I, and others, have noticed that we all have a high probability of getting sick due to air travel.  We often get a cold that makes our vacation suck, or even forces its termination.  Or we come home and get sick.  Or both!

This simple suggestion seems to dramatically reduce the problem of airline travel sickness:  bring a little baggy of antiseptic wipes, and as soon as you sit down in your airline seat, wip down every surface that you might touch.  That includes the light and air and remote controls, the tray, the recline button, your seat-belt buckle, and - everything.  If you do have to go to the bathroom, then do not touch your face with your hands once you've left your seat.  When you return from your bathroom adventure, wipe your hands with antiseptic.

The big danger is from touching contaminated surfaces and then touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.  Or anything that will go into your mouth.  The airline air filtration is pretty good and keeping air clean, but when someone sneezes, liquid micro-drops get on everything.  So if you have a long flight near a sick person, try wiping down the surfaces again, mid-flight.

Airplanes are also very dry.  Counter that with saline spray, and by drinking water.

Note that airplane cabin pressure changes a lot  If you are already having a runny nose, pressures can force infected nasal mucus up into your sinuses, giving you a sinus infection.  if so you should probably take a shot of  nasal spray (e.g. Flonase or Afrin) at the start of your flight see recommended use of sprays in an earlier blog).  If you can force medicine into your sinus tubes, then they will drain during the flight - and they will not give you that terrible pressure headache. Also, you will likely avoid a sinus infection.

I personally use Flonase now. It is an anti-inflammatory that opens airways by reducing the size of the cells that line them. Vasoconstricting decongestant sprays, like Afrin, work by limiting the amount of mucus secretions and "drying" your nasal passages; I think that the mucus secretions actually help your recovery. The side-effects of Flonase can include "upper respiratory tract infection, throat irritation, thrush, cough, and headache" but I have avoided these by using only one squirt into my clearest nostril, then rabbit-sniffing that dose back and forth for 30 seconds with my head upside down, so that (1) it is fully absorbed in my upper nose instead of draining into my throat and lungs, (2) it gets to both nostrils by being sniffed back past the septum and forth into both nostrils. After that 30 seconds of rabbit-sniffing, I usually hold my nose (head still inverted) and blow to force the medicated mucus into the start of my sinus drain tubes. You can so this same thing with Afrin (or whatever) so that you absorb that Afrin in the nasal passages and sinus drains; that way you only need one Afrin squirt in a single nostril, and so avoid some of the side effects, but you'll still likely get nasal rebound congestion.

So you're sick with a cold. Now what?

Here's my advice to myself and my friends, based on years of getting colds.  As an asthmatic in the rainy, moldy, pollen-filled Northwest, I have had a lot of experience!  This is what works for me.

A "cold" is a viral infection by a virus that attacks your nasal lining cells.  A virus latches onto a nasal lining cell and injects its own DNA, so that the cell becomes a factory to fill itself with virus copies until it bursts and releases its new viruses, spreading the disease.

Your body will fight it off by making a gummy mucus - a "runny nose" - to wash out those viruses and dead cells.   It will also produce antibodies to block and kill the virus.  Your nose and mouth are connected so the mucus will mostly drain down into your esophagus and then stomach, where strong acid and enzymes destroy the virus.  Or a little might drip out your nose, if you let it.

How can you help this fight?  Well, help the mucus do its job, while preventing any secondary infection.  (Secondary happens because all those dead nose cells are great habitats for bacteria.  You can tell when bacteria is growing because your nose will clog with yellow-green muck.
So the key is to keep yellow-green muck from clogging your nose, throat, bronchai or sinuses.)

1) First, wash your hands often, especially after touching danger surfaces and before touching your face.  This helps keep others from getting sick, and protects you from getting sicker.

2) Take zinc and vitamin C as soon as you get that first clear nasal drip.  Your nose will first drip clear water until mucus and dead cells start appearing.  Drink fluids.  Try spicy soups.  Whatever helps your nose run.

3) Don't exhaust yourself.   Exercise is good, but in moderation.  Sweating seems to cause your nose to open and clear itself, so that's good.

4) Try a hot compress or heating pad one your nose/sinuses.  Heat will bring blood flow, which helps with antibody and mucus flow.

5) While you are awake, try to help your nose clear itself, by sucking (not blowing) your nose, to move the waste into your stomach.  Blowing is bad for me, because it pushes the virus mucus up into your sinuses - more on that below.  I generally do NOT take decongestants (oxymetazoline like Afrin) in the daytime, unless I have to do a business meeting or the like; the Afrin dries your nose, which does NOT clear the virus.  I do use a saline spray and a personal vaporizer to help wash out my nose.  If your do spray something in your nose, see below.

6) At night, try to keep your nose clear enough that you do not mouth-breathe.  I do this by sucking my nose clear if I'm awake.  And if my nose starts getting overwhelmed and closing up, then I use a decongestant like oxymetazoline (Afrin, etc.)  BUT I try to make ONE QUIRT work for a night.

I think it is critical to keep your nose a little useable, and also to NOT BLOW diseased material up into your sinuses.  You should also try to keep your sinuses draining.  They drain through little tubes that go into the top of your nasal arch.  If your nose/sinus starts to get really closed up despite (1)..(6), you'll need some medicine.

How I spray medicine in my nose:

I try to spray the minimum medicine.  Using a lot of decongestant is very bad because (a) it will drain into your throat and irritate it, and (b) it will cause rebound congestion and get you dependent on it.

(A) I try to get at least on nostril clear enough to get some air through it.  I do any of (1)..(6) above, sucking one clear.

(B) I spray the ONE SQUIRT of medicine into my best clear-ish nostril, while breathing gently in JUST while you squirt - you don't want to breathe that medicine past your nasal area.

(C) I stop my nose breathing until I can turn my head upside down(!!).  By being upside down, gravity will help keep that medicine in my nose, instead of draining down my throat.  And it will get the medicine into the TOP of my nose, where tiny tubes connect my nose to my sinuses.  Some medicine to get to my sinus areas, opening those tubes.

(D) Once my head is (mostly) upside down, I sniff rapidly in-and-out, like a dog sniffing for scent.  This sniffing moves the medicine back and forth in my nose, spreading it everywhere.  A couple of inches into your nose, the two nasal passages merge into one, so this sniffing will move the medicine into the other nostril.   Your nose also has a set of "fins" inside it - this sniffing coats those fins.

(E) If I have a sinus involvement already (it's been a while for me!) then I may hold my nose a blow, like clearing my ears for an airplane landing, but with my head upside down.  That forces the medicine (and unfortunately the diseased mucus) into my sinuses.  So I only do this if my sinuses are already in trouble.

After 30-60 seconds, I'm done.


Towards the end of your cold, you will always get some bacteria.  If you get a little cough, it means some of that crap is draining into your bronchia.  Get it out.  I recommend:
  1) take a shower of hot water
  2) get on your knees and put your head way down
  3) breathe out, out, out until you are literally squeezing that stuff out of your lungs
  4) Cough and spit that crap out.
  5) Be Careful!  Standing up again can make you dizzy!  And breathing out hard can make you dizzy!  So try this carefully!


No magic here.  I just focus on keeping bacteria from getting into my sinuses and bronchia.

Why Did Oswald Shoot JFK?

It makes no sense.  Oswald was by all accounts a fan of JFK.  So why shoot him?

Reasonable evidence says that Oswald fired three bullets: one missed, one wounded JFK and severely injured Governor John Connolly, who was traveling just in front of JFK, and the third killed JFK.

Three bullets.

Two men hit.

Who was Oswald shooting at???

Why Did Oswald Shoot JFK?

It makes no sense.  Oswald was by all accounts a fan of JFK.  So why shoot him?

More to follow...