Originally Posted by MMMinTX
Hopefully by now you're feeling better by now! Once when I had to fly despite terrible head congestion, my doctor recommended Sudafed on the night before and every 4 hours the day of flying and then use of saline nasal spray followed by OTC neosynephrine nasal spray. Use the sprays 30 minutes before takeoff and landing (disregarding the 12-hour instructions on the box - this is to be used only on the day you have to fly, so apparently it's ok to exceed the normal recommended dosage) and every 4 hours in flight if you're on a longer trip. Make sure you're also drinking lots and lots of water, herbal teas, or juices (not sodas and coffee) if you're battling this kind of congestion, particularly in the dry air on the plane. If you take Afrin as recommended by another FT'er, please be cognizant of its slightly addictive nature - don't take longer than 3 days.
Just a word of caution on the idea of loading up with lots of sudafed and OTC Afrin: if you have hypertension or coronary artery disease, or are older, this could be dangerous (the product labels warn about this, but we all know hardly anyone reads these). Some people's blood pressure surges 30 or more points systolic with just one or two doses of sudafed. Check with your doctor and/or monitor your blood pressure before loading up with this stuff.
Often obscure2K's recommendations above for hot and sour soup and Scotch are safer for people with borderline cardiovascular health! (I just finished my fourth bucket of hot and sour soup in 3 days, having spent Christmas in a very cold Minnesota and coming down with a nasty bug!
