I flew with a cold and both of them burst my eardrum, it was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life

I was never afraid of flying. But now I’m going to panic when I still have a light sniffing and I will increase in a flight. Why? Because I’m afraid my eardrum will burst.

Before it happened to me, I never really had the effects of flying with a cold-especially before the kovid when I felt uncomfortable and felt (and less fried) more often. This trip was a few years ago, but I never forgot my journey home.

I was on my way back from Portugal with my sister, her now husband and some friends when I noticed the pain for the first time. I had a mild cold, but I didn’t feel particularly uncomfortable before the flight.

I remember some discomfort when we stopped, but when the plane was ready to land, it was a different story. Both ears felt painful when the plane rose. But when we descended, the pain had become painful. I was in tears and tacitly begged around the flight to the end.

At some point during our descent, my eardrum was planned.

But is that common during a flight?

I spoke to experts who said it was a rare event, but it can happen. However, it is very unhappy to be both drum fur together.

Why can fly with our ears

“Changes can change the eardrum due to the high-pressure environment and the height of the height,” says Gordon Harrison, chief audiologist at Specsavers compared to Yahoo UK. “Your Eustachian tubes [the small passages connecting the middle ear to the back of the throat] If this change should open and almost compensate, but if you are overloaded by a cold, sinus infection or allergies, you can be blocked. “

This pressure defect adjustment can lead to symptoms that hears the muffled and sometimes pain. “If you cannot adapt quickly enough,” says Harrison, “it can lead to a painful difference in pressure that can lead to a break when it is difficult.”

The consultant and president of the British Society of Otology Peter Monksfield, the consultant and president of the British Society of Otology, adds that our ears behave similarly to sealed containers. “The middle ear is basically an air -filled room that is connected to the outside world by the Eustachian tubes,” he says.

“If these do not work properly, you cannot effectively compensate for the pressure.” Hence the pain.

Why flying with a cold can cause problems

According to Harrison, there is more pressure on the ears than normal if they are excited with a cold: “If you are overloaded, your Eustachian tube have difficulties to compensate for your middle ear pressure. This can cause additional pressure to build up behind the eardrum, which was painful, blocked ears and in rare cases a burst ear.”

I couldn’t tell you exactly when my performance because the pain never subsided.

But apart from the fact that I broke out my shoulder, this is up there as one of the most intense pain I have ever experienced in my life.

The next morning, my family doctor confirmed that both drum fur had burst. I was prescribed antibiotics and steroids, and luckily they healed fully healed in the next six to eight weeks – although, as my family doctor joked, they looked a bit “sewn together”.

What are the signs of a Burst drum fur?

Also referred to as a perforated or broken eardrum, a Burst drum meat is a hole or a crack in the membrane that separates its outer and middle ear.

After an injury, an ear infection, a loud noise or a sudden change in air pressure, it can happen on the plane.

The most obvious sign? Pain. “Warning signs of a Burst drum fur contain sudden sharp pain, followed by a sudden release of pressure, subdued hearing, ringing in the ear or leaking out of the ear,” says Harrison. Other characters are:

• Ringing or mutuming (tinnitus) in the ear

• Itching or irritation in the ear

• Liquid, pus or blood from the ear

• Dizziness or dizzinesssometimes accompanied by nausea

“Most people only experience ear complaints that are cleared away,” says Harrison about flying and adds that the experience of a burst drum fur is not common. “

However, if it happens, it may require an intervention because it can lead to an ear infection. “So if the pain is serious, do not improve the symptoms after a few days or find that fluid, dizziness or deterioration in hearing loss book a hearing test as soon as possible.”

Monksfield agrees. “If it is a bit of pain and your ears appear … Then you could comfortably wait a few days. But if you get dizziness, tinnitus or hearing loss after a flight, you have to see someone that day.”

Should you fly if you have a cold or ear problem?

If you already have ear problems or otitis media, it is worth talking to your doctor first.

“If you have ear inflammation or otitis media, you may be able to make it worse when flying, as there are already some pressure problems and inflammation, and it may be much more painful to fly,” says Monksfield.

But if you have to travel, both say that there are things that you can do before and during the flight to relieve the symptoms, e.g. B.:

• Use pressure -regulating earplugs during the start and landing

• Before starting and landing, take a light spray or tablet (always under the advice of a GP)

• Chewing gum or suck a sweet suck to open the Eustachian tubes

• Take painkillers like paracetamol or ibuprofen to help with ear pain

And if you are constantly difficult to fly comfortably, it could see a specialist. “There are people who have to struggle with flying and have to struggle with this pressure change,” says Monksfield. “And sometimes we set animals – tiny tubes that are inserted into the eardrum to ventilate the middle ear and compensate for the pressure to help.”

There is also a newer, long -term option for people who deal with continuous pressure problems when flying. “There is also balloon dilation to open the Eustachian tube to support the pressure regulation in the middle ear,” he adds.

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