Ear pressure while/after flying...

[NotUrsula]

Note that that is decongestant, NOT antihistamine. Benedryl is antihistamine. What you want for an effective preventative is real pseudoephedrine; the kind you need to sign for at the pharmacy counter.

You can also ask a physician for a scrip for Otic drops; these are topical painkiller drops that you put in the ear *if* you have a painful episode. Most physicians are VERY wary about prescribing them because overuse can mask a punctured eardrum, but if you discuss precautions to prevent that you may get the scrip. VERY helpful if preventative measures are not effective, especially for kids. Also, a Rx steroid nasal spray is very helpful if you have residual pressure after the flight; it will relieve any swelling.

If you use Earplanes, ask the FA to inform you when descent is about to begin; they know and can tell you just before it starts.

If all else fails and you begin to experience pain on the flight, call the FA and ask for cups for your ears. They will know what you are asking for. They will put a wad of napkins in the bottoms of two coffee cups and then pour a little bit of boiling water onto the napkins. What you need to do when they bring them is put the cups over your ears and hold them there tightly for as long as you can stand the heat; the presence of the moist heat helps to equalize the pressure and relieve the pain. CAUTION: When you get the cups, be SURE to hold them sideways over the carpet for a few seconds to be sure that all the water was absorbed by the napkins; you don't want to burn yourself if the hot water drips.)

 

[ajpa]

EarPlanes!!!

My sinuses are terrible and I always had severe ear pain during and after flying. When I found EarPlanes, I used them and they were PERFECT! I absolutely will NOT fly without them anymore. I put them in when the door closes and I pop them out when we land. No problems at all!

Ditto! I have strict instructions from my teen to buy her earplanes for our trip.
Otherwise she is in tears at takeoff & landing (bad bad ear pain)

 

[mjplantz]

Another vote for Earplanes here. Our youngest would experience pain to the point of tears on descent. With the Earplanes in she has no issue at all.

I definitely recommend that you have them in 45-60 minutes prior to your estimated landing time. Most flights of any distance now are easily at 35,000+ feet and they take as much time as possible to descend. If you miss the window to get them back in they lose a lot of their effectiveness. She opts to keep them in the whole time just to be safe.

 

[HappyHappy]

Pseudoephedrine never helped me unfortunately. My problem was severe pain, never had a blockage problem just some very temporary popping. Earplanes work every time but I have to make sure I pull down on my earlobe to insert(per instructions) if I want the most effectiveness. I get mine at Walmart.

 

[disny_luvr]

OP here.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I went ahead and ordered EarPlanes for my DH and DS. I'll report back when we return home to let you guys know how it worked for them. After reading some of your experiences with EarPlanes and reading the reviews I'm hopeful these will work.

 

[kristenrice]

OP here.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I went ahead and ordered EarPlanes for my DH and DS. I'll report back when we return home to let you guys know how it worked for them. After reading some of your experiences with EarPlanes and reading the reviews I'm hopeful these will work.

Have a great trip! I see you will be there at almost the same time as us. We're staying the 16th-23rd at OKW.

Just a word of "warning" about the EarPlanes...they can get uncomfortable after a few hours in your ears. I tend to feel a little irritation after I take them out, but it is a very small price to pay to keep my ears from hurting for hours. It's not exactly painful, but it is something you might notice.

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

The last time I flew was 15 years agi but I remember he ear pain went down my neck, it was awful. I also heard muffled for a few dYs afterwards. This time I will take the real Sudafed a day before leaving and I bought earplanes. I hope it works.

 

[2binak]

EarPlanes!!!

My sinuses are terrible and I always had severe ear pain during and after flying. When I found EarPlanes, I used them and they were PERFECT! I absolutely will NOT fly without them anymore. I put them in when the door closes and I pop them out when we land. No problems at all!

Another recommendation for Ear Planes! I always use Ear Planes when I fly. The few times I've gone without them, I've regretted it as I've ended up with pain that has lasted upwards of 24 hours. I always leave them in for the entire flight.

OP - I hope they work for your Dh & your son. I see that you ordered them, but you can buy them at any Target, WalMart or drug store too.

 

[NEV2OLD4DIS]

I haven't tried Ear Planes, but would definitely try these for my child first being something that isn't a drug. My ent doctor recommended squirting Afrin in each nostril 1 hr before flight time, and after many flights using it, I have never had ear pain/blockage again. However, I am not sure if it is for children. I think last time we flew we began Sudafed for my youngest 12 hrs before, and he didn't have any serious problems with air pressure. Definitely will check into Ear Planes for him next time though!

 

[sherreis]

Another vote for earplanes! DS12 has a horrible time with his ears when we fly and we found out about them here on the DIS. We never fly without them anymore. He is a much happier kid when he has his earplanes. He prefers to leave them in place cause he doesn't want to risk not having them in on time for descent.

 

[Southernswthrt]

Flying this December with my DD who will be 20 months - any advice for her? Not sure she would keep earplanes in her ears or even if they fit toddlers.

 

[LSchrow]

Ear Planes and decongestant together will do the trick. You may be able to get away with just the decongestant if they don't want to use the EarPlanes.
But start taking the decongestant at least 12 hrs prior to travel.

i've used the earpalnes/decongestant combo for years (recommended by the ENT), and flying now is a pleasure. i've always had ear fluid problems, and the pain was horrific.
btw, i take the dose of decongestant about an hour prior to our flight.

 

[Lewisc]

Real sudafed (or generic) about an hour before takeoff and an hour before landing. I do that even if I'm taking the pills before landing sooner then suggested per the dosage instructions.

I agree with the PP, you want the stuff you need to show your drivers license to get.

 

[Sheaboys]

Real sudafed (or generic) about an hour before takeoff and an hour before landing. I do that even if I'm taking the pills before landing sooner then suggested per the dosage instructions.

I agree with the PP, you want the stuff you need to show your drivers license to get.

We had to do this, for our 3yr old. We flew from MA to San Diego, it was the worst flight ever. Drinking, sucking on lollipops, nothing worked. He cried going up and down, during that leg of the trip, which was not nonstop, so it was 4x of screaming in pain.

On the way back, we gave him children's sudafed (half dose) 1 hour before take off, worked wonders. That is what we have been doing with him ever since. He has not flown in about 6 yrs and will be 12 when we go, but with his nasal and ear issues that he has always had, we will be following that route again, in fact, we will be following that route with another one of our children, who is following in the same footsteps as him.

 

[alaska8]

Afrin is great, definately makes you shudder when you squirt it in but works. (I always carry some in my flight bag). If I feel any congestion/snuffles coming on and Im scheduled to fly I take decongestant as soon as I can and keep taking it up to and including the flight.
I always think of descent around the 20 minutes prior to landing mark, although flight times change so its hard for a passenger to time it exactly. We can usually "feel it" (sort of a "rounding the top of a hill" feeling LOL) If you have a timer on your watch set it to the flight time (flight time listed on schedules is not accurate) they list in the announcements then around the 30/35 minutes prior to landing mark ask the flight attendants if they can let you know the "top of descent". Believe me if you ask us at the start of the flight it gets added to all the other quetions people ask us in our brains and its easy to forget to let you know

 

[luvmy2babies]

Flying this December with my DD who will be 20 months - any advice for her? Not sure she would keep earplanes in her ears or even if they fit toddlers.

For that age, the method is usually drinking (nursing), sucking a pacifier or snacking on something that requires significant chewing effort during takeoff and descent. You start it on takeoff as soon as you feel the slightest difference in your ears, then about 45 minutes before landing. And the recommendation has been that if the child is sleeping during either takeoff or descent, that they be allowed to continue to sleep.

My daughter flew at 18 months, 2, and 3. My son has flown at 10 and 21 months and this has worked for them as long as they did not have a cold at the time.

 

[snesguy]

I had a lot of ear problems when I used to fly a lot. I have a solution that worked for me but after hearing so many great things about EarPlanes and reading about how they work I would suggest trying those first, they are designed for exactly this problem and should work if you use them as directed.

If you have ear problems frequently when you fly, the worst will be if you fly when you have a cold and your sinuses are blocked, then you will feel sharp stabbing pains shooting through your ear almost like a knife.

When the plane is ascending (climbing after takeoff) you shouldn't have pain problems because of the way the ear works. You have the middle ear connected by a small Eustachian tube to the throat area. The small Eustachian tubes that allow the ear pressure to be equalized are what causes the problem. I think the tube must be bigger at one end then the other because it seems that ascending doesn't cause much trouble but descending (landing) is a big problem. When descending for landing the air pressure around you is increasing and if your Eustachian tube is blocked then the pressure in your ear will not equalize and you experience pain in your ear.

If you forget your EarPlanes and you have problems here's what to do. #1 -- don't do anything on the ascent, your ears will take care of themselves when climbing. This is a modified version of the Valsalva method mentioned earlier in the thread although I didn't know about this when I came up with it many years ago. First try the Valsalva method, plug your nose with one hand and keep your mouth closed, then GRADUALLY use your muscles to contract your lungs and belly (blow) until one or both of your ears equalizes (you will feel the pop in them when they do), then immediately relax your lungs (stop blowing). If you are lucky this will equalize everything. You will probably have to do this a few times on the way down. If you can get by with using gentle blowing pressure to equalize your ears (your sinuses aren't blocked) then you can do this quite a few times on the way down and not have too much trouble. If your sinuses are blocked (you have a cold) you should take a decongestant two hours before descent begins because it's going to be rough on your ears and this will help. The big problem with blocked sinuses is that now probably one ear is more blocked than the other and when you use the straight Valsalva method where you blow into both ears at equal pressure the ear that is in the best shape will equalize first always and the other ear either won't equalize (if you stop blowing right away) and will get much worse, or if keep blowing into both ears you can clear the bad ear but you will over pressure the good ear which is not good and should be avoided if possible because you might cause some temporary damage to the good ear while trying to clear the bad ear. My technique is to first blow into both ears (pug nose and close mouth and blow, gently at first and gradually increasing your blowing pressure) until one ear clears then back off the blowing. You feel the good (better) ear equalize and you know now which is the bad ear that is not equalizing. To equalize the bad ear while protecting the good ear you need to plug your nose and close your mouth (like before) but also now you take your other hand and press the flap on the outside of the GOOD ear (not the bad ear) closed and you apply pressure on the closed ear flap of the good ear before you start blowing, as you start blowing you need to push pretty hard on the GOOD ear to keep the eardrum in the good ear from pushing out when you blow from inside to clear the bad ear, then blow until the BAD ear clears (while protecting the good ear by applying pressure from the outside on the flap over the eardrum). You may have to blow pretty hard to clear the bad ear and this technique helps protect the good ear while clearing the bad ear.

This technique works great for me. I have seen a person in pain on descent because of this ear problem and after explaining my technique to them they had relief and thought I must be a doctor because it worked when everything else they tried hadn't (this was before EarPlanes).

Edit: Oh, and do not drink anything cold imediately before or during descent. Hot beverages are OK.

 

[HappyHappy]

snesguy you are very lucky that you do not experience pain ascending. I always did without earplanes. " Kill me now " kind of pain!!

 

[disny_luvr]

OP here. Sadly our vacation is over, but I am happy to report that the EarPlanes worked wonders! My DH and DS will definitely be using them from now on when we fly. Thanks for the recommendation. To anyone else who experiences ear pain/pressure while/after flying give EarPlanes a try.

 

[PFW]

Thanks for the tip on using EarPlanes. I have purchased a set for each of us and have them packed in our carry-on bags already for our August flight.