Read up on Ear pain during air travel treatment options at Consumer Reports Health.

Ear pain during air travel

Key points about treatments

If your ears are blocked because you have a cold or an infection, it may be better not to fly. But you may not want to, or be able to, cancel a vacation or business trip just for this reason. If you have to fly with a cold or a blocked ear, there are some simple things you can do to reduce your chance of getting ear pain during the flight.

Yawning, swallowing or blowing hard while pinching your nose can help reduce the pressure in your ears. You should feel your ears "pop".
Blowing up a special balloon with your nose can help prevent ear pain during a flight and help clear symptoms after a flight.
Taking a decongestant pill or syrup before takeoff may stop you from getting pain in your ears if you're an adult. But we don't know if this works for children too.
Some people use a decongestant nasal spray before they fly. But more research needs to be done before we can say for certain whether this prevents ear pain.

This information was last updated on Oct 26, 2007

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