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Ron B.

Well Known Member
One of the few hobbies my 14 year old son and I have in common is flying. We have been flying my SuperCub for five years no problems, as we fly 2000' and below.
Today we set out for an hr flight, to a flyin breakfast. I was reminded from him right away to climb slowly because he has an inner ear equalizing problem. We experienced this on a trip to Florida commercially two years ago. He complained of discomfort on the flight and once on the ground, but it wasn't too bad.
On the return flight my partner, not realizing the severity of his problem, thought 1000 fpm was a slow assent. We had filed for 8500 ft but at 4500 he was in tears a good portion of the flight. We changed our plans and maintained 4500', but the problem continued for the full hr. The last 20 minutes he was in tears, especially the desent. Once on the ground the tears stopped , but he insisted we went home without lunch. It is now eight hrs later and he still feels plugged up, but no pain.
We had purchased travel ear plugs, but forgot to bring them and try them out. My plan is to try these plugs locally, where as we can abort the flight and be home in minutes.
I'm thinking on having a Doctor take a look at him and try to get to see a specialist. Any thoughts or similiar experiences would be appreciated.
Thanks Ron
 
Poor kid. I can relate, when I was a kid I had the same problem. Kept me from certifying as a diver in my 20's. Have you tried to teach him how to equalize pressure like a suba diver? How your nose and blow and kinda swollow at the same time? I can do it now. Not sure why I could not, but as I got older it went away.
 
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Ouch. I am not a podiatrist so any medical comments should be viewed with skepticism.

I had issues with equalizing my ears while diving but that is reverse from your son. He seems to have issues with decreasing outside pressure which is almost automatic for me. It is like a reverse ear block diving.

You may look that up on the internet to see if the techniques for fixing it while diving may work. Things like yawning, moving your lower jaw side to side while yawning, etc.

But the best course of action is probably a doctor who can evaluate his ear/sinus system.

Read the part on "ASCENT" here:

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lpt/ears.htm

With a child, I would get a doctors advise and guidance before doing any of these solutions. Treat those ears gently.
 
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Might be allergies. I would definitely take him to a ENT doc and see what they think. Also, people with small eustachian tubes generally have a more difficult time equalizing the pressure.

greg
 
Ron,
I know how your son feels. 6 or 7 years ago I ruptured an ear drum on a commercial flight and the only way to describe it is to say that its like someone twisting a cork screw into your ear. I am a grown adult and was in tears until it ruptured.
I still fly a lot commercially. On days where I am congested and dont want to take a chance I start with Sudafed PE about an hour before boarding. Prior to closing the door, I insert my EarPlanes. In my computer bag I keep a bottle of Afrin for "just in case" that I can administer before taxi if needed. My flying is generally pain free, now. On GA flights I try to take the sudafed beforehand and I find that the EarPlanes are pretty good as long as I'm not climbing/descending like an F16.
Good luck and I hope it is something he grows out of.
 
I also had some difficulty equalizing during Scuba, but never has more than momentary issues flying. I feel that scuba divers have this problem quite often but this is a reversal of pressure as I see it. Yes I had him try all the above equalizing technique. He has never been able to hold his nose and apply enough pressure to clear his ears.
I'm hoping someone will have a safe method that will seeing a doctor not needed?
Ron
 
Ron, I'm NOT a doctor, and this is NOT medical advice. But here are a few tidbits from my experience in scuba (former divemaster):

The valsalva maneuver (blocking the nose and exerting pressure) is used to help equalize when going from lower to higher ambient pressure. In other words, it's good for descent, not ascent. [The valsalva maneuver can also do damage in extreme cases. If it doesn't work with moderate pressure, stop! Don't force it.]

Other more passive techniques such as swallowing or moving the jaw from side to side can help open the eustachian tubes on either descent or ascent.

Which techniques work best vary from one individual to the next.

All of the above techniques work best when done preemptively and continuously during the change in ambient pressure, i.e. start doing it as soon as you initiate a change in altitude, before you actually start to feel pressure and pain, and keep doing it until you level out at the new altitude. Don't let the ear pressure get to the point of pain. If you let it get that far, it only becomes harder to clear. And if you let it go further you risk a ruptured ear drum.

Also, if the problem is congestion, then decongestants can help. But beware that these can have significant side effects. Even the over-the-counter ones. I wouldn't try it for the first time on an actual flight. Better to try it first at home, in a safe environment, and make sure he experiences no adverse side effects that could affect safety of flight.

And from your description it sounds like your son's ear clearing problems may be more extreme than most, so it would be a very good idea to consult a physician (probably an ENT).

Good luck.
 
Ron,

I am a physician, former flight surgeon and AME examiner; but I am not an ENT specialist. The fact that your son apparently has trouble only on ascents suggests that he may have an anatomical obstruction of his eustacion tube(not uncommon in kids). Valsalva and other scuba manuevers are not appropriate for your son, and may make the situation worse. Decongestants are not likely to help. If you don't want him to learn to hate flying, take him to an ENT and be done with it.

Jim Berry
RV-10
 
Ron,
The best advice given so far came with the last post. My wife has similar problems. Here is what we have done to help. Chewing gum aids in swallowing and helps clear the tubes. Also, the best fix is NEVER to descend more than 500 fpm. Usually we try to limit it to 200. A side advantage to this technique is that we never pull power on descent, decrease the possibility of carb icing or shock cooling and gain back in descent what we lost in climb.
 
Take your son to a doctor sooner rather than later.

When I was a teenager we made a rapid descent into into Arizona in a Saberliner for customs, and my left ear plugged up on the way down, and I couldn't hear anything. It became very painful, like needles being stuck in my ear and sinuses, but I could not clear it. It got better when climbing out and heading for our destination, but still hurt when we arrived.

The ear stayed plugged, or at least I thought it did, until I finally met with a doctor two weeks later. He pointed out that the ear was not in fact plugged, but I could not hear.

Multiple specialists over the next few months just confirmed that the ear looked normal but the hearing was gone, and none could give a definitive reason why. To this day I have no hearing on the left side.

There's no telling if getting to a doctor earlier would have saved my hearing, but I don't think it could have hurt either.
 
My wife has an appointment with his doctor later this week and will ask for a referral. Thanks for the imput.
Ron
 
ears plugged

Firstly, I am a doc, AME, and ENT (lotsa letters!! and I did stay at a Holiday Inn)!!!:) Many of the suggestions are good ones. Firstly, it is a middle ear problem, not inner ear. When you get an ear block it may take some time to relieve it. You'll know if you have a true block as your hearing will be down. You can get blood, fluid in ear, and certainly with that should see ENT. (with bad pain, blood, etc, an ENT visit with quick little tiny cut to ear drum will solve current problem). If hearing is 'normal' even with current minimal discomfort probably ENT will not be able to do much. Using the mentioned meds usually works well. Ascending and especially descending slowly (less than 500fpm) is best. If problems develop--usually most severe on descent. then stop descent if possible climb back to where pain wasn't present and get son to start doing valsalva maneuver, chewing gum etc. If problem can't be fixed and flying is to continue pain free, placement of PET (tubes) in ears will eliminate problem. Very simple office procedure Happy flying.
 
I had similar problems when I was younger. I had PET installed nearly 10 times. They finally removed my tonsils and adenoids. This, along with getting older, fixed the problem. I would NEVER swim with PE tubes. You WILL get an ear infection. Good luck.
 
diver's advice

Coming back to the flight...

Divers are taught that if you have pain, you go back to where there's no pain first before attempting to equalize. Staying at the altitude where pain sets in doesn't help other than to make the pain constant for someone who is not equalizing normally. Descending to 3000' should have been attempted, perhaps then allowing for relief and a chance for a slower ascent to produce a different result.

Hope the root cause is found!

Don
 
Having put over 30,000 people thru altitude chamber training I got to see alot of ear, sinus, tooth etc blocks. Common on descent, very uncommon on accent unless your have a cold or sinus infection. We routinely conduct a rapid decompression event at 12,000ft per sec and the ears/sinus handle the expanding gas just fine (unless you hold your breath, then you get an air embolism). On decent when the air volume contracts the eustation tube can colapse on itself from the vacuum and a valsava/afrin/stretching the neck on the effected side will help it clear. We always have the polotser bag as the last resort prior to popping the ear drum with a needle if it hasnt ruptured already which happens every once in a while.

Ear pain on accent, thats not normal and definetly worthy of a visit to your doc.

We always tell aviators, if it hurts climbing up dont go up any more, cause decending will really hurt.
 
Try gum

My ears have never cleared well, both going up or down. I?ve found (as others have suggested) that chewing gum helps. I chew at least a double dose for take offs and landings, and at least a single dose while cruising. If I still have some discomfort I exaggerate the chewing motion, and it seems to help.
 
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