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Migraines on a plane?

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Old Mar 23, 2023, 6:55 am
  #1  
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Migraines on a plane?

I'm travelling soon with someone that suffers migraines, and I'm doing my best to learn what to do...but I don't see many options for air travel.

I was surprised to see that noise-cancelling headphones might actually be a trigger (something about the warmth).
For migraine sufferers out there, what do you do if a migraine hits while on a long flight?
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Old Mar 31, 2023, 5:18 am
  #2  
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Originally Posted by The_Diamond_Z
I'm travelling soon with someone that suffers migraines, and I'm doing my best to learn what to do...but I don't see many options for air travel.

I was surprised to see that noise-cancelling headphones might actually be a trigger (something about the warmth).
For migraine sufferers out there, what do you do if a migraine hits while on a long flight?
The same thing that people do when a migraine hits while at home, work or elsewhere: rest and/or take the migraine-treating medicine.

Different people have migraines seemingly triggered by different factors from other migraine sufferers, and noise-cancelling headphones don't seem to be a general cause of them as far as I know from the relatives with these.

Stress and other things that increase blood pressure probably come with increased risk of more/worse migraines. And so one way to try to reduce the chances of a bad migraine hitting or having more of them during trips is to hydrate well and do things that reduce stress such as pad enough time for the stuff that can hit during trips and be more in the mood of the "don't worry, be happy" type.
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Old Apr 25, 2023, 10:14 pm
  #3  
 
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I agree that sometimes noise canceling headphones/earphones might be a trigger, just based on my own experience. But I am not sure about the reason, maybe wearing it for too long just made my ears uncomfortable, as I prefer in-ear devices. The only way I find that might be helpful is to remove the earphones and close my eyes resting a bit. Not really much can be done otherwise.
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Old Apr 19, 2024, 2:51 am
  #4  
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For me, a major trigger for migraines is relaxing after a period of heavy stress. Depending on how much preparation has gone into a particular trip, the moment we take off, I put my seat into recline mode, start enjoying something on the IFE, and feeling like the vacation/trip has begun is likely the moment when my migraine will kick in. Thus, I always travel with my Sumatriptan (which I take for pain) in my purse. I become very sensitive to light, so I will put on an eye mask, put the seat into lie-flat mode (if on an international flight), and try to sleep.
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