storing long strings in oracle - which datatype?

[liveaday]

i am using oracle db

i have used varchar2 datatypes to store long text descriptions but it i now need more charachers than the allowed limit. i changed the datatype from varchar2 to blob but my application now doesnt work.

my question is what datatype should i use to store strings longer than 4000 charachers (varchar2 limit). is blob the way to go? and if yes why doesnt my application work since i changed to blob

thanks in advance for your help
(...cause i m stuck!)

[devinemke]

i've never used oracle but isn't there a field type analogous to other RDBMS's TEXT type?

[liveaday]

oracle doesnt have a text datatype like mysql has. it has varchar datatype but there is a 4000 characters limit for it.

does anybody know what should i use to store text fields (like description or articles) over 4000 chars?