my husband (who was diagnosed with GPA last year and is now in drug induced remission ) and I have booked to travel to Austin towards the end of the year to see our son.
He went into remission quickly and there has been no damage to his lungs. He is on Aza 150 mgs and 2 mgs steroids presently.
What precautions should he take flying? Is a face mask useful? And should he take an emergency supply of antibiotics ?
He has no other illnesses (fingers crossed it continues)
Should we look at a consultant in Austin in case? Any names would be helpful if anyone is treated in this area.
Anything else we need to consider?
Thank you in anticipation .
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Main1234
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It's probably worth asking his consultant for advice - he will know better than anyone who may be of use if the worst happened and a doctor was needed.
My own international medical insurance cover provides for almost immediate air repatriation should I need it - a precious back-up that I hope I never need!
I and him indoors never travel without a full range of any medication we might need - including antibiotics for him. Ideally that should be together with a letter detailing diagnosis and medication in case immigration show interst - but we haven't ever faced that, Our medication is carried in hand luggage in the same plastic bags used for liquids and put into the security tray so it is obvious.
Face masks? I honestly don't know. Once they are damp the advantage is said to be reduced (i.e. after about half an hour) - but a study did show they did help some. An article in the paper today
Not one you can use I'm afraid. I live in northern Italy and our White Cross charity provides cover for members, the top level includes international repatriation and medical cover. Our holiday insurance is pretty good too - but it is only for Austrian and South Tirol residents. However, we don't get any "free" insurance with banks or whatever here, full price for everybody.
If you are business class that should mean he is further from anyone with bugs
Touching on Suzy's post - the pred I deal with by taking extra on the "long" way journey - Europe to USA for example. 24 hours after the last pred dose I take proportionally enough to carry me the other x hours - in your case 1mg - so I continue to take the pred at the same time of day as I do at home, in my case before bed as I am on Lodotra, for others it would be in the morning. Other medications I take as near to the home time as I can (not in the middle of the night of course!) - easy for me as I NEVER change my wristwatch and just add the hours for local time. My phone is changed to local time though.
After diagnosis of Vasculitis , GPA, and John was considered in clinical remission we travelled to Vietnam, Cambodia India and North Africa.
John was insured via his NHS medical insurance as he worked as an NHS dentist.
He was only allowed to travel if he had been stable for at least 3 months with no drug changes. We always checked with his consultant before going.
We always took a supply of medication in my hand luggage his hand luggage and in the hold luggage. We always took more than he needed to allow for flight delays. We also took with us John’s consultants contact details should we need to contact him in an emergency. We always took a list of all John’s drugs, the prescription print out is quite handy if it has all the drugs named.
John always made sure he was well hydrated and kept alcohol to a minimum while flying. He also got up and walked about a lot.. up and down the plane. He did not wear flight stockings but was given the option by his doctor.
Biggest problem we found was getting out of sink with the medication , time difference in travelling, this always made John extremely fatigued and would sleep for about 8 hours as soon as we arrived at the hotel or B&B.
John always took antibiotics with him as a precaution and never drank the local water only bottled water and kept away from salads etc when out for a meal.
Wearing a mask has limited effect and can be quite stressful to actually wear one for the whole plane journey. If I think of anything else I will add to the post.
I was diagnosed with EGPA just over a year ago. I have since travelled to Vegas New York and Florida with no ill effects. Lots of other people have given you good advice regarding medication etc. I found no need for a mask. I was insured by Avanti travel. £426 for an annual worldwide multi trip policy.
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