What is the best way to deal with chronic rhinitis?

I grew up relatively healthy, however I dealt with sinus issues at least once or twice a year. Any time I got sick, it was usually determined to be a sinus infection, I got a Z-pack or augmentin script, and I was on the mend. I started taking Cetirizine daily (even in the dead of winter) during college to manage my congestion.

At my job, I went to the in-office doctor several times for the same sinus infection symptoms in the first few years, and they stopped me after one of them to direct me to an ENT. Last year, the ENT I went with determined (after a CAT scan of my sinuses, showing two my sinus passages were almost closed off and one was very narrow) that I should have balloon sinuplasty.

The procedure was straightforward, and my results were phenomenal. I didn't take any antihistamines or allergy medicine throughout the summer. I hadn't even realized that I was suffering from sinus pressure headaches all my life until they were gone (I thought I just had trouble focusing).

A few months ago, I drove from Boston to NYC with the windows down and my girlfriend and I breathed in what was probably the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes in car exhaust. We both got some kind of congestion/respiratory infection. I got Augmentin, but never fully regained the sinus clarity I had enjoyed up until then.

Since that illness, I've had a constant production of mucus dripping down the back of my throat and out my nose (and since the temperatures have started dropping, an increase that's irritated the back of my throat and caused me to cough constantly).

My ENT saw me again (after trying Ipratropium nasal spray with no success) and recommended that I undergo a procedure he is fond of called ClariFix, cryotherapy of the posterior nasal nerves.

Knowing this is a permanent procedure, I am hesitant to "turn off" something that I imagine performs a bodily function.

Are there other things I should consider before I undergo this procedure? Are there other treatments? Or is this recognized to be the best option for my symptoms and illness?

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