Afrin, containing the chemical, oxymetazoline, is used to clear your nasal passages by reducing the membrane sizes in your sinuses. Most people know what this stuff is and that on the back of the bottle, it says do not take for more than 3 days.

15 years ago, I started using Afrin, and have not stopped until what is now 24 days ago. To quit, I used the dilution method, where every 3 to 4 days, I would cut the amount in the bottle by half and fill it back up with saline solution. It took about a month using this technique but it made the process fairly painless. Many people go cold turkey, and then stop sleeping for 3 days as a result. I've tried this cold-turkey method many times, and could never achieve any results with it as I'd always give in. The dilution method works, but it requires patience.

Now I can sleep at night without it, and it's honestly really nice to not have to worry about carrying around Afrin with me everywhere I go and panic if I forgot to bring my bottle. For all you Afrin addicts out there, I'm sure you know the feeling. I have bottles stored all over my house, and in my car, just to make sure I can always get my fix. My wife used to even carry a bottle in her purse for me in case of emergency. Yeah, I was addicted to it. I would use it 3 to 4 times a day, and often in the middle of the night.

Now that I have quit, the primary benefit of being able to breathe again, has been achieved... or so I thought. It turns out, this is not the primary benefit of quitting at all.

From 1998 to 2004, I was a well respected software engineer in the Silicon Valley of California. In 2004, two years prior to the Afrin usage, I started my own company and successfully sold it to a large search engine company in 2006.

I was going on a vacation with the proceeds from my company sale, and my wife suggested I just start using Afrin even though I didn't have a cold, so that I would be more comfortable sleeping. Her giving me this permission slip for myself, I quickly hopped on board because my sleep is always a slight issue due to sinus problems. Ah, I could finally breathe at night without any issues, it was bliss.

After the vacation, I kept using it, and slowly over the course of months, without me connecting the dots, I developed bad insomnia. I attributed it to stress, because I also coincidentally began to be very stressed out about everything. A lot of stressful things were happening at that time in my life. So I attributed my new stress and insomnia to these external life events. At the time, it made perfect sense, external chaos happening in my life, causes me stress, which makes me not sleep. So, I went to my doctor, and he gave me a prescription for Ambien. This helped for a while, I could get to sleep, but then I started having more side effects of anger and memory loss, so I quit taking Ambien.

My son was born in 2007, just a year after the Afrin usage began. My anxiety, anger and insomnia issues made me unable to be there for him as the father I always wanted to be. I was always kind and compassionate to him,  never raising my voice, but unable to devote the time to him that I wanted to. The anxiety was too much to bear. I would read a book to him, turning each page, just wanting the book to be done. It was a horrible feeling, and likely the saddest part of my experience.

For the next 15 years, I would try everything to fix my ever growing anxiety, anger issues, and insomnia. I got a prescription for medical marijuana about 10 years ago, and then started taking every supplement you could imagine as well as every sleep aid you can think of. I've also been in professional therapy for the past 10 years off and on, for stretches of many years at a time, thinking maybe something purely psychological was at play. 

I was on the deep hunt as to why I was suffering ever increasing debilitating anxiety and this horrible insomnia. I tried all the diets, gluten free, dairy free, keto, vegan, fruitarian, etc. Working out, exercise, and meditation. I tried giving up masturbation and sex for 126 days straight, as perhaps I have a sexual energy problem I thought. I also ended up trying psychedelics, thinking perhaps I had a spiritual problem and with this all, I ended up going through a great awakening process that I ironically wouldn't trade for anything. In this sense, I am grateful for this whole process, however, still suffering horribly.

After some more years, now trying prescription drugs for anxiety, like hydroxyzine, gabapentin, Seroquel, Propranolol, and many others, nothing worked.

Eventually I tried harder drugs that I don't want to even list, as a temporary escape from my misery. I ended up ruining my life, losing my wife of 20 years, my house, my job, my pets, and my very way of living. My son now lives in a different state than me, which tears me apart. I am unemployed now, running out of money, and living with my parents. I am riddled with anxiety, anger, despair, depression as well as my nightly insomnia.

Then, about two months ago, I got this idea in my head that I need to look at everything I am taking, and understand all the side effects of all of my supplements and prescriptions.

I decided to research the side effects of Afrin, and found the usual "3 to 4 days of sinus rebound"... but then I found this:

&gt; Since the lipophilic drug like oxymetazoline is systemically absorbed by the vessels, easily passes the blood-brain barrier and enter into vascular and central nervous system. When these drugs pass the brain barriers, like amphetamine caused noradrenergic strong stimulating effect on the central nervous system

From: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4402865/

Oxymetazoline crosses the blood brain barrier! I didn't know this stuff was getting into my brain! I thought it was just in my nose and possibly blood-stream. I thought it was harmless other than the dreaded sinus rebound problem when you quit.

And then I found this article about Oxymetazoline induced psychosis where a man thinks evil entities are out to get him, but only when taking oxymetazoline: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1486156/

And then I found this: A Wedding, a Cold and a Trip to the Emergency Room, where a woman broke down in panic attacks and went to the ER when taking Afrin. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/22/health/a-wedding-a-cold-and-a-trip-to-the-emergency-room.html

So I decided that was enough. If these people are having these symptoms, perhaps this stuff is causing my problems. This chemical definitely enters your brain and seems to cause serious problems, beyond just sinus rebound. Enough was enough, I am going to quit this, and see if this will help my insomnia and anxiety. So, 24 days ago, I finally took my last sniff of Afrin, that is, of oxymetazoline. About six days ago, some dramatic changes happened in my life, very unexpected, and I am almost tearful yet angry because I now see that this was in fact the cause of all of this mess over the last 15 years.

6 days ago, for the first time, I suddenly stopped this horrible habit of biting my fingernails, without effort. I now have white parts on the end of my fingernails, and I have to learn to trim them. I usually bite my fingernails until they literally bleed. Now, not only have I quit but I've done so without effort and have zero desire to chew them.

4 days ago, this 15 year long anxiety is finally dramatically lifting. I feel like my old self, my younger self. I am getting filled with confidence again and I feel like I can tackle life's problems again. I feel this dark cloud covering my mind lifting. I look outside, and everything looks remarkably clear, almost like looking through high definition glasses of some kind. My mind is sharp and my thoughts are concise. I feel alive again, like I used to when I was 27 years old, where as now I am 42. I feel like "me" again, from "back in the day", and it is quite remarkably amazing. I've not felt this way for 15 years. The contrast is striking and startling.

1 day ago, I had a visit with my therapist, and we talked for our usual hour, and he said that he noticed a difference in me. He said I was more on point with my discussion and less emotional than I always am in my previous sessions. This was really great to hear from him. 

Today, I played with my son online for 3 hours straight without self-medication of any kind and without anxiety. We had a great time. First time in his life of 13 years that I could ever do this. We use Discord for voice chat and played games on Steam. The feelings I have that I can give him attention now, are beyond words. 

My daily, hourly, panic attacks are virtually gone, my anxiety is 10% of what it has been for the past 15 years. I am able to tackle work again, get things done, and stop dreading about my past. I am now sleeping in 4 hour blocks instead of 1 hour blocks. My insomnia is rapidly fading away.

All of these symptoms, for 15 years now, that I never attributed to the Afrin usage are almost gone. Most people I talked to told me it just affected my nose. This is so very wrong.

Now, I am feeling more and more alive again, after 15 years of hell. I am grateful to finally be off this absolute trash of a drug. I lost everything due to this drug, my wife, my way of life, and my sanity. With that said, I didn't adhere to the warning on the bottle, "Do not use for more than 3 days", however, when asking why online and asking doctors, the general answer is always "Oh, because you'll get rebound sinus issues", and with that repercussion, I was willing to deal with, I continued use. If I had know, "will cause possible mental insanity", then I wouldn't have done this to myself. 

If I get a cold in the future, and can't breathe, I will not be using anything, I will just deal with it. I will never again touch this horrible chemical.

61.6 million bottles of Oxymetazoline were sold in 2019 in the United States alone. There are a large amount of people addicted, as many people report to me that they know at least one person caught in this nasty drug. 

For any of you on Afrin or any other Oxymetazoline type drug, and you are suffering anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, or just darkness of mind, quit taking it now. Use the dilution method I mentioned. If you need help or more information or tips on how to quit, let me know.

I am now free. I am now me. &lt;tears&gt;