For several years, I've had chronic sinus and nasal congestion, particularly on the left side. Much of the time it is just inflamation (no mucus). It is usually not fully congested, and it comes and goes. For example if I'm sitting and working or watching TV for several hours, I'll notice that it goes from partially blocked to totally clear and back to partially blocked. It's worse at night when I'm lying down, and in the morning I do have to blow my nose a lot to clear things out (everything is totally clear with no signs of a bacterial problem). There are no other common allergy symptoms like sneezing and itching or watery eyes.

It got worse last fall. I tried a decongestant which helped a little. Then I stopped taking that and switched to Claritin for a week, and that cleared it up. After I stopped taking the Claritin, the symptoms were not nearly as bad as they had been prior to taking the medicine. In the past few weeks they've started getting worse again.

I thought maybe I was allergic to something indoors like dust or mold, but now I'm starting to doubt that. I'm concerned I might be having problems with nasal polyps (I have asthma) but from reading about them it doesn't really sound like my symptoms fit that problem.

I have a prescription for Flonase but have not filled it yet. I don't want to start taking another maintenance drug without knowing why I need to take it. I'm going for a physical on Thursday, so I'm wondering if I should ask for a referral to an allergist or an ENT specialist while I'm there.

As for other allergies, the asthma is mostly exercise related. I have minor issues with hayfever -- my eyes itch a bit in the spring but I'm able to have the windows wide open during the peak of pollen season with no sneezing or other symptoms. I had allergy testing done a few years ago (prick tests for common allergens) with negative results. I do have problems with contact dermatitis so I have to be careful with cosmetics, lotions, stuff like that. I've had some wicked problems with poison ivy in the past (which I recently learned is related to an unpleasant reaction I had last year after eating cashews, but that's another story.)

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice.