Nasal Sprays & Addiction

[Knipps]

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Someone on a local forum brought this up and I'm hesitant to believe people are actually "addicted" to the stuff.
The main one that was brought up is Afrin and after doing a little research it's been diagnosed as rhinitis medicamentosa. Is this just a bad case of rebound congestion or are people hooked on this stuff?

opinions/comments appreciated

 

[rebelde]

Next year, second semester, whoever gives the OTC lecture in your IPM pre-lab will talk about this for two seconds... Prof. Claire Difrancesco did it this year, not sure if she'll be around next year.

I see you go to MCP- Don't worry about Chuck's final, that class is ridiculously scaled.... a luxury you won't see a next year in Biochem 🙁

 

[Farmercyst]

Someone on a local forum brought this up and I'm hesitant to believe people are actually "addicted" to the stuff.
The main one that was brought up is Afrin and after doing a little research it's been diagnosed as rhinitis medicamentosa. Is this just a bad case of rebound congestion or are people hooked on this stuff?

opinions/comments appreciated

My understanding is it's not so much an addiction as it is dependence. The rebound congestion is worse and the period of relief gets shorter such that without treatment you can barely breath through your nose. My understanding is that complete withdrawal will eventually correct the problem, but it's kinda tough not being able to breath through your nose for days on end. Not sure how long it takes to correct. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it's what we discussed in CC going through pharmacology for technicians.

 

[Knipps]

My understanding is it's not so much an addiction as it is dependence. The rebound congestion is worse and the period of relief gets shorter such that without treatment you can barely breath through your nose. My understanding is that complete withdrawal will eventually correct the problem, but it's kinda tough not being able to breath through your nose for days on end. Not sure how long it takes to correct. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it's what we discussed in CC going through pharmacology for technicians.

That was my understanding as well, and is essentially what was said in my reply. Thanks.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Yes, you are all correct. There are no long term psychiatric effects with nasal topical alpha agonists, i.e. literal addiction. It is only a receptor-cellular response type of thing. It's not like they are out pawning a TV to buy nasal spray. They have become physiologically tolerant to the pharmacodynamic effect. Or whatever. If someone says they are addicted, correct them. We don't need a bunch of smack heads trying to get high off of Afrin.

 

[RxWildcat]

+1 on dependence vs addiction

With continued usage, the alpha receptors are down regulated, so that they no longer respond to alpha agonist, whether they be endogenous or exogenous, so rhinitis is worsened.