Flying poorly (tomorrow) ?

If OP has a cold or flu then it’s

1. An illness, is it not?

Get a private telephone appointment and pay for some antibiotics - consider it part of the holiday costs. It happened to me the first year we went with the kids, made an appointment tent at 8 within 2 hours I had a prescription at boots and we were due to fly at 4. Worth every penny.

As an aside my DH has had blocked sustain tubes for a year since a Covid infection. Would a neilmed sinus rinse help with that?

Get a NeilMed sinus rinse from Boots at the airport. I suffer with sinus infections and it’s great for clearing them, particularly when I feel symptoms coming on. Don’t miss out on your holiday. Chances are you’ll soon turn the corner and a bit of sunshine will do you good x

How are you OP? Did you end up going?

Sorry to derail slightly, can I pick yoir brains? I suffer terribly with my sinuses, every single cold I ger turns into such pain and I cannot breathe through my nose at all. I know my left passageway is narrow as I had a camera put up there. Anyway, my question, you mention Sudafed, but I was told to avoid it as it makes things worse?! Is this not the case?

I had this years ago the day before I was to fly. Vomited every 10 minutes on the dot. Dr prescribed an antibiotic that must have been for horses or something because an hour after taking it I spent the next hour blowing my nose and it was grim 😂 and shockingly disgusting. After that I was fine!!! I still wonder what he gave me because it was fantastic. 😂

Sudafed I either feel sick when I take it or sleep all day and it doesn’t help me.

To be honest it sounds like sphenoid sinusitis which is not a typical presentation - have you tried sinutab ? I swear by it. Hope you’re ok as just realised you’d have flown by now.

One argument is that you will feel shit wherever you are so you might as well feel shit on holiday.

I don't think ibuprofen and sudafed are the same. Ibuprofen is a generic pain killer sudafed is specifically for sinuses

Sudafed do 2 types of sinus relief, one has Ibuprofen and decongestant i can’t pronounce, the other is just the decongestant without Ibuprofen, give that a go it’s excellent

I swear by this stuff for nasal drip. Honestly the gunk that comes out that first rinse is unbelievable. It stops the dripping down my throat causing an irritating cough. Also drink plenty of fluids and homemade ginger tea with lemon and honey. Put your head over a pan of hot water with a towel over your head is also good for clearing sinuses.

Beconase IS a steroid spray…… she has that already.

Two things:

1. I’ve traveled by plane with sinusitis twice. It was actually nice up in the air, but the landing was terrible - really bad sinus pain, and then I was half-deaf in both ears for around 24h. Was it great? No. But I did it again at a later date (as said, twice) because in the grand scheme of things…

2. The pharmacist can prescribe you antibiotics for sinusitis if you’ve already tried a steroid spray and it’s not helped (at least if you are in England).

I’d go back to GP or prescribing pharmacy. My DD started off with what was a coke a couple of weeks ago and went badly to her sinuses. Eventually she ended up with tonsillitis and the pharmacy gave antibiotics. They have also helped clear up her sinus issue so I suspect she also had a sinus infection.

A few years ago I had a headache I couldn’t shift for a couple of weeks and went to GP who prescribed antibiotics for a sinus infection even though I had no usual symptoms such as the snot and blacked nose etc, just the headache. I was surprised when he suggested sinus infection but the antibiotics cleared it.

Go back and say you can’t shift it and you are flying and worried about it effecting your ears on the flight. They might be more sympathetic.

Definitely pick up some of the sudafed nose spray - try it before you fly but it's the only thing that works for me (I get sinus issues every winter and after getting covid each time - I get covid a lot after long covid)

Hope you are a bit better today, that your journey goes well and have a good holiday 😊

I have sinusitis quite often. I take a very broad approach. I breathe in Vicks in boiling water, drink lots of water, take ibuprofen, sudafed sometimes but it makes me very sleepy and go to bed. As others have said try a pharmacy if you feel antibiotics are needed.

Nosocomial transmission is far too high and affects patients, staff and their families. Infection control in hospitals should be taken more seriously. The covid Inquiry highlighted this too (as does the scientific evidence and the unnecessarily high levels of long covid). There is a difference between wanting something to be a simple cold and it actually being a simple cold.

I hope you recover soon OP.

Please make sure you wear a mask to prevent spreading to others on the plane!

My mum was a auxiliary nurse and very unsympathetic to accidents and illness!
If we could stand up we had to go to school. I used to get reoccurring tonsillitis 6-12 times a year and would turn up at school and be sent home by 9.30. I learnt that some of the mums that shared the school run with us were more sympathetic and i would cry on them that I didn't feel well and they would send me back home.

Injuries, she patch us up at home or get a friend to do so. There was one time that my sister did have to attend a and e as she needed a tetanus jab my 18 year old sister was looking after us, I was about 12 injured on 8. Mum popped down for 2 minutes saw that we were all conscious and breathing before heading back to the ward and told us to phone to ward when we got back home so she'd know everything was ok.

Sterimar is fantastic. I can’t take Sudafed (high BP) but I use Sterimar or just the bog standard Boots saline nasal spray pretty much every day in the shower to flush out my sinuses. It cuts down on opportunistic infections, as there’s no mucus for the nasty greeblies (that’s a medical term ) to breed in.

Sorry @SENSummer I have just seen this. Are you able to get to a chemist, is there a Boots at the airport. Highly recommend Sterimar Congestion Relief nasal spray, it’s made with natural sea water solution. Failing that may be a bottle of Olbas oil, which you put on a tissue to inhale, or an Olbas oil nasal stick. Would get Sudafed (make sure it’s a paracetamol one, as there is one with Ibuprofen) and one of the other items I mentioned.

This sounds like what I’ve had. I was stuck next to a selfish woman who was sneezing, coughing and blowing her nose on a three hour flight, with no mask.

Two days into the holiday, I started feeling ill. Horrendous headache, no energy, dizziness, no appetite. I then developed blocked sinuses and blocked ears. I had to dose myself up with cold and flu medicine, although it didn’t feel like a cold.
The flight home wasn’t great as my ears were so blocked. Take off was fine but landing was really painful. I was still ill ten days after, so did a GP consultation and was prescribed antibiotics and a steroid nose spray for sinusitis. I ended up having a week off work and lost 4lbs in weight.
It’ll be three weeks on Wednesday and I still don’t feel 100%. I’m still really tired and lacking energy with minimal appetite. I think it was Covid that morphed into sinusitis. I haven’t felt so rough in a long time.
I think you’ll need antibiotics.