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Blocked ears while travelling |
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by lightbee  (January 2007) (rank 18th) |
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Some people, such as myself, commonly get blocked ears when there is a change of air pressure such as when travelling. Some people never get this at all.
This can be merely uncomfortable, or it can be extremely painful and even cause temporary deafness. I can testify to
having experienced all forms of this, and it was worse as a child than as an adult. If you, or your children, suffer from blocked ears, it can be caused by a number of things. These include going up or down hill in a car, being in a pressurised air cabin in a plane - especially on taking off and landing. Sometimes even something as simple as having only one car window down when travelling in the car (having 2 open helps equalise the pressure).
Some of the things that I have found can help are:
- Swallowing or yawning.
- Chewing on something such as lollies (e.g. minties) or chewing gum to help your ears pop.
- Sniffing on eucalyptus oil to clear the air ways. On planes, the attendants usually have eucalyptus sachets available if you just ask.
- Using a nasal cold and flu spray to clear the airways. The doctor told me after my deafness episode after flying that if I had used a nasal spray it would have relieved the symptoms much sooner.
- Taking something with pseudoephedrine before travelling. I always used to take 2 sudafed about 1/2 an hour before I flew anywhere and it made a big difference. You can also take something like this if you have deafness or pain after travelling.
- For infants, you can get ear drops from the chemist which can be given to help keep their ears clear.
If you have a severe reaction - a lot of pain or deafness, symptoms that last longer than a few hours after travelling, or just if you're concerned - always go and see a doctor, but hopefully some of these techniques can help prevent blocked ears from getting that serious.
