It took 2 tablets of 200mg ibuprofen and 30ml of dayquil to fight the flu. Total impact: miserable, tired, stuffy nose, headache, 2 days of missed work, self-righteous indignation, and a call with an advise nurse. The final amount of sweat and lifting of a dead weight from my head are signs of hope.
Yesterday, after a nightly flush of saline spray and flonase (with a slight burning sensation the whole night), I was able to sleep till 4:20a or so.
In my battle against snoring and bad breath (halitosis), I tape my mouth and turn on white noise. The solution works wonderfully, and the results are endorsed by both my dentist and wife!
It is not all rainbows and unicorns though, as my sleep specialist suspects that my throat size is small enough to cause choking right around REM sleep stage (the reason for waking up early).
Armed with this knowledge, today I stripped off my mouth tape at 4:20a, and went to sleep again. Finally, woke up at 6:30a.