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.