Flight travelling

[Aby1990]

Is there any precautions to be taken while taking flight travel for MPN patients?

[Osteomyelio]

In my case my anemia and malformed cells caused me to have altitude illness. This doesn’t happen to all patients

[Aby1990 in reply to Osteomyelio]

Are you a PV patient?

[Miriammusic in reply to Osteomyelio]

That's interesting. I always get sick on long hauls. Am okay on shorter flights. I have always wondered why I get sick. Someone once mentioned altitude sickness but I never related that to PV. I wonder if altitude sickness pills would help.

[Anag in reply to Osteomyelio]

I also have anaemia and malformed cells. Have had between 10-25 flights a year also long haul. I’ve never been sick on a flight. Only had massive headache on my flight to Korea last summer, most probably due to sudden high blood pressure caused by constipation and sleeplessness.

In this forum, I talked about the sudden headache and many answered that they had the same.

Other than that, I believe we need to make sure our blood is nice and thin and that we are able to rest. Eating less salt a few days before might help, especially for us ladies, who bloat a few days before our period.

Hope to have helped. Anag

[Hidden]

My longest flight was only three hours so I only wore TED stockings and kept my legs moving.

[Anag in reply to Hidden]

I’ve always worn stockings in flights. Everyone should! The flight attendants do also.

[Mazcd Partner MPNVoice]

Hi Aby1990, if you are planning on taking a long haul flight it would be best to speak to your haematologist beforehand to make sure all your blood counts are ok and that you are fit to fly, he/she will also advise you on precautions to take during the flight, and this might help: Be alert to the need to stay hydrated on flights and when travelling to sunny climates. Drink plenty of water while travelling to prevent dehydration. You can take other steps to prevent DVTs, such as wearing pressure tights/socks and avoiding staying too sedentary during the flight.

mpnvoice.org.uk/living-with...

best wishes, Maz

[Gordon335]

Hi I’m 58 and have PV and have flown a fair bit since my diagnosis a little over 2 years ago, I’ve mentioned it to my consultant and other than taking the usual sensible precautions (make sure you move around the aircraft and keep hydrated) they’ve not asked me to do anything else and I’ve been fine. This includes short, medium and longer flights up to about 8 hours. Hope this helps.

Gordon

[AndyT]

Depends which MPN you have and the length of your flight, so best to discuss with your doctor.

I have ET and used to use Tinzaparin on flights over 4 hours but now I’m on Pegasys and my counts are normal I just use flight socks, hydration and moving around during the flight.

[Cja1956]

I’m in the US and I flew to Israel in 2018 and experienced nosebleeds coming and going. Maybe it was the changing air pressure on the flight but I’m not sure. I was ET Jak2 positive now transformed to MF.

[wotan10]

Hi greetings from Fleetwood England.

I have ET.

Diagnosed Three years ago.

Long haul and short haul. I stay hydrated, wear flight socks and keep off gin and tonics for two weeks.

Keep my recent blood work in my details I take with me.

This may help you.

[Paul_1971]

Same advice as everyone else....make sure your consultant always knows you are travelling. They will advise if any concerns.

Keep hydrated, move about, watch alcohol consumption both before and on the plane.

Very Important: Travel Insurance, make sure you have adequate cover and that conditions are fully disclosed to them, this includes the free ones you get with the bank etc, often excellent policies but you need to make sure they know about the conditions.

I always wear comfortable clothes that arent tight, i wear slip on tomtoms on myfeet so i can take them off when sitting but easy enough to put back on.