Recurring Ruptured Eardrum

I can suggest/endorse the Mucinex. My three year old is on her second set of tubes...but will still get ear infections. If I start a 3-4 day course right when the congestion starts, I can prevent ear infections I would say more than 80% of the time. It keeps everything moving and we can ride out the infection without antibiotics--I'll take the Mucinex any day over the alternatives.

For your purposes, I would start 2 days before flying. Make sure he gets the appropriate dose/schedule and is drinking plenty of clear fluids...avoiding as much dairy as possible.

Poor guy. I had the opposite problem...I could tell when one was coming before the doctor could really see anything. We'd end up going to the doctor twice in once week until my Pediatrician figured out I knew what I was talking about.

Get yourself a Dr. Mom otoscope from Amazon. They are low cost, and your child's dr can show you how to use it, if you're at all nervous. I practiced on my husband before looking in my son's ears. Mine has saved me unneeded copays, and has helped me diagnose ear infections before going to the doctor. A ruptured drum is very obvious through an otoscope. The Dr. Mom one comes with a picture guide, but you can always google images for back-up. You could just get in the habit of looking in his ears once a week to check. Good luck.

We found out that one of our children's reoccurring ear infections were the result of allergies. He typically had no symptoms until the eardrum ruptured. His ENT doc told us that is was a good thing that it would rupture, in his case, b/c that was his body's way of getting rid of the infection. We now prevent them, now that we know what is causing them, by giving him an antihistamine during allergy season.
Also, applying heat to the ear helps a lot.

I had lots of ruptured eardrums throughout life. As a young child I did not hear for several months due to having two at one time. I've had them as an adult as well. One after a flight from Europe to Portland. So here is my best advice.
Don't worry. Ruptured eardrums heal. I still hear better than my friends who had boom boxes in the back of their cars or went to rock concerts.
If you keep him from getting big time infections that will help. Does your son have sinus trouble. Do his eyes become infected. Those are causes of unannounced ear drum rupture.
Take sugar out of his diet. That will help him to be healthier overall.

Any signs of sinus problems should alert you to check his ears for signs of infection. So a plugged stuffy nose could just be a plugged stuffy nose, but with little ones, it often turns into a soar throat and ear infections. As well, a prolonged cough could lead to an ear infection.