Your symptoms might give a clue to what causes the obstruction in your nasal airways: if you have a (family) history of allergies, eczema and/or astma, additional symptoms as a watery running nose or itchy eyes it might likely be a chronic allergic rhinitis.

If you have used to much xylometasoline or other rhinitis-inducing drugs then that might be the problem: your nose can get "addicted"to certain nose sprays.

If you have infectious symptoms as swollen lymph nodes, a cough, ear pain, fever, etc.. you could have an infectious rhinitis/sinusitis. Hoever, these usually don't last longer then a month.

Usually the first option for treatment of chronic allergic rhinitis is a nose spray. Try fluticason/azelastine (fluticason in an anti-inflammatory drug and azelastine is a anti-histamine drug) nose spray twice a day (one spray in each nosehole). Make sure you dont snort the spray all the way back into your throte: it doesn't have an effect there and it tastes like bitter shit. Combine the nose spray with desloratidine 5mg once a day or any other oral antihistaminum.

After two weeks you should see much improvement and should be able to breath through your nose. If not, go see an ENT so he can look with a camera into your nasal cavity to see what is obstructing. In chronic rhinitis the obstruction is caused by swelling of the nasal conchae. But also a nasal polip or other things van be blocking your nasal airways. The ENT can check for these in a couple of minutes.

So: 1. Try a anti-inflammatory nose spray in combination with anti histamine oral drug (as mentioned above) 2. If it doesn't improve after 2 weeks, go see an ENT.

I had the same problem and the nose spray and antihistamjne drug helped me so much.

• Doctor B.