Iām not a regular poster, but just wanted to get some advise. Iām a fellow MAV suffer since March 2012. Currently in the wonderful hands of Dr S and on 60mg of Nort.
I recently met a girl in London where I live and have fallen head over heels. The problem is she lives in Dubai and only comes to London for lecturing seminars a couple of times a month. It has now got to the stage where she wants me to meet her parents/family in Dubai. The problem is I am sh*t scared of flying as the MAV, I believe, came about because of a London-Thailand-London 10 day short trip back in March. Dr S believes the MAV start up was due to high MSG, caffeine and alcohol consumption along with sleep deprivation/time changes and lots of boat/flying trips in a short space of time.
So you see my dilemma, do I fly and then have another MAV blow up or do I stay safe and keep my feet on the ground and perhaps risk offending this girl who I see me having a decent future with?!
How well are your symptoms controlled now? If they are well-controlled, how long have they been for? I wish I could give you a good answer but I havenāt flown since my mav started.
2 weeks after this episode started I flew from Zurich to Bali which was around 16 hours of travel. During the flight itself I felt the best As it seems that motion cancels out my feelings of disequilibrium. I didnāt notice any increase in symptoms after the flights.
However , I am not sure that we suffer the same symptoms so canāt really advise how it will make you feel. Is it worth asking Dr S?
I too am a patient of Dr S and I asked him about flying because like Richy I was fine on flights. He said to me flying is a different motion to trains & boats so you will be fine whilst onboard BUT he did warn me of jetlag. We are just back from a family holiday in Dubai - I was fine on the way out but on the way back I slipped back for a good couple of weeks - my symptoms increased and I felt pretty rubbish. I must add that contributed to this 1- I didnāt stick to the diet properly whilst on vacation, 2- we had a family bereavement , 3- I was under the weather anyway, 4- my stress levels were quite high generally. So I think if all these things hadnāt of happened I would have been ok actually. My guess is if you do stick to the diet & choose sensible flying times & keep stress to a minimum there is no reason why you canāt go and see your lady!!
Anna x
Take valium on the plane trip. Seems to help people on this board.
Try book decent flight times.
Donāt eat outside the scope of the 6 Cās whilst abroad.
I am seeing Dr S on 13th Dec so will be asking him then. I wonāt be able to get out there until late Feb anyway, so that gives me 3 more months to continue recovering.
I have had MAV, mostly controlled with drugs, for years. Flying can be one of my biggest problems. However I have realised now that one thing is utterly critical if I am to stand a chance of the flight not bringing on a relapse and thatās timing. I would strongly advise you donāt do a night flight, and try to time it so you donāt disrupt your sleep pattern - so no crazily early flights that mean getting up at 4 am to get to the airport etcā¦ Itās a pain as it often means you have to look harder and longer to get flights there and back that fulfill this criterion, but so worth it. I did a 13 hr day flight to Thailand and was fine, I did a night flight back and lost loads of sleep and was ill for weeks after.
Wear ear planes, the special ear plugs that regulate air pressure changes in your ears - these really help me too. Make sure you have them in for take off and landing. I wear mine all the way through the flight on a why not it canāt hurt basis.
Also try to give yourself plenty of time to pack, get to the airport etc, so thereās no stress on the way there. And make sure you are really well hydrated. Drink a lot of water before you board and during the flight. Avoid anything salty - donāt down a bag of crisps or succumb to the peanuts.
I used to take valium but it made absolutely no difference to me, but then again, valium has never helped my symptoms.
I say follow the above precautions and go for it.
H
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Hi
I will fly this friday 12-21-12 for the first time with this condition. And as it gets close i feel like canceling my flight. Iāve read that some mavers get worse or some are not affected. Plase help with ur comments and experiences. Can it get worse with air travel? I am close to remission but donāt want to screw up my long recovery progress with this flight. I really want to see my family after 2 and 1/2 years of not seeing them and if I dnt fly I will be alone for xmas 2012.