I had no idea an OTC COLD REMEDY could leave me in the grips of horror 10-year addiction… don’t make my, common, mistake

WHEN Louise Gough went into a chemist to find medicine for a cold at the age of 18, she didn’t imagine she’d still be using it ten years later.

The 30-year-old mum was completely in denial that she had an addiction despite being mocked by her friends – and now she’s warning others to be wary of the over-the-counter med.

Louise, from Caerphilly in South , got “instant” relief when she first used the for a blocked nose.

But the business owner admits she didn’t read the label, or know how many days you are supposed to use it for.

Sudafed states their blocked nose spray should only be sprayed once into each nostril two-to-three times a day and users shouldn’t exceed more than three doses in 24 hours.

The instructions also state the shouldn’t be used for more than five consecutive days.

If a user doesn’t feel better, they should discontinue treatment and consult a doctor.

But Louise, who first used the nose spray up to three times-a-day, quickly fell into using it up to 15 times a day and couldn’t leave the house without it.

She quit cold turkey after a wakeup call in 2022, she tells : “If I had a tiny little clutch bag, you can guarantee the one thing that would be in it would be the Sudafed.

“It’s a running joke. My best friend calls me nose spray girl even to this day.

“The nose spray would come everywhere with me.

“I was probably using one a week at my worst, it’s looking like at least £2,000 on nose sprays. I could have gone on another holiday with this .”

On the rare occasion Louise did forget her decongestant spray on a day out, she says she would be ‘really ‘ and would have to stop to buy one en route.

Louise said: “I found myself feeling really if I didn’t have a bottle on me.

“This was particularly bad if I was out with my partner [Matthew Curtis, 38].

“I’ll be honest, I would hide it from him because he would really whinge at me because it was £7 a bottle.

“He was really annoyed that I used to buy it all the time.

“I laugh about it now, but it wasn’t funny at the time. I felt like a prisoner in my own body and I couldn’t get away from it.”

Louise claims she wasn’t aware that the medication should be used for no longer than five consecutive days.

She says she developed rebound congestion, and this is the reason she could not stop using Sudafed.

Sudafed does not have addictive ingredients. But the reason it is recommended to limit its use is due to the rebound congestion – a temporary response that occurs when nasal passages become swollen due to excessive use of nasal decongestant sprays.

Louise first heard about the condition after going to the in 2021 to talk about her symptoms.

She didn’t tell the GP about the nasal sprays, because she didn’t think it was relevant.

The GP said it was post-nasal drip, which led Louise to do her own research, coming across rebound congestion.

To combat the feeling that she ‘couldn’t breathe’ Louise would need to use the sprays repeatedly, unaware that it was worsening the problem.

Louise says: “I used it [when I had a cold] and instantly, within 10 seconds, my nose was unblocked. The relief of that was phenomenal.

“It’s partly my fault. I didn’t read the box and I didn’t realise that you could only use it for a certain amount in a time period.

“No one ever warned me when I bought it. It just turned into a really vicious cycle.

“So even when I didn’t have a , my nose would be blocked so I’d have to use the spray to unblock my nose.

“I think it might sound silly to people that have never had rebound congestion but it’s not like a normal blocked nose.

“It’s like someone has shoved [something] so far up your nose you physically can’t breathe at all.”

Louise reached the peak of her addiction when she blew through two bottles in 11 days on her family holiday to in July 2022.

“I panicked and had to take a couple of the nose sprays with me,” she says.

“I worried that I wouldn’t be able to get any more while I was out there

“I took two full bottles and I had one in my carry-on, which was a quarter full. I used the two full bottles over the 11 days.”

She knew she had to quit and a year later, in August 2023, went cold turkey.

For the first few days, she felt “in her own body” as she struggled to breathe naturally.

But after a month of not using the nose spray, Louise says she was finally able to breathe through both of her nostrils unmedicated.

Louise says: “I can taste and I can smell [now] but it’s not anywhere near as strong as it used to be [before using nose sprays].

“I tend to use quite a lot of now as I can’t taste it properly.”

Now three years nose spray-free, Louise took to social media to open up about her addiction.

She says: “You only need to read the comments on my to see how many people say this has happened to them.

“There are a lot of people who say they also haven’t been able to get away from using it yet.

“There are still people that are actually addicted to it, and people who work in the medical field that say they wish nasal sprays were prescription only.”

At the moment, however, there doesn’t seem to be any suggestion that Sudafed will be reclassified as a prescription-only-medicine.

Louise adds: “I would say to others to not bother using , it’s not worth it.

“If you have a blocked nose, it lasts two or three days and then goes back to normal.

“I’ve had a cold since then and the blocked nose you get with these has never been as bad as the rebound congestion.”

A spokesperson for Sudafed said: “The safe use of our products is our top priority.

“Our Sudafed nasal sprays containing xylometazoline are intended for short-term use only and using the product for longer than advised may lead to worsening nasal congestion.

“Anyone who has been using a Sudafed nasal spray for longer than recommended, or whose symptoms persist after five days, should stop using the product and speak to a doctor for advice.

“As with any , we encourage people to always read and follow the label before use.

“All Sudafed products follow strict regulatory and industry rules to ensure the correct usage information is clearly available on the pack, on the accompanying patient information leaflet, and online via our brand website.

“We encourage people to speak with a GP or if they have any questions about how to use our products.”