Ears popping on an airplane

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Anybody know how to relieve this incessant torture?

ooh, I hate that.

I've only ever taken a few commercial flights in my life and the first time my ear popped, I thought something was terribly wrong with my ear. This high-pitched squeal, almost like a ladies' fart!

You know how sometimes when you yawn deeply, you can feel it in your ears? Do that a lot when you feel the pressure building up. Or you can do what divers do; pinch off your nose and instead of trying to exhale through your nose, try to inhale while swallowing. Divers go down to positive pressure. You're going up to negative pressure so I think the opposite technique to what divers use would help in this case.

holding your mouth open as wide as possible and sticking your tongue out. It works when I'm driving through the mountains. Probably not the best idea though while on a plane full of people =P

I heard chewing gum works as well.

I only ever flew one time and never will again. I'm very sensitive to pressure change - I was almost screaming in pain and couldn't hear right for weeks after.

I have always had this problem. I was a army paratrooper for 7 years, it sucked. It took 2-3 hours after hitting the ground to clear my ears, only a natural yawn will do it.

I've flown dozens of times and this only happened to me once when I was getting over a cold and was still stuffy. It was incredibly painful, I felt as if my eardrums were going to burst or start bleeding any second. And I could only hear very dully (as if my fingers were in my ears) for a week after. If I was chewing something, I couldn't hear anything other than the incredibly loud echoes of my chewing!

I haven't actually been outside of Pennsylvania since 1992. I don't really like travel period. Hotel beds are so uncomfortable and I miss too many things from home.

If the pressure is really big, I usually try to yawn, but if I can't yawn at that moment I do the following, which is sucky to describe but here goes:


1. Close my nose with one hand so I can't breathe through it anymore.
2. Make my mouth balloon up?.. like those kids that make fun of fat people etc. so the air in my mouth can't escape. Really put some pressure on it (not tooo much ofcourse, but enough), like you really want to make your cheeks as chubby looking as possible.

Usually the ear popping will happen automatically once you do that.

Try:

* Swallowing a lot (sucking on some hard candy or chewing gum can help with this)
* Yawning (this is the best, if you can do it)

Mine only stopped doing it after I had flown a LOT. XD; Like... a lot. Like my dad had a plane. I stopped getting airsick, too. But until it stopped on its own, I had still not figured out what to do about it. (I mean, if yawning and blowing and all that stuff didn't work, obviously, which it doesn't always..) Sorry. D:

Hmm, maybe if you held your head ear-down over a steaming pot of water, or, I dunno, squirted lemon juice in there or something. I never tried stuff like that. Of course it might make things worse, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices in the name of... science? XD;;;

Make yourself yawn and it should go straight away.

I had terrible problems with this when I was a kid but as an adult my ears generally do not bother me when I fly. I guess I stopped having these problems as in my early teens or so.

I assume it had something to do with changes in my ears as I grew. At any rate it is not a problem for me at all whereas I used to be in pain at the end of every flight - though it did not stop me from liking flying and becoming interested in airplanes!

Thanks guys n' gals for your replies means a lot to get some help.

Get yourself some flight earplugs. They're available at most pharmacies. They have little valve thingies in them that allow the pressure to adjust gradually. They do work, I have to wear them every time I fly due to scarred eardrums.

Ever had that happen on an elevator?

Every summer, I used to go to the observation deck of J.P. Morgan Chase Tower (the tallest building in Houston) and get that sensation going up the elevator to the 60th floor, where the deck was located.