Your nose has three bones residing within your nasal cavity called conchae, or turbinates. The reason I know that, besides gross anatomy, is that some years back I had surgery on my nose and my turbinates were shaved down to help breathing. What I did NOT know was that the tissue covering the turbinates is highly vascularized. If fact, it's awfully similar to another tissue in the male body. I am referring to, of course, erectile tissue. When your nose gets stuffy, your nasal epithelium becomes highly engorged with blood. And what is a common therapy? Pseudoephedrine (or phenylephrine since that stupid law that makes sudafed a regulated substance). It's a sympathetic agonist that constricts your engorged blood vessels. That allows more air to flow through your nose and you can breath better. Likewise, when someone takes a cialis and gets an erection that won't go away (priapism), guess what the first therapy to try is? You guessed it. Pseudoephedrine (or phenylephrine). Next time you get a stuffy nose and need a decongestant, I bet you'll think about it in a different way.
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