Anybody get sick day after a flight?
 

This seems to happen to me occasionally, and it's not jet lag...I'm talking about 2 hour flights. This has been going on since I started flying two-three days/week for the last four years.

There are times when I am sick for 1-2 days after flying...lightheadedness, headache, weakness, fatigue, slight nausea. This is a not a virus. It's the same thing every time, and it takes a couple days to get rid of it.

Anybody else experience this? I'm thinking sick air syndrome or something.

Sounds like you could be dehydrated. The air they circulate on planes is extremely dry, and it can really make some people dehydrated. Are you drinking plenty of fluids before and during your flight? That really makes a big difference when I fly.

I wonder if it's an inner-ear thing. I've had much better results with flights since I started using decongestants before takeoff and landing. I presume you drink a lot of water to avoid dehydration?

I've been a business flyer for nearly 30 years. I've never heard of a sick day after a routine flight, but I did hear the pax behind me recently talking about what I thought was a great, enlightened company implemented by their employer.

Employees get a minimum of 12 hours from the time their flight lands before they're expected to be in their office. Regardless of when the scheduled arrival time was supposed to be. Great for the day after an evening of delays. All that's required is that a message be left informing the office of the situation.

Interesting idea. I'm assuming this applies only to internal meetings? I cannot imagine clients willing to juggle their calendars around to accommodate such a notion.

That sounds like a reasonable diagnosis. Don't forget the importance of drinking lots of water before the flight. Once you're dehydrated, it's too late. The damage is done and no amount of water will force the fluids back into you on a cellular level.

There's an east test for dehydration - just pinch up the skin on the back of
your hand, if it stays in a ridge and takes a little while to go back to its
normal position, then that is a danger sign.

Keep up the fluids!

Title should have read "A day after a flight" not "sick day"
 

I wasn't talking about taking sick days. I'm a consultant...I don't get sick days.

It may well be altitude sickness...
http://www.healthline.com/health/fit...ckness-flights
http://wikitravel.org/en/Altitude_sickness

So there's no point arriving anywhere on a Friday morning?

I get sick the day after every flight
 

sunnyjl, New to this forum. I was diagnosed with Lyme and Morgellons in February 2006. Even a one-hour flight puts me flat on my back the day after the flight. Sometimes I'm sick for 4 or 5 days.

I am not picking up bacteria on the plane or in the airport; the bugs are already in me and they love the low oxygen on a flight and maybe the air presurizing. Cipro seems to help me get back on my feet but this last flight it did not help.

My guess is that it's not the Lyme spirochete, but one of the co-infections of Lyme. I am CDC positive for Lyme but testing for Bartonella and Babesia was negative, for what it's worth.

I think the infection that causes me problems flying may be Mycoplasma. There is a lab that can successfully test for mycoplasma, however, I must be off all herbs and medications for one month before testing. I don't think I could live through that month without meds.

Are you continuing to get sick after a flight? Or, is anyone else? I can find so little info regarding this symptom of flying.

FYI, for those who experience ear pain or discomfort with air travel, try a warn compress over ear( it will open up Eustachian tube) and some nasal spray. Who ever said decongestants is on the right track^

I used to travel long haul when I was far younger and for every weekend I was away the company gave me a day off or a day in lieu. Those days and those companies are now, unfortunately, few and far between.

Thanks for the reply. I don't have these problems anymore. I think it was either dehydration (I'm more careful to drink plenty of fluids/water when traveling now), or else it was just being physically run down from the constant being on the go.

I hope you get well soon! Traveling is pure misery when you aren't healthy...

Every time I fly, my tummy hurts for a couple days.