Advise please, long flight travel with IBS

[Bumpity]

For the first time in my life I am now able to do as I please more or less (aside from a decrepit body), So, I've decided to bite the bullet and hopefully travel to Japan, a country I have long wanted to visit but flight time scares me as I hate being cooped up for hours.

I don't want to spend 17 hours or whatever running to the plane's toilet or struggling with a full on ibs attack in a such a confined public space. I expect to be on imodium a lot as is usual for me when staying away from home. Does anyone have any tips on how to cope with a trip like this, the offspring is coming with me as he has concerns due to my mobility issues and the fact that I'm daft

[MichaelJ8]

Hey there. I am Michael. So I did go on a flight with my ibs. It was not so bad. Don’t let it stop you from doing what you want. Here are a few suggestions

Try to book a seat near the toilet

Avoid any food that does not go well with your stomach

Try to take the necessary meds for you. It is always a life saver.

Take care and happy travelling

[Bumpity in reply to MichaelJ8]

Thank you. The seat by the toilet is a good idea. I'll buy a shipping order of imodium and Buscopan haha Take care.

[Nerissa in reply to Bumpity]

hi I live in Hong Kong and do the long flight back and fore. I always book aisle seat even if you have to pay to book. Get the aisle seat in the middle of the plane if you can. I normally take Imodium the night before then in the morning. I take my own food on obviously not drinks until you go through security. As some times they won’t get drinks for a little while. I’m flying next month and I’m dreading it as now I seem to have become ibs constipation so unable to take my safety tablet Imodium😂 also my doctor did give me a low dose of Xanax as I was so nervous once I started flying on my own. Don’t worry about the language barrier as I don’t speak Chinese and they always understand me at the airport. I went to Japan just couple of hours on way to Hawaii they were very efficient so honestly don’t worry about that. They also have lots of toilets at the Asian airports and very clean. Hope this helps have a great holiday

[Bumpity in reply to Nerissa]

Thank you Nerissa. I'm hoping that we will be able to book in a row with just two seats so if I need to dash I'm not waiting for other travellers to move haha. I'm intending to take imodium/windeze and only eat and drink minimal amounts as a precaution. I tend to do that on any long journey. Travelling alone doesn't bother me, years ago I would sleep in my car the odd night when traveling London to Scotland to save pennies. I do hope your trip next month goes well, it's awful having to worry about our wretched bowels. I miss the days when my only concern was whether I had closed the windows or not :)) Take care.

[Nerissa in reply to Bumpity]

I know it’s horrible I’m sure you will manage flight ok and enjoy your holiday too.

[xjrs]

I haven't been travelling lately, but one thing that came to mind are incontinence pads or pants. If you wear one for whole journey it might give you a bit more confidence. If you are more confident, you are less likely to stress about it, so it's less likely to happen.

[Bumpity]

Thanks xjrs, had thought of that, long journey so not sure what bins they have in the toilets.

[xjrs in reply to Bumpity]

Maybe take a bag with you that you can tie up and speak to a friendly faced cabin crew member in private about them disposing of it for you. People with babies on board must face a similar problem with nappies, so they must be used to this.

[Bumpity in reply to xjrs]

I never thought of babies nappies! I have loads of nappy sacks as am a dog owner and they come in really handy. Good idea 👍

[JT1992]

I recently travelled to Brazil which was a 12 hour flight, both overnight. On the way out there, I tried to go to sleep. Upon waking up, I had an awful stomach, and then the closer we got to landing, the worse I would get because i was panicking for when the seatbelt signs went off. I listened to a hypno session and tried to breath through it.

On the way back, I decided to not go to sleep properly, and only had an hour nap. I had already had 3 imodium pre flight, but I was fine this time. I also didnt eat much during the flight.

I think for me sometimes, if I have a broken sleep and get woken up, then my stomach hates it, so avoiding go into a proper sleep was the best for me at this time. I also ordered Lacto free meals which turned out to be a combination of lacto free, gluten free and vegan. They were disgusting.. haha

You might be different to me and obviously your flight is a lot longer, but this was my method that worked.

[Bumpity in reply to JT1992]

Thanks JT1992 You might be onto something there, if I have broken sleep I wake up to stomach pains and need the toilet soon after. I've used breathing techniques since quite young to help cope with pain. My plan is/had been to eat very little except maybe a plain sandwich or similar with fruit tea or water and take Imodium and something to make me sleepy.

[Hetchins1946]

I'm on a short flight next month with British Airways and I had to speak to them about my wife's mobility issues, and I mentioned that I have IBS (and get really stressed in airports) - they immediately refunded my seat reservation fees and changed the seats to be near the toilet and middle + isle.They've also sorted airport special assistance for both of us - I've never considered myself as warranting assistance, but they said that it could help me get to a toilet in a hurry if I needed to!

The point is - try talking to the airline, they may be more helpful than you expect!

[Bumpity]

Thank you Hetchins1946 that's a good idea, I'll try.