Has anyone travelled after laparoscopy?

[lemmi]

I am just wondering if anyone has taken a flight after a laparoscopy? If so then how soon after? The NHS website says it is safe to fly 24 hours after a laparoscopy and 10 days after abdominal surgery. Anyone have any experience?

[Impatient]

It depends how you are travelling. If you are flying you must contact the airline and check with their medical department. They have company insurance and you must qualify to fly according to the insurance of each airline you are travelling with.

That is not the same as your own personal travel insurance, it is the airline's own insurance covering just themselves in the event of an onboard medical emergency.

I would not recommend flying 24 hrs after a lap on any flight and only then in an emergency.

You have not got rid of the gasses from the op within 24 hours and gasses expand at altitude in a pressurised aircraft, it could turn out to be one extremely painful experience to fly when you still have trapped gasses expanding inside you. Super Ouch!!!!

There is also a much higher risk of DVT just after an operation and this risk is increased by travelling whether you are sat in a car, on a train or plane for long periods of time. Another pretty decent reason for not travelling too soon.

When I worked for an airline we usually (not always) but usually advised 8 days clear from the surgery date if there were no complications. There were exceptions under that and over that depending on the type of surgery and what was done and the length of the trip.

In all cases of flying you not only need to speak to the airline but need to get your GP to complete a medical form which is then sent by fax or downloaded directly to the airline's medical people for assessment. Even for a short duration domestic flight.

Failure to do this and inform the airline, renders you the traveller, liable for all expenses incurred if anything goes wrong and the flight has to divert due to your medical emergency. a bill for Tens of thousands of pounds could land on your doormat, not to mention that you yourself could be putting your own life at risk.

Do not rely on the NHS website, they do not determine who is fit to fly. They can only give a basic advice.

It is the airlines' own decision, taken by medically qualified experts in travelling with medical conditions. They handle these cases every hour of every day. They look after the health and medical training of their staff and they arrange all manner of complex medical case movements from babies in incubators to severely disabled needing oxygen life support, to people travelling with dialasis equipment and those with broken limbs and all sorts of other complications.

Each airline will have it's own website, visit the website and type in 'medical clearance' in the search box and you should find the contact details for the departments you need to speak to and get the correct paper work sent to you in advance of any travel.

Some airlines will publish their own criteria guidelines for certain medical condtions online, but not all do.

You can also visit the airline's customer services desk at the airport to get hold of these medical forms too. Some airlines have the forms online for you to print off at home and take to your GP to be completed.

Each airline needs to give its own medical clearance, so it you fly out with one airline and are returning on a different one or are connecting to a different one, then you need to be cleared by both and they each might have a different criteria for clearing you to travel.

Hope that helps.

[star1984]

I travelled to Orlando 3 & a half weeks after mine and went on all the rollercoasters, probably shouldn't have gone on some of them coz the restraints were pressing on my stomach but I felt absolutely fine. It does vary with different people though so some people may not feel comfortable on a long flight. I just had to keep getting up and walking around as I felt a little uncomfortable being in one position for so long.

Hope that helps! xx

[Madhatter1]

Like impatient says you will need to look into airline and travel insurance requirements but it will also depend a lot on what you have done in your lap and how you feel after. I have done an 8 hour flight two weeks after one of my laps and i was ok but i was lucky enough to have enough miles to upgrade to business so it was easier but i still felt uncomfortable on the plane after a few hours. Sorry i couldnt give you a straight answer its just one of those things you need to see how you feel after the op. so maybe just make sure if you book anything you get a ticket that you can change without huge costs! X

[lemmi]

I have already looked into the airline and travel insurance guidelines. I was just shocked by what I'd read on the NHS website and couldn't believe it was true. That's why I was asking, more for people's personal experiences. Sorry I should have made that clearer I already have a flight/holiday booked and paid for coming up fairly soon and there was a possibly that they were going to operate before it but now it looks like they won't operate until afterwards.

[Catness]

Hello :0)

Personally after the laparoscopy and diathermy to the endo I couldn't really move or do anything by myself for about 2 weeks. However saying that everyone is different and people have different healing rates so you just need to listen to your body and be honest with yourself about how you are feeling. If you don't feel up to it, and still go, you will be putting your own health at risk and will make the healing time a lot longer and worse.

Hope that helps and you have a lovely holiday xxxx

[lemmi]

Thanks. It usually takes me a while to recover from most things as I have M.E and Fibromyalgia as well. Looking forward to my holiday x