Nasal allergies or related sensitivities

deefine

I'm reaching out here because I'm having difficulty getting solutions applied from other areas, but I have a co-worker in our little room (likely all we can use) who's been having constant and frequent distracting nose swamp for the last two months, probably starting with the fires, and it's been driving me crazy from its frequentness and grossness. Sorry to bring this here, but I imagine cuddlers might be more astute with this due to cuddling being a lot of close body contact and not a lot of movement, so allergy gunk could be a particular problem to be dealt with.

He won't take any suggestions so far, and gets upset or shrugs it off when we bring it up, which makes me wonder if it's primarily psychological. He's tried a lot of things already because he has natural congestion issues (he wears a C-PAP to sleep... which should lessen his congestion, right?!), but seems either irritated or resigned to it like it's an "unfixable problem" in his head, and maybe has emotional attachment to his frustrations with it (or feels humiliation when it's brought up).

Anyway, I know local honey can help, a better diet (not grease burgers and junk food and lack of greens like this guy eats), Mucinex daytime can dry things up (he says pseudoephedrine puts him to sleep (of course it does)), netty pots have worked for him but he won't use them at work, and... he seems evasive to solutions, so I don't know what else to do, or how to go about fixing it, and there's no HR to bring it to. I'm trying to avoid making a huge stink at work when it's driving me slowly mad.

PS: Boss changed office filters when I told him the nonsense was driving me crazy, which worked for... a whole afternoon. Now I'm slowly going mad again.

cuddlybear998

@davebutton
It's most likely the wildfires. The smoke is causing more nasal irritation. Especially since he had nasal issues before the fires. I was in Alaska last summer and there was a lot of wildfires. I get seasonal allergies all the time and the smoke from the fires really bothered me. I guess that only staying inside, allergy meds, and good quality filters. Would really work. Unless he goes somewhere where there is no smoke or wildfires.

geoff1000

High BMI often leads to breathing issues. Low humidity might be a factor too.

Sorry a little TMI but may help 🤷🏽‍♀️

@davebutton
Yes, a better diet always help but I recently found out my body has an intolerance for certain carbs and in different ways. None are considered worth mentioning if gauged by a test by my doctor. Wheat/gluten, rice, potato and etc came up on the low range of intolerance. I took matters into my own hands by detoxing my body for a 1-2 weeks. Very clean, lots of water, avoiding all food that MIGHT be a problem so I can reintroduce one food at a time to see how it reacts. All my symptoms went a away, itching, coughing, snoring, digestion👍🏽
After detox the first day I tried only the carb wheat. I started itching in random places, back of my throat felt a little swollen. It was barely noticeable and felt like a little something was irritating so I would cough a little and randomly. Eczema and Scorisis always ran in the family but now I think it’s symptom of an allergic reaction...wheat. Random itchy skin I had all my life. The cough and to my horror snoring started summer 2017. My doctors and I thought it was asthma brought on by my weight and allergies from nature (pollen and etc). We thought coughing was my body way of getting air cause it was not getting enough. For me my allergies worsened or developed later in life so out of frustration I took matters into my own hands.
Coughing, snoring, itching has stopped...thank gosh😆

Dairy makes me want to physically vomit but for my neice and nephew within 24hours they are congested.
Rice, potato, and corn do different things to my body it does not like.

Found alternatives:
-regular bananas purchased and cooked while still green. Cut off both ends, long slice of just the skin from one end to the other, steam. Skin will blacken and pull away just a little. Peel and serve. Taste like a potato with a hint of banana. Jamaicans eat it with anything: in soup, side dish, and etc.
-plantain are bigger usually but still a banana that we fry. First we have to let it ripen. If it looks like the regular bananas that has gone bad then it’s ready to be peeled, sliced and then fried. Never butter but a frying oil.

I have some other not popular carb alternatives if you are interested 😉

If he won’t detox🤔

Unfortunately we all get sick. Perfect time to detox. Eating lighter and blander food anyway. Clean out your house of the stuff that, really if your think about it, is making you sick. Then when you are better it will be easier to transition into different way of eating.

Good luck and hope this helps👍🏽

PurpleFairy90

Humidifier and Ponaris

Good video

deefine

Thanks everyone. I'll review these in the morning when I see him again.

I noticed some ceiling tiles were loose, and drafty, and the draft irritated my nose and throat, so I straightened them, and hopefully that fixes it if nothing else.

AceCuddlerMike

Could be diet as you suggested. My personal experience:

Around 2004 I developed a condition(lets call it) where I'd get a runny nose for 20-30 hours and it would reoccur every 7-12 days. It took years for me to realize the cycle timing as it just never occurred to me. Then when I started charting the episodes on a calendar, I realized it was never twice in a week, and never more than two weeks between. Before this I had seen specialists and got myself tested for allergies (mold and dust were positive, everything else negative) and tried both otc and prescribed meds, but nothing helped.

It was not a thick mucus situation like your coworker, but rather a watery thing. In fact, it was so thin that when I'd feel it coming from somewhere behind my eyes, I'd have to hold a hand under my chin to catch it as I reached for a tissue as I was rarely quick enough. I'd go through a box and a half per episode. Other symptoms varied, including sneezing (sometimes only a few, other times around 100 to the point, after around 30-40 that I'd feel each one up and down my spine for 5 seconds after the sneeze), sinus pressure headaches, complete blockage in my nose (which always amazed me that my nose dripped like a faucet but air could not pass)

So I lived with this for over 15 plus years not being able to figure out a trigger. I just told myself each time that in 24 hours I'll have another week without it. Glass half full.

Then when I recently went on a self designed diet and lost almost 40 lbs, I had none of these episodes (I think a mini one on like day 3 of a 2 month diet).

Then when I went on my recent road trip and ate everything, I have had 3 more of these, in the usual intervals, although none of them very severe (sneezing/pressure).

So I think I can say this is food related, and now I just have to narrow it down. Things I stayed away from during my diet were sugar, bread, pasta, desserts of any kind. It was just meat, seafood, broccoli, kale, and a couple of days of something like raspberries or walnuts. And my nose never dripped after that third day.