My perforated eardrum

Matt,
Can't help, but sympathise (spelling ?)
Fingers crossed for you , and no Waterboys for you then - a bang on the ear, and all that...
Steve, still current owner of some Stax headphones..

Actually, the perforated drum means you will have NO problems flying. Ear pain on flying develops because a pressure gradient that the flyer cannot equalise develops across the drum. Your perforation means that no pressure gradient can develop.

The old saw about antibiotics and drinking alcohol can generally be ignored too. The one exception is with Metronidazole which specifically interacts with alcohol to make you feel very grim indeed.

So, drink and fly - but leave 8 hours minimum between them, please.

Fraser Hadden (Dr.)

quote:

Originally posted by Fraser Hadden:
So, drink and fly - but leave 8 hours minimum between them, please.

Fraser Hadden (Dr.)

LOL

Fraser, thanks for the info. Having just seen my aviation medicine specialist, he informs me that if I flew with a damaged eardrum, I could worsen the damage, as well as leaving myself open (literally, I guess) to further infection. Also, being 50% deaf is not a great qualification for my job
I understand what you say about the equi-pressurisation part though.
Oh, & 8hrs bottle-to-throttle is more like 12 hrs in reality & some international laws have even less humour built into them!
matt.

The problem with flying is that while your eardrum is trying to heal the hole, it is weaker than normal. So, the "repair" is likely to give way when subjected to the pressure changes of flying. If this was repeated enough times the perforation may not heal at all, and you'd be left with a hole which could need grafting.
I've had an eardrum graft myself, and it is fine, but the success rate drops with increasing age.
I'd treat it gently and let it heal naturally. The hearing loss can be quite prolonged but you should expect a full recovery. Some say the inevitable scarring of the eardrum can cause high frequency loss, but it would need to be pretty extensive.

Thanks for that rockingdoc. Thats pretty much what I/the quack thought. I don't like the "quite prolonged" bit, as if I'm not flying, I'm not really earning! Plus, all this chat about hearing loss is a bit scary, considering our common interest here.
PS Anyone got a job for me for a month or so!!
matt

matt

I may, provided that you've got a deep sea diving licence.

Sorry, couldn't resist that!!

But seriously, take things easy for as long as you have to. I think that you will, as you've already started to brood on potential consequences if you don't.

Good luck with the recuperation.

Graham

Matt - given that the shortage of check in staff season is almost upon us you could probably do a bit of front of house volunteering <g>

Derek. I think I'd rather deep-sea dive than check -in. But I must say that I think the way that customers have to queue to check-in (even the self-service lines aren't quick enough), then queue to go through the x-ray machines (15 machines, only 3 manned), & queues at the gate, its no wonder people board the plane stressed out & angry. All down to bloody cost cutting at the expense of customer-service. imho.
matt

Matt - what annoys me is the time for the luggage to get to the luggage hall - if BAA and the airlines could improve the delivery time there would be less need for the masses of carry on non fragile luggage cluttering up the cabin lockers.

However I do like electronic check-in with or or without pre printed boarding pass.

Hi again derek. I entirely agree re: baggage. I know that BA, amongst others are currently re-evaluating the cabin baggage allowance policy,after pressure from the CAA. In turn,BA are shortly introducing a baggage tag with a tracking-chip in it to improve recovery of lost baggage.
Advanced check-in, with pre-printed boarding cards, along with hi-tech biometric passenger verification is an obvious future, & if there are enough machines at the airport, it should speed things up.It also means there will be fewer company staff to communicate with. All the more time to spend in the reported 3 miles ! of shops at Terminal 5.
matt.

manicatel,

Just had a major ear infection (LHS, same as you), although ear drum remained intact. I fly alot also, but not for a living, so was grounded as well. The thing that is critical (to me anyway) is the risk of long term damage to the ear. I only learned this at the final visit to the doctor when the hearing test showed a weakness on the left side. He gave me the all clear for travel, but tinitus remains. Come back in 3 months and see IF it gets any better, was all he could say.
Good luck and take care of that ear.

David

Thanks (I think!) for the info david. Yes, along with this thing having an affect on my job (albeit only temporary, hopefully), as I said earlier, we are on this forum because we all have a passion for music/hi-fi, so thoughts of a negative affect on my long term hearing does not fill me with glee!
Hoep yours works out OK for you,
matt.