Hi, I'm really hoping someone can help me because I'm pretty frustrated.

I got my Airpods in July and they worked really well for me for a few months. Then I started noticing I would get painful pressure like I had just stepped off an airplane in one or both of my ears that took days to go away. I'm writing this with my left ear feeling like it's ringing from the pressure after wearing my Airpods for a couple of hours today while I was working, taking them out for a while, and then going for a walk while listening to music.

I have tried a number of fixes - bigger ear tips (don't stay in my ears), transparency mode vs noise cancelling (doesn't seem to make a difference), lower volume, taking them out for a few minutes every hour, and then normal ear pressure tricks like chewing gum and decongestants. What am I doing wrong? Do I have a bad pair? It's too late for me to return them, so I really want to make them work because they were expensive, but I feel like they shouldn't be causing me this much discomfort.