Ears & Planes

[propergomper]

Everytime I am on a plane desending my ears hurt something rotten my head kills and it feels like my fillings are about to pop out. Is there anything that i can do to stop it. I have tried every type of boiled sweet.

[natalie_1982]

Propergomper I used to suffer with this to the point that I was scared to get on a plane, it would ruin my holiday as it would days to clear. Anyway.... someone told me about these little earplug things called Earplanes, and I used them on my last flight (to the Gambia) and they worked wonders! I had suffered with painful ears since I was a small child and don't feel it atall anymore.

They cost about �10 for 2 pairs I think, from Boots. You put them in as you board the plane, can remove them when at full altitude, and then put them in again prior to landing. Honestly, the're a God-send, you need never suffer again!

(they also do small sizes for children)

[jno]

it's not the sweet so much as the sucking that is supposed to help - it helps your inner ear adjust to changing air pressure (or something). Sipping water would do as well. Or yawning. But earplugs are good.

[stewey]

As a flier and a scuba-diver I always press my nostrils close and attempt to "blow" through my nose. It works every time, unless you have a really bad cold, because the procedure equalizes the pressure within your inner-ear.

[propergomper]

Thanks natalie_1982 i have noticed folk putting things in their ears and will try them when i next time i fly. I too was wondering if the last half hour of flying with that much pain was worth it.
Thanks jno (i know its the sucking) and stewey i had tried holding my nose thing but it doesnt POP i can hear what sounds like a bubble blowing up that doesnt POP, just causes more pain.
Thanks again for your time.

[natalie_1982]

PG, I had the exact same problem in that my ears wouldn't pop and so caused incredible pain that felt like someone was jabbing knitting needles in my ears and down my throat so I know what you mean. Hope you find the Earplanes as useful as I did xx

[joggerjayne]

Stewey is right propergomper. Pinching your nose and blowing gently into it is called the Valsalva Manoeuvre, and it works.

Whatever other people do, NEVER EVER EVER put anything in your ear. It's really dangerous.

Why? ...

The pain you feel is caused by the plane descending from low pressure air (in the sky) to higher pressure (nearer the ground). The cabin pressure increases, and presses into your ears. Doing what Stewey suggests will push air up it your ears (don't worry about the technicalities - just try it). This makes the pressure inside your ear the same as it is on the outside. Hey presto, no pain.

BUT ...

If you put in an earplug, the pressure between your ear and the plug stays at low pressure. So no pain UNTIL ... somehow, sometime, that pressure has got to come up to the outside pressure (unless you keep the earplugs in for ever). And when it does, it's gonna happen all at once. AND THAT IS GONNA HURT !!!

What's worse, the outside air pressure can force the earplug into your ear, and then you could be talking damaged eardrum.

So suck, yawn, pinch, blow, anything BUT ... DO NOT PUT THOSE DODGY PLUGS IN YOUR EARS !!!!!!!!!!

[netibiza]

On a flight once, the hostess gave some young girls plastic cups to hold over their ears, now whether this worked or it was just the novelty of it, they stopped crying!

[natalie_1982]

Jayne they're not "dodgy earplugs", they're designed for this exact purpose and have a hole through the middle so that the pressure is graduated which is why you can remove them when at full altitude. They are not the kind of ear plugs you would use to help you sleep or if you worked on a jackhammer, they;re not for the purpose of reducing noise.

Also, as propergomper pointed out, he / she has the same problem as me in that no matter how much you try to blow your ears they don't pop and ends up just causing increasing pressure and pain resulting, for me, in a phobia of flying!

[sense4all]

http://www.genmedical.com/store/index.html?lan g=en-uk&target=d64.html

here's the blurb on them.

[KARL]

This problem is caused by the atmospheric pressure within the aircraft deliberately being allowed to within a matter of minutes drop to the equivalent of you having be whisked as much as 2km up into the air. It is indeed the resulting pressure changes that cause the discomfort and once it has set in it becomes increasingly difficult to shift as the differential increases. Having a cold or some inflammation of the tubes linking the inner ear and the throat (or if they are naturally/congenitally constricted) will also make it difficult to equalise the pressure. The "popping" of your ears would work if you got the hang of it - some people find this difficult to do correctly just like some cannot wink with one eye at a time. Some can work the trick by using muscles within the throat area, altogether without pinching the nose or blowing. One of the most likely methods of achieving equalisation is to take just a few large gulps of a drink. Seeing as it should be done frequently (see above regarding avoiding increased differential) within at least the first 20 minutes of a flight and again as soon as descent starts, best make that drink plain water.