A passenger on a plane found herself in excruciating pain as her ears began to ring mid-flight.
Shelby Heiskell, a Kentucky mom and content creator who posts under the username @babygriffin on TikTok, shared a controversial little-known hack from a flight attendant who knew how to help her find relief from the ear pain she experienced.
Heiskell and her family were traveling home to Kentucky after spending Thanksgiving in California, and she was also battling some congestion from a virus she contracted a week ago, Heiskell said.
“I wasn’t a very experienced flyer, I wasn’t aware that it could be dangerous to fly in these [health] conditions,” Heiskell told Fox News Digital via email.
“When I got off, I felt my ear tingle and it felt like it was going to explode. It was excruciating pain that I had never felt before and I had absolutely no control over it.”
In her video, which has garnered 6.1 million views, she described feeling the pain as if she thought her “ear drum was going to burst”.
The pain Heiskell felt is sometimes known as “airplane ear,” which occurs when there’s stress on the eardrum and can occur when “the air pressure in your middle ear and the air pressure in the environment are out of balance,” according to Mayo Clinic. .
“You can get airplane ear when you’re on a plane that’s climbing after takeoff or descending for a landing,” the Mayo Clinic website says.
Heiskell said she knew several ways to ease the discomfort, from chewing gum to yawning or even holding her nose and blowing, but in the end she couldn’t find a solution.
“The pain continued to increase, until I had to put my face into our flight pillow – so as not to cause a scene or scare my son,” she continued.
There was a flight attendant on board who saw how worried Heiskell looked and approached her to ask what the problem was.
After Heiskell’s boyfriend explained the pain he was feeling, the flight attendant told them “she just had that thing.”
The flight attendant returned to the couple with a disposable coffee cup that contained a “hot, steamy cloth” found at the bottom of the cup, Heiskell said.
The attendant then instructed Heiskell to place the cup over her ear.
“Almost immediately I felt relief,” Heiskell said.
“While it didn’t solve the temporary hearing loss or the actual problem, it relieved the pain and took away the feeling of impending pressure.”
Heiskell shared the video on TikTok, captioning it: “I owe that girl! Apparently it’s a trick that a lot of people don’t know about because one of the flight attendants on the other plane didn’t know what I was talking about when I ordered one for take off (my ear was still plugged)… so I thought I’d share .”
Heiskell tried the hack again on her second flight, having to explain the “hot cup” method to flight attendants.
This time, the attendants used napkins instead of a hot towel, but Heiskell was still able to find relief.
After posting the video on TikTok, Heiskell engaged in conversation with many people who said they had never heard of the hack before.
The comments section quickly filled up with other people sharing their tips for avoiding the ear “popping” sensation while flying.
“Many flyers suggested taking a decongestant or Sudafed 24 hours before the flight and then 45 minutes before boarding,” Heiskell said.
“[The social media users] say use affirm or Flonase while boarding and fly with an ear plug product called “Ear Planes”. Also, they said to go ahead and take another decongestant/Sudafed after the flight to save any ear problems after the fact,” Heiskell added.
There were even some flight attendants who added to the conversation by sharing their stories and how they recommend parents use this hack for babies and toddlers by placing a cup over each ear to help relieve that pressure, Heiskell said.
“I am very grateful for that first flight attendant [on the plane]! I swear her trick saved my hearing and my sanity!” Heiskell said.
The question arises, why does the “hot cup” method relieve ear pressure pain?
First, it’s important to understand why your ears “break” when you climb and descend during your flight, according to Dr. Purvi Parikh, a New York-based allergist with the Allergy and Asthma Network.
“There are changes in ear pressure when flights take off and land that cause the pressure outside the ear to decrease while the pressure inside the middle [the] the ear grows,” Parikh told Fox News Digital.
“To relieve the pressure, your Eustachian tube that connects your ear, nose, and throat opens to correct this imbalance and causes a popping sound,” Parikh said.
Pain after ear pressure is the result of blockage of the Eustachian tube from other external factors, including allergies and various infections, where children are more susceptible due to smaller Eustachian tubes.
Parikh discovered why the “hot cup” method would help relieve the pain that comes from pressure in the cabin.
“The steam from the hot towel in the cup is likely to open the Eustachian tube, relieving pressure and pain. Inhaling steam through the nose would also work, for the same reasons,” she said.
While Parikh hadn’t heard of this method specifically, she regularly recommends her patients use steam as a form of decongestant.
If you find yourself dealing with pain from ear pressure during a flight, Parikh recommends swallowing, chewing gum, or even opening and closing your jaw as a way to relieve and equalize that pressure.
“If you’re congested due to a cold, allergies or other illness, try to talk to your doctor and get treatment to relieve congestion BEFORE you fly to prevent it,” Parikh added.
“Over-the-counter allergy medications and nasal sprays can also help before you fly to open things up. Finally, filtered earplugs can also help equalize pressure – but [you] still have to yawn and swallow with them,” she said.
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