DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Postnasal drip is ruining my life. It’s constant and aggravating. I can’t find a comfortable position for sleep. The drip continues no matter how I lie. My doctor says there’s not much to do for it, so I have to learn to live with it. Do you have any tips? — C.D.

ANSWER: Inflammation and swelling of the linings of the nose and adjacent sinuses create thick mucus that perpetually trickles down into the throat. Postnasal drip is a leading cause of a cough that persists forever. You’ve been spared that.

Allergies are one cause. An over-the-counter antihistamine taken about an hour before going to bed dries the lining and curtails some of the dripping. Benadryl is available everywhere. Start with a small dose to see if it helps.

Clean the nasal lining with saline. Fill a quart jar with warm water and add 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Pickling or canning salt is best since it has no additives. If you cannot locate these salts, go ahead with table salt. Add a teaspoon of baking soda to the water and mix the solution. Bend over a sink and gently squirt the saltwater into the nose from a plastic squeeze bottle or a bulb syringe. Do this twice a day. Make the saltwater solution fresh daily or every other day.

If this simple procedure doesn’t put a stop to the dripping, see an ear, nose and throat doctor. You’ll need prescription medicines. You might benefit from a week of antibiotics to clear up an underlying infection. Choosing the right antibiotic is done by sampling the nasal-sinus fluid and submitting it to the lab for culture. Once the infection has been taken care of, cortisone medicines applied by sprays will calm inflammation. These medicines require a prescription, too.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: What’s the latest on hair coloring and cancer? I have dyed my hair for 20 years. Some time back, I heard there was a connection between hair dye and cancer, but then all talk of this went away. Now I hear that hair dye is linked to bladder cancer. Is this so? — R.V.

ANSWER: Not too long ago, some investigators raised the possibility that beauticians had a greater risk of coming down with bladder cancer if they had worked with hair dyes for more than 10 years. Changes in the composition of these dyes and insistence on greater protection when applying them has all but eliminated that risk. The cancer risk to individual users hasn’t been established.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, sponsored by the World Health Organization, says personal hair-dye use is not cancer-causing.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: What has happened to the appendix?

I never hear about appendicitis anymore. Has the operation gone out of fashion? Or is there some other way to deal with it? — R.P.

ANSWER: The appendix is still where it always has been, dangling down from the first part of the colon on the lower right side. Long thought not to have any purpose, it does appear to add to immune defenses and seems to produce products useful for the development of the fetus. We do well without it, though.

Appendicitis has not gone out of fashion. It happens with the same regularity it always has. The age group most likely to suffer from it is the group between 10 and 19. Around 250,000 appendectomies are done yearly in the United States.

Newer developments in the diagnosis of appendicitis include CT scans and ultrasound. Many surgeons now use a laparoscope to remove it. It’s a viewing instrument passed into the abdomen through a small incision. Instruments are also inserted through similar small incisions.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.

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