Olaf Henning (52, "Cowboy and Indian") has been addicted to nasal spray for 20 years. The pop singer now confessed to the "Bild" newspaper. In a week he "loosely" uses two bottles of the "strongest variety", says the 52-year-old. So far, any attempt to get away from it has failed.
"I can no longer breathe normally without singing, let alone sing. When I don't use it, my nasal mucous membranes swell so that I can no longer breathe," says Henning of his everyday life. The fact that he had to wear a face mask more often during the corona pandemic would now trigger an "oppressive feeling" for him: "Without a nasal spray, I am terrified to suffocate."
So he became addicted
Addiction started at the beginning of his career. Henning had trouble breathing on stage. The nasal spray helped him directly. "But if you take the stuff for more than four weeks, you practically hang on the needle and become a 'nasivist', as we singers call it," says Henning, who also reveals in the same breath that every second singer is addicted to nasal spray – he was sure of that.
This certainly applies to a colleague: Rapper Sido (39, "I & no mask") himself had admitted in early January that he had been addicted to nasal spray for 15 years.
Withdrawal did not work
Henning tried several times to stop using the nasal spray – to no avail: "If I don't take it, withdrawal symptoms start immediately. I then sweat and my nose is completely closed." Substitutes would also have brought nothing. He was considering an operation in which the nasal septum is restored to its original state using a laser. But the pain would have scared him off.