Ear Block

[Myself002]

GARRHHHH I hate ear block!

Right now the pressure in my left ear will not equalize and its starting to be painfull. Thats what I get for flying with my sinuses all messed up.

I've heard of some sort of liquid drop you put in your ear to clear it up anyone know what its called? I've dealt with the occasional ear block since becoming a pilot but today I say no more!

[Sev]

Chew gum, yawn a lot, stand on your head, yell all of these will sort of work.

I could explain the anatomy, but putting something in your ear will not alleviate the problem unless you pop the eardrum... EW

[RegalSwan]

Scuba Diving develops a lot of tricks for this, here are a few. Too much preasure in the ear: Hard Candy since swallowing helps a lot, chewing gum because working the jaw will sometimes open up the ear canal. Also, before dives when I know that I have sinus problems I will take Sudafed or any other over the counter to keep everything open for the duration of the dive. They recommend against this in all the books but with the new long lasting stuff you dont run the risk of having things close up while under...or in your case over. Good luck with this, I hate it too, and there is nothing worse than taking the 3 hour drive back from the dive site only hearing the music in one ear...

[Myself002]

Lol I know most of the tricks and although I've never heard of the hard candy one the others didn't work. I know about the anatomy abd how the flap with the pressure thingy works. I've heard about these drops and figured someone else would have as well. No idea how they work but when the pain comes I just want a solution.

As far as medicine comes I can't take certain types (mostly ones with codine or some other relaxent)

[Sev]

Actually there's a small channel that runs from the back of your throat to your inner ear. This is usually filled with mucus and stuff, which is why it's possible to have two different air pressures in your head, one in the inner ear, and one outside. This is the reason throat infections typically travel to the ears as well.

Basically what happens is the airpressure inside your ear ends up being different from the airpressure outside and it puts physical pressure on your eardrum, warping it and causing pain. The goal is to equialise the pressures, so you do stuff that will either force air into your inner ear or let it move out. Ears popping.

So unless you peirce your eardrum there is no external method for equalising the pressures in your ear. The drops you speak of are probably a topical painkiller. They won't solve the problem, but it can potentially take away the pain.

Start chewing some gum and watch a movie, it might solve the problem.

[NorthernPete]

Yawn (not being bored, my solution suggestion!)... I work in an underground gold mine and travel down 720m by elevator in about 1 minute, just keep moving your jaw, seems to work for me in that pressure change.

if not, watch some american idol or survivor, you should be yawning in no time.

[BigChickenStrips]

if not, watch some american idol or survivor, you should be yawning in no time.

lol... so true

[ronboskz650sr]

Squeeze your nose shut, keep your lips tightly closed and blow. The air will travel up the eustacian tube and press the eardrum back out to the normal position. This is the method used by Air Force aviators, and always worked for me. We did alot of altitude variation in training, as you might imagine, and some of the changes were very rapid. This works, but may seem contrary to what your mother told you.
As a pilot, you may already know this...if you were a military pilot, anyway. Best thing for me was to use sudafed ahead of time, and carry Afrin just in case. That's If I really had to fly with a cold, which I did.

God bless!

-Ron

[Nalian]

On the flip side of the last post (in other words, don't combine the two!), plug your nose, keep your mouth shut and swallow. It should pull on whatever is blocking up your ear and can eventually pull it out. This can be painful and does feel awkward though.

Good luck!

[ronboskz650sr]

I think the ear block he's referring to is the outward pressure from descending from a higher altitude (lower pressure). Our ears self equalize on the way up, but descending (increased outside atmospheric pressure) cause the eardrum itself to deform inward. This is where the eustacian tube, and however you get some extra air pressure into it to the back of the eardrum, comes into play for relieving earblock. Chewing, swallowing, and yawning to slightly deform the tube and open it up a little may work unless you have a small eustacian tube (some people do) or any slight swelling in the lymph nodes around it (common when you have a cold). Then the best way is to squeeze and blow.