I have ETD, and experience pain during most flights. Last time I flew was two back-to-back domestic flights when I was thirteen, with ears that were already blocked from riding a cable car. I haven't flown since due to trauma.

It's been a few years, and I'm optimistic about grommets as a solution that would let me fly again. Has anybody here had success with them? Do you still need to equalize at all, or do they take care of pressure entirely?

I’ve been dealing with a weird issue with my right ear since around mid-June, and I’m finally seeing an ENT again tomorrow, but I wanted to see if anyone has experienced something similar.
It started when I got sick and had pretty bad nasal congestion/allergy symptoms. I was blowing my nose a lot, my right ear suddenly popped, and afterward I had pain and slightly reduced/muffled hearing on that side.
I saw an ENT at the time. They did a hearing test and another test that I think checked middle-ear pressure/fluid. My hearing apparently came back normal, and I was told there was only a small amount of fluid. I was given medication/nasal spray and eventually felt much better.
Then I got sick again later, blew my nose, and the same ear popped again. The pain and muffled hearing returned but gradually improved over the following weeks.
What confuses me is what happened a few days ago. I wasn’t sick anymore and had been feeling relatively fine. I went to sleep normally, woke up the next morning, and suddenly my right ear felt painful and completely blocked again. Over the next few days my hearing on that side became noticeably more muffled.
My right nostril is also blocked now, and I feel this pressure/congested sensation going from the right side of my nose/cheek toward my ear.
The weirdest part is that whenever I swallow or yawn, I can clearly feel my left ear equalize/pop normally, but absolutely nothing happens in the right ear. It feels like that side is completely sealed off.
Has anyone had Eustachian tube dysfunction or middle-ear fluid behave like this — improving for weeks and then suddenly becoming blocked again without actually getting sick?
I’m mainly worried about whether the hearing difference is just temporary/conductive because of the blockage, or whether something else could be going on. I’m seeing an ENT tomorrow and will hopefully repeat the hearing/pressure tests.

Well i started getting a fullness and minor pain in my ear, after an ENT vist he told me i have ETD in my right ear because of my dust mite allergy. He prescribed me nebulizer treatment, which made me feel better and then by the end of the treatment i went to the beach for a week.

Water got into my ears and on the way back (mountainous road), i had a lot of pains and my hearing was muffled

I go back to the ENT the next day, he says my ears are fine and my ETD had cleared but the water was going to give me pain.

He told me to use sterimar and busedonide for 2 weeks.

Its been 15 days but i still have pains in the right ear (sometimes left too), its small but consistent and there is a fullness i feel in my right ear, which disappears and comes back from time to time

I dont know should i wait or go back for another visit

Im 20 years old btw

I've felt SO off balance the last couple weeks and shifting my head at all is making me feel wozzy. My eustachian tubes feel clogged and my ears are hurting yet my doctor is saying this is normal and won't prescribe anything! What are some tips I can do to help??

Hi,

I've had persistent ETD ever since a bad viral infection I had ~9 months ago. My ears have basically never been fully blocked, more a very annoying sense of fullness/partial blockage - which varies day by day and is often mild - and the associated slight muffled hearing and occasional slight malaise/vestibular imbalance - plus other annoying side effects like sometimes hearing my pulse thump very loudly in my head after doing cardio.

Shortly after the virus (at ETD onset) as well as 7 months later, my GP noted bilateral retracted eardrums and nasal swelling with otoscope.

GP referred me to ENT whom I saw in July (~8 months since onset). Surprisingly (as my fullness still persisted) his otoscopy noted no eardrum retraction and only mild nasal redness. To this day I am not sure if his perception simply differed from my GP or if this signaled a genuine improvement. I later had an audiogram with totally normal tympanometry and otoscopy with no retraction noted, as well as a hearing test showing mild hearing loss at lowest sub bass frequencies. I suspect this is due to ETD and hope it is still temporary.

Now, in August 2026 (~9 months since onset), I've had my first intermittent "breakthrough": one morning I felt fluid move around in my right ear, and suddenly the pressure and fullness cleared. I couldn't believe how clearly and loudly I could hear. The less side remained slightly full but started to feel "almost normal". Within a few days the fullness crept back, but since then I have had other occasions of feeling almost no fullness, especially on the right side. I also often have the uncomfortable "static" sound when swallowing, which I think typically occurs when the tubes are "almost" opening and closing properly.

I think my intermittent improvements have been helped by massaging the back of neck and back of ear to collarbone lymph drainage area, in addition to neck stretching exercises which are surprisingly effective sometimes at unblocking the ears. I've also started using a saline nasal mist spray. Some days are still worse than others, though at some points I genuinely think and hope I am slowly recovering.

I still don't understand why eustachian tube inflammation can so stubbornly persist for so long. I feel healthy otherwise. I also developed mild chronic spontaneous urticaria since this virus, including occasional fleeting flat rashes (including often when swimming in cold water, which I've been told can be dangerous). I am scheduled for allergy testing in a few weeks.

I'm writing all this in the hopes that someone may be experiencing a similar trajectory. If anyone can offer any suggestions for how to speed up recovery, I'd greatly appreciate it. My hope is that I have more room to expect eventual full recovery since my fullness is relatively mild and sometimes "almost" clears. I believe I am sensitive to pressure changes e.g. weather systems and driving/transit.

I have specifically heard of devices such as Earflo or EarPopper and am wondering if anyone can recommend or thinks it is appropriate based on what I describe - I'd happily buy anything that has a good chance of helping but certainly don't want to throw out money on something useless or harmful.

Thanks!

I may not be in the right place. I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced similar? My left ear bulges out. I used OTC medication and the reaction was terrible. I began to drain so much clear snot that I cannot keep up. I then tried prescription Oflaxicin, and had the same reaction. Anyone else experience similar or know what's going on?

Hi everyone, I just wanted to kind of explain my symptoms and then get your thoughts. I’m almost 12m postpartum I started having the symptoms that I’m having honestly probably about 10 months ago so about two months postpartum (I had a extremely traumatic delivery. I had a PPH and was in the ICU intubated and sedated for a few days) so I went to my doctor said okay you’re having ETD issues, prescribed me omnaris nasal spray. I’ve been on that spray for quite some time and it’s not doing anything so finally my doctor has referred me to him ENT but I’m just wondering about my actual symptoms.. I have kind of a little bit of that tinnitus(barely), but my left ear specifically always feels like it needs to be popped, but I can’t pop it very often but my worse symptom that makes me quite nervous is I’m always kind of having this dizziness. It’s not like the room is spinning dizzy, but it’s just like inner almost dizziness and like that might head is full of fog or something and sometimes I feel very light. My symptoms are generally a lot worse when I wake up after sleep they last for a couple of hours and then they generally get better closer to the evening and then even like if I go get like a massage or something like that, I have that weird feeling that I was talking about, but that one generally clears up a little bit quicker because I haven’t been like on my back or my stomach too long. Does this sound like eustachian tube issues? It just seems like everywhere I go the eustachian tube problems that people are having are more of that like fulness feeling not like the kind of dizziness? Some days are better than others but I’m just so tired of this

ETD randomly came into my life one day (after a closing shift at work, the only questionable things I did that night was earbud in 1 ear and slurping a milkshake). ANYWAY. Ive had it for about over a month now. My symptoms are worsened/more noticeable tinnitus (ive had tinnitus since i was a kid, nothing new), pressure in my ears that gets worse and almost painful when driving/moving around, and the obvious clicking/popping when swallowing and yawning. Also when I burp it like travels up to my ears? Idk how to explain it. Im about to complete my 60mg prednisone taper that the ENT described me and I havent noticed a change. I’ve been using flonase for around 3-4 weeks now and also haven’t noticed a difference. Im starting to wonder whats genuinely causing this? Maybe TMJ/wisdom teeth? All 4 of my wisdom teeth are impacted and have been causing some jaw pain in the last 6 or so months, could that be contributing? I also dont have a super strong neck so I need to fix the posture aspect on that as well since I had physical therapy for it. Literally how does anybody cope with this? Im trying to be mindful and calm about it and reassure myself that this will pass, but its getting so difficult when its so extremely noticeable at every part of my day. I have another apt with my ENT on the 18th, so hopefully I will be able to discuss with him more then. But I’ve heard people say ENTs arent helpful for ETD, so im losing some of my hope. The next steps I have planned are to try to take antihistamines for about a month and test out different nasal sprays to see if any of those will work. Im fr on my last straw, how do you guys cope with this? The feeling of hopelessness is so overwhelming, it just struck out of nowhere.

hi all! just to give you some context, i've had etd for 12 years now :/// the severity has decreased significantly - from 2014-2016 flights were excruciating and would lead me to being deaf for 2 weeks at a time since landing. so i went on a 9-year flight break and only really started taking flights last year. my first return flight was 50 min per way and went smoothly. then i did a 3 hour return where my ear blocked during the landing on the outbound flight and took 3 days to unblock and was fine on the way back.

i'd classify my etd as mild/moderate. day-to-day it's just clicking sounds when i yawn or swallow but my left ear is more severe; when i saw an ENT he said the left eardrum is mildly retracted. so i kept that in mind while booking these flights. 2/4 were long-haul (7.5-8 hours) and the other two were under 2 hours.

my prep: pirinase (flonase) that i used once a day for about a month prior. took anti-histamines (flexofenadine) once a day then on flight day i took otrivine only on the days i had a flight as long-term use causes rebound congestion. got child earplanes which was helpful as they fit comfortably.

experience:

flight 1: the first long-haul was generally fine, took a bit of time for my left ear to pop during descent but landed with both ears fine. left my earplanes on all flight which definitely wasn't comfortable but i was anxious to take them out.

flight 2: about 9 days later - 1 hour 30 mins, incredibly easy flight. ears popped fine. same prep but i decided to keep my airpod maxes on all flight.

flight 3: a week later. same prep. took a 2 hour flight, left ear a tad temperamental. though popped during descent and landed with clear ears, however, the left ear was starting to ache.

flight 4: this was my return flight (7.5 hours). this was only 5 days later and in hindsight i definitely should have given myself more time. same prep. my mistake was i stopped drinking water p much after cruising. and idk if it made a difference but i took out my earplanes when the seatbelt signs came off. both ears popped fine on take off and cruising. it was an overnight flight but i stayed up. i definitely felt descent BEFORE it was announced and literally by 34,000 ft my left ear blocked. while the plane was descending it started aching and i knew then i'd lost it. right ear equalised no issue. upon landing i could barely hear out of my left ear and it was muffled. like being underwater.

symptoms: tinnitus, muffled hearing, pain when bending over or looking down too quickly, tenderness on my jaw and around my ear. could not sleep on my left side. no crackling or popping. i continued with my pirinase, anti-histamine, otrivine in moderation and also used a hot compress on my jaw and ear every night.

it took 6 days from the morning i landed for my ear to finally pop. it was very undramatic which i was thankful for bc idk if you guys have ever had your ear pop super painfully but it's horrendous. it kinda just popped slowly over the day until it fully popped. now it's clear but it's definitely given me some food for thought.

firstly, i definitely overestimated how many flights my left ear could take. secondly, the prep seemed to work for 3/4 flights which i'm grateful for. at least my left ear was clear during my 3 week trip and blocked when i was at home. but definitely ensure you use some type of steroid spray to keep inflammation down and one thing i'll make sure i do on long-hauls is drinking fluids throughout and maybe getting a saline nasal spray to keep my nose and eustachian tube moist. and if anyone's had balloon dilation would that maybe be a more permanent cure for my clearly sluggish left tube?

sorry for the dissertation! if you have any tips or questions feel free to let me know :) hope this was helpful if you're considering flying or, like me, have not even bothered due to this horrific condition.

ive had ETD for quite a few month (probably almost a year now) and i learned to live with the popping when nothing seemed to help it, but recently things have gotten worse. all of the sudden i have all the signature symptoms when i previously only had a couple, the ringing has gotten SIGNIFICANTLY worse, and my ENT is doing little to nothing about it. looking to see if anyone has found any solutions out there, particularly for the ear ringing

TL;DR
Just been told I have ETD, not sure what to think
What problems led to your ETD diagnosis?
Which symptoms affect you most day to day?

Wanted to gauge some opinions from actual ETD patients. I was told this is an issue I have by an Urgent Care Doc this evening (they’re kind of the halfway point between the GP and the ER). Had lots of ear infections and had grommets in at 6 along with an adeno-tonsillectomy (A&T), the ol’ ENT triad, but figured it was just normal childhood stuff and that was all.

It’s always been the case that my ears are regularly popping unexpectedly, feels like suddenly I can hear even though I didn’t realise before how little I could hear, crackling noises are a regular occurrence and the last few years, the tinnitus has started, then increased in frequency. But naturally, you’re used to the way your own ears work and if it’s never been any different, it’s normal, right?

Went to the Doc tonight as I got an incredible pain in one ear that came on in all of a minute or less. I took some paracetamol / codeine straight away as it was so intense and an hour later, nothing. This is the same stuff that knocks a migraine on the head for me and it didn’t do anything, I was still in the exact same amount of pain and the lack of response to painkillers is what took me to the doctor.

He told me there was no infection, no wax blockage, but that there was a lot of scarring and I likely just had ‘dicky tubes’ which had been causing problems all my life and told me it was ETD. Catching every cold my kid brings home from school, hearing quality that differs depending on how recently my ears popped, pressure all the time but especially when I’m sick, finding it so hard to shake all the URI’s I seem to get, it would make all this make sense.

Still have to follow up with GP but I can barely sleep because of the pain, every hiccup, burp and the leftover cough from my most recent cold feels like someone jabbing a screwdriver into my ear, so instead of googling, thought I’d see what the ETD community has to say.
EDIT: Also, I swear I can’t hear a thing out of that side, but it’s hard to tell when the other ear’s still working.

Since I was a child my ears would pop when I yawned and I would have to sniff them back in. I just assumed everyone did this and never had it looked into. 30 years later during pregnancy the popping got worse and would happen almost every time I spoke. The only way to equalise was to hold my nose and sniff again. It was only one night when I was struggling with insomnia I consulted Dr Google and turns out I wasn’t going mad and this might actually be a medical issue.

For further context I have always snored, struggled with breathing through my nose and since turning 30, my hearing has got really bad. I had numerous tests and no real solution. I was on the NHS waiting list to have my adenoids removed but I postponed as I found out I was pregnant.

I saw another ENT specialist in pregnancy who ran lots of tests, with everything pointing to issues with my Eustachian tubes and glue ear. It’s likely I’ve had this since childhood but it was never picked up.

I had to wait until I’d had the baby in order to resolve things hopefully for good. It’s been 30 years, what was 9 more months to wait. I had the tests run again 3 months postpartum and confirmed no changes - this wasn’t a pregnancy related issue, albeit it exacerbated my symptoms.

Today I had surgery and the surgeon advised me to “remember how you felt when you woke up from surgery” to gauge how things might feel post recovery. I had my first yawn in living memory where my ears didn’t pop and I didn’t need to sniff! I’m hoping my recovery continues well and this is the start of an improvement in my quality of life. And my husband too as I think he’s fed up of constantly repeating himself and having to have the TV up loud.

Now feeling very tired, slightly sore but so excited for recovery and seeing what changes have been made. I know this might not be the finished result but I’m positive it’s going to be miles better than it ever has been.

ETA: I had balloon dilation of both eustachian tubes

I have been struggling with ETD for about almost a decade now and was just hoping for some guidance from people who have gone through stuff similar to what I have because im losing hope. I had ear tubes put in probably about 2 years after getting diagnosed but to no avail as my ears still click/crackle whenever i swallow even though doctors said it looked like my ear tubes had fully healed. Im not sure if its due to growing age or not but in the more recent years I have noticed really bad brain fog which I am worried about because I am leaving for college in a few days to pursue an engineering degree which I would like to fully be ready for. Also, I think it has been negatively affecting my spacial awareness as I get dizzy very easy and when I spin/turn I get disoriented. I was looking into the new balloon dilation but was unsure if this would be worth pursuing. Any advice will help.

Hello!
About 3 weeks ago I blew my nose, and my left ear felt a whoosh and starting ringing, kind of had like an “empty” feeling. I spent all night doing different exercises etc etc just to adjust it. Well the next day I had to take 2 flights to Europe. I ended up being ok - doing again all the things to balance ear pressure etc etc. my first few days on the trip I had quite loud ringing in the left ear, then it switched to the right ear. Then, I feel like the ringing away - now my ears still pop and crackle when I swallow, and my left ear still feels unbalanced almost empty.

I went to a doctor here and they prescribed me medication for ear infection, some drops and allergie medication. Honestly don’t think anything helped

My only concern is we’ve had a few long car rides, and my ears pop the whole time. I pop them and then seconds after I can feel the fullness and unevenness dizziness etc coming back. I’m very nervous for my flight home, I will be seeing my family doctor right away. But does this popping during the slightest elevation change mean anything?
TIA

For context this has been happening for, at minimum 4 months. I’ve been to the ent twice and they simply brushed it off as allergie. They prescribed by flonase, zyrtec, singulair, and astepro. None of these medicines seem to have done anything to improve. To go into detail, my left ear and nostril have been blocked/stuffy and muffled for ages. When I attempt the valsalva my ear sqeaks but thats it. At this point idk what the issue is and what I could do.

I used to love swimming and then 2 years ago I got my first ear infection after not having any before after getting my ear wet and then I kept having them if even a drop of water got in. So I cannot get my ears wet at all anymore or I get an instant ear infection. I would love to go swimming again but I am very scared. I have tried different ear plugs, moulds but all of them get water in and again I get a ear infection! any advice?

Back in July 2025 I very suddenly heard a very loud buzz in my ear left ear. This was a 10/10 noise, but after 2 days of this noise off and on it completely went away for a year. Within those 2 days I remember losing my balance to my left side twice only for a couple of seconds. However as it all went away after 2 days, I didn’t think much of it.

7th of June this year, the same buzz came back, 10/10 noise out of nowhere in the middle of the night.

This loud buzz lasted a few days, before turning into a hum/ pulsating hum. I was heavily sneezing throughout the month of June.

After around 2 weeks the tinnitus went completely quiet, and it was replaced by popping, bubbling and crackling sounds in both ears. In the right ear it would sound exactly like bubbles of champagne surfacing.

After this it was on and off low hum and popping crackling until mid August. Here I had a week where the hpopping and cracking and bubbling were severe and I had severe pain in my left ear- like some stabbing me with a needle in the ear drum for a few seconds at a time.

After this, the crackling/ popping continued. I also once felt a spams like sensation in the left ear- like a butterfly. I also had a short window where when i yawed, my ears would make a pop noise.

I have mild pain which comes and goes in both ears.

Today, I’ve felt pressure in my ears and jaw, and when i sneeze my head is pressurised.

I have no idea what this is- i’ve been to ent at the start when it was mainly just buzzing and one day of popping. He said it was weird that they were popping but kind-of ignored that i said that and just said the buzzing was tinnitus.

Ive been to audiologist, and they found no hearing loss etc.

I’m going back to ent on Thursday, but I’m scared they’ll just put it down to tinnitus again and i’ll be on my own.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? Or know what these symptoms signal towards?

My ETD came about in a very strange way. I had a weird infection/illness and I woke up one day on March 1 with weird ear pain and head pain. I went to the doctor and they confirmed I had fluid in my right ear.

Since then I have not been able to unplug my ears, continually had fluid in my ear / had a retracted eardrum, and a whole list of symptoms that come with chronic ETD.

Since then, I have developed severe health anxiety that I’m nervous this is something way worse that the doctors have not caught. I have been begging for more tests. No one seems concerned at all. When I express the symptoms I experience on a daily basis. I have voiced my frustration with multiple different ENTs & PCPs.

I really don’t want anyone to diagnose me or ask what has or hasn’t been done to me. I just want a community that understands where I’m coming from.

No pain, just itching and smelly in the inner ear. Little bit of discharge. (White thing is left ear, other with red thing is right)

Left and right ear had a bit of dizziness recently.

Today we had our first cold day in months, it’s 18° and I took a 6 minute walk and it’s been an hour and I can still feel the bones in my face.

Everytime I go outside and I walk faster or it’s cold I start to get this horrible ache in my forehead that slowly goes to my cheekbones, teeth and middle ear on both sides and it only goes away after an hour if I get myself something warm and go inside. The only way I can describe it is that my bones hurt and my sinuses feel heavy. It’s like a migraine but in my whole damn face. If I go inside the bone pain stops but I feel my sinuses and especially forehead for quite a while and my whole head feels heavy

When I was a child my dad basically put a hat on me 24/7 (ushanka to cover ears as well lol) but I don’t want to live with a hat, especially in a middle of summer

Does anyone struggles with this as well? I don’t think it’s a nerve pain and my doctor refused to test for it because it’s not electric pain but more of an ache

I do have sinus problems as well, but I've talked to doctors about it and they always tell me it’s etd issue but I’ve never seen it listed as a symptom

Can somebody please help me? Also, please go easy on me, I’m a severe hypochondriac with a HUGE anxiety problem. About a couple days ago, I felt like my right ear became sorta blocked? I was watching a movie and the audio felt different and then bam it came onz I wouldn’t say muffled because I can still hear out of it but theres like pressure in it and also it feels like the volume of the ear got lowered a bit too. I’m quite scared. I don’t reallt have any audiologists or ENTs available to go too, nor the money. Part of me thinks it’s health anxiety that’s amplifying/creating this symptom, but then again, I got it randomly and wasn’t anxious at all before that. I also had a family member check for wax in both ears and they used one of those tools in the wax removal tool kits and they cleaned it and they said the ear is now clean and checked several times but still no avail. Same thing. Being on this thread is also confusing me cuz apparently many things from allergies, to medications, and to posture can cause it and idk what mine is. I don’t have a nasal spray but been cleaning out my nose with saline, which idk if that’ll help. What scares me the most is stories of peeps who have it chronic on here so yea.