Quote Originally Posted by South-east boy View Post
I know this sounds funny, but the last time I flew was many years ago to Vancouver in Canada when I was 13! Anyway, when we went down to stop at Calgary, my ears were in serious pain and for the next day or so there was a funny swishing sound! On the way back I was fine though. I'm a little worried this could happen again, so any tips that might prevent this or what to do if it does happen again?
My late mum often had pain from her ears when flying and after a particularly bad experience a medical examination revealled that she had a perforated ear drum.

If you are concerned why not pop along to your local doctors surgery before you go to make sure that you don't have any obvious problems or hardened ear wax that can easily be removed. Like the others, I'd also recommend sucking on sweets during take off and descent when ears are proned to pop. Years ago, during RAF flights, we used to be offered a drink to encourage swallowing during take off as an alternative solution too.