bettyk

When I first ended up with two herniated discs, my doctor would not give me pain medication. He had put me on Celebrex and said that should help the pain. He did give me some muscle relaxers but they never did much for me. I ended up having 3 back surgeries over the next year. My surgeon gave me pain meds, Ambien AND muscle relaxers. You just never know. Some doctors don't like to give out pain meds.

aggiemom

Suze/Bettyk: I've had three surgeries (and lots of physical therapy) in the past four years and I just soooo want to be well! But I will be heading to the doc tomorrow. I don't want to risk feeling even worse on vacation. Thanks for all your concern.

ssachida

Carry the thermacare, or other air release heat wrap, sealed in your carryon. Wearing it through security can be a huge hassle. If you must use them, seek out a restroom after you clear security. These heat wraps contain some iron compound that sets off all sorts of sensors in the security gate!!

Carmen

Hook'em Horns

TexasAggie

My husband is a Longhorn. Things get a little testy in our house around Thanksgiving ;-)

suze

aggiemom- so sorry to hear of your surgeries and injuries but hopefully you can figure out a way to be comfortable on the plane. my doctor wrote me a note (back problem) asking please to grant an aisle seat so I could get up and walk around more often. You might want to check and make sure you have the best seating option possible for your long flight.

bettyk- sorry but there's no way i would continue care under a doctor who refused to give what i consider appropriate medications. being made to suffer unnecessary pain is not reasonable medical care in my book.

Sally

You might ask the doctor to prescribe Lidoderm(Lidocaine) patches. They do a wonderful job of helping to numb the pain of muscle spasms for up to 12 hours. It works better for me than the heat patches and with the prescription cost me only a dollar apiece. It does not have the side effects of all the anti-inflammatories.

nbbrown

Aggiemom... there are also those heat packs that you pinch together in the middle and shake it up and it gets real warm. We carry them in our EMT bags and on our ambulance. They're pretty flat, so wouldn't be too hard to carry on. I hope you find some relief. Flying is no fun when you're in pain!

Kavey

In answer to one of the comments above, the reason why microwave heating back pillows might be allowed through but not the ones that self-heat when exposed to air is that the microwave ones often contain harmless organic materials that retain heat well but could not be considered dangerous whereas the self-heat ones contain a mix of chemicals with some obviously fairly impressive chemical reactions. Whilst it's unlikely they could easily be used for any nefarious purpose, it's certainly <i>possible</i> they'd be banned because of that chemical content.

Not that I'm saying I think they would be, just responding to the question of why someone might wonder about whether the two items would be treated differently.

aggiemom

Suze, thanks for the kind words. My surgeries (lower back, shoulder, hand - all successful) are unrelated to this current upper back thing, luckily, and I feel kind of silly complaining. I'm sure so many people have had it much worse and I'm just whining here. I did make a doc appointment, showed up at 10:30 AM, waited and waited. Doc was running almost 3 hours behind! And here I am sitting in this waiting room with everyone coughing, sneezing, etc. So after about an hour I left (I sure didn't want to catch some cold or flu!). The doc will call in some meds for me, a muscle relaxant and pain meds. I also rescheduled for 8:00 AM Monday in case I need it still (we don't leave until 5:00PM). So I'll be okay. We also have an aisle seat and a window seat on the 2-seat side of a 777 for the 9 hour portion of the trip, so should be okay there, too (as okay as one can be in coach!).

Thanks, nbbrown, for your suggestions, too. I'm bringing some on board. And Sally, I'm interested in that Lidoderm patch - never heard of it but will ask my doc if I get in on Monday AM.

Thanks again, everyone, for your kindness. I'm sure it will work out. And when you think about it, what better place to &quot;be sick&quot; than Europe!! (Better than moaning at home on the couch!)

lcthecat

I'm a back doc: has no one told you to use ICE instead of heat???!!
I recommend that 95% of the time and it can work wonders, plus, it is plentiful on the planes (just bring a large ziploc baggie or two to put it in).
Best of luck!

aggiemom

Hey doc - yeah, I used ice for the first three days (I used to work for an orthopaedic surgeon). Then I've been alternating heat and ice. A little heat, massage, pressure points, follow up with ice. I figured I could pretty easily get ice on the plane. Heat was the mystery. Thanks for caring!