I've been cleared by my doc to resume flying after a DVT/PE episode in June of '07. This was unrelated to travel (broken ankle-hiking) and I take Coumadin. Has anyone had experience with travel following a DVT and can offer advice? Any hints and tips? Particularly good airlines?

Needless to say, I'm anxious about this but eager to return to work. I have always taken the usual precautions and will do so again. Anyone else in my situation?

Thanks

My first post DVT/PE flight was a coach seat from the east coast to Australia. I was diagnosed the day before I was supposed to fly to Colorado to hike so that would have been a very bad flight. If you are on coumadin you have already taken an important step to preventing it from happening again. In most of the flight magazines they have excercises to do to prevent a DVT and you should take the in-flight mag with you to practice these techiques often. I'm fine and have taken many other flights!

Good luck and welcome to FT!

Don't depend on advice here. Talk to your physician.

Incidentally I went to a physician thinking I might have a DVT and he said no way and sent me on my way with some steroids to mask the pain. Because I was taking a long flight and hiking in the Rocky Mts I went to a vein specialist the day before who also thought based on my age and excercise routine I couldn't possibly have one it wasn't until I relayed the pain the night before when I felt the Pulmonary Embolism let go that he did a doppler of my leg. After that I literally walked across the parking lot to the ER when it was determined that I had a massive PE. I was in the hospital a short time before my vital signs went ballistic. For all you FTer's that sit for long periods in a seat you should absolutely be thinking this can happen to me! You should all read up on what the sensation of a DVT is too. For me it was a sensation of heavyness and heat in my calf and suddenly it became very painful when I was getting up out of bed. The airlines know the risk and that's why they included the excercises in the in flight mag.

We had a colleague get DVT. His wife saved his life by nagging him into the ER.

I had a very bad leg injury years ago and have always been concerned about DVT. I have counted on my short stature giving me extra room on flights to prevent problems as I can move around.

Information such as you give is so valuable.

Thank you!

Definately drink plenty of water (no alcohol) to stay well hydrated. Consider the walks to bathroom a bonus as execising your leg muscles frequently is a good thing.

Also ask your doc about wearing compression stockings on the flight. The good ones must be prescribed by a medical professional and can help lots from what I understand.

Glad you made a good recovery and I hope you have no more troubles.

As someone who has been permanently confined to a wheelchair for 33 years I cannot help but be slightly amused at discussions concerning DVT. Perhaps it should be re-named �Airline Litigation Disease� in recognition of its true nature.

A profoundly mobility disabled individual (of which there are literally millions around the world) will spend upwards of 15 hours of every waking day in their lives seated in one position. They will not be able to engage in those novel airline DVT exercises, most cannot afford physiotherapy, most will partake in the usual unhealthy diet, most will not wear stockings. On the basis of the current DVT scare mongering these people should all be dead within weeks of becoming wheelchair based. Yet amazingly, in all my years of involvement in the disabled community, I have never heard of any mobility disabled person either suffering a DVT �attack� or having died from a DVT.

No-one has ever managed to fully explain to me why people who spend more than 2/3rds of every single day locked into a wheelchair do not suffer from DVTs, and able-bodied people who sit in front of their televisions each evening do not suffer from DVTs, yet able-bodied people who get onto an aeroplane fear they will suffer a DVT.

HiltonP. There is no comparison between an airline seat and a Roho, or Jay2 Cushion. I take the DVT thing seriously, because of the various factors that exist in an airplane that don't exist on the ground in my comfy wheelchair.

I take DVT very seriously after one of our senior managers nearly died on a flight from Japan to Hawaii. If his wife hadn't nagged him into asking the FA if he was in trouble, he might not have survived.

The FA's on the flight took action (they are a lot of DVT problems on those flights) and alerted the pilots. An ambulance met the plane.

It was no easy fix. He spent 5 weeks in ICU and in hospital in Hawaii and then another month in an apartment there before the docs would let him fly home.

He told us that he felt 'bad' and had pain but thought it was an existing back problem. His wife would not let him go back to sleep on the plane and saved his life!

He wanted to sleep it off!

Then do as so many of us do, pull the airline base cushion out (it is intended to be removeable) and insert your Roho, Jay2, ANOther in its place. That way you get to enjoy your comfy wheelchair cushion on the flight.

I hear what you, and other next poster are saying, but in my mind it doesn't add up. If DVT was a genuine threat then regardless of airplane / wheelchair / etc quads and paras should be dying on a regular basis from DVTs, and they're not.

I also get what you're saying. I have thought the same thing before. I really do not know much about it. My friend died from it on a flight a couple of years back. He was in great shape and a very active person. I still can't believe it. I do think there are different environmental factors in the air that are less of an issue on the ground that increase the risk. One more thing, TAB's generally do not have Roho cushions to use instead of the hard airline seats.

DeafFlyer, very sorry about the loss of your friend.

A business opportunity maybe?

LOL! If I do that then maybe I, or should I say "we", can finally afford the converted van I need.

glc20, welcome to FlyerTalk! I hope that your travels go well, without any further medical complications.