flying with a sinus infection?

[cloud9]

Is it ok to fly with a sinus infection?

I'm going to call my doctor tomorrow but I wanted to know if you guys had any info on the subject. I have been on antibiotics for 2 days now and we take off tomorrow. A coworker just asked me if my doctor said it was ok. It's a two and a half hour flight and there's just no way I can not be on that plane and still go at this point. I have earplugs, gum, and I know to swallow and yawn since last time I flew my ears bothered me.

All of the things I have read online say not to fly. But I thought that maybe that might be because of the contagious aspect of it. Since I'm on antibiotics I figured it might be ok? I have no idea what to do

[DisneyAggies]

Hi. Thought I'd give some insight as last time we flew I had a sinus infection...my advice, take kleenex so that you can blow your nose. Your nose (and ears) start to do crazy things in a plane. Mine started gushing and I was caught unprepared. I was also unprepared for the ear pain too. As we started our descent, my ears WOULDN'T pop. Nothing worked, and I was in terrible pain almost the entire weekend. Of course, our flight was only a 45 minute one so I never really had a chance to adjust to anything, but just to warn you--you could go through the flight with no problems at all. I finally got my ears to pop by blowing my nose really hard. I know, it's gross!! That was the best ear pop I'd ever had!!

[CJDDS]

The problem is not whether or not you are contagious, the problem is the congestion and the changes in air pressure. If you are congested, it can be extremely painful, especially when you land. You also may not be able to hear for a while. When I was a resident in the Army, I had to fly to a meeting in Texas and return to Georgia with a sinus infection. Couldn't hear for two days!!! If I were you, I would start taking some decongestants (with your physician's approval) and be sure I had some on hand when I landed in Florida! Good luck!

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[cloud9]

oh my... well thank you for the advice it really is very much appreciated. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

I'm gonna buy a couple of boxes of decongestant tonight, put extra kleenex in my carry on, wear earplugs, chew lots of gum, drink lots of bottled water, and yawn every minute or so. And also do some sort of "my ears will not hurt" chant.

Who wants to sit next to me on the plane?

[VickiP]

I had a horrible cold the last time we flew and my ears caused me some extreme pain! I ended up 'stealing' my kid's ear plugs that were specially manufactured for flying. Those did help, but I couldn't hear for a couple of days. When I got back home and went to the doctor, I ended up with both an ear and sinus infection which he thought could have been caused by the flight. I still had a great vacation though! Might be worth checking out the special earplugs.