My daughter has a GREAT deal of pain with a change in pressure. It could be as simple of driving over a bridge. However when we fly the pain in unbearable. The doctor has told us to use Benadryl to keep open nasal and sinus passages and nose mist to keep her nasal passages moist. In addition to that we also do the gum and candy route along with yawing. Any help or suggestions as to what would work better(I'm desperate!)? The pain for her can often last for days and I feel sooooo helpless when I can't help her discomfort.
Thanks to all that provided great suggestions!!! What I did and it really helped was a gave her Benadryl and nasal spray for the passages, motrin for the pain and I asked the flight attendant to put hot water (for tea) on two wash clothes I brought and put in cups to keep on hers ears for the way up and reloaded on the hot water for the way down. Some of the flight attendants were familiar with the process and were very happy to accommodate. I have to say she looked funny with the cups on her ears but there were NO tears on any of the flights. It was truly the best flight experience we have had regards to her pain level, (which was odd because on the way home we had bad weather with considerable more pressure that even I felt on my ears.) Not to say it totally eliminated the pain but for the most part I believe her discomfort was just like everyone else and there was NO residual effects after the flight was over.
Again thanks bunches and bunches for everyones help, you made our vacation experience a much more pleasant one.
An "old remedy" that the flight attendants are not allowed to suggest anymore, but if you ask they can help...heat wet rags (paper towels), place in cups, hold over the ears.
My daughter would SCREAM in pain (and thus vomit!) whenever she flew. this little trick really really really helped!
HOT and often. Start before the pain begins if possible. xo
Hi, we use earplanes as well. They have kid ones and adult ones, and they do help. Plus I always bring a straw, and have my kids suck on the water, and I also bring either fruit snacks, or swedish fish or gummies or whatever which is alittle helpful.
Good luck....
S., not knowing how old your daughter is I can just tell you what works for me. I have chronic sinus disease and have the same problem as your daughter, my MD told me and it works to take 2 shots of Afrain 30 minutes prior to take off and 30 minutes prior to landing. I hope this will help!! Good Luck
I actually have really bad pain in my ears with change in pressure, and I cant imagine how hard that must be on your little one. It actually sometimes hurts throughout all my sinuses (so even my head and glands really hurts.) I think it is due to the fact that I had a lot of ear infections growing up, so that may be the cause for your little one.
I take a decongestant before I fly and chew gum and yawn a lot. The decongestant does seem to help. The gum chewing and yawning only help when it is a short trip meaning the change in pressure isnt as much as on long trips when you get really high up there. But I would do all of it with your little one. Here is a link I found.
http://mamashealth.com/ear/airear.asp
Good luck.
Hope that helps.
S.
gum chewing and swallowing mouth juices hard. I even press the niblet of my ear toward the openin and apply pressure while holding itcircua rubs while doing ths also helps. Good luck I suffer from this aso.
Luckily my daughter is not sensitive to this, but I have seen a product that goes in their ears to help relieve the pressure. I don't know if they work or not, but I copied the link to the page and you can take a look...
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...
Hope you find something to help!!! My heart goes out to you!
I just took 5 kids on a plane to Florida. We used Afrin, Benedryl and Earplanes. Earplanes are like special earplugs my ENT told me about. They make them for kids and adults. I had a hard time finding the kid ones. I finally asked the pharmacist at Target and they had them behind the counter! They worked great! We also ate fruit snack on the way down to help chew and swallow. My ENT said you should use the Afrin and Earplanes 1 hour before descent. Good Luck!
J.
I always used all of the suggestions you mentioned above when I traveled with my son, but I would also give him Motrin to help with the pain.
Have you tried EarPlanes?
http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=12444&...
I had a bad sinus infection during a transatlantic flight a few years back and ws in so much pain the next day (the doc said my eardrum was bleeding). Needless to say, I was terrified of the return flight back to France. I found this EarPlanes product at Walgreens and it worked great. The link above is for a Children's version. Hope this helps.
I can understand how hard it is for you to travel with your child in pain. You can give Tylenol in advance or something drowsy for her, so that she can sleep most of the way and Benadryl is a good idea too as it can cause drowsiness. Gum and candy are a good idea. Keeping her busy is also good, as most of this could also be psychological. Give her good and fun thoughts about travelling and make it fun for her as much as possible with games, coloring, and comics. Hope this helps.
One of my daughters has this issue on planes also. We do the gum, and I have heard sometimes holding a warm cloth on the ears helps as well.
I had a similar experience with my oldest and the only thing that worked was having "tubes placed in his ears". This was the best thing in the world.
I would seek the advice of an Ear, Nose, Throat Specialist.
I'm also one of those that suffers from extreme pain when a plane gets to cruising altitude. As long as we stay below that altitude I'm fine, but boy am I in agony when we go up, up and away.
I feel like my head is going to explode, my eyes are being forced out of their sockets and my ears are going to burst. Once we come back down I'm fine, but not until.
I have taken medicine to dry up my nose, but it didn't help me so I'm curious about the other posts.
Maybe an antihistamine with a pain killer would help.
I think it's the act of swallowing that will relieve the pain. My oldest is the same way. Pack some juiceboxes and bottles of water for take off and landing.
Good luck!
First, I'd get advice from my pediatrician to see if they can offer anything else. I agree with the comment below about the swallowing being pretty key to helping alleviate pressure. I would give her a regular dose of childrens' Tylenol about 20 minutes before the flight, and make sure to have a fun drink that she will want to drink and not refuse when you're ascending and descending. The pressure can be really bad even before the plane looks like it's descending, so pay attention to when the captain announces that it's time to shut off the electronics - that's when the pressure will start to change.
Also Gerber makes these little packets of juice treats that are basically fruit-flavored gummy treats. These provide an excellent way for them to swallow and move their mouths while chewing - that helps open the ears too. I always do the drinks and juice treats with my son and on about 30 flights in his 2 1/2 years, we've never had a problem with his ears. Not sure how old your daughter is, but my son always gets really excited about the juice treats because he only gets them on trips.
Good luck!
I'm curious if you have ever been to an Ear/nose/throat (ENT) doctor. My (adult) cousin is in excruciating pain from flying - she didn't fly for years. She finally decided to take a trip with me. Her ENT,not only prescribed a sinus spray, he prescribed Vicoden just to get her across country. Your daughter seems to be in extreme pain from any pressure. I'm not suggesting that you get a Vicoden prescription - I"m wondering if there could be more to the ear situation because it seems like you do a lot to help alleviate it, yet it still exists. Do you have to fly?????
I have never been in that kind of pain flying. If my children get any ear pressure or if they have any sinus/cold condition going on, I give them Sudafed, before the flight.
You should take her to an ENT. I strongly suggest Dr. Bhatt in Elgin.
It's been awhile (my little one who this was for turned 9 last month) but our doctor gave us a thing called tympalgesic. (SP?) It was drops to put in your ears when you fly for ear pain. I used the too when we flew that time since the decent into the one airport was really steep nd my ears were illing me. It worked and when we landed it wore off and it was fine. Ask about it, it is worth a try.
Stop flying. If she is that miserable and suffering, find an alternative. As adults we opt not to do things that makes us even slightly uncomfortable let alone miserable for days after the event. If she's in such pain that you have to medicate her before hand and then she's in pain after the flight, she isn't even enjoying what ever it is you flew out of state to do. Stop flying.
What about Dramamine? It helps with motion sickness and nausea and will make her drowsy, hopefully enough she would sleep through the flight. It won't really address the pain issue but there are many great other ideas, specialty ear plugs, Ibuprofen, and snacks. You would probably have to ask your Pediatrician or Pharmacist for dosing. My 4 year old nephew takes it every time the drive more than about 5 or 10 miles away due to extreme motion sickness, so I know you can dose it for children. If there reason she has ear pain is due to inner ear issues, Dramamine (Antivert) might be helpful, they also use it for Vertigo.
