Flight Related Ear Pain

[Lady B]

I had surgery due to ruptured ear drum (left ear) last year in July 2016. Then ENT doctor said I was okay to fly after about 3 months. I asked him before that if I should use anything for the flight, he said I didn't need to.

Had a first time flight since surgery few days ago. God it was horrible! I never expected to have such a painful experience, it was a 1 hour 45 mins flight. The landing was the worst i almost cried. Had to deal with it twice. Horrid! My hearing was somewhat muffled for a few hours and I was scared to yawn. Although the flight home was a little easier cuz I took painkillers and decongestant, also used earplugs.

But I will have about 20 hour flight in a month. How should I deal with this ? Please help!

 

[Elinor]

I guess the thing to do would be painkillers, a strong decongestant (a steroidal one). There are some pressure equalizing ear plugs that you can try, but I don't know how effective they are. Chewing gum helps equalizing pressure too, if you don't want to yawn.

Unfortunately the options are few.

 

[Alue]

A decongestant nasal spray (like Afrin) can be helpful too.