Ear Barotrauma After Flight with Cold: Blocked Ear and Anxiety

[Doobz]

I flew home from holiday with a cold and sore throat on Saturday. Despite wearing EarPlanes earplugs, my ears were very painful during descent and wouldn't pop. I was left with muffled hearing and a feeling of fullness, so I went to my GP on Monday. He said my eardrums were retracted and prescribed a steroid nasal spray to reduce the inflammation.

My left ear has improved, but my right still feels blocked and sore. I suffer from anxiety and depression, and this situation is starting to make me panic.

Has anyone else experienced this? Do you have any advice? How long did it take to clear up?

Thank you.

 

[GregCA]

I flew home from holiday with a cold and sore throat on Saturday. Despite wearing EarPlanes earplugs, my ears were very painful during descent and wouldn't pop. I was left with muffled hearing and a feeling of fullness, so I went to my GP on Monday. He said my eardrums were retracted and prescribed a steroid nasal spray to reduce the inflammation.

My left ear has improved, but my right still feels blocked and sore. I suffer from anxiety and depression, and this situation is starting to make me panic.

Has anyone else experienced this? Do you have any advice? How long did it take to clear up?

Thank you.

I'm not a doctor, and this is not medical advice.

Your Eustachian tube is probably blocked by mucus from your cold, which has trapped air at a certain pressure in your middle ear. When the airplane descended, the air pressure around you increased, but the pressure in your middle ear did not equalize because of the blockage. As a result, you now have higher pressure on the outer side of your eardrum, pushing it inward.

This lack of mobility in the eardrum makes your hearing sound muffled.

You should regain clarity once your Eustachian tube clears and the pressure in your middle ear equalizes with the pressure in the outer ear. It sounds like your doctor has given you treatment to help with that.

The typical ways to encourage equalization are yawning and swallowing, but with mucus blocking the tube, those methods may fail. I wouldn't recommend trying the Valsalva maneuver, as it can sometimes make things worse.

Good luck!