<p>OK so, every time I ride an airplane my ears pop. For the next day or two after the airplane ride my hearing is all weird, and it hurts when I yawn. I've tried chewing gum but it doesn't seem to help. Does this happen to anyone else? What can you do about it?</p>
<p>I feel like a complete idiot for asking this but I seriously don't know.</p>
<p>yawn on the airplane when your ears start feeling weird so the pressure never really becomes a problem in the first place.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00472.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00472.html</a>
if you don't want to read all of it, make sure you read "Prevention" and "Self Care" at the bottom.</p>
<p>yeah, I have this problem too..not every time I fly but every now and again. One time it took a week for my hearing to get back to normal. </p>
<p>I haven't quite figured out what to do about it either...yawning, swallowing sometimes work, sometimes not.</p>
<p>ps..slipstream, is your username from the tv show Andromeda?</p>
<p>any other suggestions? my flight for chicago leaves in 7 hours, heh</p>
<p>Can't wait to arrive at O'hare next week :) I do the yawing thing and I put my headphones on, without the music playing during takeoff.</p>
<p>After one 15 hour flight, I had great difficulty equalizing the pressure my left ear. A flight attendant helped out by pouring boiling water on a napkin in a styrofoam cup. I was then advised to clap the cup over my hurting ear. The steam eased the transition.</p>
<p>Be careful not to scald yourself, though . . . ; )</p>
<p>i'm sorry if this is too late, but i think eating mints constantly helps a great deal</p>
<p>try buying a pack of life savers and savor the flavor</p>
<p>chewing gum and mints help me, but also plugging your nose and swallowing might help if just swallowing doesn't.</p>
<p>harpgirl: no, it's not from that show. i started using it before that show actually. i think i read it in a book somewhere and thought it sounded cool and it's stuck with me ever since. (don't ask where the 99 came from because i have no idea)</p>
<p>I fly quite a often, probably around once a month, there are 3 methods I have used, all three have always worked:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Squeeze your nose and blow - like blowing your nose. This one kinda feels weird... I don't like it much. </p></li>
<li><p>Open your mouth really wide(like the yawning).</p></li>
<li><p>Open your mouth a bit, and then pop your jaw.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>All three have worked, personally I prefer #3, its not very painful or anything, and its quick. Sometimes I feel like an idiot when I have my mouth really wide for #2 :p, the guy/girl next to me always asks me what I'm doing lol.</p>