I have the cure for this!!
Ok Folks, I have also experienced the same symptoms along with the same excruciating pain that goes with this 'Baratrama'. It is real, and it hurts beyond belief! You feel like your head is going to explode! I just flew from ATL to BOS this last week, but feared this would happen again, so this is what I did to eliminate this problem. I used a simple home ear wax removal kit to ascertain that I had no build up of wax in my ears, then I checked with a pharmacist that was completely aware of Baratrama, and he told me that was the right thing to do and along with it, you need to take 1 Sudafed tablet. I did just that and yes, this cured the problem we have all spoke about here! See, whether we want to admit it or not, either you have major sinus problems (in which I have never had ever!), or you produce more wax in your ears than you realize. I have always known that I do produce (for whatever reason...lol), more ear wax than the normal person and I had a feeling that was a major contributor and it sure was! See, when your in the plane and gaining altitude on take off, the pressure is going in your eustachian tubes and sinuses and you can easily handle it going in like everyone has spoken of here, but on the decent, all that pressure has to come out and if you have major build up of wax, it is usually thick and gunky and can easily block the tubes and not allow the pressure to escape as it should naturally as you swallow or move your jaw forward like everyone else (almost like blocking it with gum...). Same thing applies if you have (naturally) major sinus issues or blockage, it can create the same effect. But if you are not sure if it might be your sinus area or wax buildup, just do both of these things like I did and you will now fly FREE OF PAIN...it works wonderfully!! Just write to me if anyone needs more details of how to use the ear wax kit...I do it a little different than what the directions say, but I always get nice big chunks of wax out and now do it aprox twice a year to ascertain I will always keep my ears free of any future wax build up! Just want to thank everyone hear for posting this forum....like most of you, I thought it was unique to me, but so happy to hear many, many folks have the same issue!! Happy Flying!