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You have painful ear popping when you fly. My name is Beverly Bitterman. I'm an ARNP
and health and wellness consultant and I'm here to give you some tips and strategies
to make your flight more comfortable. The first thing you should know is that you want
your ears to pop when you're on the airplane. What that does is equalizes the pressure between
your inner ear and your the outside of your body. And, that's a good thing. It hurts because
there's some swelling in the tube that connects your inner ear to your nose. So, what we want
to do is do things that will open up that tube. Some simple things you can do are chewing
gum. That's a great thing to do when you're taking off and landing. Usually, the problem
is worse on landing. Although, sometimes taking off. And, other things that keep your jaw
moving. You can even just move your jaw. Open your mouth really wide and you hear that crackle
back there. That's a good thing that can help open up that Eustachian tube. If you've had
a cold or if you are congested or have allergies or something like that, you might need to
do a little bit more. Sometimes, if you're quite congested you may want to take a medication
like pseudoephedrine. You buy this from the druggist. You don't need a prescription, but
you do have to sign for it. I prefer the short acting variety, the thirty milligram tablet.
And, I advise taking it about half an hour before you get on the plane and about every
four hours after that until you've landed. That helps decrease congestion and open up
that tube. If that isn't enough, you can add some nasal spray. A decongestant nasal spray.
A puff in each nostril is a good way to also get to the back or the opening of that tube
in the back of your nose and help open things up. If you have still a bad pain, another
strategy the stewardess can help you with is to give you a cup and some hot water and
you take your napkin. You put it in the bottom of the cup. You put the hot water on the napkin
and then you take that and you hold it on your ear. And, that actually lets some steam
some moist heat get onto your ear and it feels really good. If you're still having difficulty
or you've got a child with that problem, then you might want to see your doctor. Because,
they can order some drops that will help decrease pain with flying. This is Beverly Bitterman,
ARNP and good travels to you.