Flying: Pain in the ears and coping strategies

Flying used to be very difficult indeed for me, until a consultant ear surgeon gave me a strategy. First, though, the difficulties that can be experienced.

Symptoms of pain due to flying

• The noise of the aircraft would partially deafen me if I was flying for any length of time. Some years ago I flew from London to Los Angeles and was almost completely deaf when I arrived. That was very scary indeed, and fortunately my hearing recovered after a night's sleep. However, that is not to be relied on!

• Changes in the cabin pressure would cause me intense pain in my ears and head.

• After landing, I would find my own voice echoing painfully inside my head when I spoke and this was painfully louder at some orientations of my head. There was absolutely no way that I could interact with anyone meaningfully until my head cleared which could take several days.

Minimising pain due to flying

Now these difficulties are things of the past, apart from when I happen to have a bad cold and can't realistically get out of a flight booking and overseas commitment that has been booked in advance.

• The consultant pointed out that the problems with aircraft pressure change occur on the descent rather than the ascent, i.e. when the air pressure in the cabin is being increased in readiness for landing. So, he told me, some 45 minutes before landing use nasal decongenstant drops (such as Otravine) which are readily available without prescription. Put your head right back and make sure that a few drops get right up your noise - and hence disperse into the nasal passages. In fact, I use the drops at take-off too because I have found that other variations in cabin pressure do sometimes occur.

• The consultant also advised keeping the nasal passages open during the descent and equalising the internal and external pressure by pinching the nostrils together every so often and blowing (as if trying to puff out the cheeks). Sometimes, but not always, this makes the "ears go pop" and is apparently more efficient than yawning and swallowing, which are also recommended. Sucking sweets seems to help encourage swallowing and is an additional strategy.

• I never asked the consultant about cutting down noise because I had that sorted already - see my review of earplugs and ear defenders. It is, though, important to loosen the protection momentarily from time to time during descent to help equalise the internal and external pressure.

In spite of these strategies, I do not enjoy flying and always feel a sense of physical relief when I can remove the earplugs and tear off the ear defenders. Even then, my ears tend to feel rather bruised inside and it takes a while for them to get back to normal.