# Medical Question: My Ear After a 2 Flights **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 13, 2018, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013 "2018-06-13T05:23:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013/21 "2018-06-13T19:37:42Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Hey, I was trying to get her a bit of relief for over night. She’s been to the doctor now so it doesn’t matter. If a placebo works it works. Home remedies have a long history, most are woo, I know this. Some folks need to be doing something, anything, to help themselves. That’s all I was saying. Advocating for homeopathy here at the SDMB garners as much positive notice as advocating for the moon landing being a hoax or endorsing holocaust denial. Just so you know . . . 😉 ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013/22 "2018-06-13T20:39:30Z")
Regardless of the nonexistent active ingredients in Similasan, I’m not sure that dripping even pure water into a possibly infected ear is more likely to be helpful than harmful. When I’ve had ear infections, the doctor warned me not to get water in the ear while showering until it was cleared up. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013/23 "2018-06-13T21:34:18Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Advocating for homeopathy here at the SDMB garners as much positive notice as advocating for the moon landing being a hoax or endorsing holocaust denial. > > Just so you know . . . > > 😉 Gotcha. I am not a an advocate of homeopathy. I woulda went the the ER that night. I am a bit of an alarmist when it comes to health. I was trying to give Sunny Daze an easement thru the night. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013/24 "2018-06-14T00:41:19Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > G I was trying to give Sunny Daze an easement thru the night. A nonpossessory right to use and/or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it? How would that help? :eek: Oh, maybe you mean a state or feeling of comfort or peace. Never mind . . . 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013/25 "2018-06-14T03:49:15Z")
Yeah, I kinda/sorta made up that usage of the word. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013/26 "2018-06-14T03:53:47Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Nitpick, the eustachian tube is in the middle ear. Ya got me. Wikipedia says it: “is a tube that links the nasopharynx to the middle ear. It is a part of the middle ear.” ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013/27 "2018-06-14T06:46:09Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Another nitpick: OP says his discomfort began during the descent/landing phase of his flight. Cabin pressure was increasing during this time, which means that his inner ear, being unable to equalize, is now at a slight vacuum rather than at elevated pressure. It goes both ways. I bet you anything that the OP had pain during ascent too. The pain is just stronger on descent. I don’t know why but I guess that the same membranes are being flexed again (a second time) in such a short period of time. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013/28 "2018-06-14T10:41:35Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I did. ☹ > > I will go to urgent care. > > Thank you everyone. So how did you make out? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013/29 "2018-06-14T12:33:26Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > So how did you make out? Hopefully it doesn’t need to be **HOW DID YOU MAKE OUT?** Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013/30 "2018-06-14T13:17:39Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > It goes both ways. I bet you anything that the OP had pain during ascent too. The pain is just stronger on descent. I don’t know why but I guess that the same membranes are being flexed again (a second time) in such a short period of time. Yeah, sometimes eustachians close up more after use, maybe just because your cold medicine is wearing off. There’s something in scuba diving called “reverse squeeze”. Normally if your tubes are giving you trouble, it’s at the beginning of a dive. This is annoying, but not a big deal, since you can always abort the dive if you can’t get your ears to equalize. But sometimes, your tubes get problematic at the end of the dive when you’re trying to surface, and the pressurized air in your inner ear can’t escape. Then you’ve got the whole blinding pain vs. dwindling air supply dilemma. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013/31 "2018-06-14T15:39:56Z")
I didn’t go yesterday because I had a school commitment for my son all morning, and by afternoon I felt too ill to go anywhere. I realize that sounds ridiculous, but since I would have had to drive myself there and back, and my thinking power was broken, it made sense to me at the time. I still don’t feel so great and may go later today. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013/32 "2018-06-14T16:13:04Z")
Hope you feel better soon. I had a very similar experience and the doc told me I had a bad ear infection. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013/33 "2018-06-14T16:22:39Z")
I think you should be on a regimen of pseudoephedrine for multiple days. I’d also hit the nasal spray pretty hard for a few days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-my-ear-after-a-2-flights/816013.md?page=1)