Warning for air travellers in coach.
 

I just left the hospital where my friend is in ICU suffering from a heart attack.

She is 49 years old, in excellant condition, excerices and eats right with no family history of heart problems.

She had indigestion and yesterday told a friend she wasn't feeling well. When questioned further, she told the friend she didn't have any pain, just the hearburn and a "tight" feeling in her chest. Friend tried to get her to call 911, she refused so friend went over there and found her on the floor.

She got her in the car and drove her to the emergency room. She had stopped breathing on the way, no pulse or heartbeat upon arrival and was unresponsive. They managed to get her heart started again with a defibrilltor and CPR.

Doctors were puzzled as to what caused it, all tests showed was a small clot that had passed through the heart, but basically her heart was in good shape. She had just been taken off the ventilator when I got there. She looked at me but didn't act like she knew who I was.

So today, 24 hours later while we were all talking, the nurse was in there and her ears pricked up when my friend's MIL mentioned how odd this had happened right after her vacation in Hawaii. Nurse said that no one had mentioned this to the doctors and this was definately information they should have had.

Sorry to go on so long but it bears repeating. I have heard about this syndrome and how blood clots can form on a long flight but never so "up-close & personal" so to speak. My friend may survive this but we don't know yet what effect the lack of oxygen to her brain will have.

Thank you for sharing, Linda, hope your friend will recover from this ordeal.

One more reminder of importance of in-flight exercise.

My husband recently broke his leg and is mostly not mobile. We are flying to Greece next week and he asked the doctor whether he should take aspirin before flying to prevent blood clots. The doctor said that unless they are allergic EVERYONE should take an aspirin before flying and also exercise as much as possible on flight to prevent blood clots.

I never thought about the aspirin Eleni. Thank you for mentioning it....aspirin bottle going in the carry on bag right away.

Hi Linda,

I am very sorry about your friend.

Best wishes, Tiff ((L))

I'm so sorry about your friend as well....and thank you for the reminder. Aspirin will be part of my pre-boarding kit from now on....it's better to be safe than sorry.

Hope all goes well for her.

Are there any exercises that one can do at one's seat to help prevent blood clots? With the plane as crowded as it is these days, there isn't much room to stroll. Leg lifts/knee lifts? Massaging the legs vigorously? Any of these things work?

Very sorry about your friend and hope she makes a good recovery.

This is not confined to coach class travel, it can happen just as often in business and first too. I take aspirin every day anyway but always take an extra dose before flying! Magellens sell a fairly inexpensive compression stocking that also helps. And get up and walk or at least keep flexing youe feet and legs!

You can find exercises here

http://mypeoplepc.com/members/jekustes/traveltips2.html

and here

http://www.dennisbweis.com/Articles/...sinFlight.html

and more if you are patient with Google :)

Hi R,

>Are there any exercises that one can do at one's seat to help prevent blood clots?<

Knee bends.

Get out in the aisle and go up-down-up-down-up-down.......

((I))

To those who can't take aspirin for any reason: willow bark pills are sold in health food stores. This is what aspirin is made of, that's why sometimes they call it "natural".

Willow doesn't harm your stomach. Don't know about allergies.

HI Roundtrip--the exercise that you can do standing--which can be adapted to a sitting position, but it is easier to describe it standing--is to rock back on your heels as far as you can, and then immediately rock forward on your toes as far as you can. My understanding is that this acts as a "pump" that prevents blood from pooling in your legs. I hope that is helpful. I do it on all long flts.

Be sure to ask your doctor about taking aspirin, of course. I understand you need to take it for a week or so prior to your flight, to thin your blood a tad. I don't think it helps to just take aspirin the day you fly. Probably means taking the 81 mg. size, too. Could be wrong-- ask your doc.

FainaAgain - I am not sure about the willow bark theory. I originally thought that because the active ingredients are the same, anybody with an allergy would be equally affected.

However, a quick "googling" finds that there are differences, and that willow bark does not have the same anti clotting action.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...ay/ai_85131521

I am sorry about your friend, I hope she is doing better. I have traveled a lot this summer and many were long flights. I have a long family history of blood clots so I've always been concerned while flying. I also take a baby asprin every day. I have read that this will help. On a few of my flights this summer they have made us stay in our seats a very long time. I do circles with my feet and bend and straighten my legs as excercise. When I can get up I go into the bathroom for about 10 minutes, I do knee bends and march in place. I try to do the bathroom excercise a few times during a long flight.

I also hope your friend is doing better.

Did her doctors actually confirm that her airline travel caused the clot?

Hmmm.... Willit, you're right, I've pulled up a couple of other articles, and they all agree. What the heck I've been taking it for :)

Barbara,
No, it hasn't been confirmed but the nurse acted a little perturbed that nobody had mentioned it to the doctors and said that it definately should have been.
I'll find out more tomorrow. Thanks.

Aspirin doesn't help, walking around every 30min does. Warfarin might help, but can kill you as well depending on dosage. I did experience such a problem once, not a heart attack of course but enough be make me aware of the risks.

My "wake-up call" were my swallen ankles. The doc advised against all kinds of DVT support socks, loose clothing, lots of water (not tea, no coffee) or juices and exercise like ankle circles, knee lifts, shoulder rolls. And he agreed with me taking willow bark instead of low doses of aspirin... hmmm....