Originally Posted by
anacc
Hello everyone,
I'm writing because I really need some help.
I've always had many ear infections and it was worst when I was a kid but now that am I'm 22 I still get them like 3 or 4 times a year.
When I was younger I put the ear tubes.
I've only been on flights twice and I went to France both times. The first time I was 6 and I barely had any pain. However, the second time when I was 13 I had severe ear pain which started shortly after the beginning of the flight. My ears began to pop and they popped throughout the entire flight. I was in pain the whole time and for a week after, and I think my ears have never been the same ever since.
Sometimes I go to a "higher" place like a mountain and my ears start popping and I always have pain.
I haven't been on an airplane ever since, because I'm terrified about going through that again and I just can't stand the idea. I've been to multiple ear doctors but no one can help me with is.
Another thing I'd like to say is that since the last flight, I can pop my ears on my own, whitout yawning or chewing gum or anything. Has this happened to anyone? Besides, I can't do the valsava maneuvre.
I'm sorry for my english mistakes.
Thank you very much
Ana
There was a time, around age 16-20 perhaps, when I would regularly get severe headaches during descent. They would start at the beginning of descent, maybe as the plane descended below ~30,000ft., and continued until nearly landing. They seemed to be focused in my forehead, probably the frontal sinus.
I never found a remedy, but by the time I was about 24 they had ceased. I guess as my skull bone structure changed, whatever pressure differential that persisted before during altitude change began to equalise more easily.
So from my personal experience, if you can surmount the psychological stress and try again occasionally, you may find at some point that your headaches do not recur.
Of course, if they do, it is a painful experiment.
