Eardrum problem: popping your ears on an airplane

[Ron Marie Douglas]

Dr. Steve,

I flew back on the 6th and since the first flight, my right ear has not unpopped. It doesn't hurt but its real annoying and screwing with my hearing. I am not congested otherwise and this clogged ear is driving me nuts. Any suggestions?

[fezident]

When I fly, my ears take a beating. I'm in quite a bit of pain and that clogged/muffled feeling lingers for at least a day.
I flew to FLA and back over the weekend and my left ear is STILL plugged.

Strangely, if I whip my head sideways to the left (as if I were trying to get water out of my ear) I feel relief for about 2 seconds. Then it plugs up again.

What gives?
And how can this be avoided? Do those "earplanes" ear plugs really do anything??

[Dr Steve]

Dr. Steve,

I flew back on the 6th and since the first flight, my right ear has not unpopped. It doesn't hurt but its real annoying and screwing with my hearing. I am not congested otherwise and this clogged ear is driving me nuts. Any suggestions?

Ok, a month later...sorry Ron Marie! I am the worst.

One of several things has happened:

1) your eardrum got stuck OUT on the way up
2) your eardrum got stuck IN on the way down
3) your eardrum perforated, either on the way up or the way down

now...what the hell am I talking about? Here's the deal:

the middle ear is an air-filled cavity (usually) behind the eardrum. There's a tube going from it to the back of the throat that equalizes pressure called the eustachian tube.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/images/ency/fullsize/19596.jpg

The way it's supposed to work is that when you go UP (decreased air pressure), the eardrum balloons out and when the pressure inside the eardrum is high enough compared to the outside pressure, air rushes out of the eustachian tube, the eardrum deflates, and pressure is equalized. This is why YAWNING works on the way UP.

When you go DOWN (increasing air pressure), the eardrum balloons in, and when the air pressure outside the ear is sufficiently high compared to that inside the middle ear, air rushes into the eustachian tube, the eardrum reinflates, and the pressure is again equalized. This is why you should BLOW on the way DOWN.

One of these processes caused a problem. It was most likely on the way down, and your middle ear may have had such a low pressure that it sucked fluid out from the surrounding tissues. Now it's full of fluid and you can't hear.

Your health care provider should have a thing called a tympanometer that can totally diagnose this condition. If it's just a retracted eardrum with a middle ear full of fluid, "popping" your ear by blowing will resolve the problem quickly. If the eardrum is perforated, it'll usually heal itself, but occasionally needs to be patched. You need to know the difference, because if it's perforated you don't want to get water in your ear (for obvious reasons).

I can't argue with too much on this page: http://www.ehow.com/how_2085315_pop-ears.html

[Ron Marie Douglas]

Thanks Dr. Steve. It's mostly back to normal (or I'm getting used to it) but it returned on Saturday for about 48 hours and then got better. I feel like I need to stick something way in there to release the tension but that's obviously not an option. Sounds like I should get it checked out.

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it.