ENT Head & Neck Surgery Center

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Lawrence Chow / ENT Doctor

head and neck cancer

Why Do Some People Have Nose Congestion at Night?

During the day, you are pleasantly busy with your daily endeavor that you never notice for even a short while that you have nasal congestion. Then at night, before going to bed, you detect the unmistakable stuffiness building up in your nasal passageways.

That is not the whole story, however.

 

Rationales of Nighttime Congestion

One can conjure many a reason for nasal congestion at night. Common sense would pull you to believe that gravity is one of the players in the team. Another innocuous alibi is taking too much food at dinner and goes to sleep just barely an hour after a feast.

 

Think of whatever you want, blame all the fairies and witches and goblins that trample your imaginings, but here are a few of the causes of such condition as nose congestion at night.

 

The Supine Position

Lying down flat on your back alters the scene drastically. Gravity is shared equally on all points of your body, for one thing. Blood flow, for another, is a little more pronounced in the head and nose, inflaming the blood vessels inside the nose and passageways.

 

The enlargement of these vessels, and with gravity as an accomplice, causes the ever-present mucus in the nose to stay and behave making you feel stuffy for the night.

 

Compare this with daytime activity when you are upright with no nasal blood vessel inflammation and mucus is free at will to slide down your throat and gets swallowed because of gravity. Hardly do we notice this episode that gets repeated a lot of times before dinner.

 

Flowback of acids

Not quite an expected guest but acid reflux is one influencer of nose congestion at night. Currently accepted by medical professionals that this condition is a link to chronic sinusitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and nasal congestion.

 

This is the ailment wherein stomach acids will flow back up to the esophagus area causing sore throats or throat ulcers or heartburns and even nasal congestion. An enhanced effect will be more felt when lying down.

 

The nasal passageways are the right next-door neighbor of the throat and the oral orifice.

 

Dander and Mites

Dust mites and pet dander must be considered as cause to nasal congestion at night according to a faction in the medical profession. This is so because a certain type of people get slight allergies from pet hair and mites.

 

Treatment

  • Clean your bed thoroughly.
  • Refrain from eating a couple of hours prior to bed.
  • Raise your head.
  • A humidifier with a cool mist will help.
  • Tobacco is not good at all.

 

Did you find the information useful? If so, continue reading our posts.

 

For details of the ENT services, diagnosis, and treatment, please consult our ENT specialist.

 

Source:

HK ENT Specialist Ltd.

Hong Kong based ENT clinic centre

For ENT Services, Audiology & Speech Therapy,

Sleep Disordered Breathing Management,

Hearing Aid Prescription & Medical Cosmetic Services

http://www.hkentspecialist.hk

Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma – Definition, Symptoms, and Treatment

Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma – Definition, Symptoms, and Treatment

 

Defining Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma

Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma or ACC/AdCC is a very rare form of malignant neoplasm that occurs generally within glandular tissue/secretory glands. It may occur in the breasts, uterus, and more commonly in the upper aerodigestive tract. Most cases of ACC occur within the salivary glands. This is why ACC is often regarded as a common head and neck cancer.

 

Most cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma are benign although in the rare case that they become malignant there is a 5-10% chance of the cancer cells affecting nearby lymph nodes. In very rare cases bone metastasis and lung metastasis occurs. Continue reading

New Studies Indicate H. Pylori Isn’t a Risk Factor for Head and Neck Cancer

New Studies Indicate H. Pylori Isn’t a Risk Factor for Head and Neck Cancer

 

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) has long been considered one of the main risk factors for head and neck cancer. Since the mid-1980s the germ has been associated with head and neck cancer as much as it had been linked to ulcers and stomach cancer.

 

A new study however, shows that this concept might be wrong. Continue reading

Head and Neck Cancer Screening Paired with Lung Cancer Screening – Higher Detection and Survival Rates

Head and Neck Cancer Screening Paired with Lung Cancer Screening – Higher Detection and Survival Rates

 

Extensive scanning is required to detect cancer early and early detection is one of the vital keys to treating cancer before it complicates and reaches metastasis. A new team and scientists who are affiliated to the UCPI (University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute) state that early detection of head and neck cancer could prevail if head and neck screening is conducted simultaneously with lung screening. Continue reading

Everything About Nasopharyngeal Cancer – Symptoms and Treatment

Everything About Nasopharyngeal Cancer – Symptoms and Treatment

 

The nasopharynx is the very beginning portion of the throat and is located right behind the nose. Nasopharyngeal cancer is one of the rarest forms of head and neck cancer and is also referred to as nasopharyngeal carcinoma or NPC.

 

To this date there is no direct reason why or how nasopharyngeal cancer occurs but scientists have linked its occurrence with the Epstein-Barr Virus or EBV. Just about everyone is infected with EBV but normally the immune systems help deal with this. It is when the infection gets out of control that scientists suspect nasopharyngeal cancer to arise. It is more prominent in males younger than 55 and is a higher risk for people who constantly consume alcohol and tobacco. Continue reading

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