I don't fly much anymore, particularly because of ear problems.
As a passenger on a military aircraft in 1998, a fast decent left me bleeding from my ear which became infected. I still regularly flew and suffered deafness and pain, it all became too much and I vowed to never climb on an aircraft again.
I still suffered and eventually the ENT surgeon found a condition called colesteatoma. I needed surgery through the mastoid bone, there were complications but after ten hours surgery I woke to find the damaged hearing bones were replaced by a synthetic implant and I could hear again.
This year I decided to be taken to the skies once (or twice) more for a family holiday. I can't describe the searing pain the pressure caused, it felt like the prosthetic hearing bone was ripped from inside my ear and after continually performing the valsalva manoeuvre it felt like I swallowed it. I returned to ENT and am still being checked out, talking to the doc (a PPL hobby pilot) he thinks that if I had been seen by a surgeon very early on I would not have the problems I have today, and I wouldn't have had to have a severe mastoidectomy. I will no doubt lose more and more hearing as time passes, until it is all gone.
My point is, especially to those who need to be in the air to put bread on the table, please look after your inner ears. Blocked ET's rarely clear up never to return own their own.
One of the main damage points of one of my ear drums was caused by the ET blocking, and the gunge gelling the ear drum closed, as the pressure increased the eardrum sucked backwards and eventually burst.
If you can perform the valsalva manoeuvre, you are more likely to keep the ET clear and dry, my surgeon tells me he has learned to equalise the pressure like this without physically pinching his nose, and he does it when he flies regular on every trip.
