BootsnAll Travel Community

Good lord, please everyone, move around the plane next time you're on a long-haul flight! A dear work colleague just returned from Australia on a Friday and reported to work on Monday. Then starts complaining of severe pain in his lower calf. Luckily I work with a lot of former nurses who hustled him off to the ER. Turns out he had a massive DVT (deep vein thrombosis) and kicked off several pulmonary emboli. He's out of the hospital now and will probably be OK, but will not work for several weeks, if not months. We're all very happy he is still alive.

The hard thing about the whole situation is that he is one of the most healthy people I have ever met. At 40, he regularly runs 5K races, eats healthy, doesn't smoke, and scuba dives. He is the last person I would think could have such a serious health issue. He's simply in fantastic physical shape!

On the Quantas flight, he said he had the window seat and was next to "little old ladies" in their seventies. He was loathe to climb over them or make them move, so he only got up once during the 14 hour flight. Also drank no water.

I always watch those DVT warnings and think "oh, that could never happen to me." But trust me, if it could happen to my friend, it can happen to anybody. Next time I'm on a long-haul flight, you'll find me doing jumping jacks in the aisle every hour and drinking pints of water!

Yes, get up and walk around. Now I've always done this simply because I have long legs and can't stay confined to those cramped airplane seats for more than a couple hours at a time.

It's important to get up, stretch those legs, and let your blood circulate.

I just have a friend who has a severe case of DVT--same deal young fit all the good stuff. It's really scary to think.

I gotta ask: What are the stats?

It's got to be much less than 1% of the passengers who get DVT.

This worries me a bit because I have legs that tend to swell anyway. I'm wearing those compression socks when I fly anyway. They are supposed to help. .

If anyone else is worried about DVT I can now talk about it from personal experience.

This is def. not one to try at home,

DVT II
Philip

For all you women out there on the pill be carefull!! DVT is a side effect of the pill. I was a guest at a hospital in London for a week with DVT that they believe was a result of the pill. (I was 26) Be careful of your sleeping pill intake while on long haul flights. Not moving for 14 hours could be dangerous. And don't drink if you take any sleeping pills!

It was the sleeping pills which did it for me -
(or was it the beautiful girl I was sitting next to?)

Philip

One of my patients got a DVT on the SFO to Maui flight, only 5 hours!

So is the key to get up and walk around?

Walking around is good, so is doing those little knee lifts and foot flex thingies in your seat. Just try and refrain from doing sit ups and push ups in the aisle!!( I've seen it happen) The floor is kinda dirty!!

The pill and smoking caused me to have a pulmonary embolism at 21...so it can happen at any age.
And Phillip - I read your blog and compleatly know what you're talking about with the:
"doctor covered my legs and groin with petroleum jelly and proceeded to pummel me with an ultrasonic probe."

That is no fun. I only had to stay in the hospital a couple of days and then they let me go but I had to be on blood thinners for 6 months.

But I'm all better now...except I'm forbidden from using the pill every again. I would say to all woman out there to heed the warning. I'm just glad I had good doctors.

u guys are scaring me! I will be on a 14 hour flight to HK tomorrow. I have been hydrating myself more than usual as I have heard that helps...

Truly, truly not trying to scare anybody....just trying to make folks aware. I honestly never thought that DVT could happen to someone who was healthy and kept in good shape like my colleague at work.

I'm definitely still up for traveling and long-haul flights... but will be extra vigilant for DVT. By the way, I thought of a great solution for anyone wanting to avoid DVT....volunteer to sit next to the screaming baby or toddler! You're guaranteed not to get a moment of sleep and will take to pacing the aisles as your only escape! My children will be happy to volunteer!

The Good News is that all that 'hydrating' means you'll be back 'n forth to the toilet regularly and the resultant movement will help your circulation.

The fact that airlines now show you how to exercise (in your seat) is an indicator of just how seriously DVT SHOULD be taken.

Its like the 'What to do if we are crashing' cards they put there - something they wouldn't talk about unless the had to by law.

And as the others have said EXERCISE is the answer - especially on aircraft - although the airlines are reluctant to encourage you to walk around.

And alcohol, no I'm not a teatotaller, in moderation is a wise precaution.

Travelling, as I do too frequently, between Indochina and Europe or North America, I always book flights that are NOT direct so I can take advantage of ground time in Bangkok, London or Paris. Flight times BKK - Europe are around 12 hours average.

I've used compression socks for years (and I don't mean the stylish, low pressure ones you get for a couple of dollars/pounds/euro).

Living in the Central Highlands of VietNam between 3 - 5,000 feet above sea level, in fairly warm weather, I have found the more expensive socks much more comfortable than the cheaper varieties.

You can imagine the scene....a 40 something year old woman lying on her back at in the little passage between the aisles, waving her legs in the air at 2 in the morning.....
I sometimes fly from South Africa to Atlanta US, 18 hours and then on to Los Angeles, another 6 hours. By that time I do not give a damn about dignity, all I want to do is keep my circulation going.

quote:

You can imagine the scene....a 40 something year old woman lying on her back at in the little passage between the aisles, waving her legs in the air at 2 in the morning.....

That pretty much sounds like any flight between LA and Vegas on the weekend. Maybe I was wrong to frown upon it and people are really only concerned about their health...

As static infers, the stats are probably pretty low, but doing all those things mentioned above to keep circulation up are good as is taking aspirin and no real harm in doing it for a wek before to thin blood - you can get those little mini ones the Blazer mentioned, and which I take myself (daily forever now)after having DVT following some VV surgery (several weeks after actually when I said to Doc when he was considering a date to do second leg - anything that an ache in my calf I've had for a week or so means)

He sort of got concerned like he might have been the one to faint, but the Ultrasound, finding some injecting stuff late on a Friday to kick start the thinning, and Walfram I thing the tabs are and I had to put off donating plasma, blood and having the second leg done until the following year.

But always get the shoes off, and even socks if you have ones with a tight band - you can buy special socks, some more effective than others, and then wiggle the toes, rotate the ankles, full leg raisers, good for tummy muscles too, and irrespective of who is alongside you, take the seventy year old ladies for a waltz as well - they'll love it.

I have a story on this.

I have just been diagnosed with DVT and I am a very healthy and active 26 year old. I went to 4 doctors here in Argentina with pain and swelling in my calf, behind the knee and lower hamstring area and all of them misdiagnosed me with muscle stains due to the fact that I run, do some weights, bike often and at my work I am always hiking in the bush.

Very luckily I finally talked to a physio friend of mine who was here on a visit from Australia and she said to go get a dopler ultrasound right away. BUT I needed to get a doctors referral and none of them would give me one as they refused to believe I could have it! The doctor actually laughed in my face and said that I was being too worried, I was healthier than anyone he had seen in a long time. Eventually (and being quite stubborn) I found a place where I could pay 150 pesos (50 dollars) last week and they did the ultrasound and found a large thrombosis beneath my knee and another one in my calf. After everything by this time most of my swelling had gone down and they said I had a good prognosis so I will be wearing compression stockings for a few months and taking warfarina (spanish).

The thing that is scary is that the previous doctors recomended a lot of stretching and MASSAGE which my partner gave me even though I was in a lot of pain and now I realise that that was really dangerous. While my leg was really swelled I was also working in the field in a remote area, hours from help. When the pain first came on I also tried to 'walk it out' by doing a 300m elevation gain hike at a 5000m pass! I think I was really lucky not to have had complications.

So it looks like the only reasons for me getting DVT are that I take the pill and some longer travels in our car, NOT airtravel. As I read in a recent report it can happen just as easily with extended bus and car travel too. I think the pill is the dangerous factor here so like Prisa said, be warned and lookout for the symptoms! The doctor looks at me pretty strangely when I ask him how it will affect my snowboarding this season and how quickly I can get back on the bike...he has never seen it in someone so young and active before but then there are not that many argentinas on the pill....

quote:

Originally posted by Prisa:
The pill and smoking caused me to have a pulmonary embolism at 21...so it can happen at any age.
And Phillip - I read your blog and compleatly know what you're talking about with the:
"doctor covered my legs and groin with petroleum jelly and proceeded to pummel me with an ultrasonic probe."

That is no fun. I only had to stay in the hospital a couple of days and then they let me go but I had to be on blood thinners for 6 months.

But I'm all better now...except I'm forbidden from using the pill every again. I would say to all woman out there to heed the warning. I'm just glad I had good doctors.