Do you fly .....Do you like your hearing ?

Generally if a patient has Eustachian tube dysfunction they can’t valsalva. If you can’t easily force positive pressure up into your ear, the ear won’t have the ability to vent excess pressure out of the tube.

It can be a good idea to do in some cases for folks that have chronic issues in that it helps keeping the tube from sticking shut, but, it should be done with caution as some folks can over do it and cause some additional problems. Use common sense, don’t blow with all your might and you’ll be fine

The nasolacrimal duct should provide some relief to overpressure, but that duct can only handle so much overpressure.

There was a guy that Howard Stern had on his TV show way back in the early 90's named Kenneth Keith Kallenbach. This dude's gimmick was blowing cigarette smoke through the nasolacrimal duct (while clearly hammered out of his gourd).
 
The nasolacrimal duct should provide some relief to overpressure, but that duct can only handle so much overpressure.

There was a guy that Howard Stern had on his TV show way back in the early 90's named Kenneth Keith Kallenbach. This dude's gimmick was blowing cigarette smoke through the nasolacrimal duct (while clearly hammered out of his gourd).


To my knowledge there is no connection between the nasolcrimal duct and the middle ear and/or Eustachian tube.

To my knowledge as well, it’s not really an issue of over pressure, such as ascent, that causes the problem, but actually the depressirization of the cabin when descending.

At crusing elevation, the outside pressure is quite low, so the cabin is pressurized to equal something similar to sea level, or there abouts. Don’t know the exact figures, you may.

When the plane is coming in, and the outside pressure is increasing, they need to depressurize the cabin, and it’s this somewhat rapid depressurization that causes folks the most pain.
 
To my knowledge there is no connection between the nasolcrimal duct and the middle ear and/or Eustachian tube.

To my knowledge as well, it’s not really an issue of over pressure, such as ascent, that causes the problem, but actually the depressirization of the cabin when descending.

At crusing elevation, the outside pressure is quite low, so the cabin is pressurized to equal something similar to sea level, or there abouts. Don’t know the exact figures, you may.

When the plane is coming in, and the outside pressure is increasing, they need to depressurize the cabin, and it’s this somewhat rapid depressurization that causes folks the most pain.
On a standard day (59F/15C) at sea level the pressure is @14.7 psi/29.92 inHg/1013.25kPa. if the temperature was STP, it would be 22C (295K) and 1 atmosphere/760 torr. The pressurization provided by the bleed air systems from the engines brings the internal cabin pressure to only about 8 psi (which is why people tend to pass out and go to sleep). So, when descending, you are actually repressurizing.
 
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I'm a doctor of audiology and have to admit I've never heard of anyone using a laser for pressure relief. Generally all the procedures I've seen are done with a small scalpel for the insertion of pressure equalization tubes. I guess one could laser a small hole, which should heal quickly, in the event you have some Eustachian tube dysfunction which is preventing normal pressure equalization.

On the upside, I've seen pretty large holes, ruptured ear drums etc, heal nicely with no measurable effect on hearing. Will be curious to read up on this laser technique
FREAKIN LASER BEAMS
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24 days after the ear damage flight , and I’ve experienced the first ; ever so slight , improvement in my hearing.
I can’t express the anxiety I’ve been going through. Today I got a slight bit of low frequency back. It’s given me SOME equilibrium.
Not a soul in my household understands the magnitude of sudden extreme hearing loss in one ear. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
If any of you want to get an idea of the feeling , shove a tight fitting earplug in one ear , and keep it there for a month. Pretend there’s nothing there , and hold on to the hope that with each new day , when you wake up , maybe the ringing will be gone , and maybe you’ll hear as good as you have all your life - until a plane ride with the wife and kids took it away.
Just wanted to share a small bit of happiness with the world. It’s certainly not back anywhere near normal , but right now , I’ll take anything. - Our hearing is just one of the many things in life we all take for granted each day.
 
24 days after the ear damage flight , and I’ve experienced the first ; ever so slight , improvement in my hearing.
I can’t express the anxiety I’ve been going through. Today I got a slight bit of low frequency back. It’s given me SOME equilibrium.
Not a soul in my household understands the magnitude of sudden extreme hearing loss in one ear. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
If any of you want to get an idea of the feeling , shove a tight fitting earplug in one ear , and keep it there for a month. Pretend there’s nothing there , and hold on to the hope that with each new day , when you wake up , maybe the ringing will be gone , and maybe you’ll hear as good as you have all your life - until a plane ride with the wife and kids took it away.
Just wanted to share a small bit of happiness with the world. It’s certainly not back anywhere near normal , but right now , I’ll take anything. - Our hearing is just one of the many things in life we all take for granted each day.

Fingers crossed for your hopefully speedier full recovery
 
We ended spending an extra 8 days at the resort. The total cost for the medical care, hospital stay, ambulance, accommodation, food, bus to the airport and plane tickets, was close to $20,000! Every single penny was covered by the travel insurance policy we bought for less than $300. We were treated so well, by the doctors at the resort and hospital, the resort staff, Air Canada reps. and the insurance company, they were all amazing. They called us every day to see how we were doing, paid for anything they could upfront, like all the medical needs and plane tickets. They even provided us a with a secure site to exchange medical documents.

Anyone who travels abroad without travel/medical insurance, is taking a huge gamble!

Wow! My wife worked in the insurance industry and just told me about those traveling medical insurance policies. They are crazy cheap and if you need it, it can save you a ton of money!! Never heard of anyone using one until this.
 
At crusing elevation, the outside pressure is quite low, so the cabin is pressurized to equal something similar to sea level, or there abouts. Don’t know the exact figures, you may.

On a standard day (59F/15C) at sea level the pressure is @14.7 psi/29.92 inHg/1013.25kPa. if the temperature was STP, it would be 22C (295K) and 1 atmosphere/760 torr. The pressurization provided by the bleed air systems from the engines brings the internal cabin pressure to only about 8 psi (which is why people tend to pass out and go to sleep). So, when descending, you are actually repressurizing.

from my private pilot days or scuba days long ago I thought cabin pressure was supposed to be about 8,000 ft ASL or so, but a quick check with google shows 8 psi is at about 15,000 feet. i think people would start getting sick if they didn't get oxygen, or am I looking at this wrong?
 
from my private pilot days or scuba days long ago I thought cabin pressure was supposed to be about 8,000 ft ASL or so, but a quick check with google shows 8 psi is at about 15,000 feet. i think people would start getting sick if they didn't get oxygen, or am I looking at this wrong?
Nope you're absolutely right, I boogered the units (I was probably thinking faster than I can type). The cabin is indeed usually pressurized to about 8K MSL. I got the 8 part right at least...
 
For folks who have chronic issues, they put a tube through the ear drum which basically keeps the hole open, so you can’t build up pressure or fluid behind the ear drum. Basically it’s job is to do what the Eustachian tube doesn’t do very well.

Not a soul in my household understands the magnitude of sudden extreme hearing loss in one ear. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

I have chronic eutachian tube issues. Was much better living in dry, high altitude climates, but been at sea-level for over a decade.

Can’t stand decongestants, have had a fair amount of ruptures so thus scarring, but no idea on how to permanently solve this.

Was a frequent flier for decades too. Once I had to keep the cuts in the eardrums open for a week once due to travel reqs; huge PITA.

I also can related to the isolation and near panic of losing hearing. No fun, and few understand. I usually have to wait 2 weeks and it gets better as sinus clears.

@lqdsnddist - any solutions other than toobz?
 
from my private pilot days or scuba days long ago I thought cabin pressure was supposed to be about 8,000 ft ASL or so, but a quick check with google shows 8 psi is at about 15,000 feet. i think people would start getting sick if they didn't get oxygen, or am I looking at this wrong?

8k was always my reference; the new 787 is supposed to be 6k iirc
 
I have chronic eutachian tube issues. Was much better living in dry, high altitude climates, but been at sea-level for over a decade.

Can’t stand decongestants, have had a fair amount of ruptures so thus scarring, but no idea on how to permanently solve this.

Was a frequent flier for decades too. Once I had to keep the cuts in the eardrums open for a week once due to travel reqs; huge PITA.

I also can related to the isolation and near panic of losing hearing. No fun, and few understand. I usually have to wait 2 weeks and it gets better as sinus clears.

@lqdsnddist - any solutions other than toobz?

Thank god for you sir Thanks for the response. scariest shit of my life. I will NEVER fly again. I'm 47. Flown since 14 years old. The ONLY thing in life I feel I can do as good as anyone - is mix. Ain't no joke. Thank God its coming back.
 
Thank god for you sir Thanks for the response. scariest shit of my life. I will NEVER fly again. I'm 47. Flown since 14 years old. The ONLY thing in life I feel I can do as good as anyone - is mix. Ain't no joke. Thank God its coming back.

Just be careful when you have sinus issues. That’s the most precarious time for me. Never really had an option re: flying. Glad it’s ameliorating, albeit slowly. Stay hopeful. :)
 
I have chronic eutachian tube issues. Was much better living in dry, high altitude climates, but been at sea-level for over a decade.

Can’t stand decongestants, have had a fair amount of ruptures so thus scarring, but no idea on how to permanently solve this.

Was a frequent flier for decades too. Once I had to keep the cuts in the eardrums open for a week once due to travel reqs; huge PITA.

I also can related to the isolation and near panic of losing hearing. No fun, and few understand. I usually have to wait 2 weeks and it gets better as sinus clears.

@lqdsnddist - any solutions other than toobz?


Tubes are generally the best bet for folks with chronic Eustachian tube dysfunction, frequent acute otitis media etc. Basically solves most issues and more importantly, keeps them from coming back over and over. Usually very little conductive loss of hearing from the tubes as well. Just need to use some precautions around water, but otherwise most patients I see are really happy with the tubes and we don’t see them back for pain/pressure etc.
 
Funny ear-tube story...

When my daughter was a toddler, she had tubes in her ears. When we gave her a bath, we'd work some Vaseline into a couple of cotton balls and stick them in her ears to keep the water out.

Summertime came, and we're cooking outside on the grill. My daughter is sitting on my wife's lap. We decide it's time for her to experience her first marshmallow. My wife breaks off a piece of marshmallow and hands it to her, and she immediately tries to stick it in her ear. She thought it was bath time.
 
I sometimes have extreme sinus pain during descent. Like molten metal shooting through my eyebrows, very painful. I’ve read that lots of ww2 pilots had this issue too, which makes their heroism even more impressive to me. I’d be like hell no, I’m not getting into that cockpit again.

As to my hearing, I used to feel sort of partially deaf after a long flight. In the sense that someone would say something to me but I wouldn’t be able to make out what they’re saying. I’ve found a fix for this in the form of noise canceling headphones. Works great. I don’t even plug them in, just turn on to suppress the noise. Obviously this would do jack squat to address re-pressurization, but I thought someone might find this knowledge useful.
 
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I’ve read that lots of ww2 pilots had this issue too, which makes their heroism even more impressive to me. I’d be like hell no, I’m not getting into that cockpit again.
Every one of those pilots knew what was happening in their ears and I'll bet you not a single one of them would cop to it even if they were visibly bleeding. Those dudes were HOSSES.
 
They actually were bleeding, into their sinuses. That’s what hurts so much.
 
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