ResearchSafe

Intranasal peptide irritation, anyone found a way to reduce it?

Posted by curious_scientist in Safety & Side Effects - 7 points, 3 comments.

I have been running NA Semax and NA Selank intranasally for a few weeks now, separately, not stacked. Both seem to help with focus and calm respectively, at least for me, could be placebo on some of it. But the nasal irritation is getting annoying. Like a mild burning feeling after the spray, and some dryness that lingers through the day.

I tried spacing doses further apart and that helped a little. Drinking more water did not seem to change much. Someone mentioned saline rinses before dosing but I have not tried that yet. Kinda worried that rinsing right before might wash the peptide out before it absorbs, imo that seems counterproductive.

Also wondering if the preservative in the spray bottle could be part of the problem. I mixed mine with bacteriostatic water and I know some people are sensitive to benzyl alcohol. Maybe that is the irritant and not the peptide itself. Has anyone switched to plain sterile water and noticed less irritation? I know the tradeoff is no preservative so shorter shelf life, but for small batches that might be fine.

Just trying to figure out if this is the peptide, the vehicle, or my own nasal passages being cranky. Would love to hear what worked for others.

Comments

  • kenji_runs: Honestly i reckon you should try the sterile water. I had a similar thing with a different nasal compound where the benzyl alcohol felt like it was stripping my nasal lining, and switching to sterile water seemed to fix the burn for me. Just have to be way more careful with the fridge and toss the vial sooner. About the saline, i think doing it after rather than before might be the move so you dont mess with the absorption. I'm quite skeptical about some of these spray bottles too. Do you know
  • labrat_vik: Hey kenji, I tried sterile water for my NA Semax and the burn dropped noticeably, though I had to keep the vial colder and use it within a week. Saline after spraying feels safer than before. Do you know what micron size your sprayer puts out?
  • curious_scientist: The saline after instead of before is a good call, that sidesteps my whole worry about washing it out. Gonna try that. The sterile water swap makes sense too if benzyl alcohol is the culprit, though the one-week shelf life is kinda annoying for cost. I honestly don't know the micron size on my sprayer, it just came with the peptide vial. Is there an easy way to check that, or should I just look for a specific type when I replace it?
  • curious_scientist: Yeah the benzyl alcohol thing is exactly what I was suspecting, imo that tracks. I might mix a fresh vial with sterile water and see if the burn goes away. The shorter shelf life is fine, I am only doing a few weeks at a time anyway. Good call on saline after instead of before. Did not think of that. Honestly no idea on the micron size of my spray bottle, it is just a standard one I had lying around. How would you even check that, is there a spec that says something like 20 to 50 microns is the

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