Advice for your ears when flying?

[South-east boy]

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?

[grahamw48]

Suck sweets as the plane is climbing and descending, then the pressure within the ear will be naturally equalised (the 'popping' that you'll feel).

[Dedworth]

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Ears-and-Flying.htm

[Terpe]

Yep, sucking sweets and plenty of swallowing can help equalise the pressure.
You may want to consider also using some pressure-equalising ear plugs as a sort of belt and braces approach. Boot sell them. Some folks ay they work great others say not much. But worth a try.

Crying is a good alternative too

[Terpe]

Good link Dedworth. I've bookmarked that one

[South-east boy]

Thanks for those, I'll remember them! I was going to take a type of hayfever tablet I have anyway as they help me sleep, so hopefully they will help too!

[Rosie1958]

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.

[Steve.r]

Whateve you do..........DO NOT hold your nose and try to blow down it, that just makes it worse if you have some sort of block. Wiggle your jaw from side to side will release the pressure too and let you equalise.

[KeithD]

.....plenty of swallowing can help equalise the pressure.

I keep telling her that

[lastlid]

Sucking on a sweet always works for me. The only problem is getting younger kids to do the same.....(i dont mean getting kids to eat sweets, I mean getting them to do it when you want them too - murphys law...)

[Iani]

There's a bit of a knack to it, but if you can make yourself yawn, this will nearly always sort this problem.

As I said though, there really is a knack to this. Thinking of someone else doing it might help.