36 hours before departure - have fever - okay to travel?
 

I will be going to the doctor in a couple hours, but late yesterday I suddenly developed a moderate fever. It got up to 101.6 last night, and this morning it's 100.1. I have no appetite and don't feel the best, but also don't feel the worst I ever have.

Does anyone have experience with traveling when sick? I'm hoping I'll be all cleared up by tomorrow night, but of course there's no way to tell.

When I get fevers, I don't mess around. I once got on a plane in San Jose to fly home to Florida the week after Christmas. My temperature was pushing 104 at the time. I prayed the plane would crash so I wouldn't have to endure the flight. The attendant kept looking at me and seeing if I was still alive -- I don't think I looked like I would make it.
But I survived. Of course, it's no wonder so many people get sick from traveling when others fly when contagious.

Hi will,

Sorry to hear you are sick.

Hope you get well real quick.

It would be a favor to your fellow passengers if you wore a surgical mask on the plane.

((I))

Good luck will travel..Drinks a lots of fluids and hope for the best.
You are going to survive!!
Years ago few days before I was leaving Italy, I came down with ears infection.
That was the most long, miserable flight of my life..At times I felt like my ears were going to burst, and the pains were immense..
However, I survived that hellish flight and now is just a bad memory.

I traveled twice when sick and hated every minute of waiting in the airports and sitting on the plane. Neither time did I have a fever. Both times I got sick while traveling and couldn't justify delaying my return home.

Make sure you're not going to be subject to an extreme situation such as a quarantine. As an example, Thailand used to have a policy that anybody with a fever getting off an airplane that had been on the ground in a SARS-affected area will be quarantined for two weeks. I haven't heard of any thing so dramatic lately, but I haven't made a point of checking up on it.

If you're getting on an airplane, be sure to ask your doctor about risk of pressure on your inner ears. If the locale you're going to is at a high altitude, ask about any additional risk even if you've never had high altitude sickness.

If your illness is contagious consider wearing a medical mask when using public trnasportation. (When people stare strangely at you, glare back and remind yourself that your kindness is preventing them from catching your illness.) Don't drink out of public water fountains. Wash your hands a lot more often than usual.

I'm not preaching. Just reminding in case your illness is preventing you from thinking as clearly as usual.

Hope you feel better very soon!

It depends on why you have a fever. If you have a 24-huor flu, fine, but if it is something more serious, you need to think more about it.

--Marv

Great advice here. I just want to chime in to wish you a speedy recovery.

- Sharon

Once I started feeling ill during the long fa-de-ral of leaving my hotel and getting to the airport. By the time I was on the plane I had developed a fever and it was just horrible. I was dazed when I had to change planes (hopefully you won't have to) and it takes some concentration to find your gates, etc.

Will you be traveling alone? I was and it is just by luck that I crept up to my correct gate.

Try drinking alot of fluids and do what the dr. says this afternoon. Good luck.

As a medical professional the LAST thing you want to do as a "favor to others" is "wear a surgical mask on the plane." Do so if you want to cause PANIC and perhaps run the risk of an airline official barring you from flying.

There is no way to tell if you are spreading anything through droplet contamination which is the only thing a mask might prevent.

Rest and fluids and fever relief (symptom treatment) and hopefully you'll feel better by the time you have to fly or at least be mentally prepared to make an appropriate decision.

I assume you have tried to bring the fever down with Tylenol. Does it work? If so, and since you say you don't feel that awful then you will probably be OK. You say you are going to the doctor which is the other thing you should do. If it's something antibiotics can take care of it's best to get on them right away. Most doctors will put you on antibiotics "just in case" since you are about to the leave the country. Not a good idea in general, but when traveling that's one time I say you should take them even if you haven't been absolutely diagnosed with something bacterial. I also agree a surgical mask is not necessary unless you are actively coughing and sneezing. Otherwise it's not likely to do any good and will just scare people needlessly and be uncomfortable with you. Wash your hands alot! And have a good time, hopefully you'll be all better by the time you get over jetlag.

I did go to the doctor a short while ago. Right when he checked my temperature, it was only slightly elevated, but it is higher with my home thermometer. Anyway, he said I should be okay to fly if I don't get any worse. It's not the flu, but just a viral infection. He didn't want to provide me with antibiotics.

I'm hopeful that this is really a short-term thing. I feel reasonably functional, which I don't if I am really sick. I haven't taken any meds for it at all, but I'll certainly consider decongestants and Tylenol when it's time to fly.

Thanks for the tips and good wishes!

Good luck, WillTravel!

Hi will,

>It's not the flu, but just a viral infection.<

All this time I thought that influenza was a virus. Silly me. :)

My wife recommends taking vitamin C.

WT, if I was in your shoes I would rush out and buy a bottle of Hennessy and a squeezer of lemon juice. Drink up half the bottle with the lemon juice and get a long sleep. Of course that will be no problem!

There is a virus running around my town, stuffy heads, sore throats and just plain icky feeling..no antibiotics for viruses.
So drink plenty of fluids and flush it out!
Sleep as much as you can.
Stay warm.
Don't breathe on anyone!
Happy Holidays WillTravel, have fun~

Hi - my sympathies are with you! I just came back from a work conference in Puerto Rico where I arrived with a cold (meeting rooms kept at freezing certainly didn't help). Anyhow - my suggestion is to take Echinacea immediately and once a day for a few days and you won't feel nearly as bad. I took 2 Echinacea caplets (334 mg) and 1000 mg of Vitamin C every morning and it really made the symptoms ease up so that the it didn't develop into anything much.

(ps - sales conference in Puerto Rico is no fun; dark, cold meeting rooms all day and long, boring dinners at night. May as well have been Secaucus, NJ :) )

Feel better & safe trip!

M&M

See how you feel on the morning of your trip, I think a doctor's note could be useful if you have to cancel and want a refund or rebooking without penalty (maybe)

Antibiotics don't work on viruses anyway.
Flying for a long time is so stressful on the body and well-being anyway, it would be really disappointing but I can't see the point of getting there and spending the time in your hotel room in bed (unless you're with a friend :-D)

This will sound a little righteous perhaps, but you would also be spreading a lot of germs around to a captive audience; planes are already giant microbe incubators as far as I'm concerned.
The mask wouldn't do it, you'd have to wipe down every surface you touch.

I hope this becomes a moot point and that this is a 24-hour bug. best of luck, and hope this doesn't ruin your holiday

Hi Will,

hope you're feeling better, as everyone's pointed out, it's no fun flying when sick.

I'm a travel agent, and I constantly have clients who come home from a trip and get sick. Not too many who get sick BEFORE they go though! :)

I honestly don't know if this works, but I never get sick and always buy "Airborne", and I carry the Purell stuff and use it alot on trips. I can't say if this helps or it's my travel constitution though!

Elaine, unless Will took out travel insurance a doctor's note will not help with either getting a refund or avoid having to pay a penalty (unfortunately).

Regards,

Melodie

Hi Will,
Hope you're feeling better. It is awful to travel when you're not feeling well. Have you ever taken "airborne"? It's all natural and you can get it over the counter. Our whole family is taking it because we're all together for Christmas. It seems to be working!

Get some Airborne and start taking it right away, then all through your flights and the first day or two after you reach your destination. It really will help.