Depending on their daily lives, individuals may have to be in different environments or may be exposed to various environmental factors. All these factors can bring along different health problems. At the beginning of these disorders is nasal discharge, which can sometimes last for a long time. Effective removal of nasal discharge, which can seriously affect the quality of life, is first of all, "What is postnasal drip and why?" It depends on answering the questions.
What is Nasal Discharge?
The nasal cavity, which is the junction of the nasal cavity and the nasal cavity with the oral cavity, is anatomically filled with glands with a large number of secretory abilities. These glands are located in the mucous tissue that covers the nasal cavity, especially in order to warm and humidify the inhaled dry air. Otherwise, the air that is not humidified may cause irritation and inflammation by drying the surfaces of the tissues forming the respiratory system starting from the nasal cavity. In this case, runny nose and nasal discharge are mentioned. The color, texture and biological characteristics of the discharge vary according to the factor that causes postnasal drip.
What Causes Postnasal Discharge?
The secretion that is the subject of postnasal drip is the secretion of the nasal mucosa in sufficient quantities that will not cause discharge in healthy people. It is produced continuously to keep it moist. However, when this secretion increases due to various factors originating from inside or outside the body, or when the secretion produced in certain anatomical regions cannot move along the mucosa, the produced secretion emerges as a nasal discharge as a drain through the nasal passages.
Inflammatory reaction may occur due to some infection or chemical factors. This causes an increase in secretions and causes inflammatory fluids to take place in the nasal discharge along with the secretion. Again, without showing an inflammatory feature, overworking of the glands in the body due to various physiological conditions or chronic diseases is observed as postnasal discharge.
If the secretions of the glands in the nasal region cannot progress in this direction due to various anatomical obstacles in the nasal cavity, The accumulated secretions flow through the nasal passages and drain, which is another common mechanism of postnasal drip.
What are the Causes of Nasal Discharge?
The causes of postnasal drip detected in the clinic can be summarized as follows:
The complaint of postnasal drip is seen together with other symptoms depending on various underlying diseases. These include the following:
- Runny nose: Excess secretions may drain from the nasal passages or cause a runny nose.
- Cough: The nasal discharge goes to the larynx and causes irritation and inflammation, causing coughing.
- Feeling of swelling in the throat: Just like sore throat, the inflammatory reaction results in swelling in the tissues and enlargement of the lymph nodes.
- Headache: Especially sinusitis. Nasal secretion accumulated in the complaint of post-nasal drip caused by reasons such as nasal discharge may cause tension in the sinus walls and cause headache.
- Nausea-vomiting: Postnasal discharge may cause nausea by irritating the pharynx and throat. The secretions flowing into the back of the oral cavity and into the pharynx on the nasal cavity can become inflamed and cause bad breath. As a result, complaints such as loss of hearing, earache, ringing, and muffled hearing develop.
What Can Be Done to Relieve Postnasal Discharge?
First of all, patients with nasal discharge complaints cause a runny nose It is necessary to determine what the ailment is. For this, features such as the frequency, texture and structure of the nasal discharge are investigated, a detailed disease history is taken, and additional complaints, if any, are questioned. A detailed physical examination is then performed. Diagnosis is made by applying additional imaging tests when deemed necessary.
Appropriate treatment is planned according to the underlying disease. Accordingly, the following can be applied to relieve nasal discharge:
- In the presence of an inflammatory nasal discharge, the infection must be treated. Antibiotic treatment is prescribed for bacterial infections such as sinusitis. Antiviral treatments can be given to the patient when deemed necessary in viral infections such as flu. and decongestant nasal sprays are often prescribed. The important point here is that nasal decongestants should not be used beyond the period determined by the physician. This is because, as a result of excessive and frequent use, worsening or repetition of the current clinical situation often occurs instead of improvement.
- Nasal steroid-containing sprays are frequently used in treatment in recent years. It is especially effective in reducing the discharge and secretions due to blockages. For this, it is especially important to drink plenty of fluids. In addition, methods such as washing the nasal cavity with saline or oceanic water-containing washing solutions, moistening it by inhaling steam using a cold steam machine, or using mucolytic drugs can also be used.
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