Tonight I was on a plane from Detroit to San Francisco, as we began our descent I felt a strong pressure behind my eyes. In an instant my forehead felt like it was going to burst, my eyeballs felt like they would pop out. I began to sweat and thought maybe I could put my head down between my legs. As I lowered my head the pain only got worse, I held my hand over my eyes as the pressure continued to build. My eyes started to water although I did not notice a loss in vision. There was a sharp pain across my brow and it started to feel like someone was driving a knife into my eye socket. This coninuted as we leveled to the landing strip and then gradually went away as we pulled into the gate. I can still feel a little pain behind my eyes now a good 1 1/2 after I landed.
I assume it was something to do with my sinus, but I do not currently have any sinus problems. I fly several times a year and this is the first time this has happened. I am worried because I fly again in a few days and I was completley imobile during this experience. The only thing I could do was grab my head and breathe deeply.
Any ideas on why this happened and what to do about it ? I will probably bring some sinus medicine to take next time even though I’m not sure this was the problem.
I had the very same experience once. My ears never “popped” the entire descent. I thought my head was going to explode. About 15 minutes after landing my head cleared with a large pop, and I was fine…
I had a slight cold, it clogged the small canal (I remember the name, but there is no chance I could spell it correctly) that allowed the pressure inside my ear to equalise to the pressure outside my ear.
so it most likely won’t happen every time you fly now, but if your sick, take a decongestant (personal opinon here)
You need to learn the Valsalva maneuver, the rapid change in altitude was not equalized in your sinus areas/ears.
It’s extremely painful, and probably dangerous.
OTC anti-histamines are possibly of some benefit, though I’ve never tried them for that purpose. See your doctor.
The Valsalva technique involves gripping your nose tightly closed and attempting to breath out forcefully with your mouth closed. You’ll need to close your eyes as well. What you’re doing is attempting to equalize the pressure, and the relief is immediate and welcomed, believe me. It may take several and repeated trys to achieve results.
Yawning and chewing gum are not sufficient at the point you describe, in my experience.
During most of the late seventies the Overseers were using a model of implant that was discovered to have a small defect that caused it to not handle changes in altitude, compression, etc., very well. Although this was quickly remedied, some folks managed to slip through the cracks of bureaucracy and continue to carry the faulty implants to this day.
You should count yourself lucky. That defect has been known to kill a few deep-sea divers!
This sounds more like your sinus rather than the ear. It still may help to chew gum as the movement of your jaw will allow the pressure to be equalized both on take-off and landing.
Right but when taking off the pressure is greater inside the sinus and less outside, so by keeping the canal open the pressure inside will be released. It reverses happens upon landing with the pressure being greater on the outside. Chewing will help keep the canal from closing.
Sounds like the frontal sinus was blocked and the pressure built up. IANAD - just someone with sinus problems who’s done a lot of reading. The sinuses can directly give you pain in the forehead (frontal), around the eyes (ethmoid), deep behind the eyes (sphenoid) or in the cheekbones and upper teeth (maxillary). What’s really fun is that the pain can sometimes reflect to other parts of the head - my last flight I had the worst pain around the base of the skull, and read later that it was probably pressure in the sphenoid sinus squeezing a nerve.
Whew, thanks everybody ! I didn’t notice any problems with my ears. I can usually handle that problem w/o gum and have only noticed my ears “popping” when taking off.
I will start to practice the trick Tedster suggested but will also take some sinus medicine and chew gum. That should cover all the bases !
I’m not looking forward to the next trip but I’ll let you know how it goes.
Normally the canal is always open, that is why something as simple as yawning can cause your ears to pop. Any changes in pressure, positive or negative, require your ears to “pop” to equalise that pressure inside your head. Sometimes its a simple hiss, many times you don’t notice the change.