Last year I contracted a stinking cough/cold, presumably on the airplane. It ruined my holiday. A friend suggested ‘First Defence’. I glanced in the chemist at a row of similar concoctions. Anyone used these? Good idea/bad idea? Recommendations?
Thanks muchly.
TALK TO AND CHECK WITH YOUR PHARMACIST - before you buy or try.
Compatibility is essential when taking any sort of drug in addition to what you are also taking, that mantra applies to OTC and newly prescribed drugs. Pharmacists are trained for 6 years, then one year working under another pharmacist, before they are let loose on the public.
Other medics just to not have that expertise. How do I know? My GP (who I would not change for the whole world) issued a new prescription. Lara (yes she became on of my pillars) called him straight away and said this one is a no-no, this is the alternative. That was about one year into GCA now in into 8th year of remission.
Yes duly noted. Thanks. But maybe I won’t check with the pharmacist who thought Nystan oral suspension was ok for Pv thrush! Yup there’s nutters in every profession!
Short answer, find another Pharmacist fast............I would never trust someone that had made a mistake like that.
I think he was a locum. He hid from me next time I was in the pharmacy. The usual pharmacist is fine, advised re steroids and gave me my steroid card when GP failed to do either.
It’s the pharmacy I used when I was community nursing. Not a chain/group. Unfortunately that pharmacist moved on to bigger things, but they know me. I didn’t hold back when the locum was in daft mode!
I tend to just use essential oils which I have used for years to treat my daughters and now my grandson. But as jinasc says check with your pharmac or health food shop if it will effect your other meds. Some oils are not compatible with anything!! I havnt used first defence so really couldnt say ifnot works or not.
Hmm, that’s food for thought, thanks.
One reason I’m wary is because I used a mouth wash a couple of years ago and then had dreadful thrush. I concluded I’d wiped out my commensals and allowed the Candida free reign. I’m thinking one of these defenders medications might have the same kind of unwanted side effect???
Rubber gloves, a spray bottle of tea tree and lemon oil and a cluster of dusters, do you think they’ll let me on the plane? 😂😂😂
Probably not unless you come with your own nurse/psychiatrist. Just spray everyone as they come on the plane!! I have said I intend to do that to my grandson as he seems to be a brilliant carrier of all the germs his class mates have. Such a loving child willing to share things!!
Yes. Darling super spreaders!
I would like to wear a hazmat suit on planes. Don't know about sprays for nose/throat. I did try one of the first defence sprays years ago when they first started to be available, Freshers flu in universities is a real thing. I still got a cold but it wasn't as severe or prolonged as usual. The flu jab was more effective so never used it again.
As you will know one of the best way of helping colds and coughs stay away is the old hand washing. I don't go anywhere without anti bacterial wipes and hand cleaner. So I would definitely wipe down the tray and arms on my seat and be extra vigilant about not touching my face. I am used to the stares I get cleaning my supermarket trolley. When you are waiting to board, listen for the coughers and try not to sit near them. You will still share circulated air but not a lot you can do about that. ✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️
Good idea. Will shop for disinfectant wipes and add to my hand luggage.
Is it illegal to eliminate the coughers and splutterers?
You could give them each a pack of tissues and a nappy bag to put them in. 😂😂😂
Ha! I’ve been known to hand out doggy poo bags, not much of a stretch for tissues and a bag. ‘Here you are dear. Kindly deposit your noxious snot in here instead of your sleeve!’
😂😂😂 yes I have given poo bags out. It does my head in when they don't remove pooh.... especially on paths.....why???!??
And if I can bend with an ouchy back, they can bloody well pick their dogs up!!
😂😂😂😂
Pick their dogs up?? Not much of a doggie walk!
(I know exactly what you mean, but it made me giggle)
😂😂😂 I will leave that one...it was an anger type.
I would love to go on this flight just to see you with a mask on like in China, rubber gloves and your spray and nappy sacks!! The putting them over their heads sounds a brill idea though. I will always defend you if you get charged with attempted murder!!
The nappy bag is to put over their heads I assume?
Perfect solution!
I just take a bunch of alcohol wipes. Hand a couple to my seatmate too.
I do the same..got stares but the offered wipes to neighboring passengers and they ALL jumped at it. STARES are jealousy!
😂😂😂
I can so sympathise. I am just emerging from the worst streaming cold I have ever had, complete with an unsightly cold sore. I caught it on the train or in the theatre. I did notice in S. Korea that it is quite common for people to wear white surgical masks in public places. I wonder if that helps? I have also noticed that when a cold is over, I can feel generally better all over. As if it is the body’s way of having a dramatic cleanse. It’s something homeopathic practitioners believe. As for drugs, well I kind of doubt they’d do much to shorten the duration or stave off the virus. Let us know if you think it works. Or just sit on the plane feeling murderous as some poor soul coughs away. 😡😷x
I would love to wear a surgical mask on a plane. Not sure how good they are but keeps people away.
My dad used to come back from the Netherlands every six to 8 weeks with a stinking cold.
The right kind of masks must work. There was a SARS outbreak a few years ago and people were told that the usual cheap little masks you can pick up anywhere wouldn't be suitable. They had to somehow mould to the face so no air could come in the sides, only what you breathed through the mask.
I had a ‘bronchitic’ mild cough that persisted for ages, until I caught a dollop of nastiness from a Spanish student, cough and cold, wiped me out for a week, but as that left it took the cough with it. Weird. Maybe my immune system needed a nudge to clear things. I do find the start and end of bugs to be very nondescript since starting pred. The family will be acutely ill with something and then get better, whereas I’ll drift in and seemingly get stuck until I eventually drift out the other end. (But this Spanish thing recently was more acute, maybe my lowered pred dose!?)
Im going to pass on the surgical mask 😷 I think research shows they’re not effective for long once wet with exhaled breath. My GF’s have arranged airport assistance this year (after witnessing my performance last year!) I am accepting of the golf trolley, but I’m not being chauffeured wearing a scrub mask!!
Studies have found that using a surgical mask DOES help reduce the chances of catching something under certain conditions:
healthline.com/health/cold-...
WIping everything within reach with wipes is supposed to make a significant difference and NEVER rest your face on the tray. And hand wash, hand wash, hand wash! Which of course you know...
One friend used to use vaseline - to catch the little b*&&"%$ on the way in! I'm sure she had another secret but can't remember what it was.
Rest your face on the tray? I’m not a contortionist 🥴
Us little 'uns can do it. Doesn't mean we want to or should.
I am a bit extreme in my germophobia I am afraid, especially with dmard and pred and diabetes. Most of it from not wanting meat products on my hands or food in a restaurant. I won't use the condiments that have been handled by everyone. I have seen people munching, licking a fingers then using the bottles I wouldnt do that at home and I live with myself. Some people have terrible hygiene habits or lack thereof.
My youngest daughters best friend came from a very posh family who always thought they were above everyone but this friends table manners were worse than a wild animal and she chewed everything with her mouth open nearly all the time with the food churning round and round. Then she would talk as well so everyone got sprayed!!
Oh no, no, no, no, no. She would have had a mask placed over her mouth.
I didn't get notification for this message. Apparently if you leave the tab open you don't get notifications on replies or PM's. I asked.
Bring the masks and offer them to the coughers. Even if they choose not to wear one, it will make them think about how they may be sharing their misery with those around them.
😂 my usual aches and pains definitely took a back seat while the dramatic cold took hold. It made a change to have something other people get with a beginning, middle and end. I just look shell shocked now with a great scabby nose. Interestingly the blocked sinus that has plagued me for months is no longer there. Clever old body.
I hope that you have a marvellous time with no bugs. Perhaps your friends can hitch a lift - I saw that happening on my travels across the world.
I think they fully intend to! Girls on tour!
My American friend Donna puts a little Vaseline in her nose to act as a barrier & like me she wipes the tray, the metal bit in the seat belt etc 💺 But there’s not a lot you can do!.....
Vaseline ✅ added to list 👍🏼
It comes in little tubes as a lip balm, but it’s the same stuff.
Yes I was going to mention vaseline. It makes sense in term of collecting nasal germs.
What an unusual hobby! Some people collect stamps or insects.
😂😂😂👃
This one has extra to what we discuss, no loo, window seat etc.
thepointsguy.com/guide/flu-...
Good link thanks.
I always sit in the aisle (long legs). I never have the air thingy on, thought it would reduce chances, clearly I was wrong, it will be on this time. Won’t use the loo, makes sense. Always drink like a fish anyway.
Not entirely practical on a long haul flight though!!!! Which will be my next one ...
A bit of a conflict...keep hydrated but try not to use the loo..mmmm.
Bacitracin may be more effective than vaseline. Mayo hospital put a swab of it in my husband’s nostrils daily while he was recovering from heart surgery there.
Funny isn't it - usually I catch nothing on flights but OH always does. I'm on pred, he isn't!! But when our cousin catches something on the short flight to Innsbruck to come skiing we BOTH catch it!
Invoke cousin visitation rights!
I recently got H1N1 on a flight and had to cancel the next trip (I mentioned before) and had not been quite so vigilant ..night flight..was tired. But back to masks and wipes. when the people around me look terrified because I have a mask I say..Don't worry. I am not sick. I'm afraid of you! haha.
I think I must be very lucky as I hardly ever catch a cold and that is with working on a checkout with customers coughing and sneezing over you. I hope I haven’t spoken too soon!
You probably are stronger than the rest of us...being exposed so much. My cousin works in an urgent care clinic and is NEVER sick!!!!!
Like MrsNails says a wipe round nostrils with Vaseline or Vicks nasal spray. I usually take arnica or echinacea tablets for about a month before a long haul flight. But do check they are okay it’s other medication. Definitely anti bacterial wipes in hand luggage.
Working on aircraft around thousand of people a day. Everyone is very surprised I don’t get sick !! I see more and more on every flight with masks this is in the U S . And it’s not a big deal at least 5 people per flight wipe down now. You can even request to board the aircraft early to wipe down and it must me granted. Happy skies ✈️
Oh there’s hope then that I can do my Mrs Mop act? Might even put a curler in my hair a la Hilda Ogden.
So what happens when EVERYONE does it? Like everyone pays for priority boarding with a well known European budget airline? 
MrsNails sent me this link dailymail.co.uk/travel/trav...
Seems I’m going to have a busy day at the airport, lots of disinfecting to do!
Thanks for all the useful hints and tips everyone.
This is now my plan:
VitC started ✅
Vaseline in hand luggage ✅
Disinfectant wipes in hand lugg ✅
Antiseptic hand gel ✅
Hand wash, wash, wash ✅
Tissues & bags for free distribution ✅
Negotiate window seat (Cold v DVT) ❓
Leave the circulating air on ✅
Don’t rest head on tray 😳 ✅
Refuse to sit next to snotty nosed ‘super spreaders’ (Children) ✅
Take 2 personal registered nurses ✅
Do not use airplane loo ✅
Purchase milk AND water pre boarding for hydration ✅
Purchase tena pads as these two things are contradictory ✅
Disinfect security tray ✅
Wear curler in hair ✅
Purchase pink rubber gloves to match shoes ✅
Happy skies indeed!
😂😂😂✈️
Don't forget to use soap when possible too - hand gel does NOT kill all known germs ...
Oh yes, I shall be wash, wash, washing. This fact should be better known among hospital staff 🤬
You are telling me!!
I have used my air vent as a shield between myself and a wheezing drippy traveler. I figured this out all by myself, but apparently it works.
“Keep Your Air Vent On
While you might think that sitting in recycled air for hours could cause you to be sick, keeping your air vent on can actually prevent it. “There’s been some research that showed that using the overhead air vent, directed straight downward, can create a cone of protection,” said Dr. Contacessa. “It can actually prevent airborne germs from getting close to you. The airflow from the vent can help to ward off another passenger’s sneeze germs.” “
I recently read an article your Royal Meghan was asked about concerns of infection on her multiple trips while pregnant. It stated she placed a little neosporin ointment in each nostril. She did not fly "cattle section" but was exposed to crowds of people.
I expect they get fresh air circulated more often.
Err..... she’s not my Royal Meghan!!! 😳
I think "our" royal Meghan would work - born American, courted by a Prince in Canada and now a British citizen? 
Nor mine!!!
Apologize if I hit a raw nerve. The point is does the neosporin work
No offence taken!
I think my reservations are the same as the mouthwash side effect, namely killing off all my commensals and leaving the way open for other bugs. Plus I don’t believe Neosporin is antiviral? Which is most colds.
Found this google.co.uk/amp/s/www.well...
“Neosporin is an antibiotic ointment, and antibiotics don’t work against viruses,”
“In the absence of an infection, the antibiotics in the ointment can kill off the good bacteria in your nasal passages or on your skin,”
Maybe I’ll stick with Vaseline.
Try tea tree cream or lotion. This is a weird thing which happened to me. Back in the late 60s or early 70s I travelled to UK by air and got a sore nose. The skin sort of split in the nostril. Not terribly noticeable. But it was something which then continued to be present most of the time for years and years. I even asked my doctor about it and he thought all he could do was cauterize it, but went no further than saying that. Then I discovered tea tree in some formula or other, I think it was a cream, and used that and - this is after ages, maybe twenty years or more - the little split healed up and hasn't recurred since - probably another twenty years have gone by since.
No problem!
But neosporin is a dodgy thing to just use - causes a lot of allergic reactions. Plus not antiviral ...
I always wear a face mask (like you get at the drs office.
medication and infection 
Methotrexate and infections 
Severe Headache Onset with Air Travel
Yet another infection!
