McRibbons said:
Funnily enough my partner has it and it’s her left ear that’s blocked
Yeah it's quite amazing that it seems to hit most sufferers' left ears. Insider suffers in his right, but that's almost certainly a result of his nose injury. When I first started to investigate my symtoms and discovered ETD, I actually found out about it on an aviation forum, because pilots who suffer from it have to stop flying until it clears. When flying, the blockage prevents the air pressure in your inner ear from equalizing during the change in atmospheric pressure as you ascend/descend, this in turn can cause severe pain or even cause your ear drums to burst.
It is most common in children, whose eustachian tubes are narrower, and is sometimes known as 'glue ear' because the mucus has the consistency of thick wallpaper paste.