In Reply to: ears posted by pollys on Monday, 2. March 2009 at 05:18 Bali Time:
I often have the same problem with my ears without a cold or obvious snuffy nose.
I start 24 hours before hand taking sudafeds etc as per directions. I also take one about an hour before the flight and about 1 hours before landing. I also use nasal sprays for landings.
I also carry a small amount of vicks ( place a small amount on my nose-works like the nasal sprays) I've only used this once when I didn't use nasal sprays) and a couple of cotton wool balls. A emergency solution is to dampen the cotton buds with hot water( make sure it's not dripping) and place them in the base of a foam type cup and place over the ear. Obviously you would want to lean over so any hot water wouldn't go into your ear. The warmth from the water in the cotton wool ball can help relieve the pressure. Supposedly, I've never actually had to do the cotton ball trick but take it with me just in case.
I don;t fly a lot but before learning about the sudafed and nasal spray tricks I would get painful ear problems every flight.
The only flight it wasn't enough to work on was when i flew in the first 2 days of getting a heavy cold. ouch.. that was on my return from my first trip to bali. I managed to perforate an ear drum as our plane landed in Perth. :) I relaly shouldn't have flown.