Problems Clearing Ears after Tunnel Time?

[NWFlyer 2]

I did 15 minutes in the Eloy tunnel last night, and haven't been able to clear my ears since. I tried all the usual things to clear ears, to no avail.

I'm not a major tunnel rat, but I've got about 2 hours total, almost all of it in Perris (only had about 5 mins in Eloy prior to last night). I've never had any trouble with my ears in previous tunnel sessions. All my other sessions before last night had been sharing an hour or more, so there was a longer break between rotations; last night I was splitting 30 minutes so I was in and out quickly. I was wearing earplugs.

I wonder whether the air quality contributed - it was awful in AZ yesterday. There were dust storms all afternoon/evening, and by the time of my tunnel session some rain was also moving through on top of all the dust storms. I've definitely been sensitive to the air since I've been in AZ (been here a week), but I've only been sneezing, not congested.

Anyway, not really looking for any suggestions, just curious if this is a common tunnel experience.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[tdog 0]

Maybe 100 tunnel sessions - and I have felt a "change" when they power up the fans, but never had a problem clearing ears... The pressure changes are not that huge, I think I once had an alti (because we were doing a jump/tunnel camp and I never took off my jumpsuit between sessions) and it read only a couple thousand feet - basically a hop-n-pop... Anyone else know the pressure with better detail?

I think you are somewhat congested without knowing it - if the dust is bad and you are sensitive to dust.

Also - did you do any jumps? Sometimes it takes a while for me to notice my ears...

[NWFlyer 2]

Quote

I think you are somewhat congested without knowing it - if the dust is bad and you are sensitive to dust.

Also - did you do any jumps? Sometimes it takes a while for me to notice my ears...

Maybe I am just congested. I haven't done any jumps since Sunday (I've been in Phoenix all week for work, not at the DZ).

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[adventurechick 0]

This may sound weird, but get some Afrin nose spray and then try to clear your ears. Hope you feel better soon!

PMS #449 TPM #80 Muff Brother #3860
SCR #14705 Dirty Sanchez #233

[NWFlyer 2]

Sudafed seems to have helped - I got home from Phoenix last night with a sinus headache and congestion, so I guess I was congested in the tunnel and didn't know it. My ears are doing a lot better this morning.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[pullhigh 0]

Good luck getting rid of it. The only tunnel time I have was in the Orlando tunnel a few years back and the next day, my ears were killing me. The vacuum of the tunnel had some strange affect on my sinuses. I ended living with it and trying a dozen different perscription meds before they finally put a tube in my ear to relieve the pressure. Until that day, I had no idea that they put tubes in adult ears. a couple of weeks later I ended up having sinus surgery on top of that.

Ganja

[MikeJD 0]

Or it might just have been the earplugs, if you're not used to wearing them. My ears react badly to being plugged - I think if you're prone to wax then they tend to compress it and clog everything up.

But since it's obviously a bad idea to fly without earplugs, that doesn't help you too much.