So upon descent on our 2 hr flight I experienced the most excruciating intense pain ever. It felt like 100 needles were being jabbed into my head above my eyes over and over agin. I seriously thought I was having a major stroke.
When we landed I was seriously considering going directly to the ER because I knew I was lucky to still be walking and talking at that point.
I am pretty stoic so H didn’t have a clue at first but when we got off he asked if I was ok. I calmed down and we went about getting a car and going to the hotel. Now I was thinking urgent care center visit at least.
Anyway, finally googled my wonderful experience to find out just what was going to kill me if I got on the plane to go home and found out I had had an airplane headache…a thing…and I wasn’t going to die…and it was really no big deal. Really.
Basically I have allergies and my sinus cavities were not adjusting to the pressure change and they were… …(.insert a bunch of medical terms)…not happy.
Anyway thought I would share so you would know if this happened to you, not to worry, you are not going to die.
That must be scary! I would have thought I was having a brain embolism. Glad to hear it is nothing serious.
Traveled once with a bad cold and sinus congestion. The ear pressure was horribly painful. I always have sympathy for those crying babies on a flight because I know I felt like crying that time.
Probably a sinus block. Terribly painful. If you have any sort of cold or are worried about this happening again, take Sudafed before the flight. Most importantly, squirt Afrin up your nose-- I think they might even have 12 hour Afrin. It’s called “the pilots friend” for a reason. I never fly without it, as I can’t afford to be incapacitated. Of course, if you wait for the pain on descent, it’s too late to use.
Air pressure changes on someone who has congested sinuses or ears is excruciating, but try having an eardrum rupture on a flight! Has happened to me twice, despite using every homeopathic and pharmaceutical option out there. I just know that, unless it’s an emergency, I can’t fly when I have a cold or sinus infection. The good news is, once the eardrum ruptures, the pressure is relieved (only then, you’ve got bloody gunk draining out of your ear on the plane, usually at a time - descent - when you have to remain in your seat!)
Which reminds me, my ENT retired last summer, and I’ve yet to schedule an appt. with the practice he referred all his old patients to. Need to do that so I have someone in place should the need arise and I have to fly and can’t avoid it.
It happened to me when I was a teen, flying in a tiny, unpressurized (or barely pressurized) plane over the mountains to get near Bryce Canyons, Utah - except it was in my teeth, moving up my jaw into my face. It felt like I was being stabbed with ice picks, and it was probably due to stuffed up nose and sinus pressure. I remember looking around the little plane and wondering why everyone else looked so comfortable, when I was in such excruciating pain!
bookworm, I can’t tell you for sure. I rarely use Benadryl because it does almost nothing for me. I can verify that Sudafed is really effective though, along with the Afrin. If I have any doubt, I dose up on those, and actually I’ve been able to (stupidly) fly through pretty bad cold/sinus infections. It seems like a good idea to power through at the time, but sometimes it just wasn’t worth it. And if you fly with a cold or sinus infection, it will only prolong it and make it worse. Every now and then I fly with something minor, and it will generally last a lot longer and be more miserable, when if I hadn’t worked, it probably would have just gone away.
H and I always take Sudafed at the HINT of head congestion. I have literally cried on a flight before. It felt like my head was going to explode or sometimes there was a shooting pain right to my ear. If it hasn’t happened to you before, you have no idea how painful it can be.
When our kids were babies, we always gave them a partial bottle on ascent and descent. It always amazes me that so many parents don’t realize babies aren’t capable of doing the things we do at those times, like swallowing or yawning.
For me, it had a stinging quality vs. a throbbing feeling one often gets with a “headache.” Very disconcerting. You wonder if an aneurysm is starting to rip open.
I would modestly nurse my infant and when they had learned to chew and dispose of gum, would give the kids that. My BIL uses earplanes and says they help some.
I’ve never had the airplane headache but our Dr. recommends the generic Aller-Tec-D from Costco. Used to be sold as a prescription so I think it works better Sudafed. I take it whenever I have a head cold.
That used to happen to me when flying, so I always remembered to bring nose spray and use it before landing. The physiology is interesting, because it doesn’t bother you when the pressure drops (when the plane climbs), and air presumbably exits your sinus cavities. The problem occurs as the plane descends and pressure increases, and I guess the air can’t get back IN to your sinus cavities. I remember it being extremely painful! Hasn’t happened to me in a long time, so I guess I am set up for being blindsided next time I fly.
This also happened to me one time on the way home from the mountains (Lake Tahoe at the time). We were driving and losing altitude at a rapid rate and the pain hit me in the car. I guess in theory the same pain could be caused by a weather-related rise in air pressure like going into and then out of a big storm.
@doschicos#13: I used that a few times on a flight from Montreal to Quebec. Thought my head was going to explode. The flight attendant gave me plastic cups with hot wet paper towels on the bottom to put over my ears. DH said I looked like Mickey Mouse.
There is nothing like the pain of congested sinuses or blocked ears on a descending plane! I was a flight attendant for a few years and will never forget sitting on the jumpseat with tears building up as the pain increased exponentially with each minute…I actually ended up with blood oozing from my ear (but supposedly didnt fully rupture it) Took forever to heal and get cleared to go back to flying. After that I have never flown without sudafed (the kind you have to buy from the pharmacist) and Afrin. For the ear block you use a LOT of the afrin and tip your head so it runs down the back of your throat on the side of the ear pain…when it gets into your eustachian tube and constricts the tissues the relief is almost instanteous…I also dosed my child as a baby every time we boarded a plane…Pedicare worked wonders-she never had ear pain and slept through most flights.
IMMEDIATE RELIEF: Close your mouth and pinch your nostrils closed, and make like you’re going to blow. The forced air will pressurize your ear canal. You may have to do it several times as the cabin air pressure will continually increase as the plane descends.
Yawning also helps (wide mouth yawn), but the effect is more subtle than the blowing trick.
So glad to read this thread. I have had this intense pain twice and did not realize it was fairly common. Since I had never had it before recently, I thought it might mean I would have to stop flying.
I did develop adult onset allergies and my sinuses are a mess. I have lost my sense, for most of the time, of smell and do get sinus toothaches. I take three medications a day for my allergies, 365. So I must have had them in my system when I got this intense pain while descending. I’m a bit concerned about taking additional medication on top of what I am taking.
