[glomaster]

This is something I have brought up with a few doctors but no one has been able to see a connection. However I had horrible nasal congestion for months. And amazingly it disappeared right when I was diagnosed and started taking insulin to bring my blood sugars had come back down to normal. any ideas?

 

[Shanny]

Not a clue here, AZ . . . what I CAN tell you is that MY lifelong nasal congestion (allergic rhinitis) subsided after I had surgery for a retinal detachment! I haven't needed pseudoephedrine OR oxymetazoline since the middle of November! Isn't it heavenly to be able to breathe?!

 

[righteousdude2]

I Would Like to Be Congestion Free!

Not a clue here, AZ . . . what I CAN tell you is that MY lifelong nasal congestion (allergic rhinitis) subsided after I had surgery for a retinal detachment! I haven't needed pseudoephedrine OR oxymetazoline since the middle of November! Isn't it heavenly to be able to breathe?!

I envy the two of you. I'm using insulin and I'm still congested. And I don't have the need to have my retina reattached. Hope I never will. I can't stand the thought of having surgery on either eye

I guess I'll have to live with congestion, and be excited for the two of you for finding relief. :thumb:

Pastor Paul

 

[Outcold]

I will say that I'm certain I started experiencing my nocturnal congestion issues when I started experiencing my earliest diabetes symptoms. Though I had been abusing pseudoephedrine as a stimulant for quite a while, so I wonder if I gave myself some pernicious variant of rhinitis medicamentosa, where you continually need a decongesting agent to remain decongested all the time. Usually this disorder occurs with topical nasal sprays, but I wonder if oral bronchiodialators can have the same effect if they're used inappropriately long enough?

Of course, because my doctor thinks my rhinitis is happening because I'm overweight (???!!!), so there's going to be no help even in the form of helpful information from that quarter, methinks.

 

[Shanny]

Of course, because my doctor thinks my rhinitis is happening because I'm overweight (???!!!), so there's going to be no help even in the form of helpful information from that quarter, methinks.

Now that's just downright silly. I can't imagine what he thinks that connection is. If he's lumping nasal congestion in with anything that causes difficulty breathing/shortness of breath, he's really pushing the envelope.

 

[Gizmo]

This is something I have brought up with a few doctors but no one has been able to see a connection. However I had horrible nasal congestion for months. And amazingly it disappeared right when I was diagnosed and started taking insulin to bring my blood sugars had come back down to normal. any ideas?

I see you are type 1, which I don't know much about, but I do know type 1's have highs and lows. One of the symptoms of low blood sugar is nasal congestion, so it makes sense that once you started taking insulin and got your blood sugar leveled out, the problem cleared up.

Hypoglycemia - Dr. St. Amand

The 4th paragraph down.

 

[Outcold]

Now that's just downright silly. I can't imagine what he thinks that connection is. If he's lumping nasal congestion in with anything that causes difficulty breathing/shortness of breath, he's really pushing the envelope.

As many overweight people can attest, American doctors will always make anything that's wrong with you about your weight so that they don't have to do anything and because it's an ideological "thing" and make no effort to find out what really might be wrong. And even if something else really is wrong, they'll bring it back to your weight anyway out of that uniquely American middle-class tendency to believe things that are manifestly untrue to an extent that can become utterly ridiculous. I'll bet dollars to donuts more than a few overweight forum-readers can back me up on this one.

This is especially gauling for us Type 2s, because if you've had issues with your weight your entire life, insulin-resistance has an unfortunate and heartbreaking way of putting a floor underneath how much weight you are able to lose. You would think that somebody who has been to medical school would know this, for pity's sake! Oh, and learning that doctors will brazenly lie to your face about side-effects of medications in the interest of pouring more and more and more pills down your throat was nice, too.

Actually, it's okay. I am seriously at the point in my life where I prefer to be bitter and cynical, as unbecoming as that may be. So finding out that people such as doctors who present themselves as educated experts to be trusted are as full of it as anybody, is really just par for the course.

 

[foxl]

One possible connection is ... INFLAMMATION.

 

[AkitaUTSF]

This is something I have brought up with a few doctors but no one has been able to see a connection. However I had horrible nasal congestion for months. And amazingly it disappeared right when I was diagnosed and started taking insulin to bring my blood sugars had come back down to normal. any ideas?

Hmmm... I heard someone else say this. They said the doctor told them they were not drinking enough water. I can not see this to be possible.

 

[Anderson Man SC]

Nasal Congestion

Since March 2005 I have had a nasal congestion --- very frustrating. I've attempted to be heard by several medical doctors and I have felt like they can't hear me.

Today was my first attempt to seek whether this symptom might be related to high blood sugar. Wham - right away I'm seeing the relationship on this website/forum. It is tiring to ask for help to AT LEAST diagnose the matter let alone help to solve it.

Since 2005 I have thought the nasal blockage issue was caused from back up production caused by my inefficient heart caused by congestive heart failure. Not until the past week have I focussed upon solving my high blood sugar.... and I began to realize that by frustrated breathing situation might be linked to my high blood sugar.

 

[Outcold]

Actually, these days, I tend to think my congestion issue is vasomotor congestion caused by diabetic neuropathy. I don't have very advanced DN or anything like that, but my nasal passages have always been very narrow, and it probably wouldn't take very much neuropathy at all to bring about a case of VC.

 

[Daytona]

I have found that my nasal inflammation (it's not nose junk just too swollen to breathe easily) is directly linked to a few things:

* wheat
* dairy
* high blood sugar (maybe has to do with being unable to fight infections?)

Though after I had my deviated septum fixed, I can at least breath through my nose. Before that I was an eternal mouth breather...

 

[Anderson Man SC]

nasal blockage

Actually, these days, I tend to think my congestion issue is vasomotor congestion caused by diabetic neuropathy. I don't have very advanced DN or anything like that, but my nasal passages have always been very narrow, and it probably wouldn't take very much neuropathy at all to bring about a case of VC.

When I describe nasal blockage = frustrated breathing.... I mean.... anyone who experiences a serious frustration with breathing will agree that almost any method used to get relief is fair game.... I mean Q-Tips in the nose to attempt to clear a breathing passage is PERFECTLY acceptable. However, sometimes the nasal blockage is simply NOT congestion... it is tissue swelling of some sort. Tissue swelling my description.... as I too have had at least 7 different medical doctors provide NO INPUT on the matter. I ask and I get a blank stare or a shift to another topic. Medicine is more than just science, medicine is an art.
Because I have concluded that tissue swelling in the nasal area is blood sugar related.... HIGH BLOOD SUGAR by the way.... the new question for me is: Do I have tissue swelling in my abdomen from high blood sugar?

 

[Daytona]

I mean Q-Tips in the nose to attempt to clear a breathing passage is PERFECTLY acceptable.

I thought I was the only one who abused Q-Tips like that. I use a saline wash and then Q-Tip up every night before bed so that I can breath easily for a few minutes. Husband saw me elbow deep one night and thought I was crazy.

As for general swelling due to high blood sugars, yes, inflammation will occur everywhere when BG's are high.

 

[Anderson Man SC]

Tissue Swelling

I thought I was the only one who abused Q-Tips like that. I use a saline wash and then Q-Tip up every night before bed so that I can breath easily for a few minutes. Husband saw me elbow deep one night and thought I was crazy.

As for general swelling due to high blood sugars, yes, inflammation will occur everywhere when BG's are high.

Q-Tips make sense. Frustrated breathing can range from mild to severe.... all the way to panic by suffocation. For the one experiencing the frustration, s/he has NO CARE of what others think --- method of relief, tossing & turning, moving all about like a freak --- Have you heard of the creatures in hell described as "....not in control of their movements, burning inside and out..." does anyone who can see THEIR behavior feel anything but pity for them? I think not.

Tissue Swelling: If a person has heart problems as I do... then any swelling is "knee jerk" response that any swelling is "backed up fluid caused by the lower production level of the inefficient heart pump"... yet at the same time the same person looks "down" at the person with the problem..... as everyone knows... backed up fluid (I do not use "retained fluid" as it sounds like the body is doing it for a useful purpose) collects in only two locations: 1. lower part of legs; 2. above the diaphragm. (Gravity is the primary cause for these two locations though.) Which is why the medical professional thinks the "customer" does not need to be heard any better -- as the customer is crazy.

Inflammation: According to the book "The 30 Day Diabetic Cure", the doctor/author describes both glucose and insulin as "... microscopic chards of glass..." in the blood channels. By definition of inflammation, it is irritated tissue where increased blood flow occurs to assist in repairs. But is inflammation THE SAME as tissue swelling? Can I have tissue swelling that is not inflammation? I think so. Also, can inflammation AND/OR tissue swelling occur in a specific location(s)? It seems to me this is possible.

I remain with my question regarding swelled tissue in the abdomen. I have every confidence, perhaps certainty, that the nasal blockage causing frustrated breathing is tissue swelling because: 1. taking extra fluid pills (medication to cause the kidneys to dump potassium and fill the bladder) does not help; 2. as the nasal/sinus area has such fine or tiny blood channels so close to the skin surface, I would expect more bleeding if there was inflammation: which is the same as substantial increase in blood flow to that area (by the body for the purpose of healing an injury of tissue).

 

[Patdart]

No answer to your question, but I have nasal allergies and a drug named Flonase helps me immensely. It also helps me avoid bronchitis which can follow it.