Question
Thanks again for youre reply...I have been told by my doctor, my travel agent,and my pharmacist that it COULD be dangereous to hop on that plane. Since my ears are clogged, if a loss of cabin pressure would occur, the extra pressure to my ears could cause my ...... to burst. (i cannot for the life of me remember that word...im french and the french word is Tympan) This thing is what babies get punctured to aleviate ear pain when they are young...ring a bell ???
Sorry about that.
Mikeal

Answer

What they mean is your tympanic membrane or your ear drum and yes, kids have grommets inserted into here. However, I have to tell you, a ruptured eardrum, although not totally pleasant at the time, will heal on its own with no intervention.
If you want to be able to get on that plane before Friday, then the quickest way to solve an ear wax problem is to get your ears syringed. Unless you have been softening the wax, it won't be easy, but can be done with great effect and if you clear the wax you won't have any potential problems on the plane!

Answer

Originally posted by Mikeal:
Hi, ive booked a golfing trip with a friend and a client of mine. My ears have been clogged for the past 10 days or so and ive been told this can be dangereous on the plane. I have no pain, no discharge etc...
This was during a cold i had recently. although i feel much better, my ears are still clogged...Im on antibiotics now and tried chiro, acupunctureand even going deep under water and nothing seems to work.
Please advise my trip is on january 31 2003 and im scared a little...
Thanks
I have been dealing with this same problem for YEARS. I dont know if you use cuetips? that is NOT good realy just more like a money making for the market. So dont try to clean your ears with cuetips first of all. I will tell you why here in a minute. One time my ears got so bad it felt as if I was deaf. I went to the doctors and they tried to clean it out and it was so painful he had to stop. So what I did was for a week (maybe less cant remember) I first put a few drops of proxide and lay down for a while (which felt soothing) and then did the other ear of course. I then got some warm (make sure it is NOT hot and make sure it is NOT cold) water with a half of teaspoon of backing soda (not powder) and took a sergine or one of those things that you suck up snot from a baby (I hope you know what I am talking about. They are usually blue and it is shaped like a tear drop with a long snout and at the end is round). You suck up the backing soda mixed with warm water and squeeze in the ears while sitting up (you will need an empty bowl to catch the excess of water). After I did this for a few days (two times a day) a big glob of gunk came out. It was hard then I kept flushing out the ears and suddendly I heard a nosise like having your ears plugged if you were driving in the mountains and then it pops. Well I heard the pop and my gosh I think I never heard as clear as I did that day. What happens is (now if this is the case with you) the build up when your ears run (wax) and then on top of that if you use cuetips the cotton from the cue tips will come off and build up and build up and so on. It sounds like it could be years of build up.
With what I am going through is my ears ALWAYS feels like it is running and I NEVER want to get to the point where it hardens. See when it harden that is when my ears plugged up it was during a strange weather change. I still use it when my ears feels as if it is acting up. You may want to try this method. You wouldnt want the doctors to take it out, because it is VERY painful. What THEY do is scrap it out with this tool. It felt as if they were scrapping skin along with it, actually it bleed a little. anyways this method is an old method my grandma taught me and I am so glad she did. As I said before I have been dealing with my ears running ALL the time, but I never get to the point where it will plug.


Answer

Originally posted by Mikeal:
Hi, ive booked a golfing trip with a friend and a client of mine. My ears have been clogged for the past 10 days or so and ive been told this can be dangereous on the plane. I have no pain, no discharge etc...
This was during a cold i had recently. although i feel much better, my ears are still clogged...Im on antibiotics now and tried chiro, acupunctureand even going deep under water and nothing seems to work.
Please advise my trip is on january 31 2003 and im scared a little...
Thanks
I have been dealing with this same problem for YEARS. I dont know if you use cuetips? that is NOT good realy just more like a money making for the market. So dont try to clean your ears with cuetips first of all. I will tell you why here in a minute. One time my ears got so bad it felt as if I was deaf. I went to the doctors and they tried to clean it out and it was so painful he had to stop. So what I did was for a week (maybe less cant remember) I first put a few drops of proxide and lay down for a while (which felt soothing) and then did the other ear of course. I then got some warm (make sure it is NOT hot and make sure it is NOT cold) water with a half of teaspoon of backing soda (not powder) and took a sergine or one of those things that you suck up snot from a baby (I hope you know what I am talking about. They are usually blue and it is shaped like a tear drop with a long snout and at the end is round). You suck up the backing soda mixed with warm water and squeeze in the ears while sitting up (you will need an empty bowl to catch the excess of water). After I did this for a few days (two times a day) a big glob of gunk came out. It was hard then I kept flushing out the ears and suddendly I heard a nosise like having your ears plugged if you were driving in the mountains and then it pops. Well I heard the pop and my gosh I think I never heard as clear as I did that day. What happens is (now if this is the case with you) the build up when your ears run (wax) and then on top of that if you use cuetips the cotton from the cue tips will come off and build up and build up and so on. It sounds like it could be years of build up.
With what I am going through is my ears ALWAYS feels like it is running and I NEVER want to get to the point where it hardens. See when it harden that is when my ears plugged up it was during a strange weather change. I still use it when my ears feels as if it is acting up. You may want to try this method. You wouldnt want the doctors to take it out, because it is VERY painful. What THEY do is scrap it out with this tool. It felt as if they were scrapping skin along with it, actually it bleed a little. anyways this method is an old method my grandma taught me and I am so glad she did. As I said before I have been dealing with my ears running ALL the time, but I never get to the point where it will plug.


Answer

Originally posted by Mikeal:
Hi, ive booked a golfing trip with a friend and a client of mine. My ears have been clogged for the past 10 days or so and ive been told this can be dangereous on the plane. I have no pain, no discharge etc...
This was during a cold i had recently. although i feel much better, my ears are still clogged...Im on antibiotics now and tried chiro, acupunctureand even going deep under water and nothing seems to work.
Please advise my trip is on january 31 2003 and im scared a little...
Thanks
I have been dealing with this same problem for YEARS. I dont know if you use cuetips? that is NOT good realy just more like a money making for the market. So dont try to clean your ears with cuetips first of all. I will tell you why here in a minute. One time my ears got so bad it felt as if I was deaf. I went to the doctors and they tried to clean it out and it was so painful he had to stop. So what I did was for a week (maybe less cant remember) I first put a few drops of proxide and lay down for a while (which felt soothing) and then did the other ear of course. I then got some warm (make sure it is NOT hot and make sure it is NOT cold) water with a half of teaspoon of backing soda (not powder) and took a sergine or one of those things that you suck up snot from a baby (I hope you know what I am talking about. They are usually blue and it is shaped like a tear drop with a long snout and at the end is round). You suck up the backing soda mixed with warm water and squeeze in the ears while sitting up (you will need an empty bowl to catch the excess of water). After I did this for a few days (two times a day) a big glob of gunk came out. It was hard then I kept flushing out the ears and suddendly I heard a nosise like having your ears plugged if you were driving in the mountains and then it pops. Well I heard the pop and my gosh I think I never heard as clear as I did that day. What happens is (now if this is the case with you) the build up when your ears run (wax) and then on top of that if you use cuetips the cotton from the cue tips will come off and build up and build up and so on. It sounds like it could be years of build up.
With what I am going through is my ears ALWAYS feels like it is running and I NEVER want to get to the point where it hardens. See when it harden that is when my ears plugged up it was during a strange weather change. I still use it when my ears feels as if it is acting up. You may want to try this method. You wouldnt want the doctors to take it out, because it is VERY painful. What THEY do is scrap it out with this tool. It felt as if they were scrapping skin along with it, actually it bleed a little. anyways this method is an old method my grandma taught me and I am so glad she did. As I said before I have been dealing with my ears running ALL the time, but I never get to the point where it will plug.


Answer

What is WRONG specifically with your ears? What is causing the clog? The amount of pressure required to pop an ear drum (or reverse pressure, it would need to be a vacuum I believe), is pretty intense. If you're concerned then obviously don't do it. I've just personally never heard of this, - I just do know that it can be very painful on the ears with or even without an ear infection or ear problem.
Do you have a wax buildup? Do you have inflammation? Discharge? Do you have an infection? I mean, do you know exactly what it is?
If you're at risk of popping your ear drum with the slight loss of pressure that may occur within the cabin, then I'd think your ear condition is serious enough to be warranting some intervention now.
Children may have "tubes" inserted in through the ear drum to relieve pressure and permit the fluids to drain, and the pre-op pain is horrible, the pain of HAVING the tubes is usually pretty bad, the whole experience is uncomfortable.
The word "dangerous" leads me to believe this is something you need to get medical attention for immediately to correct, rather than avoiding planes. And if your condition presents itself as "dangerous" from "possible" loss of cabin air pressure, I'd think simply cleaning your ears is not sufficient -- and you need more aggressive intervention.