scooby595

Went to Aberdeen yesterday (on business & flew oddly enough), ear still not popped !!! Gonna be doing this on a regular basis so anyone got any tips on how to survive it, it's driving me mad !!!!!

Cheers

suprabeast

1.swallow...

2. hold your nose and try to breathe out..

ajm

Depends whether your ears are under pressured or over pressured. If they are under pressured you can hold your nose and then try blowing out of it. Ths is what you do when you go diving. It will increase the pressure on the inside to match atmospheric.

If your ears are over pressured this will obviously not work, or will make it worse. Try yawning, it actually uses a muscle that opens the passage between your ears and your nose. The pressure should then equalise. You can actually work this muscle without yawning, but its kind of hard to describe how to do it. You can either do it or not!

When did they feel they needed to pop? If it was as the aircraft began its descent then the chances are that your ears are at a lower pressure than atmospheric at ground level and therefore method one should work!

suprabeast

Yeah i can do that but i left it off of the list cos i couldn't even begin to imagine how to describe doing it!!

You jus hear a little click in your ear!

pslewis

I find the best cure is, just as you are about to come in for finals, pop to the loo and hold your head in the bowl for 3 minutes, then pull the chain. Something about the drop in altitude and the open waste discharge vent seems to cure it.

Alternatively you could chew some gum on finals!!

Pete

wide

Suck on a boiled sweet (or suck on anything), alternatively take a dump

Daz34

Yawn

CrisPDuk

Are they keeping you awake

RJMS

iTrader: (2)

Have you really tried this - it sounds good in theory

ajm

It must have sucked Pete's brain out his ears!

RJMS

iTrader: (2)

Now that would explain a lot

jfrf

doing a wide exagerated yawn, normally works for me

Leslie

You have to be a bit careful with pinching your nose and blowing with your mouth closed. It is possible to get mucus into the sinus cavities and if you have a bit of a cold they can become infected. That is extremely painful and I would not wish that on anyone.

Safest way is by yawning or otherwise exercising those rear jaw muscles near the throat area. There is a knack to it which I learned in my previous career which consists of tensioning those muscles and moving your jaw from side to side, but it is one of those things you can't explain to anyone. It opens two little valves which allow atmospheric pressure to re-enter the ear passageways from your throat.

Les

Alas

Pull any nose/ear hairs you may have with a slow pull rather than a sharp tug. Does'nt fix your problem but you forget about it for a while.

Alas

CharlesW

I have found that the most discomfort occurs on descending, especially if one has a cold. Usually squeezing one's nose with mouth shut and gently exerting pressure on the eustachian tubes - they connect the thoat to the middle ear - does the trick. As mentioned previously yawning can help. If neither work, it helps to lean one's head to the side, while pinching your nose etc. This probably stretches the eustacian tube on the side opposite to the way your head is leaning. Thus allowing air to reach the ear and equalise the pressure.
So lean your head to the left to clear the righthand ear and to the right to clear the lefthand ear.

However, if you have a very heavy cold, it is probably best not to travel by air. It is possible to perforate an ear drum, if the pressure cannot be equalised. It has happened to me. A decongestant such as Sudafed taken before the flight might help in these circumstances.

skiddus_markus

I yawn and it works fine for me.Keep doing it as you come down.

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Always happens to me when I fly up to Aberdeen, must be the scottish air

I was totally deaf for about 2 hours once after a flight, most embarrassing when I had to get a taxi , he was chatting away and I couldn't hear a word he was saying

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

The eustachian tube opens when swallowing (a design fault in some regards as it can cause food to get lodged up there) but it does mean that swallowing does allow the air pressure to balance out... ideally holding your nose and swallowing will open the tubes most easily and I found this worked best when bouncing around Europe through work....

bluto22b

Believe me folks this works! You have to really concentrate though to stop your eyeballs being lifted from their sockets and your ears may bleed slightly, but hey whats the big deal? Better than going deaf in one ear for 4 hours.

fast bloke

what you need to do is open your eustacian tube to allow pressure to equalise. As AJM days - once you know what you are trying to do you can just do it. If you hold your nose and swallow it should do the trick - don't try blowing, as any mucus in the tube could be blown into your inner ear, causing balance problems and perfed ear drums

fast bloke

Just read Kieran Burns answer - other than my crappy spelling I agree 100%

paul w

Try tipping your head on its side and tip some water in offending ear,wriggle the ear to move the water while still on its side then tip head back up and that works for me most times.

Cheers

fast bloke

Paul - If this works you have earwax - go and get them syringed :euuuugh:

Iwan

Something that worked from my diving days. If you're trying to clear your left ear, tilt you're head over to the right before swallowing/holding nose etc. Tilt your head over to the left when you clear your right ear. It helps hold "some tubes or other" open and makes clearing much easier.

I just tilt my head a bit each way and wiggle my jaw or swallow and that usually does it.

scooby595

still not popped !!!!!

Was crazy at work, surprising how weird it felt holding the phone to my left ear. Reckon I might need to see the Dr. if it ain't sorted soon. None of the tips so far have worked !!!! H E L P !!!!


Thanks for the advice and tips though anyway.

Steve

Dark Blue Mark

Ive suffered from many busrt ear drums on flights - its the most painful thing ever. Being inside your head you can't do much to stop it, unlike if you cut your hand for example.

I find as soon as the pain comes on, to get a sweet or a drink and keep swallowing hard repeatedly. Gradually the pressure equalises and you get a little pop and the pain goes away. Then builds up again and so on

If I have a cold I shouldn't really fly - but also depends on the quality of the plane and how well it equalises the pressure in the cabin.

I had an infection last week and it burst again - absolute agony for a couple of hours and im now deaf in one ear! Should be back to normal soon.

Oil worker too? I do the Aberdeen trip.

MB

Graz

Explains a lot as I normally use the hold your nose and blow trick. However on one trip to New York I had several days of feeling that my balance was wrong. You know how you feel after you get off a boat that's been in rough seas for a few hours, the ground beneath your feet doesn't feel stable anymore. Well I had that for several days, most disconcerting. At the time I put it down to jetlag / exhaustion, flying into NY of an evening and then going out partying till 4am (NY time!) didn't really help

Brendan Hughes

Many???

Dark Blue Mark

Yep About 5 from memory. Plus a couple of non flying related ones! Until now ive not had one since I was younger.

MB

Leslie

The answer was what we did at work. Never fly with a cold!

Les