Since I began to have hypo symptoms and my Hashi diagnosis, I have permanent nasal congestion. I can barely breath through my nose. I tried antihistamines and two rounds of antibiotics for sinusitis, they did nothing. I am pretty sure it is due to hypothyroidism, because it stopped when I took thyroid glandulars during a few month. But I would like to have your opinion on this.
And I would really like to know if someone found a solution? Because it is causing me oxygen issues.
Thank you very much!
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TropicalCookie
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I've been hypothyroid for over 27 yrs. Have suffered nasal conjection for past 5. Could not breath through my nose. I got GP to refer (eventually) to ENT consultant who diagnosed a left deviated septum and gross Polups in right side which were decreased by steroid treatment. I suffered for years with face pain which was dismissed as simple sinus conjestion and allergic reaction.My advice is persevere with your GP for ENT referral. A nasal endoscopy will rule out or identify many possible causes for your problem.
Hope you get sorted. Life should not be such a battle.
I've had nasal congestion for years and I also ate oat products rather than food containing gluten.Having porridge for breakfast then feeling and being sick sometimes which I put down to rushing around and stress from my job. Then I started coughing and having lots of phlegm, I do not smoke but it reminded me of how my late father was each morning after years of smoking 40 a day.
I went on the BRAT (banana, rice, apple sauce and toast Gluten free bread) diet for 2 weeks and the symptoms I mention above began to go.
I have since reintroduced other foods.
My coughing, vomiting, nasal congestion and phlegmy morning routine has stopped (nasal congestion continuous but the other symptoms only happened after eating oaty foods). I can even tolerate a bit of goats cheese without any nasal congestion which I blamed for the symptoms too as I had same symptoms when having milk or milk products as a child but could tolerate goat/sheep's milk products.
On a cold morning recently I had a bowl of porridge the first for months and oatcakes with toppings for lunch. Symptoms returned so I have concluded that I must be sensitive to the avenin in oats.
As I used to have all things made of oats as it was easy to use as a gluten free alternative. Oatcakes, oat biscuits, muesli, I made flapjack type energy bars with nuts and seeds etc etc.
I now have rice based foods instead of oat and gluten. I am also eating more potatoes but have in the past reacted to tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and them as they are in the same family but at the moment I'm fine with them.
The diet gets pretty restricted as I can't tolerate anything from the Brassica family either made me sluggish and achey.
Maybe try an elimination diet it's quite difficult to narrow down it took me ages to realise that it was oats. I'd always had toast for breakfast but after starting levothyroxine and reading about going gluten free, porridge was my go to....to my detriment but now I feel great since realising oats caused the symptoms.
I also used to think it was a pet fur allergy as I'd always had dogs,horses and cats and would bury my head in their fur for cuddles....I still do that now but no symptoms so it must have been the oats......
Now my nasal passages are clear, I can breathe properly.....yipee and my sense of smell returned too.
I too began to suffer some serious nasal congestion that, upon investigation, turned out to be, in the words of my ENT consultant “a head full of disease” with nasal polyps. I was prescribed Fluticasone 400mcg nasules to take night and morning, although I’ve reduced that to nighttime only. I also rinse my nose night and morning with Neilmed sinus rinse. When they got too obstructive despite the nasules, I would have a 10-day course of Prednisolone to shrink them back down (usually every 9-12 months). I never went for surgery as, certainly in my daughter’s case, they would come back.
I also found a video on YouTube that recommended the use of high dose Bromelain, a substance found in pineapple which, I believe has kept the worst of the polyps at bay very effectively since my last course of Prednisolone.
I hope you can find something to help, not being able to breathe through the nose is one of the worst things I can think of, especially at night! I haven’t been able to smell or taste for years now (no help during Covid) but I’ve learned to live with that one… no more binging because it tastes so good for me - I now live on sufficiency. Still can’t lose weight though ☹️
I too had a congestion problem but mine was mostly at night whilst I was laying down. About 4-5 in the morning it got so bad I would have to get up and sit up for an hour or so to loosen up. I saw ENT consultants more than once over the years but all they could do was give me a steroid spray. As I heard that they may make things better in the short term and it could be worse in the long term, I didn't want them. I was told it is allergic rhinitis. I just could not think what I could be allergic to. Very recently I read that allergic rhinitis is an autoimmune condition. As it is usual to have more than one auto immune condition I guess it is possible that people with Hashimoto's could also have 'allergic rhinitis'. So maybe looking for what could trigger it - like gluten can trigger a Hashimoto's flare up might be a suggestion. Now for my funny story. I had this congestion for years with ENT specialists unable to do anything for me (except steroid spray). A couple of years go I had a problem which required me to see a urogynaecologist. She prescribed some pills. The first night of taking them I did not have nose congestion during the night, or the next night or the next. Oh blessed be, a good nights sleep after all those years. I have been taking these pills for maybe a year or two now and still congestion free. Not sure if it has actually helped my gynae problem but when I was asked whether I was OK with the tablets I said most definitely, so they put it on my repeats. To me it is a miracle pill and I tell people if they have an ENT problem to go to see a urogynaecologist (joke).
With your TSH being in the normal range, did they check for TPO antibodies? When I first was diagnosed in 2006, my TSH was on the high side of normal, but my TPO antibodies were very high, and I was symptomatic. It's a shame that a lot of doctors just look at the TSH numbers and if they're normal they don't want to treat. I agree with the other comment that it might be worth trying a dairy-free diet. You could also use a saline nasal mist spray. I like the one that arm & Hammer makes. I don't get congestion, but I do get dry nares and this helps. One of my issues is that I have constant post nasal drip related to having silent reflux. There's so many things that are associated with having Hashimoto's.
I suffered from nasal congestion for a long time and worked out that it was caused by dairy. Interestingly, not all dairy but only ‘fluid diary’ such as milk even in tiny quantities. I can eat most cheeses without any issues.
I get mine from estrogen dominance. Completely shut my nose up for 6 years when they gave me the birth control to stop female bleeding. Thats when I found out the pill was making me more estrogenic. Estrogen was making me more inflamed and everything was swelling mimicking autoimmune issues. Im on high doses of bioidentical progesterone oil and cream. Nasal issues are slowly improving. I only hv episodes of stuffy nose when estrogen kicks up. I was on T3 for a while and it didn’t help like progesterone did. I suspect estrogen is also making Thyroid antibodies high. Hope this helps!
One of the common effects of being hypothyroid is that moisture-producing glands? cells? tissues? dry up. So people end up with a whole list of possible problems :
Dry eyes, ears, nose, mouth
Lack of tears
Low stomach acid
Dry skin
Dry vagina
Dry joints
Dry lungs
There are things you can buy to replace moisture in these dry areas. For example, I use eye drops for dry eyes, and I've also tried this product called Nasogel which might help the problem you've described. Another thing that helps some people is using sinus rinsing with a neti pot.
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