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Barotrauma

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Apr. 21st, 2008 | 08:00 am

Home from NYC.

Slept all day Saturday and Sunday in a disease-riddled fog. Starting to feel a bit better today -- hoping to see the other side of this miserable cold-flu thingy.

I took decongestants before my flight home on Friday night, but they didn't keep my eardrums from being severely mangled on the descent into PDX. I'm having a hard time hearing, it feels like I'm wearing earplugs, and my head rattles every time I swallow.

This is known as "airplane ear" or, more elegantly, "barotrauma."

I've fallen victim to this before, so I'm not panicked enough to go running to the doctor. There's nothing she can do. Unless I start bleeding from the earholes, or leaking pus, I just have to woman it out.

I need one of those old-fashioned ear trumpets, though. I can't hear a word anyone's saying to me.

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Comments {21}

Ramblin_Phyl

(no subject)

from: [info]ramblin_phyl
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 03:09 pm (UTC)
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Sympathies, I flew home from England in 1997 with walking pneumonia with infected sinues and the ear thingy.

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M.K. Hobson

(no subject)

from: [info]mkhobson
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 03:12 pm (UTC)
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Ouch and ugh. Thanks for the sympathy -- you have mine retroactively. ;-)

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Genevieve Valentine

(no subject)

from: [info]glvalentine
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 03:23 pm (UTC)
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Aw jeez. *cringes in sympathy*

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M.K. Hobson

(no subject)

from: [info]mkhobson
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 03:25 pm (UTC)
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EH? WHAT DID YOU SAY, SONNY?

(Cranes with her hand cupped around her ear)

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Genevieve Valentine

(no subject)

from: [info]glvalentine
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 03:32 pm (UTC)
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FEEL BETTER! *makes huge gestures*

*mostly obscene*

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Snuffy LaRue

(no subject)

from: [info]jess_ka
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 03:26 pm (UTC)
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FEEL BETTER SOON! (yelling so you can hear me)

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M.K. Hobson

(no subject)

from: [info]mkhobson
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 03:31 pm (UTC)
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I'M NOT PLANNING A TRIP TO THE MOON ... what are you talking about????

:-P

(Thanks.)

M

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Serge_LJ

(no subject)

from: [info]serge_lj
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 04:33 pm (UTC)
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My ears went thru that the first time I flew. I'm quite happy that this never happened again.

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Kristi

(no subject)

from: [info]dampscribbler
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 04:33 pm (UTC)
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Oh, ugh, I'm so sorry you've got it, too! If it's the same thing that's plagued our home, I have bad news...I'm on day 19 of it. :( At least I didn't have to fly, though. I've done that before, it's awful. Something that helped me -- driving to a higher altitude. Not even that much higher. We're at ~350 feet. Driving up the West Hills to ~1100 feet can often make my ears/sinuses loosen up. Maybe it will help you, too.

Best of luck. Hope you're feeling better soon.

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M.K. Hobson

(no subject)

from: [info]mkhobson
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 04:36 pm (UTC)
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Oh crud ... and I have to fly again in about 2 weeks. Fiddlesticks.

There's a trip to Mt. Hood in my future, I guess ... thanks for the tip!

M

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adrienne

air pressure earplugs

from: [info]sapience
date: Apr. 22nd, 2008 03:02 am (UTC)
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For your next flight, you may wish to consider earplugs designed to relieve ear pain caused by air pressure changes. When I fly without them, even on decongestants, altitude shifts pound icepicks into my brain via my ears. With them? No crying, screaming, or terror at the thought of brain death or eardrum explosion. How's that for a recommendation?

I use these:
Flents Flitemate Pressure-Reducing Earplugs

and these are another option:
EarPlanes Earplugs, Flight Ear Protection

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M.K. Hobson

Re: air pressure earplugs

from: [info]mkhobson
date: Apr. 22nd, 2008 03:04 am (UTC)
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Oh wow, thank you! I'll get a pair before my next flight!

M

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martianmooncrab

(no subject)

from: [info]martianmooncrab
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 06:18 pm (UTC)
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not being able to hear people can be a good thing. grin.

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alyx

(no subject)

from: [info]planetalyx
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 06:31 pm (UTC)
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Who knew there was a word for that?

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tuber_x

(no subject)

from: [info]tuber_x
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 09:38 pm (UTC)
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It is a very frustrating, ever-present thing. I'm sorry.

I went through two months of my ears being in a similar state. Turns out that I lost weight two quickly and my ears couldn't keep up.

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Maybe It's Just Me

(no subject)

from: [info]hazelwindows
date: Apr. 22nd, 2008 05:28 am (UTC)
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I would love to hear this explained in greater detail. Seriously, how does weight effect the ears??

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tuber_x

(no subject)

from: [info]tuber_x
date: Apr. 22nd, 2008 05:51 am (UTC)
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Ha! Deja vu!

We've done this before. I knew it seemed familiar.

http://tuber-x.livejournal.com/43756.html

I'm afraid I don't know how else to explain it.

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Maybe It's Just Me

(no subject)

from: [info]hazelwindows
date: Apr. 22nd, 2008 05:55 am (UTC)
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OMFG thank you for finding the original entry! I knew dimly that you had spoken of this before, but I could not remember the explanation... now I see the reason for this is because the explanation was so totally outlandish! HE HEE HE fat pads!

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tuber_x

(no subject)

from: [info]tuber_x
date: Apr. 22nd, 2008 06:27 am (UTC)
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It's hilarious

Here's a picture of them in a book though:

http://books.google.com/books?id=EQyBNepDLi4C&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=ear+fat+pads&source=web&ots=0qPieInUI7&sig=X_07Msleqw2GxzmihkNth6fAeT8&hl=en

Of all the places to lose fat, of course I would lose it in the ear. No one says, oh look at his skinny middle ear, so sexy.

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Maybe It's Just Me

(no subject)

from: [info]hazelwindows
date: Apr. 22nd, 2008 05:35 am (UTC)
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I hope your head gets well soon!

When I was a kid flying to Hawaii, my ears ached so badly that the stewardesses had me cupping plastic cups with a little bit of water in them around each of my ears. This helped, actually, but then my arms began to ache horribly from pinning cups against both sides of my head for hours at a time. Still, I quickly learned, aching arms are better than aching ears. My condolences to you.

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marywoo

no subject

from: [info]marywoo
date: Apr. 24th, 2008 06:13 am (UTC)
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"leaking pus"?!?

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