With a middle ear infection avoid air travel better

For middle ear inflammation avoid flights
The stinging and pulling in the ear, which is usually associated with a middle ear infection, is already uncomfortable enough. On a possibly upcoming flight should be better avoided. The pressure equalization hardly succeeds. The journey can be agony.

The journey can be agony
Health experts usually advise treating middle ear infection quickly. If nothing happens, a loss of hearing threatens in the worst case. On a flight you should not go with it. In patients suffering from an acute infection with fever and inflamed middle ear, the flight can be agony. Due to the swollen Eustachian tube succeed in the plane no pressure equalization more explained Prof. Gerhard Hesse in a message from the news agency dpa. The Eustachian tube connects the pharynx with the middle ear.

In case of middle ear infection, a timely doctor's visit is recommended. (Image: topshots / fotolia.com)

In case of acute infections do not use flight
"During the flight, you can get there great pain, against which you can hardly do anything," said Hesse, who is a member of the German Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (DGHNO KHC). Therefore, the expert advises to avoid air travel with acute infections. "Especially children suffer from the pain extremely and scream." Because the Eustachian tubes are narrower in them than in adults, they are more likely to swell.

Do not forget nose drops
As the physician further explained, damage to the ear or an aggravation of the infection by a flight are not to be feared. It was a pure pain issue, he emphasized. Those who catch cold in an airplane should, according to Hesse, have nasal drops in their hand luggage. These help the experts the best, because the drops - as opposed to nasal spray - flow down to the throat to the Eustachian tube and there decongestant. "With strong swellings, such as occur in a middle ear infection, for example, the drops often do not help," said Hesse, who runs a tinnitus clinic in Bad Arolsen. If you have a few days left before departure, home remedies for otitis media can sometimes help you to be fit again by then. Among other things, onions, garlic, chamomile and heat are used.

Frequent swallowing helps to equalize the pressure
Even for healthy people or those with mild infections, the typical pressure on the ear in the plane is unpleasant. Frequent swallowing can help. As further tips for long-haul flights, experts recommend chewing gum. These support by the chewing movements, the pressure equalization. Even better is the so-called blowing out - you hold your nose and at the same time trying to exhale through them. As Hesse explained, this opens the Eustachian tube. (Ad)