this is driving my freaking crazy. i had a cold and i tried to blow my nose several days ago and i popped my ear. now it wont un pop and i have tried everything

10/15/2008 8:08:33 PM

what have youtried?

10/15/2008 8:15:28 PM

get it flushed. that shit makes you dizzy and giggle

I'm walls1441 and i approved this message.

10/15/2008 8:16:20 PM

go up a mountain


my ears pop every day on the way to and from work :-/

downhill i hold my nose and blow

uphill, there's no escape

10/15/2008 8:17:04 PM

that's a really terrible feeling.

10/15/2008 8:21:58 PM

i've always been able to pop my ears on command

10/15/2008 8:27:59 PM

take a decongestant

10/15/2008 8:34:27 PM

tried flushing, tried decongestant, im out of ideas and its driving me fucking nuts

10/15/2008 8:51:45 PM

Drink a soda
Decongestants
Swallow
Yawn a lot
Chew Gum

10/15/2008 9:03:44 PM

hydrogen peroxide

10/15/2008 9:08:14 PM

See an ENT?

10/15/2008 9:10:05 PM

if it keeps up

10/15/2008 9:12:53 PM

Lay on a heat compress, it helps drain the fluids

Quote :

"Decongestants Swallow Yawn a lot Chew Gum"

these too

10/15/2008 9:15:02 PM

God.. I flew on a small Customs and Border Patrol DSH-8 aircraft from Miami to San Diego.

Then I got on the LHD-6 USS Bonhomme Richard for two weeks. It took the entire time for my left ear to finally pop (near the last couple days). The medical staff on the ship wasn't able to do shit.

I feel ya, goodluck!

10/15/2008 10:46:48 PM

Most people in this thread don't really know what they're talking about...

For example:

Quote :

"go up a mountain"

Wrong answer -- that does the opposite of what he needs.

Quote :

"downhill i hold my nose and blow"

Good - - with practice you'll get better at it. Don't exhale too hard, and don't force it or you risk blowing an eardrum.

Quote :

"uphill, there's no escape"

Actually by swallowing or moving your jaw around (or holding your nose and swallowing) you can reverse the effects of what you did by going downhill. Read on for a better explanation...

Quote :

"God.. I flew on a small Customs and Border Patrol DSH-8 aircraft from Miami to San Diego. Then I got on the LHD-6 USS Bonhomme Richard for two weeks. It took the entire time for my left ear to finally pop (near the last couple days). The medical staff on the ship wasn't able to do shit."

You forgot to perform a valsalva as the aircraft descended.



By blowing your nose while your sinuses were full and stuffy, you essentially performed a valsalva maneuver. You exhaled into a closed airway (just as a scuba diver would pinch their nose and lightly exhale to equalize the pressure in their ears as they descend). By exhaling into the closed airway you increase the amount of air in your middle ear, creating pressure pushing outwards on your tympanic membrane (eardrum). In the diving scenario, this equalizes the air pressure in your ears with the increasing water pressure as you descend.

Usually your ears will vent this extra air naturally as one would ascend in the water, or as one would ascend in an airplane or go up a mountain. Sometimes it takes a bit of extra work due to being congested or other scenarios -- swallow, move your jaw around, munch on some food for a few minutes (moves the jaw, obviously) and this might help open your Eustachian tubes to help vent the air. A decongestant might work as well. In your case, you are probably still stuffy with enlarged or inflamed Eustachian tubes, which isn't helping vent the air you added when you blew your nose.


If you have tried all the methods I or Gzusfrk mentioned, there isn't much you can do except wait it out. Seriously, if you have to sit around for an hour and swallow or move your jaw, it would be worth it in the end if it relieves the pain. For temporary relief you could hop in a shallow pool for a bit and go down 3-4ft, and then slowly ascend. That might help.



For more info, go here, scroll down a bit to the video, and watch it. It's ~1 hour long but a great explanation of your issue, plus you get to see the lecturer put a camera inside people's ears as they perform valsalva maneuvers so you can watch their eardrums move; kinda neat.

http://faculty.washington.edu/ekay/

10/15/2008 11:37:45 PM

You need to see an ENT asap if it hasnt gone away after flushing your ear. I had this problem this summer at SERE school, thought it was just ear wax blocking my ear. It turned out to be sudden high-end hearing loss brought on by a virus. If the flight surgeons hadn't caught it in time, I might have lost all my hearing in that ear. If you have something viral going on, they can usually stop it with anti-virals and steroids to kill any further loss.

10/16/2008 12:33:49 AM

Have you tried to plug your nose with your fingers and then tried to blow out of your nose with it blocked?

That pretty much always works.

[Edited on October 16, 2008 at 12:37 AM. Reason : ]

10/16/2008 12:36:34 AM

Walls1441 and Mindstorm are right.

10/16/2008 1:10:52 AM

Quote :

"i hold my nose and blow"

works every time for me. don't pop your eyes out blowing, just put some force into it and you should feel them *pop*

i just use the knuckled of my middle and index finger to plug up the nostrils

also, in case you haven't taken fluid dynamics, your mouth should remain closed so as to allow the air to compress enough to push through the obstruction

10/16/2008 1:18:08 AM

oh, if you have a cold though, fuck it. nothing works

10/16/2008 1:18:42 AM

i do have a minor cold, i think its starting to get better, my ear but if it keeps up im gonna go to a doc

10/16/2008 1:26:34 AM

stick your finger in and try to pull it apart. if you know what i'm saying.

when I had an ear infection I wouldn't be able to hear, then I'd pull the hole open and i could hear, and when I let go I couldn't hear again. Maybe it's just a little swollen.

10/16/2008 1:36:59 AM

yea man... sinus blocks blow.. you pretty much just gotta wait it out. I wouldn't try to Valsalva anymore.. never a great Idea with a block.

you can stick your finger in your ear all you want and try to "pull it apart" but that might be the dumbest thing on this thread and won't do anything.

10/16/2008 4:19:30 AM

HOLY SHIT DID NO ONE READ MY POST?

The valsalva he performed WAS the problem. Doing it AGAIN makes it worse. Damn you people are stupid.

Quote :

"yea man... sinus blocks blow.. you pretty much just gotta wait it out. I wouldn't try to Valsalva anymore.. never a great Idea with a block. you can stick your finger in your ear all you want and try to "pull it apart" but that might be the dumbest thing on this thread and won't do anything."

At least someone in this thread has an idea of what's going on.

[Edited on October 16, 2008 at 10:49 AM. Reason : ]

10/16/2008 10:42:42 AM

nope, didn't read the thread.

^^no shit it won't do anything, but it would give some insight into the problem

10/16/2008 11:13:18 AM

Quote :

"i've always been able to pop my ears on command "

that's normal. you're supposed to be able to.


My advice is to take a shot or two of Afrin in the nose, then yawn, swallow, open your jaw wide and move it around, etc.

Quote :

"i've always been able to pop my ears on command "

Now the rest of you shut up and stop giving bad advice...leave it to the aviators and/or SCUBA divers.

Quote :

"this summer at SERE school"

what do you do, and where did you do SERE?

10/16/2008 11:49:35 AM

Quote :

"go to a doc"

10/16/2008 12:14:15 PM

i think its slowly unpopping itself

10/16/2008 12:36:04 PM

Way to pimp the aviators Duke!

Fly Navy... (but not P-3s)

10/16/2008 1:20:52 PM

ha, you've gotta tell me the story about that P-3 that departed and went into a spin or something a few months ago.

10/16/2008 1:32:45 PM

my brother flies P-3s

ok so from the people that know, ie pilots and divers, what you are saying is wait it out n it will clear on its own? im giving it 4 more days since i have to work, but if its not better by then im going to a doc.....this shit is driving me nuts. it will kind of clear but then the pressure comes back

[Edited on October 16, 2008 at 2:15 PM. Reason : .]

10/16/2008 2:11:14 PM

i had a cold that went into my ears just a few weeks ago. took 3 weeks for my ear to unclog. you probably have mucus in your ear pushing on your eardrum, not just air, and you`ll have to wait for that to clear out.

10/16/2008 2:33:57 PM

yeah, it sucks big time

10/16/2008 2:51:23 PM

Oh man. I totally read the title of this thread to the tune of that Kylie Minogue song.

10/16/2008 3:29:41 PM

There's some serious dumbassery going on in this thread (other than what Charles said).

10/16/2008 3:50:51 PM

Quote :

"what do you do, and where did you do SERE? "

In Brunswick, I actually have to go back. I got pulled off the mountain for the ear problem.

PM sent.

10/16/2008 5:32:38 PM

yeah, i know a guy who got his eardrum perforated there.

I came down with pneumonia...had a fever of 102.5. i didn't tell anyone until the 2nd to last day, though, because I was not about to do it all over again. my vision blanked out one time and I lost my balance, but I recovered before anyone noticed. the 2nd time it happened, though, I was falling over until the sergeant beside me caught me and propped me back up...couldn't really hide it, then, but they just shot me full of 2 bags of saline, gave me some vitamin M to break the fever, and gave me a spicy slim jim (i presume for the salts and to make me drink even more water). ended up losing 17 lbs in a week.

10/16/2008 6:07:24 PM

I had a similar problem once when i was a kid. Got water in my ear, couldn't get it out for a week, despite several OTC treatments for swimmer's ear. Ended going to the dock and getting my ear thoroughly flushed, like 2-3 times, there was actually a hardened ball of wax that was trapping the water, you should maybe have them look for somethin similar.

10/17/2008 2:06:22 AM

Quote :

"i've always been able to pop my ears on command"

Hmm..same here. I always thought I was different, because I could do that. And I always thought I heard things more sensitive than others. Blah! I dunno. Maybe it's not a facet of my imagination and maybe that's why I can't go underwater....EVER (without hurting like a bitch for SEVERAL MONTHS).

10/17/2008 5:34:11 AM

Quote :

"Hmm..same here. I always thought I was different, because I could do that. And I always thought I heard things more sensitive than others. Blah! I dunno. Maybe it's not a facet of my imagination and maybe that's why I can't go underwater....EVER (without hurting like a bitch for SEVERAL MONTHS)."

If you were actually able to equalize on command, going underwater would be no problem for you.

10/17/2008 10:46:31 AM

Duke P-3 Hazrep synopsis PMed

Quote :

"Hmm..same here. I always thought I was different, because I could do that. And I always thought I heard things more sensitive than others. Blah! I dunno. Maybe it's not a facet of my imagination and maybe that's why I can't go underwater....EVER (without hurting like a bitch for SEVERAL MONTHS)."

Being able to pop your ears (or equalize) on command has nothing to do with your hearing....

I can do it too w/o holding my nose most of the time. That doesn't work underwater b/c the air can't flow out of your ears into the water w/o some force (IE Valsalva)

Quote :

"im giving it 4 more days since i have to work, but if its not better by then im going to a doc"

Just go to the doc now... he's gonna give you Afrin.. and it's gonna suck but, it'll work. Or you may have a sinus infection. But a Doc will give you WAAAAAAAY better answers than Dr. Tdub.

Who's your brother and where is he stationed?

10/17/2008 11:53:50 AM

*sigh*

Quote :

"I can do it too w/o holding my nose most of the time. That doesn't work underwater b/c the air can't flow out of your ears into the water w/o some force (IE Valsalva)"

AIR DOESN'T FLOW OUT OF YOUR EARS WHEN YOU VALSALVA UNLESS YOU HAVE A PERFORATED EARDRUM.

When you perform a valsalva, (aside from other physiological happenings that go on involved with your heart...) air is forced into your sinuses and Eustachian tubes, and puts pressure on your eardrum, pressing it outwards. If you then descend (in water or down a hill or whatever) this counteracts against the water/air pressure to equalize the pressure.

If you valsalva and air physically passes through your eardrum and out of your ears, you have a perforated eardrum.


Really -- watch the video I linked in my first post, and all will be explained.

10/17/2008 12:39:42 PM