Repackaging flonase nasal decongestant

I used to use Affrin all the time. You can get the Affrin or saline bottles that shoot a "mist". Those should work. I may be little concerned though. The Flonase bottles are designed to give a metered dose. No telling how much you'll get in a new bottle.

My final solution was when I put Affrin in a normal dropper bottle. I just laid on the ground with my head tilted back and driped a few drops in. Laid there a while to let if settle in. Worked very well.

I quit the Affrin though. Turns out that stuff does a great job of opening swolen sinsus but after 4-5 days it becomes addictive. Sounds stupid right? Google it. My sinuses would swell, regardless of alergies, if I didn't use it. It took about a month of not being able to breath through my nose (and not much sleep) to get off that stuff…………… oooh sorry I'm rambeling off topic.

I have chronic sinus problems (I almost never breathe easy w/o some level of congestion) and also take flonaise occasionally… I never considered repackaging it, but a while back both my wife and I had a terrible sinus cold. The congestion and pressure was beyond miserable, and my wife being pregnant, was very limited as to what medicines and antihistamines she's able to take. After much research, she couldn't find anyone saying that nose sprays would be bad for the baby, so she bought some vicks brand spray… At first, the relief was amazing, but after a few days it started losing its effectiveness. Then when we tried to quit, the misery was just as bad, if not worse than when we took the nose spray. I quit cold turkey, and after about a week I returned to my "normal" level of breathing… It took my wife a bit longer.

I eventually read the label, and it warned that might happen when quitting. I really makes me wonder how they allow a product like that to be sold. You are better off never using it…

My sister-in-law said she was pounding that stuff for about 17 years before quitting…and the only reason she quit is because they changed the product in some way that made it less effective and didn't work for her anymore.

sorry for adding my own off topic ramblings…felt compelled to share my thoughts as well.

BM

Yeah, most of these quick-shot nasal decongestants have a 3-day cycle before end up being addictive. The rationale is that most colds last for less than 3 days. Runners have a hard time with these because they are so effective at opening up nasal passages.

The Flonase however is a maintenance medication, designed for long-term use.

My Afrin nose drop comes in both spray and drop bottle. Have you looked into Flonase "drops"?

If it comes only in spray, then I think I would either look for a smaller bottle or leave as is. A measured dosage is a good dosage.

OTOH, considering it's "maintenance medication" — how critical is the exact dosage anyway? Not recommending, but if you truly want a small bottle, just pour some into a BPL mini-dropstopper bottle. Do a spray and then estimate the quantity in drops. May just be good enough. You try at your own risk. :)

I use it also. I don't think it's a great idea because you don't want a lot of variation in dosage. You might have to worry about contamination with repackaging. The best bet might be to look into other nasal corticosteroids. Maybe there's one that comes in a lighter package.

I would also discourage you from repackaging flonase. In any other type of spray bottle would likely give much more of the drug per dose. I use flonase regularly and the weight of the packaging is something that bothers me too. Nasonex comes in a plastic container that is lighter than a flonase container. The two drugs are essentially the same. You would just have to face the embarrassment of telling your doctor that you want a different nasal steroid because you want a lighter container;)

+1 on the Nasonex
I've used both and can tell no difference. It's 1.1 oz on my scale with the cap on and 0.9 with the cap off.

Flonase empty 45 grams = 1.6 oz
Flonase full 61 grams = 2.15 oz
Cap < 1 gram (doesn't register on my scale).

I also have a number of asthma meds that are heavy. The only significant weight savings I can hope for is to make a MYOG spacer for my inhalers. I could also grind a bit off the plastic of the inhalers but that'll save grams not ounces.
Spacer = 49 g.
Serevent diskus = 58 g.
Flovent: propellant/med piece = 24g full 14 g empty.
holder =11g
Proair (albuterol) propellant/med = 15 g
holder = 10 mg
Atrovent nasal 44 g. (full)

Total 317 grams.

Reductions:
MYOG spacer 10 to 20 g??? = 29 to 39 saved
Grind down holders 11 g ??? = 10 g saved
For short trips, half used meds = 15 to 20 g??? saved
Total mass saved = ~55 g

Probably I should carry spares for some of these, so the mass will remain above 300 grams.