How to Clear a Blocked Nose: Natural Remedies for Nasal Congestion

Episode 10: Clear a Blocked Nose in Minutes (Natural Remedies That Work)

Your nose is an amazing piece of engineering – until something goes wrong! Whether it's blocked, runny, bleeding, or you've lost your sense of smell, nasal issues can be absolutely miserable.

In this episode, I'm walking you through 4 main nasal problems and exactly what to do about them naturally.

What you'll learn:

• Why blocked noses happen (it's not always just mucus!)
• The problem with conventional decongestants (and what to use instead)
• Top homeopathic remedies: Hepar sulph, Kali bich, Pulsatilla, Arsenicum album, Natrum mur, Mercurius vivus
• How to stop nosebleeds instantly with lemon or orange juice
• Why you might be losing your sense of smell (and how to get it back)
• My Winter wellness pack

4 nasal issues covered in detail:

1. Blocked nose:

• Simple steaming technique that works in minutes
• When mouth breathing becomes a problem
• How inflammation constricts nasal passages

2. Runny nose:

• Different types of discharge and what they mean
• Why antihistamines cause uncomfortable side effects
• Natural alternatives that actually work

3. Nosebleeds:

• Why they're shocking but rarely serious
• The orange/lemon juice trick (yes, it stings – but it works!)
• When to see a doctor about frequent nosebleeds
• Connection between nose-picking and threadworms in children

4. Loss of smell:

• How COVID can cause lingering smell loss
• Why this affects your enjoyment of food
• Smell training techniques
• Homeopathic support: Calcarea carbonica, Natrum mur, Zinc

This episode is perfect for you if: You or your children suffer from frequent nasal issues, you want natural alternatives to decongestants, or you're dealing with post-COVID smell loss.

These simple, natural remedies can provide relief in minutes – no prescription needed.

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to the Homeopath in Your Pocket, where I help busy working mums discover how to support their family's health with confidence. Hi, I'm your host, Neela Prabhu, a licensed homeopath with 20 years of experience as a pharmacist. As a mum of two girls, I totally understand the juggle of family life firsthand. Each week I'll share practical, actionable tips that you can use today to support your family's well-being. So let's get started. So in today's episode, we're going to talk about blocked noses and other nasal issues. Our nose is an amazing piece of engineering and it's sitting right in the middle of our faces. It allows us to breathe, smell sense, and keep us healthy. But when something goes wrong, if it's blocked, runny, bleeding, lost the sense of smell, this can be absolutely miserable. So I'm going to be walking you through the four main nasal issues and what to do about them naturally. So let's get started. So the first one is a blocked nose, which is the most common complaint we get with noses. So it's a sensation of congestion. You can't breathe easily or at all through the nose. People often end up mouth breathing, which tends to lead to a dry mouth, a sore throat, and poor sleep because you can end up snoring. The common cold or hay fever can cause a blocked nose due to the mucus or inflammation in the nasal passages causing constriction here. And most UK adults suffer between two to three common colds every year, and so blocked noses are something that most people will have to deal with on a regular basis. Conventional medicine gives us decongestions, which can cause insomnia due to alerting effects. So you might be unblocked, but you'll be wide awake at night time. They work by temporarily constricting the blood vessels in the nose, which opens up the airways. But they can also make you feel jittery and wired, and that's the last thing you need when you're trying to rest and recover. My top three homeopathic remedies here are Hepar Sulf, CaliBic, and Pulsatilla. As the expression goes, if it's thick, use CaliBic, and Pulsatilla is in my blue kit, the link for which I'll leave in the show notes. Some other alternative treatments that can work really well here, so steaming with just boiled water or holding down the button on your kettle, obviously safely, and be very careful of scalding yourself with the steam. Steam helps to loosen mucus, reduce inflammation, and therefore make it easier to breathe, and it's very soothing to the mucous membranes. Can do this several times a day, and it's completely safe for adults and older children. Number two is a runny nose. So this can be a discharge from the nose that is watery, an egg white consistency, or it can be thick or yellowy green. You can have a blocked and a roony nose at the same time, and this is particularly frustrating. The nose can be streaming and yet you can still can't breathe through it properly. So conventional treatments are giving antihistamines to dry up the nose, but these can lead to dry eyes, urinary retention, and constipation as side effects. Antihistamines work by blocking histamine receptors, which reduces mucus production, but they also dry out other mucous membranes, which is why we get those uncomfortable side effects. So my top homeopathic remedies here are arsenicum, napmuur, merkviv, and pulsatilla. So arsenicum, merkviv, and pulsatilla are in my blue kit. So arsenicum, the discharge tends to be watery, napmure it tends to be egg white-like, merkviv it tends to be quite greenish, and pulsatilla it's that thick yellow-green slug that you sometimes see on children's faces. Number three, nosebleeds. So nosebleeds are often quite shocking due to the amount of blood that has been shed rather than the amount of pain. They don't tend to hurt so much, but anything above from the neck upwards is very well perfused with blood, obviously, for your brain. So the amount of blood can really be quite a lot. Nosebleeds are normally caused by a blow to the nose, someone's hit you, or you've had an injury with a ball or a wall or something like that, or becoming too hot. And also, there are children who pick their nose and therefore make it bleed. So if your child is repeatedly picking their nose and getting nosebleeds, they may also be prone to getting threadworms. And this is something to be aware of if the child has frequent nosebeds and is also scratching their bottom at night time. Conventional treatment for nosebleeds is applying firm pressure to the upper part of the nose above the bridge, not the soft part lower down. Applying an ice pack externally helps to constrict the blood vessels and stop the bleeding. And if nosebleeds are happening frequently, they will suggest quarterisation. What this is is burning the inside of your nose with a sterile metal rod to cause scar tissue in that particular blood vessel. This is a longer-term solution offered by doctors, but obviously it's not suitable for everybody. My number one homeopathic remedy here is phosphorus, and this is in my amplify kit. It's really good for stopping nosebleeds, or indeed any bleeding, so it's brilliant to have on hand if you or your children are prone to nosebleeds. A little midwife's trick here: applying orange or lemon juice externally to any bleeding wound will stop it instantly. Yes, it will sting, and yes, it will taste yucky if it's a nosebleed. But what you're doing is providing your body with vitamin C, which is needed for the clotting cascade. Your body then doesn't have to go off looking for the vitamin C, you're providing it at source, and this is a simple, natural way to stop bleeding quickly. This was a tip that was given to me by my grandma who was a midwife. Number four, a loss of smell. So this is often caused by the common cold where everything tastes like wet sawdust. COVID can also have a lingering effect of a loss of smell long after the other symptoms have gone. And it's quite miserable because it not only affects your sense of smell but your sense of taste, and eating is one of our great pleasures. The sense of smell or scent is a very visceral sense, it connects us to our childhood memories and experiences. So conventional treatment deals with smell training. So what this means is looking at a lemon, either real or a picture, and trying to remember what that smells like, or smelling essential oils repeatedly in an attempt to retrain the brain's scent pathways. This can take weeks or months, and it doesn't always work. So my top homeopathic remedies here are calc carb, napmure, and zinc. These remedies help restore a sense of smell more quickly, particularly if you start using them as soon as you notice the problem rather than waiting months. But again, I would advise using these remedies in conjunction with a trained homeopath on a one-to-one basis. So, what are my action steps for today? So, step one, try steaming for blocked noses. Boil the kettle, pour the water into a bowl, and carefully lean over it with a towel over your head and breathe in the steam for five to ten minutes. Do this two to three times a day, and you'll notice a real difference in how easily you can breathe. Step two, keep homeopathic remedies on hand. So for blocked noses, hepar sulf, calibic, pulsatilla, runny noses, arsenicum, napmure, mercviv, nosebleeds, phosphorus, loss of smell, calc carb, napmuur, and zinc. Step three, use my lemon or orange juice drink trick for nosebleeds. If you or your child has a nosebleed, try applying a little lemon or orange juice externally. Yes, it does sting, but it works brilliantly to stop bleeding quickly. And if you're dealing with chronic nasal issues, so frequent nosebleeds, constant congestion, or a loss of smell that won't come back, then book in a free discovery call with me to work one-to-one to see if we can stop this from the root cause. So, wrapping up today, your nose is an amazing piece of engineering, but when things go wrong, it can be really miserable. Blocked noses are caused by mucus or inflammation, and you can treat them with homeopathic remedies or steam. Runny noses can be watery or thick, and they're helped by arsenicum, napmule or pulsatilla. Nosebleeds can look quite shocking but are rarely serious. Phosphorus is brilliant for stopping them. A loss of smell affects our taste and the enjoyment of food. Homeopathic remedies such as cowcarb, napmule, and zinc can help to restore it. But if you're having recurring nasal issues, then you do need one-to-one constitutional treatment with a homeopath to address the root cause so that you're not just constantly dealing with the same symptoms. Thanks for listening to today's episode. If you found this helpful, I'd be so grateful if you could leave a review as it helps other busy mums discover the show. If you want to dive deeper, book a free discovery call to see how we can work together one-to-one, or join me on Instagram at Homeopathic Harmony, where we can continue the conversation. And don't forget to grab your free guide to beating insomnia when you join my email list, because I know sleep is precious when you're juggling everything else. The links are in the show notes. I'll see you next week.