Living with Non-Allergic Rhinitis

Last year I was diagnosed with a Non-Allergic Rhinitis issue.
Now you're probably thinking "a what?!" Non-Allergic Rhinitis is basically the irritation of the nostrils which makes your nose run, block up, sneeze etc.
You can get Allergic Rhinitis which is when you get hay fever or if you're allergic to something. Hay fever is the most common when it comes to irritating the nose.
Obviously with hay fever symptoms, you get all the blocked nose, runny nose, sneezing etc, but you also can get itchy eyes etc. With non-allergic rhinitis, you get a lot of the same nose symptoms, but no itchy eyes (well in my case I don't anyway)
The difference between the both of them is that, most non-allergic versions you don't really know what "sets you off" plus unlike having hay fever, I get this all year round.

This isn't something I just "diagnosed" myself. Because I constantly had issues with my nose, some days worse than others, sometimes anti histamines worked, sometimes it didn't. I just assumed I have become allergic to something. I did start to panic that maybe I became allergic to my cats etc. Because I would get set of at different times. After going to my GP and getting a referral to the allergy clinic up our local hospital, I then got all the "normal" tests done. This is the allergy tests for pollen, pets, dust etc. And nothing was showing up. My skin wasn't getting irritated to any of the "normal" allergies. I got tested again with a few different more "uncommon" allergies of different tree pollen and other possible allergies. Yet again, nothing showed up. Me and the nurse both thought something would have shown up because of the symptoms I gave the GP etc.
Once I had all my tests done, I got to see the Allergy Doctor. This is when he explained to me that I didn't have an allergy and that I had "non-allergic rhinitis" my first reaction was "a what" This is when he explained that basically my nostrils are easily irritated by particles in the air. He this continued to tell me that it is more common in the elderly. (cheers body)

So I went home and done some of my own research. Turns out this can last for anything from a few weeks/months to a good few years/ hey maybe forever! There isn't much I can do, apart from avoid the things that you know can trigger it. For example, even though there is no "main trigger" an high smelling perfume, might cause the start of irritation, so if you know perfume starts it off, then to try and avoid it etc. This is great, but currently I still have no idea what my triggers are!

With any "illnesses" there are good and bad days. Thankfully I'm getting more good than bad days lately. Some days I can go through with an occasional sneeze, a bit of an itchy nose, but nothing that really bothers me. Other days can be really bad. Sometimes it can get to the stage that I have to go to bed, and nap or sleep to stop it. On them bad days my nose will either not stop running or will be blocked up and scabbed, I'll have either random sneezes, or I'll have continuous sneezing for a good few mins. (did you know, that continuous sneezing can be bloody exhausting! Because I didn't until I got all this!) on them bad days, it's also like my sinuses are on fire. Everything feels blocked and throbbing. This can last from an hour to a whole afternoon. It has got so bad that I have had to sleep to try and get some relief from the symptoms.
There is also no regular time of the day that I get this. I can get up and go to the loo at 2am, and by the time i get up, go to the loo and go back to my room, my nose can start running. So something in that few mins was enough to trigger it. I can wake up with it, or be fine all day and get it in the afternoon. I don't have to be in my house either. I've had it staying at my boyfriends, I've been fine all day and then gone outside and it started. It is really very random when I get this.

I can take anti histamines, this can help reduce the symptoms, and it will probably help a lot more when pollen season starts etc. but sometimes the histamines don't touch it. I know there are also nose sprays you can use to help clear the nose, so if you can start to feel it start, you can wash the particles out of the nose before it gets too much.

Thankfully at the moment I don't work, so when I do get a "bad day" it's not so bad if I take a quick nap in the afternoon to stop it. Failing that, I need a box of tissues with me at all times!

So if you or you know anyone who has this, just keep some tissues near by, if we start sneezing, or getting a blocked nose, giving us a tissues makes you an angel!

That's about it for this blog post. I am currently making my way though Detective Pikachu on 3DS so I'll hopefully have a review for that coming out soon!

Until next time x