Deadful cold and blocked sinuses - MN wisdom needed

[Playingthe9monthwait]

Hi all,

Am currently 29 wks pg and really really suffering with a terrible cold, cough and sore throat. My sinuses (sp?) are blocked, my whole face is swollen and I feel like I have been hit round the face with a shovel! Am taking as much paracetemol as I can get away with, warm ribena, lemon & honey and reguarly using steam inhalation, but nothing is helping. Am planning on phoning the GP tomorrow but until I speak to him does anyone know of anything I can take to help?

Oops sorry about the typo in the title

there is alot of over the counter medications that you cant take whilst preg

awww i feel for you

You poor thing

I had this in the week and went to the Dr and he said there was nothing he cold do and that sleep, fluid and paracetamol was all i could do i'm 26 weeks.

I did find Olbas oil really helped and steamy showers.

Hope you feel better soon.

Ouch have you tried lying down with a cold flannel across your eyes/nose/cheeks? Might take the edge off the swelling and the coolness should ease blockages.

Thanks ladies! keep the ideas comming

Drink loads of water, lean forward with head low down but neck bent back up when having steam - opens sinuses up more (our sinuses predate our walking upright so if you imagine yourself walking on all fours with your head up - that's apparently the position in which our sinus passages are most open). Get a Boots steamy cup to make this easier if you're currently using a bowl of hot water. Try massaging the sore bits of face and nose, get a partner/friend to massage forehead and temples, drink even more water.... You can also get a saline spray called Sterimar that can also help - shoot a bit up your nose (it's just salt water) then blow your nose gently - that just generally increases the moisture up there too.

Sympathies, sore sinuses are horrible even when not pregnant. You may find it goes quite quickly when it does though as it's due to a cold rather than chronic - good luck.

I find Karvol in steam helps me - I also use the plug-in Karvol thing at night.

I have a nasty cold. The midwives said to drink 2 1/2 litres of water a day, and said the only risk to the baby is if your temperature is too high. They said to go to hospital if it reached 38.5.

Steam.

It really works for blocked sinuses! It doesn't always feel as though it's working at the time, but I find if I do it just before bed my sinuses seem to clear overnight. You have to keep at it for a few days to really get them clear though. When I'm really bad I steam several times a day (just for a few minutes each time).

I don't bother with Karvol or anything else in the water, because I find I can't stand it for long if I have a decongestant in there.

I had painful sinuses last week and read somewhere about reflexology helping. Googled and found a diagram of where to apply pressure to my toes (hard if you are pregnant I guess.) Sounds strange I know but I definitely felt a release of pressure when pressing my toes and yellow stuff started coming out of my nose after.

I had a chest and sinus infection when I was pg with the dts and eventually the dr gave me an inhaler for my chest and antibiotics for my face. I felt like my facial bones had been replaced with lead and I'd been hit around the head with a shovel!

Lots and lots of inhaling steam, at least 3 times a day, more if you can, and keep it going for a few days after you feel better.

I totally sympathise.

Not only is there a lot of that kind of bug around it seems at the moment, but your sinuses definitely get worse during certain stages of pregnancy.

I'm not sure whether I was really supposed to, but I did use Otrivine drops for my nose when I was really bad at a similar stage of pg... it was the only thing which gave me any relief. Didn't ask the doctor.... but parents are retired doctors and seemed to think it was ok.... I only used a tiny bit! (They said a lot of the restrictions on over the counter medicines are not because it will definitely do any damage, but because they have never done any tests - after all, what pregnant woman would let herself have drugs tested on her???) Obviously - choice is yours though... and probably better to try simpler things first! Good luck - sympathy is with you...