While I'm not a dr and no longer living with one and have switched from reporting on medicine to reporting on music, I can offer that the post-flight pain could be due to the same in-flight pressure buildup.

If it feels like it's routing to your ears,if your ears keep popping or clicking or feeling clogged and your hearing is dulled, you could have very common eustachian tube problems.

If that doesn't sound familiar to you, your Eustachian tube connects the middle ear space to the back of the nose. Its primary function is to assure normal pressure inside the ear. It is normally closed, but when you swallow or yawn, it opens to allow air into the middle ear, which equalizes the pressure on each side of the eardrum. You feel the pressure pain when things aren't working correctly or there is a blockage.

Yes, yawning or swallowing can sometimes remedy this, but decongestant by mouth or nasal spray almost always works.

So, think ahead if you've recently had a cold, or a sinus infection or suffer from allergies....because a stuffy nose leads to stuffy ears and to that lovely axe in the head feeling.