How to Diagnose Morning Nasal Congestion

If you have congestion is your nasal passages in the morning, you could be suffering from allergic rhinitis, non-allergic rhinitis, a virus or sinus disease. To determine which you have, you may need to visit a number of specialists and undergo a number of medical tests: a physical exam considering all of your symptoms, allergy testing, or a CT (computerized tomography) scan of your sinuses. Once the cause of your morning nasal congestion is determined, an appropriate treatment plan will be prescribed.

Things You'll Need

• Allergy testing
• CT scan

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Instructions

How to Diagnose Morning Nasal Congestion

• 1

  Keep a symptom diary that details when you have morning nasal congestion and what you were doing that day and the evening before. Share this information with your doctor so he can use it to determine if allergy testing is warranted. Your doctor will also do a physical examination to assess your health. He may suspect you have a virus that is causing your morning nasal congestion. Inform him of all medications you are taking. Some high blood pressure medicines can cause nasal stuffiness. Tell him if you are continually exposed to chemicals or irritants that may be irritating your nasal passages. Let your doctor know if you have any facial pain, green nasal discharge, a fever, dental pain, fatigue, chronic bad breath or loss of smell as this may indicate a sinus infection is present. In this instance, your doctor may prescribe an antibiotic and a nasal steroid spray.

• 2

  Visit an allergist for allergy testing if your doctor believes you have allergies. Allergy testing should be performed by a board-certified allergist. Don't put off a visit to an allergist because you hate the thought of skin pricks and needles. The symptoms and suffering you experience from morning nasal congestion are much worse than a few skin pricks. If allergies are present, ask your allergist for allergy medications that will relieve your symptoms. If you are not allergic, you may have non-allergic rhinitis. In this instance you should ask your allergist for a nasal steroid spray to relieve the inflammation in your sinuses, and his recommendation for other medications to alleviate your symptoms.

• 3

  Visit an otolaryngologist if the medications prescribed by your doctor or allergist do not work, or if you think you have a chronic nasal obstruction such as polyps or a deviated septum. Ask the otolaryngologist if you should have a CT scan of your sinuses to determine if there is an obstruction. If your scan shows an obstruction, you should ask your otolaryngologist if surgery is warranted or if you should continue on a course of appropriate medications.