This explains why some men have nasal congestion all the time, even when they’re not sick
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Stuffy nose? This could be why
Hey, Matt Cook here, and men who have been reading my newsletters for any period of time will know how important the thyroid is for overall health.
And as I’ve said many times, thyroid hormones affect every part of the body.
So it was no surprise to me to see that low thyroid is a likely cause of nonallergic rhinitis.
Nonallergic rhinitis is nasal congestion (a blocked nose) that is not caused by allergies or infection.
The animal experiments were performed at Adnan Menderes University in Aydın, Turkey. The paper was published in The Turkish Journal of Ear Nose and Throat.
Nasal congestion can have numerous different causes – all of which lead to a swelling of the interior of the nasal cavity, slowing or blocking the flow of air.
If it’s mild and occasional it can be a nuisance – but if it’s continuous it can cause chronic breathing problems which can lead to other major health problems.
Proper nasal breathing is needed for optimal gas exchange and an imbalance of CO2/oxygen will make you ill.
“Numerous factors can lead to anatomical and histological changes that cause rhinitis symptoms by disrupting normal nasal function.”
Many people don’t know this but doctors are already aware that your hormones can influence nasal congestion.
“Hypothyroidism, pregnancy, puberty, acromegaly, and oral contraceptive use are among the causes of hormonal rhinitis.”
It’s well known that alterations in thyroid hormone can cause changes to the cells and tissues in the ears, eyes and nose.
These researchers set up an animal experiment to see if hypothyroidism might be a cause of nasal congestion/rhinitis.
“This study aims to investigate the histopathological changes in nasal mucosa and alterations in thyroid hormone receptors in an experimental hypothyroidism model.”
The researchers carried out their experiments on different groups of rats.
“21 newborn rats were divided into two groups.”
One group of rats were given methimazole.
Methimazole is a treatment that decreases the amount of circulating thyroid hormones.
It’s used to treat people who have dangerously high levels of thyroid hormones.
But giving methimazole to people or animals that don’t have high thyroid hormones will lead to them having low thyroid hormones.
The other group was given no treatment. The researchers compared both groups after about 3 months.
“At 90 days, they were sacrificed and the nasal mucosa was removed. Thyroid hormone receptor status was assessed by immunohistochemical staining.”
The hypothyroid (low thyroid) animals had much more inflammation in the nasal cavities.
Thyroid hormones prevent some types of inflammation directly – and TSH, which rises when thyroid hormones are low, increases inflammation too.
“The difference between hypothyroidism and control groups regarding inflammation was statistically significant.”
One thing that a deficiency of thyroid hormones does is cause edema – edema is the uptake of excess water (swelling) of cells.
The cells need energy provided by thyroid hormone in order to keep water out.
The cells of the hypothyroid animals were waterlogged – and this is why hypothyroidism can lead to swelling and congestion of the nasal cavity.
“The differences between hypothyroidism and control groups regarding edema and vascular proliferation were significant.”
The researchers found thyroid hormone receptors in the cells of the nasal cavity – proving that the cells are indeed responsive to thyroid hormones.
The research shows that hypothyroidism may be the cause of nasal congestion of otherwise unknown cause.
“Thyroid hormone receptors are present in nasal mucosa. Edema, inflammation, and vascular proliferation occur in nasal mucosa due to hypothyroidism.”
Thyroid hormones affect every part of the body and the problems caused by an imbalance of thyroid hormones can be seen anywhere.
Running thyroid labs is one of the first things I would do if I had a mysterious health problem of unknown cause.
