Ua 163 Bos-lax
 

I wanted to know if anyone else on this flight on Saturday, February 12, experienced severe sinus pain (in the face) as the plane descended. The ride across the continent was bumpy and flew at a much higher than normal altitude (36,000 ft.).

Can anyone else who's experienced sinus pain share how they've dealt with it? Thanks.

Sorry to hear that you experienced sinus pains. Hope someone can offer advice on how to deal with it. You might have had a steeper than usual descent into LAX (a friend of mine reported this too flying ORD-LAX a few days earlier) which might cause some sinus discomfort.

Also, 36,000 feet isn't really that abnormally high. Commercial airlines often fly up to 41,000 feet.

Depending on your symtoms, and other basic health, physically. Perhaps a sudafed 20 minutes before you take-off and then every now and then depending on the directions on the box. There are various types, some dry you up, some make sinus's drain, some are for high blood pressure, see what works for you. There are also other brands and products that do the same thing.

If you were not having any sinus issues before you boarded the plane; ignore the above. Much too complex to diagnose with what you have written.

Thanks for the advice... it wasn't until after I landed and searched on the web this morning did I (self) diagnose that it was sinus problem. I was afraid that I had a blood clot or something. I will seek professional medical advice when I return hom this week.

If it is just regular sinus pain from change in pressure you can always try equalizing your ear drums by holding you nostrils closed with your fingers and blowing out your nose (very gently) for a second or two. you should feel your ear-drums "pop". this is what scuba divers do when descending under water, as the pressure outside the ear drum rises. changes in pressure is a plane will be much less dramatic.

I find that my sinuses often get severely dry on long-haul flights. I wouldn't call it pressure but it's really painful and worsens as we descend. A pharmacist at MUC sold my a saline nose spray that is all natural and cures the pain and dryness.

Sometimes some people are susceptible to sinus pressure if they may be sick or getting a sinus infection or have sinusitus. One flight a friend of mine was in excrutiating pain on descent and then it lasted for about two days after that. Everyone else was fine including me.....

possible relief for sinus pain
 

Several years ago, I experienced "the pain" for the first time: sudden, intense, blinding pain in the head (sinus) upon descent. It's awful. On that flight, I was very fortunate to have a flight attendant who had some idea what to do. She immediately emptied a couple of small (plastic) liquor bottles, filled them with hot water and wrapped them with a tissue. I applied these to my face for nearly instant relief. There was something about the heat that helped relieve the pressure enough to make it tolerable, at least.

To this day, I haven't boarded another flight without those two little bottles. I rarely need them, but when I do... well, they are real lifesavers. I've talked with many flight attendants about this problem and haven't met many who knew about this possible remedy.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but I hope this might provide some relief to someone.

Omni? :)

Just be sure if you're doing this to remember the "very gently" part. Too bad "search" isn't working as there was a pretty good thread on this in Travelbuzz not too long ago. I flipped through the first 5 pages but didn't find it. But once search is back up check into it for future reference

Also, this thread from the women's forum might help re flying with colds & ear pain, etc http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...8&page=1&pp=15

I'm going to move this to TravelBuzz anyway. It is not United specific, and the answers are of interest to our overall travel community.

Craig6z
Moderator

I had (note past tense) chronic sinus infections and my ENT doctor recommended this: Sinus Rinse

It's available in many drug stores on the west coast, and order from their website.... a simple saline rinse, cheaper than much of the stuff in the drugstore. Since you mix it yourself (all premeasured) it's easy to toss into your toiletries bag for travel. For me, it's reduced me from 6 or 7 sinus infections per year to only one so far since I started using it last summer... lots less problems with dryness and/or pressure when I fly, and my wife says I don't snore as much.

No affiliation, just a satisfied customer.

I have experienced very severe sinus pain on a flight twice in my life. Once on a US Airways flight into DC (maybe 15+ years ago) and then on a Finnair flight from LHR to HEL (in 2000).

The sharp pain struck above my right eye, inside underneath my eyebrow. The pain was so intense, it felt like someone was taking a knife and stabbing me there. I thought my eye would pop out! All I could do was grasp my eye and wriggle in pain. It was awful! Even after landing, the pain did not subside for a few hours, and at that point turned more numb, not completely clearing up until I woke up the next morning.

Still to this day, and after talking with several medical professionals, I am not clear what caused this (or how to avoid it in the future). I've obviously flown many, many flights since then and have never experienced the problem since. I often get paranoid when I feel even the slightest pressure in that area and immediately pop a sinus-congestion pill. Clearly, it is not an experience I wish to relive.

Has anyone else experienced something like this?

Yes, it has happened to me a bunch of times including last month on UA ORD-BOS.

Once, it lasted for a few days post landing.

It seems to be correlated with having some semblance of a sinus infection or cold. Heat definitely helps as did Sudafed prior to travel.

M

I have a great deal of experience here, alas.

One warning: do NOT ever take anti-histamines (Claritin for instance) when flying. These CONSTRICT the sinuses and can result in terrible pain.

Sudafed opens up the sinuses. However, it has a bounce-back effect. That is, after it wears off the sinuses often constrict more than before for awhile. If you need to take pseudephrine (generic Sudafed), you may want to take it about an hour from landing. It is the descent that gives you the trouble, not the ascent, so you don't generally need it in flight. The exception is if you have a cold, in which case you may want to take it just before boarding, and also some more on descent if it's a long (transcon for instance) flight.

That's what I thought too.

But landing in HEL, I did not have a cold or any congestion (nor did I have at any recent point before that). Further, I have flown many times since then with a full-blown cold (including this weekend) and did not experience the severe sinus pain. (I did get some clogged ears.)