<p>D has been flying with Air plugs all her life. She still has pain but nowhere near as she would without them. Also, severe pain in airplain could cause ear infection which has happened to her in a past. Also, warning, the pain will get progressively worse with each change of plains, so try to get as direct flight as possible (as few changes as possible). Plugs are very cheap, just Google and order, do not ruin your trip.</p>
<p>
Yes! This is the stuff you have to get from the pharmacist and show your ID to buy. </p>
<p>Val Salva works for a few minutes. I have to keep doing it over and over and sometimes still can’t get unblocked. I sometimes even have to do it at cruising if we take a little dip.</p>
<p>D takes Sudafed in addition to wearing Air Plugs. It does not help her by itself. She might have more severe problem than other people though. She also takes Homeopathic pain medicine for ear infections although she does not have infection. With all thiese combined, she still have problem, but not as bad, which gets worse with each next change of plains. And if this number is high as during her trip to New Z., she still will end up with a lot of pain.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it was the same problem you are having - mine seemed more sinus than ear related - but you might try using nose drops during the flight. I used to get excruciating head pain occasionally when flying - I honestly felt like my head was going to explode - and the nose drops provided immediate relief.</p>
<p>
The blowing into the closed nose technique only works for descending. When descending the increasing atmospheric pressure pushes the eardrums ‘inward’. The blowing technique works by applying pressure to the eardrums in an ‘outward’ direction thereby equalizing the pressure. It won’t work for ascents. It doesn’t really matter about the elevation of the cities since the planes pressurize to some altitude higher than most cities so there will be pressure differentials to deal with no matter what.</p>
<p>For the ascent I can generally clear my ears very easily just by flexing some of the same muscles used to yawn yet I generally don’t need to actually yawn. Swallowing can do it also. It just comes down to being able to mechanically open the tubes enough to relieve the pressure. Obviously, some people have a more difficult time of it but we’re all built differently. For some reason, it seems to me that I can clear my ears more easily after I took up scuba diving but this may just be a perception.</p>
<p>I’ve had some pretty excruciating ear pain when descending as well. Shorter flights (not much altitude), gum/hard candy for the swallowing is sufficient. I have done the hold-the-nose-and-blow thing, which works but also hurts until you pop the air bubbles (and has to be repeated as you descend). Longer flights–earplanes really do work. Really. I’ve never done the decongestant–I think it’d be overkill to do both that and the earplanes and prefer a device to a medicine.</p>
<p>The day my eardrum ruptured, I’d taken the first leg of a flight that was 70 miles, so the altitude was insignificant. In fact, I lulled myself into a false sense of security, thinking that if my ears were fine on the first leg, they’d be fine on the second (I’d also spent the morning using a facial humidifier, taking sudafed, and using Afrin). Not so.</p>
<p>When I was at the ENT, he said that it’s only the descent that’s the issue for the reason ucsd-dad mentioned above.</p>
<p>I use earplanes and afrin. Afrin was recommended by my allergist for one time use not constant.just for flight.</p>
<p>i managed not to rupture my eardrums when I had to fly with a really bad ear infection by combining afrin + sudafed (both before getting on the plane, and ~30 minutes before descending) + earplanes + vicodin. Lemon oil can also help clear up ear congestion. I didn’t find the earplanes all that useful, they made my ears feel weirdly pressured-- although that couldh ave also been because they were completely clogged to begin with.</p>
<p>Becoming a scuba diver helped me with techniques to use on my ears when on an airplane as many have described above. I had a burst eardrum as a baby but nothing like that again. But lots of pain when flying until I took the scuba course and learned the techniques.</p>
<p>^ D. cannot scuba dive because of her severe ear problem. She has tried. She also has problem in both going up and down in airplane, but going down seems to be worse. She absolutely cannot fly without Air plugs, she has tried that also. And she needs as direct flight as possible. Forgot to mention that this problem started after few ear infections. The very first flight that she had wneb she was 4 years old, she did not have any problem, and it was a long one. We stopped her ear infections when she was 6, but she will have problem when flying probably for the rest of her life.</p>
<p>^^
my problems began with ear infections also (as an adult) and have worsened over the years. the hardest is the descent. thanks to the good tips here I am looking forward to a less uncomfortable experience next month!</p>