Yes, I had this last month during descent into London City airport which is known for being very steep due to tall buildings around. The pain was super sharp during descent and my hearing was muffled for the rest of the day. Talked to a doctor and was advised to take a pill of Sudafed and use a Becanase spray. Those fixed the problem.
If it is situation like mine (though mine is realy intense agony, brings me to tears), there might be nothing that can help :( i tried everything doctors recomended.
The way it works for normal people is that the pressure keeps building up, but they can relieve it and "restart" the buildup with simple measures like chewing, yawning and so on.
In my case (and likely yours) those measures just do not restart it, so the pressure keeps building up so much more to the point of no recovery. At this point the nose pinch might be even dangerous. I don't like it, because it also causes so much pain, relieves for 2 seconds and then high pain again. It just blows my ears out.
One small thing that worked 1 time was a nasal spray before flight and before landing. Maybe it will be more effective for you! Best thing to do is to visit nose-ears-throat doctor for this.
Try the Valsalva maneuver (pinch your nose and try to blow out your nose, VERY gently, and slowly increase the pressure, but not too much) You can try it right here sitting at your computer. You may hear a small pop, and you should feel a pressure or swelling in your ears that is not painful. You may notice that things sound different. Shortly after you stop it will go away on its own or after you swallow once or twice. Again you might notice a slight pop, as it goes back to normal. If this works for you, then you know you can do it on the plane, but you will need to stay ahead of the pressure changes. On the way up your ears will equalize the pressure on their own. On the way down stay ahead of the pressure change by performing the Valsalva before you feel the need to.
Your inner ear is connected to the outside world through your Estuation tubes that open into your throat. These are soft opening holes like a flat hose that easily lets air out from your inner ear. (too little air to notice) They are not always open like a hard sided garden hose, so air does not go back into the inner ear as easily. Physically manipulating these tubes (by yawning, chewing gum, or rubbing behind your ears) can get them to open enough to allow air back in a little bit at a time. Blowing with the Valsalva maneuver is an attempt to force air into them. Blowing too hard can damage your eardrums if the air suddenly forces its way in all at once. If the pressure differential has become to great those tubes will be mashed shut and no amount of manipulation or blowing will get air to enter them. You can even try the Valsalva maneuver while chewing gum or yawning. That is why you need to stay ahead of it. So try pre-pressurizing your inner ear while it is still easy to do. Also, if you have a cold, or are stuffed up, or your inner ear is shaped such that this is hard to do, up those tubes can be swollen shut and you will have trouble equalizing the pressure.
I appreciate the infomative comment! However, I cannot even do Valsava under normal conditions without blowing my ears out, they are aleady quite shut (i performed some in front of doctos too). Gentle gets me nowhere... Performing valsava also causes a bit of pain too. And even if I manage, the results are disappointing, because usually only one ear opens up first and I do not want to push it more before second one opens up... and this is when I do not have a stuffed nose too, my doctor even checked my nasal cavity with this little camera tube and said it was normal.
It is just a fact that they are not normal at all and regural techniques do not work... My doctors guess that abnormaly huge tonsils migth be causing this issue, but that will require a surgery to remove them. But the barotrauma in the airplane is too minor of a reason for them to perform it.
A good valsalva is essential if you're going to be in the flying business long-term. I also highly, highly recommend keeping some Afrin on hand when you fly in case you can't clear your ears. Also don't fly with a sinus infection, and even after the infection clears be very careful. I know people who have gotten ruptured eardrums from flying while sick.
I get pain like that when im flying with a cold or sinus infection and cant pop my ears because of congestion, or something. I try to clear it by holding my nose closed and trying to "blow out of" my ears (slowly!), and if that doesn't do it, hot shower and decongestant.
For me, the thing that works best is tilting my head back and taking a big swallow. I have to do this throughout the descent to keep the pressure at bay, so I always bring a water bottle on board and save most of it for the descent for this reason.
I've experienced this since my teens and it took me many painful flights to find out that this isn't typical, and when most people talk about their ears popping on planes, they are experiencing something much milder than this. I haven't talked to a doctor about it but someone absolutely would be justified in getting medical advice about it if they wanted.
I think this should be asked to a doctor specialized in hearing etc. Don't know how it is called where you are from, but usually there are "ear doctors" (otolaryngologist).
Try to pinch your nose and blow (this works only on descent). It is called the Valsalva maneuver and is also used by divers to equalize ear pressure on descent.
I used to suffer from this really badly, and sometimes on ascent too.
Then I went to my local… not sure what they’re called actually, audiologist? Basically an optician but for your ears, and they vacuumed all of the accumulated ear wax and stuff out of my ears. Not only did my hearing improve, but I didn’t have any issues like this afterwards. That was about 3 years ago, and I’ve just started to notice it happening a tiny bit again now, so I guess I’m due another hoover.
The hoovering is called microsuction for anyone trying to look it up. Works great, you just need to avoid loud people for a few weeks after if you want to retain your sanity
I've been using Earplanes, which are earplugs with a ceramic filter to make the pressure change more gradual. They sound gimmicky, but they are the only thing I've found that actually help. For me it doesn't completely eliminate the issue, but if worn correctly, I find the pain is reduced by about 90%.
That used to happen to me all the time. Sometimes the pain was intense. I completely stopped after my sinus surgery. I had a lot of cysts/polyps and a deviated septum that I had had my whole life. So in addition to getting to breath through my nose for the first time, I stopped experiencing pain when flying. Based on my experience, I wonder if a nasal spray might help. Something to reduce sinus inflammation as much as possible before you fly. Worth a shot!
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throwbackBBfan@reddit
I think this is early cancer
root1root@reddit
Yes, I had this last month during descent into London City airport which is known for being very steep due to tall buildings around. The pain was super sharp during descent and my hearing was muffled for the rest of the day. Talked to a doctor and was advised to take a pill of Sudafed and use a Becanase spray. Those fixed the problem.
Okamilota@reddit
If it is situation like mine (though mine is realy intense agony, brings me to tears), there might be nothing that can help :( i tried everything doctors recomended.
The way it works for normal people is that the pressure keeps building up, but they can relieve it and "restart" the buildup with simple measures like chewing, yawning and so on.
In my case (and likely yours) those measures just do not restart it, so the pressure keeps building up so much more to the point of no recovery. At this point the nose pinch might be even dangerous. I don't like it, because it also causes so much pain, relieves for 2 seconds and then high pain again. It just blows my ears out.
One small thing that worked 1 time was a nasal spray before flight and before landing. Maybe it will be more effective for you! Best thing to do is to visit nose-ears-throat doctor for this.
SRM_Thornfoot@reddit
Try the Valsalva maneuver (pinch your nose and try to blow out your nose, VERY gently, and slowly increase the pressure, but not too much) You can try it right here sitting at your computer. You may hear a small pop, and you should feel a pressure or swelling in your ears that is not painful. You may notice that things sound different. Shortly after you stop it will go away on its own or after you swallow once or twice. Again you might notice a slight pop, as it goes back to normal. If this works for you, then you know you can do it on the plane, but you will need to stay ahead of the pressure changes. On the way up your ears will equalize the pressure on their own. On the way down stay ahead of the pressure change by performing the Valsalva before you feel the need to.
Your inner ear is connected to the outside world through your Estuation tubes that open into your throat. These are soft opening holes like a flat hose that easily lets air out from your inner ear. (too little air to notice) They are not always open like a hard sided garden hose, so air does not go back into the inner ear as easily. Physically manipulating these tubes (by yawning, chewing gum, or rubbing behind your ears) can get them to open enough to allow air back in a little bit at a time. Blowing with the Valsalva maneuver is an attempt to force air into them. Blowing too hard can damage your eardrums if the air suddenly forces its way in all at once. If the pressure differential has become to great those tubes will be mashed shut and no amount of manipulation or blowing will get air to enter them. You can even try the Valsalva maneuver while chewing gum or yawning. That is why you need to stay ahead of it. So try pre-pressurizing your inner ear while it is still easy to do. Also, if you have a cold, or are stuffed up, or your inner ear is shaped such that this is hard to do, up those tubes can be swollen shut and you will have trouble equalizing the pressure.
Okamilota@reddit
I appreciate the infomative comment! However, I cannot even do Valsava under normal conditions without blowing my ears out, they are aleady quite shut (i performed some in front of doctos too). Gentle gets me nowhere... Performing valsava also causes a bit of pain too. And even if I manage, the results are disappointing, because usually only one ear opens up first and I do not want to push it more before second one opens up... and this is when I do not have a stuffed nose too, my doctor even checked my nasal cavity with this little camera tube and said it was normal.
It is just a fact that they are not normal at all and regural techniques do not work... My doctors guess that abnormaly huge tonsils migth be causing this issue, but that will require a surgery to remove them. But the barotrauma in the airplane is too minor of a reason for them to perform it.
IM_REFUELING@reddit
A good valsalva is essential if you're going to be in the flying business long-term. I also highly, highly recommend keeping some Afrin on hand when you fly in case you can't clear your ears. Also don't fly with a sinus infection, and even after the infection clears be very careful. I know people who have gotten ruptured eardrums from flying while sick.
Sad-Bus-7460@reddit
I get pain like that when im flying with a cold or sinus infection and cant pop my ears because of congestion, or something. I try to clear it by holding my nose closed and trying to "blow out of" my ears (slowly!), and if that doesn't do it, hot shower and decongestant.
I can rumble my ears, though, so YMMV
Arqueete@reddit
For me, the thing that works best is tilting my head back and taking a big swallow. I have to do this throughout the descent to keep the pressure at bay, so I always bring a water bottle on board and save most of it for the descent for this reason.
I've experienced this since my teens and it took me many painful flights to find out that this isn't typical, and when most people talk about their ears popping on planes, they are experiencing something much milder than this. I haven't talked to a doctor about it but someone absolutely would be justified in getting medical advice about it if they wanted.
bbcgn@reddit
I think this should be asked to a doctor specialized in hearing etc. Don't know how it is called where you are from, but usually there are "ear doctors" (otolaryngologist).
walksinsmallcircles@reddit
Try to pinch your nose and blow (this works only on descent). It is called the Valsalva maneuver and is also used by divers to equalize ear pressure on descent.
ConstableBlimeyChips@reddit
Fixed your link
walksinsmallcircles@reddit
Much appreciated
Aggravating_Tooth_15@reddit
Also you can tilt your head to isolate which ear you want to equalise. Whichever ear is pointing up will pop.
Disastrous_Common_32@reddit
This. And do it slowly and you will feel pressure moving toward your ears.
walksinsmallcircles@reddit
Yeap! Definitely not huff and puff and blow your ear drums…
BrewCityChaserV2@reddit
That's not normal. Get checked out by an ENT doctor.
gazchap@reddit
I used to suffer from this really badly, and sometimes on ascent too.
Then I went to my local… not sure what they’re called actually, audiologist? Basically an optician but for your ears, and they vacuumed all of the accumulated ear wax and stuff out of my ears. Not only did my hearing improve, but I didn’t have any issues like this afterwards. That was about 3 years ago, and I’ve just started to notice it happening a tiny bit again now, so I guess I’m due another hoover.
OmegaPoint6@reddit
The hoovering is called microsuction for anyone trying to look it up. Works great, you just need to avoid loud people for a few weeks after if you want to retain your sanity
rhineauto@reddit
I've been using Earplanes, which are earplugs with a ceramic filter to make the pressure change more gradual. They sound gimmicky, but they are the only thing I've found that actually help. For me it doesn't completely eliminate the issue, but if worn correctly, I find the pain is reduced by about 90%.
Acrobatic-Snow-4551@reddit
That used to happen to me all the time. Sometimes the pain was intense. I completely stopped after my sinus surgery. I had a lot of cysts/polyps and a deviated septum that I had had my whole life. So in addition to getting to breath through my nose for the first time, I stopped experiencing pain when flying. Based on my experience, I wonder if a nasal spray might help. Something to reduce sinus inflammation as much as possible before you fly. Worth a shot!
ranbirkadalla@reddit
Try a chewing gum or sucking a candy while descending. That works for me
NewChapter25@reddit
Completely normal. 😊 You'll get used to it the more you fly.
Poking your ear may make the pressure worse. Everyone's ears are different.
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