I flew home from holiday with a bit of a cold/fluey thing on Sunday. I'd had it a few days, and it now appears to be on its way out.

If you've ever flown with a bunged up nose, you probably know it's torture on your ears. I hadn't before and was totally unprepared for the agony involved. When I got off the plane, I could hardly hear a thing. Just swooshing and ringing. Gradually subsided, but came to rest at a point where my hearing is probably at 50% and it sounds like I'm wearing headphones all the time. I thought it just had to do with still being bunged up, but that's now going pretty rapidly and the ears are staying the same. Could it be that a big load of internal wax has been dislodged and is blocking up my ears? Could lasting damage have been done to my ear drums by the pressure?

Has anyone had this before, and how long did it last?

That Dumbo joke you're considering posting after reading the thread title isn't funny btw.