I swear I read a report somewhere that said something like PE is effective iff you take twice the dose on the box or you take it with other drugs (I think ibuprofen was tested?), although I can't find it again, and I may have read it when I was congested and only had PE.

My lived experince with PE is it never works most of the time. But if I realise I need psuedoephedrine and I'm not somewhere or sometime where I can access it, I'll get PE and hope. Sometimes hope works, but it usually doesn't clear my sinuses very effectively. But if I have sinus congestion related to flying, I might also have soreness related to flying and take PE (because you can get it at the airport) and ibuprofen together, and maybe it works.

But also some people are more sensitive to some drugs, so it could work for you, while not being very effective in general.