Originally Posted by
joanek
If you have any reason to think you've got the slightest bit of congestion, take any over the counter decongestant BEFORE taking off. Repeat if you're inflight for more than 4 hours. And drink loads of water during the flight.
(I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. This is not medical advice)
1) Sustained relase (12 or 24 hour) ones are a lifesaver, especially for longer flights, although in theory they have a higher risk of causing problems like blood clots.
2) For some people, phenylephrine (the newly popular, not-makable-into-meth decongestant) works well. For many others, it doesn't. Try it, and if it doesn't work, you can still get pseudoephedrine ("Sudafed" being the brand name) with showing ID, etc.
3) If you find decongestants drying, drinking a lot of water (a good idea when flying anyway) will help. So will taking an expectorant tablet or syrup with the decongestant. Although vastly overpriced compared to generics, two good ways to get both are "Sudafed Non-drying Sinus" (if they still make it- I haven't seen it since pseudoephedrine went behind-the-counter) and "Mucinex-D" (they definitely still make this, and it's a nice 12-hour sustained release.)
Originally Posted by
maple
I always have a bottle of Afrin within close reach. But note that Afrin has been declared an addictive substance, do not overuse.
It's not literally addictive, but it's sort of like that. Decongestant nasal springs - both oxymetazoline ("Afrin" and generics) and phenylephrine nasal sprays cause "rebound" congestion when they wear off. It's an especially big problem if you use them super-regularly, but they have some risk of it even with a single-use.
Originally Posted by
John Brock
I agree with the Afrin. My doctor says that the spray formula is unique, so no
other product works the same. He says the secret is to spray up each nostril TWICE, a half hour before takeoff, AND either lie down or tilt your head way back for 3-5 minutes. It works!
Generics work equally well, IME and based on everything I've read there's no reason to expect a name-brand drug that's as old as Afrin to be any different from the generics. Decongestant nasal sprays definitely work quite differently from oral decongestants, and kick in much quicker.
Tilting your head back or lying down should help distribute the drug. As for spraying each nostril twice, what dosage people needs varies a lot depending on how congested they are - many people will be fine with one. For severe congestion, it is often helpful to spray once, and then wait a few minutes for the first spray to kick in before taking a second, as you'll have more airflow and better penetration that way.
As an aside, folks with frequent congestion should talk to their doctors about topical corticosteroid nasal sprays (there are tons of these, and several advertise heavily - ie Flonase and Nasonex); these are advertised for allergies but work as general local anti-inflamatories; the down side is you have to use them regularly, and they kick in over the course of days rather than minutes. I think some of them may be OTC in some countries outside the US.