My mum had it too. Just wondered why.

Grannymo

[Hidden]

nose blocked in morning

It may be to do with your breathing. I know you breathe through your nose during the day (from your post on a different topic) but it may block at night resulting in breathing through your mouth during your sleep.

When we lie down its much harder to control the rate of breathing (why some asthmatics sleep upright in a chair) or the way (mouth or nose) we breathe (habit formed or blockage).

Some people go to sleep nasal breathing, after a short while they switch over, only to switch back in the half hour before waking to nasal breathing.

Do you wake up with a dry mouth or do you still manage to breathe through your almost clogged up nose? The capillaries in the nose are very close to the surface and are prone to rupturing (large blowing of your nose often can cause a bleed or weaken them). I hold m breath for a few seconds (on the out breath) after blowing my nose - i find it helps to restore my breathing more quickly.

There is a technique that was subject to a medical trial in Nottingham for keeping your mouth closed during sleep - the often derided taping of your mouth (either sideways or one strip vertically). There are also caps for sale on the internet that hold your chin up to your mouth- same effect perhaps without the anxiety element of sticky tape).

This is not suitable for all people and not if intoxicated or feeling nauseous and should be done in consultation with your medical advisors. However, many are not aware of it at all and dismiss is out of hand as either silly, or ""that could never work"" etc etc. In the trial, 72% of people didnt find the tape in any way uncomfortable. That's a reasonable amount. Not sure how the other 28% got on but imagine there were some anxiety or discomfort issues regarding having it closed. I do not wear it myself but can do (it may as well be on my elbow- i dont breathe through my mouth at all while sleeping). It is recommended to fold over tabs on either end of the tape for easy removal (3m micropore tape 25mm wide was used in the trial and is not too sticky)

[Hidden]

Thanks for the suggestions. I can still breath through the blocked nose and yes, I do wake up breathing through nose.

Asthma nurse suggested I try to lose some weight as felt this would help. Long ago I bought an audiobook on weight loss through hypnotherapy - time to bring it out again?

Reason I put it away last time, down to chap on the audiobook recommending that one circular breathes ie in through the nose and out through the mouth to get full effect. I found this incredibly hard as nose breather and gave up trying in the end.

I take the suggestions of taping and so on as seriously meant helpfulness. But I fear my husband, who is already accusing me of being very forgetful - big issues and magazines piling up and I'm forever running out of milk and bread. I'm also coming away with some daft things these days, like pointing out a news item on Yahoo that he pointed out to me days ago, might take it as a sign I'm finally off my rocker. Also I am allergic to most hospital tape including micropore.

But thanks anyway, buteyko.d for the suggestions, were I to live on my own I might have tried them.

GM