It literally did nothing at all.
Before I started using Flonase for my congestion, real Sudafed was the only thing that would work when I had to fly. If I forgot, take off and landing would be miserable because my ears wouldn’t pop.
Before I started using Flonase for my congestion, real Sudafed was the only thing that would work when I had to fly. If I forgot, take off and landing would be miserable because my ears wouldn’t pop.
Oddly a few days later I overheard pilots in the airport lounge talking about times their eardrum ruptured due to a cold or something. It’s an injury that’s not uncommon for them.
Now I pop one before a fight every time just to be safe. If you’ve never had an eardrum rupture let’s just say it isn’t fun.
Not so much “fun” as “blessed relief”. I picked up some sort of nasty flu in Mexico in about 2005, and my eustachian tubes got blocked for a few weeks, resulting in an ear infection with pressure building up behind the eardrum in one of my ears.
When that drum finally burst I felt so much better. It was a sharp pain, and it was a bit gross, but so much better…
Pseudoephedrine did nothing for me (it usually works great) and it took a a course of co-amoxiclav to finally clear up the infection.