What's causing my mum's streaming nose?

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My elderly mum can't take a full normal breath partly due to constant sniffling and a streaming nose. She's seen a specialist (what used to be known as ENT, can't think what the current term is) and they've given her steroid sprays, kind of shrugged and sent her on her way.
She has sleep apnoea, asthma, hay fever and a hiatal hernia and recently was treated for a pulmonary embolism so there are a lot of strings to untangle around breathing.
It's being treated as a benign annoyance but she can't do anything without wiping her nose, which is often dripping, her house and clothing are adrift in used tissues etc etc, it doesn't seem like this is okay.
I'm going to raise it again with her GP and ask for a second opinion. Is there anything they might be missing?

My Dad had something similar. His next door neighbour is a GP and they were chatting one day when taking the bins out and my Dad was apologising for his runny nose saying it wasn't a cold and the GP said probably polyps, my Dad got it checked out, had a tiny operation and all sorted! Xxx

This is going to sound strange but bear with me. If her nose is constantly dripping but isn't red/ swollen/ inflamed, it is worth asking her if the fluid tastes sweet. It sounds horrid, but I remember a patient with exactly the same problem and he remarked that some of the drips got in his mouth and tasted slightly sweet. It was cerebro spinal fluid and not nasal secretions. It is very rare, but needs urgent attention.

Friend had this. It was an under active thyroid.

Yes, I thought polyps too but the specialist said no. Do you know is there a test or scan or something or do they just look in your nose?
Glad your dad is sorted, that's a great result.

Sorry that was for herbygarden

If the specialist has looked in her nose, they would have seen any polyps.

Does she take an anti-histamine every day given she already has asthma and hayfever? If she doesn't worth trying year round.

I honestly thought there couldn't be anything triggering mine in December but when I stopped the coughing and sniffing came back so now I just bulk buy and take every day.

My mum has this, her GP said it's rhinitis.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinitis

Blimey, horrifying!
It's been going on for years now so there'd be nothing left 🧠
She says there's no sweet taste.

It is likely vasomotor rhinitis, which is a pain but not sinister. Some people use saline sprays, antihistamines or decongestants but it can be triggered by so many things (including changes in temperature and humidity) that it tends to be chronic.

This. My mum has it too for years! Often makes her cough too and sometimes she has a slightly hoarse voice. She's has a camera up her nose and down her trachea, nothing physically wrong.

I have hayfever (and related seasonal asthma) and throughout the last few winters I've had sporadic moderate symptoms which I've put down to leaf mould, it also flares if I do dusting or moving stuff around in the house. Is she taking daily antihistamines?

No, she doesn't take antihistamines but the specialist prescribed a nasal spray which she was taking in addition to an otc steroid spray.
I'm going to ask her pharmacist if she can try non drowsy antihistamines too.
I'm trying to work out 1) what's she's supposed to use and 2) what she has actually used. Sometimes she gets fed up if the medicine doesn't seem to be working but she may not be giving it enough time. She had two inhalers for asthma at the same time and I think she found it all a bit overwhelming.

Ah was just going to suggest antihistamines
Generics like loratidine and cetirizine are cheap and non drowsy
My DS1 has rhinitis and uses flixonase spray which I expect your DM has
It might be an allergic reaction to something like Dust or pet dander

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I think I'll suggest that she tries everything methodically a second time (I'm visiting again in a few weeks so I can observe more closely) and if no joy we can go for a second opinion.
Given her recent health issues I was worried she was being fobbed off (long story, the PE seems to have been causing the breathlessness that was put down to asthma) and I feel bad for not being more on top of it.
All of you with chronic rhinitis have my sympathy, I used to suffer with brutal year round allergies and it's exhausting.

Yes she's been using flixonase or similar.

I'm probably wrong but my mum had this in her old age and after she passed I read about CSF leaks.
A lot of the symptoms matched hers but I guess I'll never know now, maybe mention it to her doctor?

I've never tried them, but saline nasal sprays are always recommended for things like rhinitis.

This is interesting, she does have an uat but afaik it's being well managed. She's very reliable with her thyroid meds and testing.
I have uat too and I've heard of hoarseness being a symptom but not runny nose. You learn something new every day 😀

I'm sorry for your loss.
I just did some cursory googling and may mention to her GP. She has no headaches but does have shoulder pain and a bone spur (found on CT I think?) on the shoulder, and had a recent fall for which she had an MRI at the time. No idea what any of that indicates if anything, but the GP should be able to make some sense of it.

I've got something like this - it can be linked to Asthma - Allergic Rhinitis. I use a nasal spray every morning called Fluticasone Propionate. If I run out and don't use it for a few days I'm back to a nose like a tap and constantly sneezing.