I Have to Miss a Plane Flight

Every year me and my parents fly back to China to visit my grandparents. This year I can't because of my Eustachian problems and I don't want to cause permanent barotrauma. I know I will get to visit them again hopefully but it sucks that I can't go this time. I'm staying home to take care of the animals then

 

You have to do what you think is right for you at the moment after checking out the options.
Im sure you can maybe skype chat them or even better a written letter speaks words and they will treasure it always.
Love glynis

 

I had to miss my flight as well, because my older dog is kinda sick and i couldn't risk it. Hope it works out for you

 

How old is your dog? One of my cats is 20.

 

I have to skip a flight as well Too scared tinnitus will get louder, and I'm unsure if I can habituate again. If it was someplace nearby and the plane ride was an hour or two it would be easier maybe, but the ride is 9-10 hours. I was going to visit my grandparents too so I feel sorry not being able to go...

 

Bro, my dog almost died 4 weeks ago from a bad seizure. He just turned 16 2 weeks ago and i couldn't ttavel because the boarding facility could not give him his meds at night. So I cannot travel any further, till i solve this issue. I really wanted to travel, but cannot risk it , at all...

 

That's awful. You can tell a dog is very well taken care of if it can make it to that old. My cat began to howl at the wall. Cats going senile is never a good sign for them.

 

I take care of my dog, just like i care about life and this board and how i take care of those things

 

hey @threefirefour I'm sorry you're missing your family trip this year, but you just take care of you! I'm blessed with tubes that open really easily so planes have never been much of a problem for me, but, from what I know of ETD it can be more treatable than tinnitus itself (and if you really have tube issues, getting to the bottom of that might help the T!)

There's always next year, right?

 

I'm pretty sure it will. Recently it's gotten a lot worse and my ears feel full with liquid, and both my eardrums are "bulging" according to the general doctor I've seen. Getting to an ENT is basically pulling teeth in this country...

 

Really? I'm sorry to hear that; when I was in DC I had no problem getting in to ENTs on <24hrs notice a bunch of times, and even though I'm in a much more rural area now, for urgent stuff it looks like it's not that big a deal. Granted, I've been on no-referral-necessary PPO healthcare plans for most of the last decade; HMOs are terrible, and American insurance in general is pretty awful :-/

If your drums are really bulging then there's a lot of fluid and crap back there; if you can get that to drain it might help all of your problems a lot. Some dumb things you can do that might help and are unlikely to hurt: hot compresses on your neck and behind your ear, steam inhalation (steam ROOMS are fantastic if you can swing it). Pseudoephedrine is an OTC drug (that you have to show ID for because idiots use it to cook crappy trailer meth) that might help; I don't love it because it tends to make me feel a little stimmy, but I'd use it no problem if I had a big congestion problem.

 

It's hard to explain but it's basically this:

I can get to see an ENT without any money out of pocket, but I need to get a referral from my main doctor. She did, but the problem for some reason (I don't understand why), is that I have to wait 72 hours as of yesterday. 48 more to go then I can call to make an appointment. Earliest I can go is late friday.

 

:-/ sounds like insurance company shenanigans of some kind. Good luck. Unlike tinnitus, E-tube things causing obvious symptoms can be visualized pretty well, it's a mechanical problem, and there are things that can be done.

Don't be surprised if the ENT wants to stick a scope up your nose; I've had this done, and while it wasn't pleasant, it's relatively brief, and not painful. (I thought it was uncomfortable, but much less than when I had a scope down my throat to my stomach without anesthesia... let alone the time I let a doctor jam a camera up my yingyang to look at my bladder... if I ever have THAT one done again, they're gonna have to knock me out).

 

I actually want them to. That's the best way to see if you have ETD and how bad it is, and my biggest fear wasn't that the ENT would be to lazy to do it. That they would only do one test and say "yeah, you have/don't have ETD, now screw off I don't want to work right now" or something.