How I Avoid Painful Ear Popping On A Plane

I was reviewing one of my older videos where I talk about how I clear my ear piercing that was semi clogged.  Then I remembered an event, that happened to me many years ago, which I thought I really should share.

In 1982 my mom and I were traveling from Trinidad and Tobago (my home town) to Canada for the first time to visit my uncle.  This was our first time travelling so far.

The flight was direct to Toronto and the pilot flew the plane at a height of 33,000 feet!  Every thing was going great until the pilot announced that we were approaching the airport and he was beginning descend.  As the minutes passed I felt a tension in my temples. This tension grew to a excrutiating pain in my ears.  The pain was so bad I was in tears and thought that my ears drums were about to explode!  My mom was also in pain and I could tell that she felt helpless.  We did not know what was really going on.

We even asked the flight attendant for assistance but they were no help at all. Those last few minutes went by so slowly it was as if time was going in slow motion.

Eventually I felt a pop in my ears and the pain eased up for a while but headache and soarness of ears lasted for a while.

So my mom and I told my uncle what happened and he informed us that we needed to chew gum, swallow and blow very hard when we feel the pain coming on.  So on our trip back home we tried the suggested tips but none of them worked.

I learned about another tip of putting cotton in my ears on my next flight.  This tip worked!! I only experience the pain if the airplane plane has to fly very high.  I have no problems when I fly around to the Caribbean islands.

For this technique to work for me I must put the cotton (now I use ear plugs) before the door of the plane is closed. When I am in this state I can't speak to anyone because I can't hear!!

There was a time the plane had already taken off and I totally forgot to put in my ear plugs.  I then put them into my ears when I remembered but it was too late the pressure had already developed in my ears.  When the plane began to descend I paniked and tensed up in preparation of the pain which began soon after but it was not as bad as the very first time.

Other members in my family don't have this problem for which I am grateful because the experience is very unpleasant. I remember on one flight there was baby that began to cry as the plane began to descend and I knew what was going happening.  It hurt me to hear the poor child crying in pain and there was nothing much that could be done.

Nine Ways To Use Coconut Oil

As a young child growing up, I remember some of my friends of Indian decent, use to put a lot of coconut oil in their hair and the hair looked very greasy and shiny.  Plus their hair smelt a bit funny so since then I grew up with a negative attitude towards coconut oil. 

As I grew older I learned that coconut oil is a very healthy oil and can be used for so many things.  In this blog post I will be sharing with you nine ways that I use coconut oil.  Note:  Coconut oil becomes firm in cold temperatures and liquefies in warm temperatures.  So in some of the ways mentioned below, you may need to use the coconut oil in its liquid form.  Tip:  Try putting a small bit of coconut oil (when it is in the solid form) in your hands and rub your hands together.  The coconut oil will quickly reduce to a liquid form.  The heat from the friction of rubbing your hands together causes the solid coconut oil to become liquid.

1. Great for the hair. Use generous amount in the hair as a deep conditioner.  Put a show cap over your head for about 45-60 minutes then wash your hair in normal fashion.  You can also use coconut oil as a daily hair moisturizer, apply some to the scalp as well and massage.  It is good for hair growth.
2. Apply to your skin as a skin lotion.  You can also mix with your regular skin lotion and then apply to your skin.
3. I mix coconut oil with some baking soda and apply to my face as a exfoliator.  You can also use brown sugar instead of the baking soda.  The crystals of the brown sugar are big and will give you a nice facial scrub.
4. Add about a tablespoon in your smoothie.  I make a green smoothie every morning and I add a tablespoon of coconut oil.  You can also digest a tablespoon of coconut oil just like that if you think you can handle it.
5. Cooking oil is great to cook with.  When I prepare my eggs, I use coconut oil instead of butter.  If I am baking a cake for example and the recipe requires vegetable oil, I use coconut oil instead.
6. Oral Health:  I have been using coconut oil to do my oil pulling every day.  What is oil pulling?  Oil pulling is a technique where you put a tablespoon of oil in your mouth, swish it around for a few minutes and then spit out the oil.  This technique helps removes all the bacteria and toxins in your mouth.  Another benefits of Oil pulling, with coconut oil, is that it whitens the teeth.
7. I have been working from home since 2015 and there are days I don't put on my earrings and on the days that I do, I find it is a little difficult to get my earnings into the piercings in my ears.  So I apply a small bit of coconut oil to my ear lobes and massage them a bit and it is so much easier to put on my earrings after I have done this. 
8. Coconut Oil is great to use as a make up remover.  Just put a small amount of the coconut oil on a piece of cotton and apply to your face.  Wash your face and you will be amazed how effective this is and your face will be well moisturized and feel really soft.
9. Use a bit of coconut oil on your lips to moisturize.  I also like to apply a bit on my lips after I putting on my lip stick.  My lips have a beautiful shine and they are well moisturized.

Coconut oil is a great product in the home.  I always keep a bottle of coconut oil and baking soda in my pantry.  When purchasing coconut oil, look for the organic, cold pressed ones.