Have you ever gotten on a plane with a cold? Then you know the excruciating pain I’m about to describe. Imagine your ear canal narrowing to the point where it feels like your eardrums will explode. Imagine being in this excruciating pain for the entire duration of take-off and landing. It’s not fun and unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do about it. The only product that has worked for me? EarPlanes.
If this sounds like an infomercial…blame it on the fact that I was up all night watching infomercials while writing this.
Flying with a cold
I’ve had two experiences where I boarded a flight while completely congested and then felt like I was dying at takeoff and landing. The first was two years ago, on a flight to Cabo. The pain completely took me aback. During landing, I was actually in tears.
A flight attendant gave me Tylenol, then advised me to always take one before getting on a plane with a cold. She herself had experienced this many times before. By the time I got off the plane, I had not only endured awful ear pain, but I also couldn’t hear out of my right ear. It took a week before my ear popped.
During my flight to D.C. last fall, I was super congested and the ear pain got so bad that I took pain killers from a stranger. I know that sounds insane, but I was on the verge of tears and figured the safest person to ask was the elderly woman sitting next to me. Older women always travel with a bag of pills and I figured she would be the least likely person on that plane to pull a Bill Cosby.
The Advil helped, but I’m generally not big on OTC or prescription drugs, so before my connecting flight to Chicago to next day, I decided to search for other solutions.
How I found Earplanes
To start, I tried various remedies in hopes of curing the cold in 24 hours or less. No such luck. At the airport, I was looking for cold remedies when I came across EarPlanes. These corkscrew-shaped ear plugs were supposed to curb excruciating ear pain that occurs when you’re flying while congested. Skeptical yet desperate, I bought a pair of EarPlanes.
Earplanes work
I plugged the EarPlanes in before take-off, as instructed, and was surprised when I felt absolutely no pain. I took the EarPlanes off for the remaining flight and popped them back in at landing. No pain whatsoever. The best part? My ears actually popped after landing, which was great because I had spent the day before barely able to hear anything.
Final Thoughts
I know there are a lot of gimmicky products out there, but EarPlanes actually does work to alleviate in-flight ear pain. Yes, they’re basically just earplugs, but the corkscrew shape keeps them in place.
After my excruciating experience flying while congested, I can attest that it’s the kind of pain you never want to experience. I would highly recommend EarPlanes to anyone traveling while sick. They really do eliminate excruciating pain caused by congestion.
This isn’t a sponsored post, but I do have an Amazon affiliate link for this product if you want to get a pair of your own.
Do you have any remedies for curing in-flight ear pain while traveling with a cold? Please share in the comment section.
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