Afrin Addiction: The 48-Hour Freedom Plan!

Afrin Addiction: The 48-Hour Freedom Plan! Experience The Joy Of Natural Breathing.

Picture this: You’re finally free from your Afrin addiction in 36-48 hours! Yes, you heard it right. In less than two days, you can be off of your Afrin.

Three things:

• The process I am explaining works for Afrin, Dristan, 4-way, Neo-synephrine, or any nasal spray with “Nasal Decongestant” listed as its purpose on the back of the bottle.

• When I say Afrin, I mean any of these medications.

• I have a previous newsletter explaining how you get addicted to these medications: “The Hidden Dangers of Overusing Afrin”

What you need for Afrin weaning

Before you stop your Afrin, you’ll need some tools from your local pharmacy or Amazon. The links below are from Amazon. I put these here for your convenience. I don’t receive an affiliate fee.

• A nasal steroid like Nasacort 

• Mucinex-D (If you have high blood pressure or heart arrhythmias, check with your doctor before taking this.) It has to be purchased locally. It can’t be sold online.

• Hypertonic nasal saline

• Breathe Right nasal strips

• Nose cones 

The Steps To Kicking Afrin Addiction

1. Start using your nasal steroid ten days before you say goodbye to Afrin. Your nose may be so congested you need to lay back and drip the nasal steroid into your nose and let it percolate into your nostrils. Continue using the nasal steroids for a month after quitting your Afrin.

2. On the day you want to stop your Afrin set your mind that you won’t take any more Afrin.

3. Start the day by taking a Mucinex D in the morning. There are two strengths. Ask the pharmacist what strength they recommend based on your size and medical condition.

4. Rinse your nose with hypertonic saline. You can repeat the hypertonic saline every hour or so if needed. The hypertonic saline has extra salt and draws the swelling out of your nose. I don’t like it for long-term use, but it works great for this.

5. Breathe Right Strips and nose cones can both help your nose stay open and help with your congestion while the Afrin wears off.

6. Repeat your Mucinex D in the evening.

7. Sleep with your head elevated.

8. Sleeping the first night is rough. Mucinex D can keep you awake, most patients aren’t used to sleeping with their head elevated, and you will still have congestion from not using Afrin.

9. If you have to get up at night, use your hypertonic saline again.

10. Repeat the steps of day one on day two.

Usually, within 36-48 hours of quitting your Afrin, your rebound congestion will resolve.

If your rebound congestion does not resolve, you should see an ENT. You may have a structural problem or a sinus infection that needs treating before you can wean from Afrin.

Of course, you can ignore all the above and quit using your Afrin for 48 hours. Lots of my patients do it this way. It is a little harder on them, but they don’t like fussing with all the medications, nose cones, etc.

Remember, it’s just 48 hours, a tiny speck in the grand scheme of life. Some of my happiest patients are those that stopped using Afrin.

Till next week,
Dr. Atkins, Follow me on Twitter.