Originally Posted by Delta767
I recently flew home over Christmas with a head cold, and the flight made my cold even worse. Since I've been home my cold seems to have gone away, but I still have pressure around my ears like there is still fluid stuck there.
Has anyone else flown while they were sick and had this happen to them? How were you able to get rid of the pressure built up around your ears?
Yep, you are doomed. This happened to me in 1980 - flew from Milan to SFO with a head cold - ruptured one eardrum, badly damaged the other. Had fluid, "pressure" in my ears and partial hearing loss (high tones) for SIX YEARS. I used to carry a letter from my ENT in case of head cold on flight day asking airlines to allow me to reschedule flights for medical reasons as I had suffered massive ear damage due to flying while sick previously. I still 24 years later have problems with my ears that the doc atrributes to that flight.
As to doing anything to relieve the pressure sensation short term - I never found anything that worked for more than 5 minutes (including decongestants) so let us know if you do find something that works.