1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstop from house Stuff works dot com where 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: smart Happens. Hi Am Marshall Brain with today's question, can 3 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: nasal sprays be addictive? It's pretty scary to think that 4 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,599 Speaker 1: you're addicted to any drug, especially when available at a 5 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: grocery store. Oprah Winfrey even devoted an entire show to 6 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: people who can't live without their decongested spray. But fortunately 7 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,199 Speaker 1: it's safe to say that you're not really addicted if 8 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: you think you're addicted to these sprays. Doctors and scientists 9 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:42,919 Speaker 1: define addiction in different ways. Scientists call drugs addictive if 10 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 1: they stimulate the pleasure center in your brain. Psychiatrists, on 11 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: the other hand, say something is addictive if your need 12 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: for it makes you do illegal, harmful things to get it. 13 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: Nasal sprays don't do either of these things. They have 14 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: no effect on the brain, and while you may need 15 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: your medicine to breathe freely, you probably aren't going to 16 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:05,960 Speaker 1: hold up a bank or skip work to go buy 17 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:10,040 Speaker 1: some nasal Sprayser drops are sold over the counter under 18 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: brand names like Afrin, Sinex, Neo, sinephron, Alarrest, Durhamist, and 19 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 1: sine Arrest. They contain a medicine that constricts the blood 20 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:22,280 Speaker 1: vessels inside your nose. When you have a cold, the 21 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: flu or allergies, these blood vessels becomes swollen and dilated. 22 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: This stimulates the nasal membranes to produce large amounts of mucus, 23 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: like stepping on a garden hose. Constricting the blood vessels 24 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: reduces the blood flow to your nostrils. The swollen vessels shrink, 25 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: and this helps drive things up. Unfortunately, your nose can 26 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: become tolerant to decongested effects if you use it for 27 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: too long. Tolerance in general happens because your body launches 28 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 1: a biological counter attack against the effects of the drug. 29 00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: One way it does this is by increasing cellular process 30 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: and other activities that produce the opposite effect. In the 31 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: case of decongestents, the body tries to dilate the nasal 32 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: blood vessels despite the drug. This cancels out the decongestents effect, 33 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: and the same squeeze of the bottle that brought you 34 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 1: relief before no longer helps. You end up using more 35 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:21,240 Speaker 1: and more to get rid of your stuff. He knows, 36 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: and each time you sniff more decongestent, your body redoubles 37 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: its efforts against the resulting constriction. This vicious cycle continues 38 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:34,799 Speaker 1: until you can't exist without a bottle of nasal spray 39 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: in hand. If you don't use it, you're stuffed up 40 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:42,240 Speaker 1: and miserable. This is called rebound congestion. With lots of 41 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: medicine on board, your nasal passages are dry and you 42 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: feel healthy. With the medicine gun, the physiological effects that 43 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: your body has made rain unchecked. What happens is the 44 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: exact opposite of the drug's effect. Your blood vessels swell 45 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 1: up again, and your nasal lie fills up with mucus 46 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:04,920 Speaker 1: and your running nose returns. This is why the package 47 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: labeling for these drugs tells you to limit their use 48 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: to three days in a row. If you don't build 49 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:15,359 Speaker 1: up tolerance to the decongested effects, you won't get rebound congestion. 50 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: And if you are tolerant, don't worry. It's not permanent. 51 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: If you quit cold Turkey, the changes that your body 52 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: has made will eventually be reversed in a couple of 53 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: weeks to a month. In the meantime, your doctor may 54 00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: be able to give you a prescription drug to safely 55 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 1: combat your congestion. For more on this and thousands of 56 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 1: other topics because that how stuff works dot Com. And 57 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: don't forget to check out the brain stuff blog on 58 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: the how stuff Works dot com home page. You can 59 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: also follow brain stuff on Facebook or Twitter at brain 60 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: stuff hs W